Year 2 on HF

 2 years in operating on HF now. How'd I do on my goals and thoughts from a year ago? Let's review what I wrote a year ago:

• Continue to operate/improve the remote station now that it's up and running on 2 QDXs. (Filling out more band slots now that I can operate routinely outside of the 20m band!).. hoping to get to, and beyond 100 DXCCs confirmed. 

Well, I got well beyond DXCC. Was able to go from 90 confirmed to 150, and 214 band slots to 704. Huge win there! I lost my job in November last year, so that helped operating time, as I suddenly was able to operate daily in December and January, picking up TONS of new ones during the "good" DX season. But even since, have picked up at least 1 ATNO confirmed and at least a few band slots each month. I now have DXCC on 20, 17, 15, 12 and 10m. I've got over 70 confirmed on 40m and 80 on 30m. 

• Set up another antenna, switch, and QDX to operate on 80 and 160m. (Need to build a 160m QDX). 
• Based on performance of existing antennas....evaluate my next antenna move: 80m loop? 160m loop? Leave the 40m loop and a separate 80/160m antenna? 

I did build a 160m QDX, and strung up a temporary 13ft high dipole, and operated a few nights on 160m with the Hardrock 50. As far as setting up another antenna for 80 and 160 and a switch, I JUST completed that this past weekend! 

My next antenna move? I decided to go with 2nd/separate antenna for 40/80/160, leaving my 40m loop as is for now instead of enlarging it. So check, I did evaluate my next move and execute! I do see some limitations to the 40m loop... It didn't receive below 7mhz as strongly as the temporary 160m dipole did, I can see some nulls in my "coverage" on some bands, and I suspect my 40m DX reach is fairly limited, as modeling would indicate/agree with. I may raise the 40m loop higher in the future, not sure. But the new Inverted Vee for 160/80/40m is receiving SSB signals on 160m at 20-25db higher than the 40m loop was! 

• Evaluate my next transceiver move: A QMX+ for SSB and 6m coverage? Hermes Lite 2? Save for a Flex, now that my cabin has fiber internet, and thus not speed limited?

I'm still figuring out what I want to do at my remote QTH for future transceivers and amplifier possibilities. I'd love to have SSB capability occasionally, but most of my operating would remain FT8, I think. Just based on the time of day I have available to play radio.....  So I don't want to lose EASY FT8 remote capability. So this one is still on the "unsure" pile for now, and I'll continue to think about this/evaluate.

• Do a bit more POTA/portable/travel operating... another couple activations maybe?

Portable operating and travel operating was a huge win. Was able to operate from Brazil on FT8, making 42 contacts, getting my reciprocal license, etc. Also 20 POTA activations this year in 9 POTA entities, and I operated portable from 13 different locations total. I bought a used Xiegu G90 and have been using that for the majority of my travel ops. Bought a different antenna for most portable ops. We did more camping this year, and I brought a radio every time, so I could generally squeeze in 3 activations on a camping weekend (Friday night, Saturday morning, Sunday morning.) 

Other notable things I did in year 2:

• Operated on more bands. Year one was mostly on 20m, then got 40-10 capability. Year 2, I got contacts on 160m, 80m, as well as 6m. Made a few contacts on 2m and 70cm too. 
  
  
• Repaired a 10/12m QDX-M I bought used.
  
  
• Operated from Brazil with 2 QDXs! Not a ton of contacts, but was able to make it work, making at least one contact on each band from 30-10m. Was a good learning experience on traveling with radio gear and deploying antennas in an unknown location. 
  
  
• EFRW use with an Emtech ZM-2 tuner I built prior.
  
  
• Bought a G90. Did some SSB operating with it.
  
  
• Bought an X-Tenna EFHW.
  
  
• Built a K6ARK EFHW for 20/10m.
  
  
• UV5R Mini purchased.
  
  
• Became a member of SARA; taking advantage of their Youtube talks and being able to use their remote rigs for some SSB nets, and even a contact on 12m SSB. 

Builds in Year 2:

• Built a 160m QDX-M. 
  
  
  
•  Fixed a 10/12m QDX-M I bought that was supposed to be working. Rewound the BPF, replaced the finals. Later converted this QDX-M for 6m use. I broke something in the process (or when I dropped it right before converting it...), and thus don't have a reliable 6m unit. But it DID work during a couple openings, running just under 3w on 6M with an attic dipole. 
  
  
• Made a 110uh coil as part of a 40m EFHW extension to be able to use it on 80m when portable.
  
  
• Changed out my home attic antenna to a 20/40m trapped dipole from a 20m speaker wire dipole.
  
  
• Highlights of year 2: I learned a ton. Lots of reading, operating, and thinking. Dove into better understanding a lot about radios, amplifiers, etc. 
  
  
• Hit 10k Contacts/QSOs! My QSO rate per month was over 1000 for a couple months when I was unemployed, now it's more like 250, so I expect the rate to be slower next year. 
  
  
• Attended the Wisconsin Ham radio / POTA Campout! This was a great opportunity to see what other people are actually using in the field and meet some other regional hams. 

Year 3 goals:  

• Operate with my new 2nd antenna at the remote QTH...Get to know how it works for me on 40, 80 and 160..... Attempting to fill out WAS as much as I can on 80 and 160 this winter, and see what DX I might be able to pick up for more band slots. I've got WAS on 40, 30, 20, 17 and 15m, but missing 3 states on 12m and 1 on 10m. 
  
  
•  I'd be happy to get 170 DXCC confirmed by this time next year...probably ½ of which I already have, just waiting for confirmation/need to initiate QSLs.
  
  
• I'd also be happy to get to 750 band slots confirmed. I've worked over 800, so should be doable. The accumulation pace is slowing, I think. 
  
  
• Continue POTA/portable/travel operations. Probably will be less than 2025, but I've enjoyed it, and will continue that. Might be able to travel to a CEPT country in 2026, in which case I'll plan on operating from there. 
  
  
• The biggest one to me right now: Build out the portable amplified QDX transceiver project I've been noodling on since March. <-- This (scope creep!) has turned into a very complex project with a lot of facets, but I think all the design problems have been solved, so we'll see if I can execute.

We'll see what the next year brings!