Day 9 - Saturday, August 12, 2006

We were up early again this morning, and we got Carol to the convention by 9:00 a.m. I headed over to the nearby town of Sudbury, where I visited Jim Idelson, K1IR, his wife, Sue, and his son Sander, KB1FPU. Jim has a great contest station setup, with numerous transceivers, amplifiers, and other gear. He has quite a tower in his backyard, which holds up at least 7 beam antennas. Many wire antennas are in the nearby trees, and they all can be switched at will to any of the several operating positions. I also met Lars, KE1J, one of Jim’s friends and a regular operator in the contests, who had also come over to Jim’s to operate the station.

After spending an enjoyable morning of conversation with the Idelson family, Jim invited me to operate his station in the radio contest of the weekend – Worked All Europe, CW. It made for an excellent day - I really appreciated their company and hospitality.

I got back to the hotel in time to take Carol, and Mike, a conventioneer staying at our hotel, back to the convention center for the awards banquet. The dinner was OK – salad, baked chicken, potatoes and vegetables. I thought the dessert, chocolate cake, was great. After the awards ceremony, the three of us headed back to our hotel to chat for a while over a drink in the bar. Then, back to the room so we could be up early to get Carol to her convention by 8:00!