V31XX (Belieze) 28456 kHz USB 2239-2258 UTC 10 February, 2022

[Todd KC0IVX]

Speed QSLing from V31XX station in Consejo, Belize operated by Bill K4XS.  Signal improved to 333.  He said he does about 200-250 QSLs an hour when he is contesting. I heard more than 20 in as many minutes.  The station has several large antennas, but primarily uses a 4 element 136 foot Yagi.

[Elf36]

They do have a 4 element Yagi that is 136' up on the tower (40M) as well as several other antennas at a height of 70' to 105' off of the ground. I knew the call looked very familiar. I worked them on 20 or 30M CW while at a QRP meet-up some time ago. I remember that I was using a Yaesu FT-817 and an end-fed antenna that was loaned to me. Not a huge distance from Florida, but a cool contact all and all, especially at 5 watts (:

[Todd KC0IVX]

Wow, 5 watts, impressive.  Thanks.

[Elf36]

Yeah. I have worked many stations around the world on 5 watts with the operators running anything from a small vertical on a picnic table to stations that have huge yagis on top of 150' towers. One good thing about these big stations is their ability to hear lower signals. They kind of do the heavy lifting. Another thing is that good operators will take QRP and mobile stations first. (All bets are off in a contest though) I tend to hang out on the WARC bands when contests are going on.