Another Friday off, an opportunity to try for some contacts. I didn't get started until around 12:30, and tuned into an absolutely dead 15-meter band. I am using an MFJ-9015, a CW-only transceiver which tunes only the CW portion of the band. Scanning from top to bottom yielded only static and occaisional spurious tones.
Around 1:00 I heard some weak activity in the low end of the band, below 21.010 MHz. I am not currently authorized to use that segment, so all I could do is listen. The signals were very weak, and after a few minutes I moved on.
Around 2:00, though, the band started to pick up, with activity mostly between 21.040 and 21.060. I was able to work a station in Washington with a very good signal report (remember I am only running 4 watts). Shortly after, I worked a station in Maryland. I heard a station in Ontario, Canada, but a lot of other stations were also interested in working him, so around 4:00 I packed it in.
Tomorow I am taking the examination to upgrade to extra class, so that I will be able to use those segments that I can't use now.