First HF setup and contacts

I've finally pieced together my  first HF rig, and make my first contacts with it! I've been able to hear people from as far away as Japan, but I haven't had a whole lot of success transmitting yet. Still, I'm getting better with things, and I hope that a bit more practice will leave me to doing great! Without further ado, my setup, as well as my first DX contacts!

National Traffic Nets

When I was scanning the airwaves one night, I happened in on something rather interesting. It was the Amateur Radio National Traffic Service, specifically the Virginia branch of it. The specific group I ran in to was called the Northern Virginia Traffic System.

Radio Nets

Attended my first nets tonight, where I was actually transmitting, instead of just listening. I've decided that my radio is working just fine for listening, but I'm having some issues getting a good signal to the outside world. I'm going to really have to come up with a good way to fix that...