N5KA - CQWW CW 15m SO HP
BAND Raw QSOs Valid QSOs Points Countries Zones
___________________________________________________________
15CW 940 912 2383 109 32
___________________________________________________________
Totals 940 912 2383 109 32
Final Score = 336003 points.
This was round #2 of Russ tries to become a CW contester. (Round #1 was CW
SS where I spent about 9 hours making 450 q's).
I had no goal in mind other than operate as much as possible and try to
learn as much as possible. Since I have no station at home I was using the
W5KFT ranch station. (George, K5TR, was doing a 40m single band). Thanks
Bryan and George!
Friday night was a bit of a bust w/26 q's in the log (worked everything I
heard but the C21 and got him Sunday).
The 'KFT ranch is about an hour from my house so I decided to drive home
after the first night to spend some time w/my family. I've done CQWW SSB
(W5KFT M/S), SS CW (SOHP, p/t), SS SSB (SOHP), and now CQWW CW. My wife was
getting a bit "frustrated" (ok, MAD) about my being gone on the weekends.
That, and my long work hours, left her needing help around the house as well
as with our 2 young daughters. So I drove back home to keep the peace and
then back out to the station on Saturday getting there around 1330z.
I got some decent EU runs going (decent for me). After about 3 hours I
settled into a slow rhythm of CQing w/ periodic breaks for S&P. I worked my
first JA at 21:15 Saturday. I worked my last EU at 22:33. I worked my last
station, an LU, at 00:57. The band closed for me on Saturday about 2 hours
earlier than Friday.
On Sunday I only had one really good hour to EU, although I could definitely
see an improvement in my ability to pull out callsigns (an copy them
correctly!). Practice certainly helps alot.
I was pleasantly surprised by the nice conditions to Europe. My qso
distribution report showed almost 500 EU stations to just 150 JA's.
Early Sunday morning we had a MAJOR thunderstorm move through the area. (It
forced K5TR off the air for 4 prime hours on 40m). I must have shook up
mother nature by operating CW as it started to sleet and SNOW on Sunday. At
33, I can count the times on 1 hand (maybe 2 hands now) that I have ever
seen snow so I spent lots of time looking out the window. It started to
really fall on my way home so my usual 1 hour drive became quite interesting.
I really had alot of FUN. I really enjoy the code, but have only used cw
sporadically in my 16 years in radio, with practically none in the last 10
years. Operating cw contests has been a goal of mine for awhile and I'm
glad I've started down that line.
I never really felt that I was a complete ham until I got my extra class
license. Likewise, I have felt something missing by only operating in SSB
contests. Seems like alot of the guys I consider expert op's (and who also
beat me on phone) are all really good code ops too. Since I'm making
progress in the top 10 in the SSB contests that I operate it seems to be a
good time to start on trying to become a "complete" contester.
73, Russ--
N5KA, ex. AA5RB, N5DDO
russ@inetport.com
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