The CW sprint is this Saturday - get on the radio for this unique contest.
https://ncjweb.com/Sprint-Rules.pdf
And if you are like me and have never had a great time in the sprint - maybe my
story will help.
How I learned to stop worrying and love the CW Sprint
Over the course of my ham radio life I have never been a great or at times even
good CW operator. I have never gotten any good at head copying and can only
sort of do that at sub 25 wpm speeds for the most part. I have gotten to the
point, in a contest, that I can run folks on CW at maybe 33 to 35 WPM and can
do OK when I am calling CQ. Search and pounce takes a lot more skill and has
always been much harder for me. It just takes me longer to sort out what is
happening on a frequency and I first arrive and then to get synced up. So
while I am a better than average SSB contester and I am what I would consider
an average or maybe below average CW contester compared to my SSB contest
skills. I have a lot of guest ops at my station in CW contests - and most
times that my call has been on in the NA CW Sprint contest it has been a guest
op - even though they usually use the name GEO - it is not me. But I have
gotten on in the CW Sprint over the years with my call and a few others. And I
never do very well - you can not sit and call CQ on one frequency and S&P is
usually half or more of the contest. And as a result I do not do well. To do
S&P in the CW sprint is hard - folks are sending very fast and early on each
band the pileups can be tough.
But this past September I did not have a guest op lined up for my station so I
decided I would get on and see what I could do. And as I was getting ready for
the contest it dawned on me that since my S&P skills are poor and even more
poor at CW Sprint speeds - maybe I could just call CQ. I would have to give up
the frequency after one contact (the Sprint QSY rule) I could just move 5 kHz
more up or down the band and call CQ again. So that is what I did for almost
all of my four hours. I did not send super fast - around 30-33 wpm and I just
called CQ - moving each time. I think I ended up making only about five S&P
contacts. But I ended up with a better score than I have ever had and even
better I had fun in the CW Sprint instead of being frustrated. So, if you,
like me, find the CW Sprint difficult - I have a suggestion - Call CQ. Don’t
forget to move at least 5 kHz and then call CQ again. You might just like it.
I made 232 contacts and best of all broke 10,000 points for the first time ever
in the CW Sprint.
The CW Sprint is this coming Saturday night - get on the radio and give it a
try. If you need to go slower than 30 wpm do it - if they call you too fast -
send QRS or just call CQ again. They will either work you or not. You called
CQ, it is your frequency and you are in charge.
I will have a guest op here this time - because I can’t do all the contests all
the time. :-)
George Fremin III
K5TR
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