North American QSO Party, CW - August
Call: KB4KBS
Operator(s): KB4KBS
Station: KB4KBS
Class: Single Op LP
QTH: GEORGIA
Operating Time (hrs): 5.5
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
160: 0 0
80: 0 0
40: 51 24
20: 58 26
15: 17 10
10: 0 0
-------------------
Total: 126 60 Total Score = 7,560
Club: South East Contest Club
Team: SECC #3
Comments:
I knew early in the week that I had a dinner party to attend with my wife and
two other couples, and I knew that it was not going to be a 45 minute event
(3.5 hours!). I put in a few hours early on 15 and 20, then came home and put
in a few more on 20 and 40. I quit at 04:30z. I could have gone until 06:00z,
but I had a date with an alarm clock at 09:30z (which sounds so much better
than 5:30AM!)
I am not a great contester, yet, and my CW is lousy. My operating was totally
S&P using my water wings (CWSkimmer). For some reason, N1MM wouldn't post
spots to the band map, even though I could clearly see them coming in. That
handicapped me a bit as I couldn't click and load as easily. I had to listen,
confirm with the water wings, then type. My conservative target was to
maintain a rate of 30 Qs an hour. I think it finally ended up at around 23,
but I was content considering my skill level and challenges. Kudos to the SECC
members whose reports indicate 50-70 Qs/Hr rates. Maybe someday...
Something I wish the cool kids in the club had taught me: I was poking around
N1MM and saw this option "IMPORT CALL HISTORY". A little more research and
Whoa! I can load my old logs, with names and exchanges into the contest to
pre-load data when I type the call. That's pretty cool! The only logs I could
find quickly, and that were formatted close to properly were my NAQP RTTY logs
from the early and late 2011 events. I was able to crack the code and load
those logs into the NAQP CW program and do a little happy dance. Sadly, the
RTTY song was evidently recorded by a techno-fusion/funk kind of music group
because there didn't seem to be a lot of diddlers that are also finger
wigglers... I thought I had miss-loaded the data, but a spot check of calls in
the RTTY log populated correctly, so it was just a whole different set of
instrumentalists. Nevertheless, I am now creating my own custom mix/mash-up
for my iKenwood that has all of the calls I've worked in all of the NAQP
events. I hope it helps with the NAQP SSB... Eventually I'll have a
combination of all three mixes. I'll call it my "techno-fusion bluegrass-style
finger-pickin' and yodeling mix" for RTTY, CW, and SSB. Is this the kind of
things that gets traded around and I'm just not with the "in" crowd?
Thanks to each of the operators who helped me with my meager 126 - and special
thanks to Brian VE7WO for an excruciating (for him) experience pulling me out
of the muck and mire of 40M. You kindness is duly noted and appreciated.
73,
KB4KBS
Kenwood TS-450SAT
MFJ 407B
Bencher BY-2
RigBlaster Plus
MFJ 949B
G5RV at 30'
N1MM
Scott Straw, KB4KBS
Roswell, Georgia USA
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