[3830] CQ160 CW WK4P Single Op LP

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                    CQ 160-Meter Contest, CW

Call: WK4P
Operator(s): WK4P
Station: WK4P

Class: Single Op LP
QTH: NC
Operating Time (hrs): 9

Summary:
Total:  QSOs = 126  State/Prov = 35  Countries = 1  Total Score = 10,440

Club: Ashe County ARC

Comments:

The "hollering hillbilly", WK4P, decided to let my fingers do the talking this
weekend and play a little in the CQ 160 meter CW contest. And I actually had a
blast.

Friday night about 8 pm EST, after calling the Tarheel Emergency Net, I flipped
the rig to 160 to see if anyone was sending slow enough for me to give a point
to.  What a cluster of signals on the band.  Wait, the filters, finally I found
the 250hz filter.  Ok, now only one signal at a time.  But 40 wpm?  I was too
afraid to even take my 20 wpm test 12 years ago.  Oh well, just try to get the
call.  Ok, not that bad, but now I have to call at a decent speed and still get
his state.  Ok, the call went ok and after recognizing the 5NN I got the stete. 
On to the next q.

And so the contest went.  No pressure for a change, I knew I wasn't going to
win anything I just wanted to hand out some points and have fun.  That is until
the paddles decided to be quirky on the dahs.  Now what?  The straight key was
still hooked to the Yaesu 736 from last weeks VHF contest.  Just move it to the
746pro.  But at these speeds?  What the hell, I might be a little slow but I'll
give it a try.  Oops, my NC sounded a little like NY, need to work on that. 
But the contact was made and the right info exchanged (tnx for questioning the
state).  I was still having fun.  By the time I looked at the clock it was 1:30
and I had to work Saturday.

When I got back into the frey on Saturday night my paddles were fixed, I
adjusted them better than ever, and I was ready to play again.  Working SK on
160 was cool as was working PJ2T, both with only 100 watts (my footswitch keys
the amp, so it only works on SSB).  The loop must be doing ok.  I hit my goal
of 100 qsos.  I continue on.  Finally at 120 I went to bed, having exceeded my
goal by 20 percent.  Sunday afternoon I had to work on a home repair project
but I snuck in an extra 6 qs while the wife wasn't looking.

Like I said I really had fun.  I was amazed at how fast the action was.  And
while my 126 qs may seem paltry, to me it's a big accomplishment.  I think my
CW speed increased abt 5 wpm just during this contest.  And while all contacts
were S&P, you will find me brave enough to call CQ next month during the NCQP,
albeit at about 15wpm.  Hope to hear everyone then.

Peace and 73
Adam WK4P


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