[3830] NA Sprint CW K0DXC LP

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                    NA Sprint CW Contest - September

Call: K0DXC
Operator(s): K0DXC
Station: K0DXC

Class: Single Op LP
QTH: Jackson, OH
Operating Time (hrs): 2.7

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Op Time
---------------------
   80:   66        
   40:   81        
   20:    4        
---------------------
Total:  151    Mults = 41  Total Score = 6,191

Club: Worldwide Young Contesters

Team: Thursday Night Madness

Comments:

RIG: PROIII
Antenna: 6BTV on 20 / 40. 80M 1/2 wave dipole @ 30 feet for 80
Software: Win-Test V 4.0.1

I was originally planning on doing this one for the full 4 hours.

When I woke up in the morning I mentally reminded myself that sometime during
the afternoon I needed to get ready for the sprint. I decided to go about my
normal Saturday routine which mainly involves being thankful that I'm not in
school. The first 2 weeks of high school were fun because it's "HIGH SCHOOL"
but now I just think of it as school again. The only thing I look forward to is
going to Baseball AFTER school.

Anyways, one of my friends called and tried to recruit me to play football with
a few people. I would have said yes but it was going to be dark in an hour so
there wasn't much point in starting anything. Right after hanging up the phone
I looked at the clock and saw that the sprint was set to start in 15 minutes!

I seriously considered ditching the sprint and going outside to enjoy the last
hour of daylight. Playing in contests that I have no shot at winning or doing
good in feels like a waste of time right now. I say no shot at doing good
because I literally do lose 70% of jump balls with my station. That's a lot
when you're not exaggerating! 

So I decided to throw all the papers, notebooks, binders, magazines, boxes, and
clothes off my desk and set up the station. I got all this done with 5 minutes
to spare. The contest started: there seemed to be a decent amount of signals on
20 meters but I couldn't work any of them. I'd either get beat out or they would
just keep sending, " ?. ?. ?. K0?. ?. K0?. XC?. C?. AGN?
AGNAGNAGN???!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

It wears you down after a while. I made 4 QSOs in 15 minutes and thought this
was a waste of weekend time so I turned off the radio and went outside. This
was a good decision because come Monday morning when the tardy bell rings I
would have hated myself for choosing 10Q / hour contesting over sleeping,
eating, or something else productive. 


It's funny because I really believe that my computer wants me to be a LID. It's
doing everything it can to make me sound like an idiot at the most critical of
QSOs. EVERY SINGLE CONTEST it will jumble the CW to the point where NOTHING -
human OR otherwise can copy it. Seriously, it sounds like 50WPM SIDE-SWIPER
with no spacing whatsoever. (Yes, I have actually used a side-swiper and know
what it sounds like.) The computer does this a lot, too: it's not like it only
happens once or twice per contest. This is annoying when I have to send the
exchange again but 5 minutes later I'll smile when I think of what I must have
sounded like on the other end. 

Even while operating I was flipping windows between some affiliate marketing
stuff I've been working on. This caused a lot of unnecessary repeats. Sorry.

I found that a lot of people seemed to be having trouble with the "semi-cut"
numbers I was using so I turned that stopped using them. It's not worth the
possibility of an extra 0.5 seconds if I have to send the number again every
contact.


Randy, sorry for calling you twice on 80 (we never worked again, though.) Right
after our first QSO I hit Alt + something else and the QSO was wiped before I
could log it. I could have put your info back in but I didn't remember the
number and you were gone. Win-Test can be dangerous!

Ward, N0AX sent me the weirdest name by FAR. I had no idea that was coming,
sorry for the repeat. 

Tim, K3LR was 60 over 9 on 80. Amazing signal.

It was nice to work a few of the familiar "NS group." Thanks to Ian, K8MM for
putting together the Thursday Night Madness team. I had a blast competing in
the 2009 NSL (even won the Newcomer division) and I look forward to doing it
again next year!

Hope to CU in SS CW. I can't believe the summer is over (and I just turned 15.)
Time is truly flying by. I remember the day I got licensed 5 years ago like it
was yesterday. I really do.


VY 73,
Cal, K0DXC
http://k0dxc.com


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