[CQ-Contest] A New Kind of Contest Obession 4U

[K7bv at aol.com]

Ever wonder what that "50" button was for on that sharp new HF radio of 
yours?  If you are like me, you might be surprised to find that pushing it 
will get you on 6 meters.  And you might be even more surprised to know that 
a lot of tribanders and wire antennas will load quite nicely on 6 meters 
without a tuner.

If you care to see how that works, give it a try.  I found the 50 button and 
am having a ball discovering the band; all be it one season too late for the 
F2 across the pond fun.  I have even discovered how much fun working SSB / CW 
/ Digimode meteor scatter can be.  For the digimodes, I am using the weak 
signal free ware WSJT from K1JT - http://www.vhfdx.de/wsjt/  All I needed was 
my computer sound card and a cable to key the rig and get the audio to the 
rig in USB position and away I went -- even me a major plug and play kinda 
guy.  I use the same cable I use to get on AFSK for RTTY contesting on the HF 
bands.

So, what does this have to do with contesting?  Well, obsessive types like me 
can find relief even in meteor scatter.  For the next week, a bunch of casual 
and not so casual ops will be taking part in the "North American HSMS Rally 
and Contest" on 6 meters and the higher VHF bands during the Eta Aquarids 
meteor shower that is just now firing up until May 12th.  See - 
http://www.qsl.net/wa5ufh/Rally/NAHSMS.htm

The meteor scatter gang hangs out on the following site -- check it out and 
give it a try - http://www.pingjockey.net/cgi-bin/pingtalk  And the National 
Calling frequency 50.125 is frequently used to make SSB and CW contacts 
during the morning ours when the MS conditions are best.

Drop me an email if you need any help.  And, yes Klinger, they even have 
pileups on meteor scatter !

73, Dennis K7BV/1