[CQ-Contest] The greying of Morse?

[Ron Notarius WN3VAW]

The US government first issued licenses in 1912.  Therefore, any check
earlier than "12" should indicate a "20xx" date of issuance.

Won't be a major problem until after the 2011 contest.  Though as a
practical matter, this will probably (at least for the first few years) only
affect a handful of long-time club stations.

Now, if the check was the year first on the air (not the year first
licensed) then the century "roll around" could take place even sooner.  I
know of at least two college club stations that claim 1909 as their starts
(MIT's W1MX ex 1XM, which beats out Penn State's K3CR ex 8XE by several
months... and purists & trivia buffs please note that while K3CR dates to
1909, the Penn State ARC itself doesn't -- and that the Nittany ARC's W3YA
ALSO dates back to 8XE, which is itself a long story and not germane here),
and I believe that there are some other clubs that date even earlier than
that.

Now, you show me a single op station with a check of 2x, or even 1x, with
the original operator at the helm, and then I WILL be impressed! <g>

73, ron wn3vaw

-----Original Message-----

Date: Mon, 21 Nov 2005 14:45:46 +0000
From: asciibaron at comcast.net
Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] The greying of Morse?
To: "CQ-Contest" <CQ-Contest at contesting.com>

> Was it just me, or did there seem to be a dramatically younger set of
> "CHECKS" on SS Phone as compared to SS CW two weeks ago?

the bulk in my log are in the 20 years between 1950 and 1970.  the biggest
problem i came across was those who seemed confused by my check of zero
three (03).  i guess they still haven't come to terms with the new century.
i did log a station with a check in the early 20's - must have been a club
station, or the guy was really hardcore!

-Steve, WM3O