[CQ-Contest] Techniques of Ye Olden Days

[hank.k8dd]

On Tue, Sep 1, 2009 at 6:18 PM, doug smith<dougw9wi at gmail.com> wrote:

>
> In a major advance, we had a Commodore 64 and software Lew wrote for
> checking for dupes -- but we still had to key the entire log into the
> C64 to do it.

Back in the early 80's I wrote a program on a Timex-Sinclair ZX100 to
dupe the logs - typed in over 1000 calls in WPX.  Never could figure
how to count mults from that so we had a huge matrix for the prefix's
to count them.


> The ARRL offered something called an "Op Aid 6".
> http://www.k5tr.net/misc/2007_10_03_21_36_38.pdf
> Basically a spreadsheet with ten REALLY TALL rows.  Each row
> corresponded to a call area; columns A..Z were used for suffixes
> starting with A..Z.  So if you worked W1AW, you wrote "AW" in Row 1
> Column A; if you worked W9WI, you wrote "WI" in Row 9 Column W.

In 1978 IARU RadioSport we had 2 11 X 17 dupesheets like an Op Aid 6 -
one for 1-5 and one for 6-0 call areas for US & VE's in VP2M.  Plus
the DX dupe sheets that ARRL put out.  Filled them all and overflowed
into the margins.  Finally we quit using them and figured we'd mark
the dupes after we got home.  About 50 or 60 or so log sheets for the
48 hours with 50 per page.

And Sweepstakes with an AEA CK-1 and the large Op Aid 6's on a card
table to the right of the operating chair.  And later a Kansas City
keyer.

Wow .... I don't want to go back to that!

Hank     K8DD