[CQ-Contest] A little section history

[Art Boyars]

I'm just catching up on the Archives.  This is a wonderful thread that WM5R
started.

On Aug 10 W3IDT, Bob, wrote: "At some point in the recent past (1970s?) the
"MDC" section - {M)aryland + (D)elaware + district of (C)olumbia - was
split into "DE" and "MDC" - now just MD + DC."

I just happen to have all my paper SS logs here at the desk.  Earliest is
1968 CW, and the official ARRL Summary Sheet shows MDC and Del as separate
multipliers.  So it was at least that early.  But, like Bob, I thought it
was later than that.  Of course, when some posters here mentioned that CZ
was deleted around 1979, my thought was "Nah!  It can't have been so
recent."  That correlates with my reading of the CarTalk Repair&Maintenance
discussion group.  Somebody posts a question about their 2002 car, and I
keep thinking "Why don't you get it fixed under the warranty?"

In that 1968 SSCW I was operating at W3AZD, and K3EST was at very nearby
W3ZKH (N4RV).  EST-Bob got really mad when he felt I was too close to his
freq.  His sending got so bad I could hardly copy the names he was calling
me.

There were 75 multipliers in 1968.  My first QSO was VE8BB.  I cleverly
lined up behind W4KFC who would begin SS by ragchewing with 'BB (on "21 Mc"
this time) for a couple of minutes before the contest started.  As soon as
the clock ticked over, it was "NR 1 A VE8BB 55 NWT JAN 10", and off to the
races.  I got NR 2 from 'BB.

(W3AZD was/is a DXer.  As I recall, some time during the SS I had to take a
time off so Don could keep his SSB sked with 9N1MM.  Blew my mind.  I think
my DX total from home back then was VE, G, and DL)

What is that "JAN 10" in the exchange?  Your birthday, subsituted for Date
in the ARRL message header,to make people actually copy what was sent.
K3EST and I had decided independently that op's with short, easy-to-copy
birthdays should not have an advantage over those with things like NOV 30,
so we each decided to use "FEB 7".

Using the mighty W3AZD Tribander, wires, and KW, I made 617 QSOs with 74
mults.  I missed...Canal Zone.

73, Art K3KU
(K3OAE, if you are checking your old SS logs)