[CQ-Contest] I loved the WPX

[Charles Harpole]

This is long, sorry.  At 69 with beginning shakey fingers and less stanima,
I nevertheless entered the WPX ssb with determination.  I came out breaking
2 million points and with a very satisfying experience.  WPX trained my
brain... again!

The HS0 prefix makes me desirable, of course, and I am above just-loud with
even marginal openings, but something geophysical makes me heard much
better than I can hear.  Other local hams confirm this gator situation.
These factors give me a pile up with nearly every call.  So, my brain gets
the duty of sorting the voices.

By the end of the contest, I had re-learned to discriminate the voices on
the same frequency and was surprised that I actually did not hear the QRN
and QRM that was there and so vexing at the start of the contest.  By the
end of the test, I could copy much better, my short term memory had
improved and allowed me to hold calls and numbers whole even prior to
typing them into the log, and I had succeeded in holding my impatience with
frustrating operators.  Also, I had modulated my sleep and wake pattern to
end feeling refreshed and sorry WPX was over so soon.  (I am retired.)

My point is that this contesting had significantly sharpened my
concentration skills and mental focus, had slapped my memory around to
better function, had made me manipulate my gear well and multi-task it
while planning which band and which direction to point as condx changed,
and had just sharpened me up overall!
I am thinking at how much today's children and youth need this sharpening,
too.  Research on mental processing and learning indicates that what one
does in a contest is very good for mental development and problem solving
in an organized way, teaches not to give up on a self-determined goal, and
gives satisfaction at a task well done... and hope that the learning will
stick with one.

Obviously, I really loved this WPX.  73,
-- 
Charly, HS0ZCW