[CQ-Contest] I loved the WPX

[Hank Greeb]

Great commentary!

Nice to hear someone who is NOT CARPING about their pet peeve, or 
complaining just because conditions were marginal for a part or all of 
the period, or that some (most?) people didn't devote the entire 
allotted period.

72/73 de n8xx Hg
QRP >99.44% of the time

On 4/1/2013 12:00 PM, cq-contest-request at contesting.com wrote:
> Message: 4
> Date: Mon, 1 Apr 2013 20:46:55 +0700
> From: Charles Harpole<hs0zcw at gmail.com>
> To: CQ-Contest Reflector<cq-contest at contesting.com>
> Subject: [CQ-Contest] I loved the WPX
>
> 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