[CQ-Contest] First Stew Perry! Squee!

Mon Mar 14 16:19:19 EDT 2016

KL7SB wrote: " I think most of us run somewhere between 28-38 wpm"

Even though I fall in the category that "passed the code", and have no 
interest in reviving that discussion, I find that 25 WPM, or less, is far 
more productive, for me. With no room for an efficient receive antenna, I'm 
always grateful to those that do.

C'Ya, Shelby - K4WW

Since I don't  have an iPad or iPhone, sent from my PC
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Stephen Bloom" <sbloom at acsalaska.net>
To: "'Neil Martinsen-Burrell'" <neilmartinsenburrell at gmail.com>; "'CQ 
Contest'" <cq-contest at contesting.com>
Sent: Monday, March 14, 2016 12:06 PM
Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] First Stew Perry! Squee!

> Wow ..I'm envious (in a good way!).  Top Band is so much fun!
>
> John (K4BAI) is absolutely right about the slow speed running.  160M cw
> contests tend to feature slower speeds by nature ...because of QSB and 
> noise
> levels ..but even in the big ones ...I've been starting to find some time 
> to
> go in the high end of the band ...go to 20wpm or so and see what happens
> ..It takes a couple of minutes ..but it's now to the point where I 
> *always*
> end up working some new ...usually unfamiliar callsigns, many on straight
> keys.  Most of us here have been doing QRQ for years ...but most of us 
> also
> started with a Licensing system with Code Tests ...Novice bands, busy NTS
> Traffic Nets etc ..(not looking to refight those battles btw, just that 
> ..to
> keep cw contesting viable over the long haul ..we need alternatives). 
> What
> I'm finding out is ...a couple of groups (CWops and SKCC come to mind 
> ..but
> no doubt there are others) ..have been training a bunch of ops ..but they
> can only take them so far ..usually the low 20s (btw I highly endorse both
> groups), then these guys just have to hit the scrum.   I think most of us
> run somewhere between 28-38 wpm ...leaving a gap for the newer guys.  I'm
> not saying to break high rate runs to do this ...but ...I encourage anyone
> ..big gun, little pistol, or Trump yuuuuuge signal to give this a shot.
> Those 18wpm guys are the future.  Oh and Wes WL7F ..don't say a word :)
>
> 73
> Steve KL7SB
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: CQ-Contest [mailto:cq-contest-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of
> Neil Martinsen-Burrell
> Sent: Sunday, March 13, 2016 9:31 AM
> To: CQ Contest <cq-contest at contesting.com>
> Subject: [CQ-Contest] First Stew Perry! Squee!
>
> [Excuse the sleep-deprived crowings of a wet-behind-the-ears peanut 
> whistle.
> You august big guns can probably skip this one.]
>
> After adding some wire extensions to my 80m two radial, inverted-L to turn
> it into a 160m two radial, inverted-L during yesterday's stupendous 
> weather
> here in Iowa, I jumped on the Spring Stew Perry for the first time at 
> around
> 0400Z. I am fairly new to CW and even newer to CW contesting.
>
> I programmed the memories on my K2/100 with my call and exchange (no rig
> interface here) and started working my way down the band from 1.850. I
> called to everyone I could hear and worked them all (except N6KR who was
> loud but didn't hear me). I found that I could mostly decipher even the 
> fast
> exchanges by pre-listening before I called.
>
> I almost turned in for the night, figuring that my compromise antenna and
> lack of dedicated receiving antennas meant that I had done all I could. 
> But
> then I remembered something that John K4BAI had said in a kind email after
> one of the slow speed CWTs. He told me that I shouldn't be afraid to run 
> at
> my own slow speed (usually 18wpm these days). So, I headed way up the band
> to 1.840 and programmed a memory for "CQ N0FN SP" and started calling.
>
> The recent discussion of running for small stations made me realize that
> calling with no response for 10 minutes wasn't unreasonable, so I 
> committed
> to that even if no one answered. Looking at the contacts already in the 
> log,
> I also saw that I had spent ten minutes without a contact just trying to
> decipher a weird pile up with my weak CW skills.
>
> Then I had the most fun I've ever had on the radio! I worked 39 stations 
> in
> the next hour, my personal best one hour total ever. Since I was the one
> calling CQ and since band conditions on 160 are so inconsistent, I didn't
> feel bad at all sending "?" if I only copied the first two characters in a
> call sign (which is very common for me). Then, because I was in control of
> the QSO, it was easy to ask for repeats on the returned exchange. Hurray 
> for
> an exchange that is more interesting than 594 yet still easy to send with 
> a
> paddle!
>
> Everyone was extremely patient and polite, slowing down to my slow speed,
> patiently repeating, dealing with my poor sending as the night went on, 
> and
> calling with great manners. I got to work some of my idols from the ham
> email lists: John K4BAI, Jim K9YC, Zac W1VT, Nick WA5BDU, and many others
> I'll come to know eventually.
>
> I went to bed with 101 in the log in 4 hours of operating, and got 6 more
> this morning when the cat was kind enough to wake me up at 1200Z before 
> the
> baby woke up. Needless to say, this is my best ever total in a CW contest.
>
> Much thanks is due to CWOps for their great CW Academy with Bill K5LN
> teaching, Mike KM9R who gave me a sweetheart deal on the K2 so I could 
> keep
> improving, Jim K9YC for his work on when to choose low, elevated verticals
> instead of low dipoles, John K4BAI for his suggestion to try running even 
> if
> my code speed is slow, N6TR for a contest logger that is simple enough for
> me and lightweight enough for my secondhand Linux box, and everyone else 
> who
> made last night such fun.
>
> If you made it this far, thanks for reading, and thanks for playing this
> great game!
>
> -Neil N0FN
> Decorah, Iowa EN43
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