[CQ-Contest] 1978 Novice Roundup?

[Dave Thompson]

You guys are youngsters.  I got my novice in May 1957 after taking the test in Feb 1957 and I upgraded to Conditional in Early 1958. My first rig was a DX-35 and S-40B receiver. I realized the S-40B was Ok on 40 but working stations on 15 you had to tune for them when you turned it over. I found very early that my CW operating could not keep up with K5IIN and K5QNF (now W2RF) so I concentrated on phone (AM phone that is).

My first contest try was operating from a local who had a 3 el 15 meter beam
at 45 feet, a Viking Ranger, and a 75A4.  Spent 2 hours and made a grand total of 39 Q's in the 1958 CQ WW Phone. My station finally was complete in early November and my first real effort was the ARRL Phone SS. Got tired of flipping a switch to transmit and was far behind my competitor after the first weekend with just over 380 QSO's,  The traditional wisdom was 70% of the QSOs were made the first weekend. I ignored that wisdom and finished with
over 800 QSO's and 3rd Nationally on phone. My station was a HQ-110 receiver, home brew 6146 exciter, W6SAI audio driver, and a 4-400A amp cut back to 150 watts INPUT (not output) and certified by two officers of the local radio club with one being the ARRL Vice Director. I used a brand new Gonset Tri-Bander on a 18 foot boom on a 50 foot telephone pole. I was 14 at the time.

My dad and I figured out how to install a push to talk for the D-104 for the 1959 ARRL Phone SS and I finished with 972 QSOs and Top phone score. back then the SS was two weekends and you either operated CW or Phone but not both.  I noticed several SSB stations doing well and when I had to borrow a 32S1 to work ZM7DA for a new one we decided to add SSB so we built the Heath SB-10. Finally went SSB on Jan 1st 1960. 

SSB with VOX was easy and adding the HC-10 to the receiver was another big step. My dad liked CW so it helped him too. 

Health reasons stopped my active competitive operating in 2009.  I now concentrate on being the DXAC for the Southeastern ARRL Division.  I do get on to pass out a few QSOs so don't be surprised if I call in during a contest. I hope more of the calls listed in the 1978 Novice Round up are shown with the current calls. I work with NN1N on DXCC matters.

73 es sorry for the band width  Dave K4JRB (K5MDX from 1957 to May 1973). 
   


-----Original Message-----
>From: Steve London <n2icarrl at gmail.com>
>Sent: Sep 19, 2017 11:12 PM
>To: cq-contest at contesting.com
>Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] 1978 Novice Roundup?
>
>WD9DCL == NN1N
>WD4AHZ(SK)
>
>On 09/19/2017 05:06 PM, Dave Edmonds wrote:
>> There were 700 players in the 1978 Novice Roundup. I finished first in
>> South Carolina and 62nd place in the US. I'm curious to know if any y'all
>> who beat me are still contesting....
>>