[kids] N5NU Kid's day story/log
Jason Goldsberry
n5nu@inu.net
Sun, 22 Jun 1997 02:00:50 -0500
Hello!
Well, since this is kid's day contest, and it only comes around once a
year, I decided to invite my unlicensed friend John over to operate, watch,
and learn about the contesting. He has never been around ham radio and
knew little about it except seeing the rig there and the antenna up on the
tower.
He arrived here around 11:00 A.M.. We played some baseball but we got
hot really quickly. After that we came back in turned on the rig and
computer and I explained how everything worked. We still had about 30
minutes to kill before the contest, so we went back out and played some
more until I hit a baseball out into the weeds and we couldn't find it. We
came back in just at about 12:58 (1758z here). I listened around the first
five minutes and hardly heard anybody.
I spent the first fifteen minutes doing "drill" QSO's where he called CQ
and I made up a call and answered him. He had to give me the exchange
back. I made the first twelve contacts and let him watch and log what he
could (I kept a backup paper log). Finally, he wanted to try it while I
logged. I wrote down what he was supposed to say on a piece of paper and
taped it up on the curtains. He called the CQ several times and not much
came back. Finally, he got his first contact. He made five more and
wanted me to take it back. After that, I took it and passed it back and
forth. What kept on happening was he would call CQ, or either -
A: The station answering would go away,
B: Quit half-way through the exchange and wouldn't finish,
C: Bursts of QRN,
D: Microphone gives problems.
At one point, he got frustrated. We went outside and played some.
Since there were no more baseballs or nothing that even resembled a
baseball, we smashed an empty coke can and played "Distance Derby" with it.
Finally, I just did the CQ'ing and let him work the loud ones. There
was RF that kept getting back into the headset when the rig ran more than
50 watts. (It only does it on one band). I plugged in the back-up
microphone that had a bad wire on it, and it worked for about an hour
before it messed up. So we were either stuck with a half-working (or less)
microphone and 600 watts, or a working microphone and 50 watts. I
discovered that if you held the microphone in one position, it would work
fine. John, never did get the microphone to work right and it kept
breaking up/out on him. One other problem was that he talked to fast. I
did a demo while talking regular slow speed and let him listen to the
stations call. I guess the microphone just didn't like him...
Overall, we both had fun and he admitted that he would like to see
another one be done. He is just like I was at first...I hated to talk on
the microphone. Several more contests and that will be gone...
Other thoughts:
I would like to see what we could do with a full six hours and a
microphone that works. There were only a few stations that didn't want to
give their age when I asked. Some laughed, some lied, and one in
particular said "I FEEL like I'm...today." Oh yes, and one absolutely
refused to do so. I never did have a problem with nets, though. I "QRLed"
on a maritime mobile net, a net on 7.230, and a bunch of South American
stations came on talking in Spanish, but I just turned the antenna.
Operator #1: Jason, N5NU -
exchange: JASON 14 TX BLUE
Operator #2: John, N0CALL yet -
exchange: JOHN 14 TX PURPLE
Equipment: Kenwood TS 850 driving Ten Tec Centaur at 500-600w.
Antennas: 3 ele. Mosley CL 33 and dipoles at 75 feet.
Operating time: 2:30
(2 distinct 1:10-hr. breaks + 2- 30 minute eat breaks) + 10 min.
get-a-coke-breaks)
I think it is best not to over-do it the first time.
Highlights and cute points:
- Randy at N9VVV said "I love you" at the end of the contact.
- Lisa's dad (K6XX) is coaching in background and says "No, no, no" in the
background and Lisa says the same thing.
- Alexander at AA7VL starts screaming "I'm four and a half!! I'm four and a
half!!" into the microphone when I get it wrong.
- John (here at N5NU) ends a "CQ Contest" with "Please answer me!!"...and
three came back...and proceeds to do it again and the same result.
What is unusal:
I never did hear many young operators at other stations. I never did hear
AA5BT, K6LL, K7YA, N6QU, plus about 10 others. I even did some S&P but
still nothing. Nothing on 40. I kept checking it for an opening, and even
spent 5 minutes CQ'ing but with no response. Why don't they have this once
a month, or once every two months? I think it would be a great idea!
Here is the log....
Call Name Age State Favorite color Nr.
============================================================================
WD4EWX JAMES 47 MN GOLD 01
W9ITF/M DON 59 MI BLUE 02
K1ZK ZACH 17 ME BLUE 03
N4SIE JERRY 53 TN GREEN 04
N9QQK RON 49 IL RED 05
KA1JD DICK 59 MA BLUE 06
WA4DKE BOB 58 FL BLUE 07
N2YGK/4 ALAN 38 NC BLUE 08
KG9AC HAROLD 58 WI BLUE 09
KA0TXT/9 CHRIS 8 IN WHITE 10
KA4WRR TOM 54 OH GREEN 11
NJ3M JOE 69 PA BLUE 12
NJ3M JOE 69 PA BLUE 13 John
N9VVV RANDY 4 IL BLUE 14 John
N9VVV RANDY 4 IL BLUE 15
N8YYS ROY 55 WV BLUE 16 John
N8YYS ROY 55 WV BLUE 17
N8YYS op-2 PAUL 13 WV GREEN 18 John
N8YYS op-2 PAUL 13 WV GREEN 19
AA9TY DALE 34 IL BLUE 20 John
KA0HIB DAVE 46 IA BLUE 21 John
W3/WP4MSX MARTY 102 PA RED 22
KB9ABX CHRIS -- IN BLUE 23
KR4DD BILLY 49 AL YELLOW 24
KA9EZJ JERRY 12 AL RED 25
K9GD/M JERRY 49 IL BLUE 26
KG2FH STEPHANIE 8 NY PINK 27
KG2FH STEPHANIE 8 NY PINK 28 John
NO2D PETER 58 GA BLUE 29
N4BLO HARRY 88 FL GREEN 30
KT4RJ/M STEVE 28 FL BLUE 31
KC8CHR ROY 37 MI RED 32
WB9KAZ JEFF 43 IL PURPLE 33
N8SMI EDDIE 48 MI BLUE 34
K8UC CURT 63 WV WHITE 35
N3DZD RAY 45 PA BLUE 36
W9TNZ HAROLD 79 IL GREEN 37
KA9EKJ op-2 AARON 12 AL GREEN 38
KF4AYP JACK 55 SC BLUE 39
W4PSZ/M ARNOLD 69 GA RED 40
N7JTW HAROLD 77 WA BLUE 41
W0IJN/7 JIM 74 MT BLUE 42
W0IJN/7 JIM 74 MT BLUE 43 John
KG9GM ERNIE 69 IL BLUE 44
AA9SY BOB 60 WI BLUE 45
KK7GC/0 GEORGE 54 CO GREEN 46
VE7PDX/M ROLAND 55 BC RED 47
VE7PDX/M ROLAND 55 BC RED 48 John
K7NPP/AG DON 30 WA BLUE 49
K6XX SARA(H)? 5 CA GREEN 50
W6UKH MARV 35 CA BLUE 51
K7ZO SCOTT 39 ID GREEN 52
KM5HA/M RON 38 NM PURPLE 53
W6JVA DON 65 CA DARK GREEN 54
WB6LRG DON 65 CA HEATHKIT GREEN 55
W6LAB/M BRYCE 62 CA RED 56
W6YJ JENNIFER 9 CA PURPLE 57
KC7QDH DAVE 38 WA BLUE 58
KE3KW PETE 42 PA RED 59
KQ6OF MALCOLM 43 CA BLUE 60
KC7TAK BRIAN 18 OR RED 61
KC7TAK BRIAN 18 OR RED 62 John
WB7OWF HARLAN 48 WA RED 63
KG7CW MARK 56 WA BLUE 64
AB7PZ BRUCE 42 OR BROWN 65
AB7PZ BRUCE 42 OR BROWN 66 John
XE2/KC6TYT/M PHIL 48 MEX RED 67
XE2/KC6TYT/M HIL 48 MEX RED 68 John
KE6WFX BOB 50 CA PURPLE 69
KO6QK JOHN 35 CA RED 70
WM6R JOHN 41 CA RED 71
AC6MD MARV 64 CA BLUE 72
AC7DX RON 57 OR PURPLE 73
KB6QLC DON 49 CA ORANGE 74
K6XX op-2 LISA 3 CA PINK 75
AA0LH JOHN 46 CO BLUE 76
K6SRZ ALAN 53 CA BLUE 77
WB7DEA MARK 45 WA PURPLE 78
W6FGS KEN 68 CA BLUE 79
W0LTL/M MIKE 55 AZ RED 80
W7KL JACK 79 WA GREEN 81
WA5LIG/6 DENNIS 53 CA BLUE 82
KB6LZW DENNIS 45 CA BLUE 83
AA7VL JOHN 43 OR BLUE 84
AA7VL op-2 ALEXANDER 4.5 OR PURPLE 85
AB7VI VINCE 58 WA PURPLE 86
VE6DGG DAVE 35 AB BLUE 87
K4AIM/6 DON 83 CA BLUE 88
N6IQ/M DOC 55 CA BLUE 89
KJ7YJ PAUL 64 OR BROWN 90
Any comments welcome...
73, Jason N5NU
n5nu@inu.net
N5NU Homepage
http://www.inu.net/n5nu/
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