[kids] Kid's Day Result: K1JE

[Michael C. Joens]

Result: 10 QSO's in all, and a happy child.
All sent exchanges were: Anna, 5, Massachusetts, pink

Anna had been anxiously awaiting Kid's Day for a while after having a lot 
of fun last June, and she wasn't disappointed. She even dressed in all 
pink, her favorite color, for the event.

Even though Anna's patience improved quite a bit, it seemed harder to find 
other kids by searching than it was in June. At 18:00z there were quite a 
few ragchews going on in the part of 20m that was assigned to the kids, and 
we actually heard a kid getting bashed for inadvertently stepping on a QSO. 
So we moved to 15m, which was better (= quieter), and we CQ-ed for a while. 
8 QSO's in about 20 minutes before Anna's friend called, asking her to come 
over. We made two more QSO's for a total of 10, and Anna now has something 
to talk about when she goes back to school on Monday (as if Christmas 
weren't enough).

Operating experience 1: After a while, we found it beneficial to CQ with 
the linear off. Too many stations heard us with high power and then it was 
very difficult to make out the soft, shy voices that came back. For the 
exchange we turned the linear on to make it easier for others to copy 
Anna's voice.

Operating experience 2: Keep something else around to do between QSO's. 
Anna had some paper to doodle on. She pretended to keep a log and wrote 
down a few call signs and names (correctly, too).

Oh, and Anna remembered Rebecca, KB0VVT, "the girl who has her own 
license", from last June. That really made quite an impression on her. "How 
old is she now?" Luckily, we found her on the bands and Anna could find out 
first-hand. Rebecca had quite a pile-up, and her operating style was 
immaculate, a true example for other children. I hope my children will 
become more interested in this hobby someday, and good examples are the 
best advertising.

Where was Mary, Anna's little sister, you may ask? Well, she was lying in 
bed with her mom, both of them with a bad fever. Mary had no interest in 
ham radio this time with 103 degrees and properly medicated. You'll hear 
her again in June, I'm sure.

73 (88 from Anna)
Anna and Michael, K1JE


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