Here is the much anticipated by some, and much dreaded by others, next installment of my micronoscopic dissection of my “G-expedition” to North Georgia for the Georgia QSO Party.  I was only on for eight of the ten hours of the first day, but by the time I’m through you may think I was on the road for weeks.    I had a blast and felt really good about my score of 208 station and 30 multipliers until I started seeing other logs come in.  My post mortem of the post mortem will be another chapter.  This edition of musings is a continuation of the lessons I learned during the journey…

Lesson Learned Number Six:  Inverters are More Finicky than Vera Wang on Rodeo Drive

                Not only did the Inverter squeal like a pig when I tried to hook up two laptop computers (probably a poor analogy to use when talking about my trip through North Georgia), it was also a source of considerable electronic noise when it wasn’t being pampered.  As related earlier, although the inverter has 300 WATTS silkscreened on it bold letters, the fine print reveals that it will only yield 140 Watts if plugged into the vehicle accessory outlet.  My conviction is that the unit must have a yin and yang that is balanced on a razor thin edge.  It gets very unhappy and pitches a tantrum if the supply voltage drops at all.  If you try to ask it to do the least bit more than it want to do (which is an arbitrary amount that constantly changes), it pitches a fit worse than a 30-year veteran union laborer at the Convention Center on move-out day (If you are a union member, this is not a personal slam – unless you are the grizzled, and very disgruntled veteran forklift driver that I encountered at a trade show in Philadelphia a few years back). 

                Next time:  All the more reason to use the alligator clips and attach the inverter to a good, solid, stable power source.

Lesson Learned Number Seven: Listen to those Small Voices

                It was getting well into the trip and I had been working stations in Lumpkin County (affectionately known as “the LUMP”) at a pretty good rate.  My wife deftly navigated beautiful blue Town and Country chariot up Highway 19 from Dahlonega to Blairsville, a twisty, windy, climbing road that ascended a foothill of the Smoky Mountains and that seemed to hold a surprise around every bend.   As we were getting closer, I was “teasing” my contacts to stick around for Union; that we would be there in just a few minutes.  Finally we reached the summit and crossed the Union County line.  We pulled off into a parking lot, and a mini pile-up ensued.  All of my contacts remarked at how my signal came up as I crossed the peak.  I was feeling really jazzed!  Suddenly through the ethos I heard a familiar voice:

 “KB4KBS from ZF1DX.”

“The Delta X-Ray station, your full call?”

“Zed Eff One Delta X-Ray, Hey Scott.”

“Oh, Hey Vern! Thanks for the call, great signal from the Caymans.  You’re 5-9 in Union County.

I look forward to chatting with you back in Roswell when you get home.”

Then he was gone and I typed his call into the logging program, erased Cayman Islands and entered ‘DX’ in the S/P/C field and hit return.  Nothing happened.  Try again: call – report – location – enter. Still nothing.  The program just wouldn’t take the data. I had other stations calling me, so I said “QRX a minute folks, while I get his call in the log – its giving me problems.”    Suddenly from the chaos a 5-by-5 voice astutely said,

” Write it down on a piece of paper OM, we’re all waiting…” 

Thanks, whoever you were, for the best piece of timely contesting advice I could ever receive.  I did just that, and got back to the business of the pile-up, giving out Union County multipliers to the gracious and patient masses.

                Next Time: Keep a pen and piece of paper handy, and if the logging program hiccups on a call, note the particulars – his call, his location, the band, mode, and time, then move on.  Don’t ever keep your “peeps” waiting.

Lesson Learned Number Eight: The inventor of the Voice Keyer deserves the Nobel Prize… and a Prison Sentence

                This is probably something that ought to be in the post mortem chapter, but even before I was home I was feeling the effects of the constant talking.  I thought about getting a microphone for my PC and recording some simple .wav file audio loops before the event but I know how much I detest the “lids” that play their “CQ” loops over, and over, and over and how much I don’t want to be like them.  They’re like the blonde who had to be rescued from the shower because she was following the shampoo bottle instructions that say lather, rinse and repeat …  Of course I’m not the sharpest knife in the drawer either, and there has been more than one contest that I have tried to participate in from home where I’m busy calling a station with a voice keyer on perpetual repeat, using every ounce of my thimble full of ERP only to un-key and hear his message loop go again, and again…but I digress.   Now that I’ve done one good contest with a semi-“real” station, I can understand what drives contesters to uses these blessed/cursed tools.  It is now two days later and my throat is still sore and swollen. 

                Next time: Go ahead and take the time before the contest to record the messages, and also start an awareness campaign to encourage the responsible use of voice keyers .  What’s wrong with appending to the end of a “CQ” message these three simple words: “please call now…?” (And this is the novel part) then actually listen for stations to call?

I realize this is only three lessons, but I’m really sleep deprived and my creativeness is waning.   Thanks to all who made positive and affirming comments about my first release, but even more thanks to those of you who showed great restraint and didn’t tell me what you really thought of my drivel.  More lessons later…

73,

Scott, KB4KBS

------------------------------------------------------

Scott Straw, CTS-D, CTS-I, EMT-I

scottstraw@mindspring.com

A/V Engineer

SPL Integrated Solutions, Inc.

Norcross, Georgia 30093

sstraw@splis.com

Technical Director of Contemporary Worship

Northside United Methodist Church

Atlanta, Georgia 30303

scott.straw@northsideumc.org

Firefighter/EMT

Roswell Fire Department

Roswell, Georgia 30075

sstraw@ci.roswell.ga.us