01/04/2005 | N8KC There's nothin' quite like Straight Key Night if you want to get back to Hamming at it's most primeval. A ham and his key pumping out a message.... I haven't missed one yet in the 15 years I've been licensed. This year was no different. Although I generally use iambic paddles for speed, my Nye-Viking Master key is always ready for those more sedate qso's. (I never WAS able to send much faster than 15wpm on a stright key.. if I wanted to get to Extra Class, I HAD to go iambic... I never DID tame my two Vibroplex bugs!). My very 1st QSO at 0003Z got my vote for best fist heard... letter-perfect code for almost 45 minutes, and at a pretty good clip! I wound up making 6 QSOs... certainly no record, but all but one were 30 minutes or more in the making. One fella I worked, a KA2 long-time Novice licensee, would put plenty of Extra Class CW ops to shame on his homebrew straight key... in fact he claimed to have given his previous QSO partner 'carpal tunnel'!! (He came close to doing the same to me after 45 minutes!!)
SKN is one of my favorite operating events (Field Day is #1)and I look forward to the next one. Each time I work SKN, I can usually be heard using my straight key for weeks afterward... it's kind'a like it relights the fire of your first days as a ham. Hope to catch ya' on the bands! -- N8KC