2007 ARRL Straight Key Night
01/02/2007 |
W2LJ
My name is Larry and my callsign is W2LJ and I am a CW and QRP addict. And no, I do NOT want a 12 step program to break my Morse Code habit! I love sending Morse Code over the air! And to prove it, I belong to FISTS, the North American QRP CW Club as well as the Straight Key Century Club. Straight Key Night should be considered a national holiday as far as I'm concerned! Wait a sec, I think it already is!
Anyway, I had a blast! I didn't work an amazing amount of stations; but the ones I did work, I had a good time doing so. I was pleased to have the company of the following fists: Jim N3JV, Hank K8DD, Jim WG1L, Mike W4KAV, Lynn WA2DAC and Keith N1AS who was operating the Straight Key Century Club Special Event Station K1Y/1 (which will be on the air throughout January 2007 - hint, hint!).
For the evening and next day, I used my brand new Christmas 2006 mini Straight Key that my lovely wife Marianne gave me for Christmas. This key is offered by Marshall Emm N1FN over at Milestone Technologies; and it is a gem! The key is designed so that all the "brass pounding" effort happens right over the center of gravity of the key - hence, no wandering or wabbling all over the bench, even though it's so small. I was able to use this straight key for the entire SKN event without my arm or wrist grumbling for even a bit! I'm including a picture - yes, that's the Christmas Key on top of my Elecraft Hex Key - just so you can get an idea of its size.
It was so heartwarming to hear the bands crowded, shoulder to shoulder with Morse Code. It makes you wonder why they aren't that way ALL the time. According to everything I'm reading, everyone had an enjoyable time - c'mon guys, let's keep this up and make every night SKN!
By the way, membership in the NAQCC and SKCC are both free! If you enjoy CW as much as I do - check these groups out:
http://www.fists.org/ for FISTS - http://www.arm-tek.net/~yoel/ for the NAQCC and http://groups.yahoo.com/group/skcc/ fot the SKCC
73 de Larry W2LJ
FISTS #1469, NAQCC #35, SKCC #49 -- W2LJ
Anyway, I had a blast! I didn't work an amazing amount of stations; but the ones I did work, I had a good time doing so. I was pleased to have the company of the following fists: Jim N3JV, Hank K8DD, Jim WG1L, Mike W4KAV, Lynn WA2DAC and Keith N1AS who was operating the Straight Key Century Club Special Event Station K1Y/1 (which will be on the air throughout January 2007 - hint, hint!).
For the evening and next day, I used my brand new Christmas 2006 mini Straight Key that my lovely wife Marianne gave me for Christmas. This key is offered by Marshall Emm N1FN over at Milestone Technologies; and it is a gem! The key is designed so that all the "brass pounding" effort happens right over the center of gravity of the key - hence, no wandering or wabbling all over the bench, even though it's so small. I was able to use this straight key for the entire SKN event without my arm or wrist grumbling for even a bit! I'm including a picture - yes, that's the Christmas Key on top of my Elecraft Hex Key - just so you can get an idea of its size.
It was so heartwarming to hear the bands crowded, shoulder to shoulder with Morse Code. It makes you wonder why they aren't that way ALL the time. According to everything I'm reading, everyone had an enjoyable time - c'mon guys, let's keep this up and make every night SKN!
By the way, membership in the NAQCC and SKCC are both free! If you enjoy CW as much as I do - check these groups out:
http://www.fists.org/ for FISTS - http://www.arm-tek.net/~yoel/ for the NAQCC and http://groups.yahoo.com/group/skcc/ fot the SKCC
73 de Larry W2LJ
FISTS #1469, NAQCC #35, SKCC #49 -- W2LJ
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