11/30/2002 | W1JQ Well, for the first time ever I had my logging software blow up mid-contest. No one to blame but myself, since it's my own program. Fortunately, it was backing up every QSO to another computer on my network, so I didn't lose anything,
but it's not what you want to be fixing at 1 AM. Then there were the
times I changed bands and forgot to tell the logger--had to go back and guess when the band change took place. Right after the contest, I ordered the digital interface for my rig and wrote the software to read the band automatically. That will help for next time. Meanwhile, I don't want to think about how many points I'll lose.

Still, part of the fun is griping about what went wrong. There was plenty that went right. I had a lot of fun; made my first clean sweep ever (worked Maritime 1st QSO Sunday morning); didn't get to 1000 Qs (my pre-contest goal), but got close enough. There's always next year.

There are lots of contests, but SS is always one of the most fun. -- W1JQ