2003 ARRL November Sweepstakes (CW)
11/10/2003 |
N8QGC
This was my first entry ever into CW Sweeps. I was semi terrified and not certain that this is what I wanted to do, but I did it anyway.
First things first, I'm no where near a serious contestor. Point in case I was operating on 80 meters and my wife yelled at me because I was destroying the television, I QSY'd to 20 meters. A real contestor would have showed the XYL the door prior to the start of the contest or so I'm told.
I must say that N8CPA's soapbox comments were most enjoyable. I'm still laughing about the Sun answering his CQ with a Solar Flare. If this is going to be a trend I'd perfer that he not send CQ :)
In the end I had fun, I guess that's all I could ask for. CW is not my mode of choice, I'm SSB all the way! Now don't get me wrong, I'm not a code basher, I just perfer to work SSB. It takes great concentration for me to work CW, especially in a contest, and my young family requires much more of my time then I can give to studying and or working CW, so SSB is my chioce for now.
I would only say to the ops that I call rude, and I won't identify you as I'm sure you know who you are and don't care! Shame on you! Fortunatly I only ran into a couple of knuckleheads that would fit this category. These ops are of course the ops that when I would ask for a fill on SEC, or PREC, or whatever would just simply skip me and move on to the next station. How rude! Yeah I know it's a contest, but man oh man chill.
I'd like to recognize one station which I will never forget. KH7X which I got on 40 meters 02/NOV/03 05:59 UTC This op was fantastic. First off this was for the PAC sec so forget that I would just about kill another human being to get this one in the log. Wouldn't you know it the band was swingly wildly up and down with QSB and KH7X was swinging with it. I listened and listened to make sure that I got as much of his info as possible. When I finally made my call it took a time or two but KH7X answered me, I was beside my self. My little 100 watt dipole station had busted the pile up and I was about to confirm PAC or was I? Oh darn what number was that he gave me? I sent NR ? until I finally got it all and sent it back to him what a contact. What made it so special? The exchange probably took 1 or 2 minutes. He never gave up on me. He or she I should say, but it was great. We went back and fourth until KH7X had all my info and I had all his/hers and then he Thanked me. I was in shock!
So to the KH7X crew, many many thanks from a guy who is not a CW operator. I thank you for putting up with me and being patient. To all else whom I may have asked for fills thank you too. To those stations who passed me by because I asked for a fill, phooey on you! Remember you need us little guys too. A station with a loud signal is only as good as it's receive. Kinda like a fast car with no breaks, in the end you'll be hurtin....
See you all in SSB Sweeps. My club does a little inter club contest where we split the members of the club into two teams and compete against each other. Total Sweeps combined score of one team vs. the other. Winner gets served a speghetti dinner by the looser in March of the following year. I was served last year, and I intend to be served this year.
73 de John N8QGC -- N8QGC
First things first, I'm no where near a serious contestor. Point in case I was operating on 80 meters and my wife yelled at me because I was destroying the television, I QSY'd to 20 meters. A real contestor would have showed the XYL the door prior to the start of the contest or so I'm told.
I must say that N8CPA's soapbox comments were most enjoyable. I'm still laughing about the Sun answering his CQ with a Solar Flare. If this is going to be a trend I'd perfer that he not send CQ :)
In the end I had fun, I guess that's all I could ask for. CW is not my mode of choice, I'm SSB all the way! Now don't get me wrong, I'm not a code basher, I just perfer to work SSB. It takes great concentration for me to work CW, especially in a contest, and my young family requires much more of my time then I can give to studying and or working CW, so SSB is my chioce for now.
I would only say to the ops that I call rude, and I won't identify you as I'm sure you know who you are and don't care! Shame on you! Fortunatly I only ran into a couple of knuckleheads that would fit this category. These ops are of course the ops that when I would ask for a fill on SEC, or PREC, or whatever would just simply skip me and move on to the next station. How rude! Yeah I know it's a contest, but man oh man chill.
I'd like to recognize one station which I will never forget. KH7X which I got on 40 meters 02/NOV/03 05:59 UTC This op was fantastic. First off this was for the PAC sec so forget that I would just about kill another human being to get this one in the log. Wouldn't you know it the band was swingly wildly up and down with QSB and KH7X was swinging with it. I listened and listened to make sure that I got as much of his info as possible. When I finally made my call it took a time or two but KH7X answered me, I was beside my self. My little 100 watt dipole station had busted the pile up and I was about to confirm PAC or was I? Oh darn what number was that he gave me? I sent NR ? until I finally got it all and sent it back to him what a contact. What made it so special? The exchange probably took 1 or 2 minutes. He never gave up on me. He or she I should say, but it was great. We went back and fourth until KH7X had all my info and I had all his/hers and then he Thanked me. I was in shock!
So to the KH7X crew, many many thanks from a guy who is not a CW operator. I thank you for putting up with me and being patient. To all else whom I may have asked for fills thank you too. To those stations who passed me by because I asked for a fill, phooey on you! Remember you need us little guys too. A station with a loud signal is only as good as it's receive. Kinda like a fast car with no breaks, in the end you'll be hurtin....
See you all in SSB Sweeps. My club does a little inter club contest where we split the members of the club into two teams and compete against each other. Total Sweeps combined score of one team vs. the other. Winner gets served a speghetti dinner by the looser in March of the following year. I was served last year, and I intend to be served this year.
73 de John N8QGC -- N8QGC
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