11/19/2003 | WB8RFB This year's SS Phone was a low point score-wise for me. It seemed band conditions were constantly changing and I had to ask/send a lot more repeats than in past years. Sure shows you what poor band conditions will do.

However, it was nice to see a lot of new '03 Check's out there and realize that some of the new hams are getting their feet wet in a premier contest that has been fun for me since I got into ham radio back in the '70's.

Although I didn't put in much time this year, it still was nice to make the contacts that I did. It was also good to still see that some ops don't take this event so seriously that they can't take the time to "stop and smell the roses." By that I mean that I heard a few stations have a "mini-QSO" after the contest exchange and relate how things were going to each other. To me, that brings out the essence of ham radio.

That's not meant to disparage the big guns. It was nice to work them too as they are very efficient, have great signals and you are in and out of there in a jiffy. We need both kinds of ops to make this the successful event it is. I heard a lot of them patiently work stations that didn't have a lot of contest experience. That's the sign of a true ham!

Let's hope that 2004 brings better band conditions and more ops getting on the air from the "rarer" sections.

See you all next year. -- WB8RFB