01/02/2007 | N9DD I always think of Straight Key Night as an 80 meter event. I guess
that's because I spent most of my straight key days as a Novice back
in 1972 calling CQ de WN9IUQ on that band.

For this year's event, I dug out my old Novice key and tuned the rig
up on 80 meters. Imagine my surprise, when the first QSO I ran across
included KG4IUQ - same suffix as my old novice call! When Mark
finished, I quickly gave him a call and he came right back. It sure
seemed strange to be sending that old "IUQ" again. We had a nice chat
and my SKN adventure continued.

A few QSOs later I had the treat of running into Dan, NI9Y in the
next town over. I've known Dan for years, but we haven't had an HF
QSO since 1987. Dan took a video of our contact and sent it along in an
email. Now, that is something I never could have dreamed possible 35
years ago. Thanks Dan!

I love CW and SKN is one of my favorite ham radio events. My fist
might not be as good as it used to be, but a few enjoyable hours of
pounding brass, late at night on 80 meters sure brings back a lot of
enjoyable memories. I'll be back next year for sure! -- N9DD