12/07/2008 | KC0MO The members of the Raytown Amateur Radio Club listed in this soapbox would like to thank Steve K0OU and his wife Kathy WB0LFY for hosting a club multi-op during the phone portion of the ARRL Sweepstakes using the newly acquired KC0MO callsign. The callsign is special to us because we live in the Kansas City, Missouri metropolitan area.

Each year the Raytown Amateur Radio Club using the callsign K0GQ makes a great showing in class 2A during Field Day. Steve wanted to give the membership, especially those that have little to no contesting experience, the opportunity to participate in a real contest.

As many contesters surely know by now, Steve K0OU lives and breathes contesting. Steve successfully demonstrates that a contester can be competitive from a small city lot using just a lone Yagi antenna on a single 65 foot tower, a couple of wire antennas, a Hygain vertical, and NO listening antennas. There is simply no room for any kind of Beverage antennas.

Barbara KG0UT, the Raytown Amateur Radio Club President, and Dave KG0US are experienced contesters having had the treat of operating at PJ2T during one occasion. Barb did not operate as much as she would have liked because she has recently been having trouble keeping her voice, but when not operating she helped out finding spots and she also made a nice pot of ham and beans with corn bread. Boy it was good! However, some of us were concerned that we might add a little CW QRM during the later portion of the phone contest!

We are happy to have the club involvement of Bob W7KU and his wife Rosalie. Bob retired a couple of years ago and moved from his home in Arizona to the Kansas City area to be closer to his daughter and his grandchildren. Bob has been involved with in many amateur radio activities over the years including many contests, QSO parties, and Route 66 events. Bob was one of the main operators during the contest and he did a fine job!

Joel KC0ELZ, our club treasurer, has been a valuable asset to the club for many years. Joel claims not to be a contester but he has had many years of Field Day experience. Joel recently upgraded to General class and has been observed on at least one previous occasion enjoying a contest while learning the many features of the Writelog logging program.

Ed AC0MK, our club secretary, is one of our newer members with a desire to become more involved in chasing DX and contesting. Ed did a fine job operating and assisting in finding needed contacts for the search and pounce station.

Wayne KA0JJH, and his son Warren KD0DST, provided moral support and assistance during the contest. Wayne, his wife Phyllis, his son Warren, and his daughter Crystal, have provided invaluable assistance during recent Field Day outings. Warren is a new inexperienced contest operator but he is relatively young, is brave, and has a desire to learn. Early on, someone decided to have Warren operate the run radio on 75 meters phone. Warren was doing a great job and then it happened the pile-up! Like many first time contesters, Warrens first pile-up proved too much for him and Barb took over until the storm passed. Later, I was joking with new arrivals that the pile-up was so scary and intimidating to Warren that he ran away from the radio and hid in the bathroom and would not come out. The visitor then replied, He Did! Of course, none of this really happened but you cannot let a few facts get in the way of a good story. Warren did a great job and we are glad to have him in our club.

No contest would be complete without the logistical or social aspect, sometimes known as moral support. Wayne KA0JJH, Dennis K0DNG, and Jerry NF9L were there to provide assistance if needed when called upon. Then there was Steves frisky Jack Russell Terrier named Bo. Bo provided a special kind of humor and excitement during the contest. It was nice to have Bo around to generate a few laughs.

I have a special sidebar story that I wanted to share. Several weeks ago Jerry was over at a neighbor of Joels KC0ELZ house talking. Jerry was completely out of ham radio for quite a while and he had never met Joel. For years, the Raytown Amateur Radio Club has had a hand painted sign on a small sheet of plywood describing the club and Joel hangs the sign out in front of his garage when it is not being used for club functions. Apparently, Jerry saw the sign, started asking questions, upgraded to Extra class, and now he is valuable member of our club. But that is not all. Since then, he has redesigned our new k0gq.com website and he has been the driving force behind our K0GQ repeater now being connected to Echolink. Jerry does not like me telling the story because he is modest but I think it is incredible what a little sign hanging over someones garage can do for amateur radio!! By the way, please visit our website and our K0GQ Echolink node. We have a weekly Sunday night net at 8 PM and we enjoy Echolink check-ins.

In summary, the contest was a great time for all who participated. The experience operators had fun watching and teaching the inexperienced operators. The inexperienced operators learned the challenges of a real contest exchange and the difficulties in trying to transmit such a long exchange from a search and pounce station between run station transmissions.

We were able to make 1488 QSOs and a Clean Sweep but this is little consolation with the Super Station of N0NI running Multi-Op just north of us in Iowa, a part of the Midwest Division. I miss the past friendly rivalries we shared with Bruce K0BJ and his friends in Kansas. We both had comparable stations which made it that much more fun!

73, -- KG0US