01/22/2009 | K5HK I participated again this year from Reno Nevada using my Elecraft KX1t at 3W into a 40M vertically polarized Delta Loop and an old homebrew straight key. I had limited time available alas and only worked 9 stations but also listened in on several other QSOs. One notable QSO was with KA9UDA/Roger who used a Knight Kit T-50 and a German Yunker Key. I was struck by how busy the 40m band was here with SKN stations and the many good fists and classic rigs worked and heard! I've been a ham over 45 years now and SKN 2009 signals brought back many happy memmories of my early days in ham radio with 50khz of solid QSOs on the band with great sounding fists and rigs! This had to have been one of the most active SKN events in years and just makes me look forward even more to next year. I haven't put my straight key back on the shelf here since and see that many others are still using straight keys on the air. A nice indication that we could make this a positive trend. 73/72 de K5HK Carl in Reno, Nevada. -- K5HK