2012 ARRL Straight Key Night
01/22/2012 |
N0JBF
This year I was able to use my first rig, a Yaesu FT-101E, that was a Christmas present from my XYL when I was first licensed in 1987. The radio had been in storage for some time and needed a little TLC during the past year to coax it back to life. I turned it on around 19:00 UTC to let it warm up and it performed like a champion. I received good signal reports in spite of a slight AC ripple that I noticed on my YO-100 scope. Straight Key Night calls for the warm glow of tubes and I am glad I was able to put the FT-101E on the air. The best fist I heard this year was W0HY, Jeff. His sending was smooth and easy to copy at around 13 WPM. My most interesting QSO was between myself, Andy WN0I, and our CW instructors Bill W4RK and Kent K9ZTV. We had arranged to meet on 10 meters at 04:00 UTC. The resulting round table QSO was challenging to keep up with but was good practice for someone who is getting back into CW after a 15 year hiatus. -- N0JBF
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