>
> In fact, ban computers. When I operated at N2RM (and won m/m), I remember
> KQ2M (also there) asking me, "how come the scores are so much bigger now
> than when you were at N2AA/K2GL?" The truth is, computers. Using computers
> is just whimpy.
>
> In the REAL competitive days...well....we had to log by hand, erase mistakes
> (on both the log sheet and the dupe sheet). Hell, we even had to DESIGN the
> dupe sheet to be efficient for wherever we were operating...Hmmmm...how much
> room for G3's versus UK5? You had to be an octopus to log and dupe at
> anything over 120/hr. Yup...you needed REAL skill back then.
>
> Our secret weapon at N2AA was provided by WA2OVE/KR2J/N5NJ....thin lead
> mechanical pencils....wow...much better than having to SHARPEN your pencils
> during a run.
>
> Yup....times have changed and all for the worse. Now let's see...how do I
> zero beat my transmitter with the rx freq again?
>
> de Slug/Doug #1 KR2Q
We had a "minimalist" FD this year at K9CU. Small rigs, no amps, low
dipoles, one tribander about 15 feet off the ground. We weren't out to be
competitive, just to have fun, socialize a little and get chewed by
mosquitoes. I didn't stay awake all night and work 700+ stations on 40 CW
like I have in the past. But all in all it was fun.
I logged on paper this year on Field Day. It brought back memories of
past FD's where we had teams of two, one person worked them and logged,
the other manned the dupe sheets. It also brought back memories of past
DX contests where I did it all myself. I remember one year having a
single large sheet of paper (I think it was 17" X 22") underneath my log
sheet for duping.
When I was a Novice, I had a Hallicrafters HT-40 transmitter and 3 or 4
crystals. When I upgraded to General, I modified a surplus ARC-5
transmitter as a VFO. The VFO ran continuously, so when I switched to
receive I had to spin the dial to get the VFO signal off my receive
frequency, and then when I transmitted I had to retune it. THAT was very
interesting system in contests! I think the best rate I ever had was one
every 3 minutes.
73, Zack W9SZ
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