NA Sprint CW AA4LR Low Power Low Antenna
Band Q M D Antenna
80m 2 2 0 125' doublet, 15' up
40m 5 4 0 125' doublet, 15' up
20m 3 3 0 125' doublet, 15' up
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Total 10 9 0 = Score: 90
Rig:
Venerable TS430S, Murch UT2000 tuner. 90 watts CW.
Comments:
OK. Get it off your chest -- go ahead and laugh.
My first contest from my "new" shack. I ran the winter NAQP from my
unfinished basement, but now I have an actual room. Now all I need is a
real antenna and real radios. (And perhaps a real operator....)
Only had a couple of hours to operate. Kate (2 yr old) went to bed at
0130z, and I was on the air at 0140z. Stayed on until 0340z when my
bedtime came up.
Goal for this contest was practice. I need to accumulate more time in the
"chair" (as KM9P calls it). I'm trying to elminate my pencil habit, so I
copied all the CW by typing characters into my computer. Sounds laborious
to you seasoned CW types, but it is the first step toward copying in my
head.
NA Sprint is a very hard contest for slow-poke CW operation. In a
"normal" contest, ops will sit on a frequency and repeatedly send out
their call, exchange, etc. If you hang around long enough, you'll get all
the info. No so with the Sprint. Everyone is always on the run, so you
have to jump in and do what you can.
Of course, the ops were great. Everyone responded to my calls of "AA4LR
QRS" by sending slowly. (Sometimes not slowly enough, but that's my
problem) I, of course, repaid the favor by sending them rotten,
error-filled, hand-sent CW. I confused the heck out of N6TR by chasing
him back and forth on 20m. I think I was terribly weak, but he finally
responded with "RS?", and we managed to work.
Maybe I just need to change my call to AA4LRQRS for CW contests. When
does Gate 2 open?
Bill Coleman, AA4LR Mail: aa4lr@radio.org
Quote: "Not in a thousand years will man ever fly!"
-- Wilbur Wright, 1901
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