Georgia QSO Party
Call: K4F
Operator(s): KB4KBS
Station: KB4KBS
Class: Rover Single OpMixed LP
QTH: Georgia
Operating Time (hrs): 18
Summary:
Band CW-Dig Qs Ph Qs
------------------------
160:
80: 11
40: 231 48
20: 6 12
15:
10:
6:
------------------------
Total: 248 60 CW-Dig Mults = 37 Ph Mults = 24 Total Score = 33,916
Club: North Fulton Amateur Radio League
Comments:
This was a watershed weekend for me.
I decided that I was going to enter the contest this year in the MIXED category
and brought along my BY2 and MFJ keyer along with my computer interface for
sending keyboard macros. I was bolstered with the confidence that I could
always rely on my CW Skimmer as my "water wings" to help me stay
afloat.
I must insert that I was in Nashville April 2-13, so everything was put in a
plastic "tote-tub" and loaded in the van on Easter Sunday. On the
13th I set up everything in the hotel parking lot before we drove from Nashville
to Chattanooga where we spent the night before starting our North Georgia roving
adventure in Catoosa County on Saturday.
During the drive down on Friday I discovered that I had forgotten to bring my
SignaLink USB sound card - I can't explain why, except I associate it with doing
digital modes, something I didn't plan to do. Not to worry, I can always plug a
3.5mm M/M cable from the headphone out to the laptop mic in (or so I thought).
Anyway, suffice it to say that this plan didn't workout due to RF or something,
so CW Skimmer was no longer an option.
As usual for me, things started off slowly with only three 40M Qs in CATO and
one in WFLD. After about forty minutes of frustration and trepidation, I
decided to give it a go and started sending "CQ GQP K4F/WFLD CQ K4F".
I had dialed back the sending speed on N1MM Logger+ to 15 WPM, and when K7SV
came back to me, it took a couple of tries to get those four characters then
"VA". A minute later I logged K9CT in IL, then KM4HI in FL, and then
W8PI in MI. An hour later, I had eleven stations in my log and I was on my way.
I had to stop and think several times, was that a D? G? U? W? was he sending a
2 or a 7, a 9 or a 0? I was blessed with patient operators and as I progressed
along I needed fewer fills. I started a pattern of sending "(state)
RR" with my paddles before sending my stock 73 message, especially for
stations I worked for the first time. Eventually I crept the send speed from
the keyboard to 18 WPM and only a few times did I need to send "QRS"
to a 25-30 WPM speed demons. Some of them, hand-keying I'm sure, would send
high-speed letters with long pauses between letters, which worked for me as
well.
A strange thing happened to me as the weekend continued - I found myself WANTING
to do CW over phone... My original plan was to spend 30 minutes on 20M and 30
minutes on 40M in each county, spending 15 minutes doing PH and 15 minutes doing
CW. Dutifully, I would switch to the microphone as I would enter a new county,
but after about 10 minutes of fruitless calling, the allure of the success using
Morse Code would suck me back in and off I would go. I had an RF issue with 20M
CW, that made computer keying and even manual keying impossible. I did manage
to log a half-dozen 20M CW stations, but they were a rare moment of stability
that quickly vanished. the 40M band was, as always, the money band.
When all was done, I had 308 contacts, 248 of which were CW. All of them were
copied using only my ears. I still can't believe I did it - in a moving vehicle
no less. Yeah, I know most guys can do 50 CW Qs an hour compared to my meager
average of about 15 an hour, but considering this was my baptism-by-fire, I'm
satisfied.
It's not going to be a plaque-worthy effort I'm sure, but I sure feel like a
winner.
I of course must say thanks to all of the stations who were patient with me as I
kept asking for fills and massacred their call signs. A special shout-out to
K9CT who stalked me through 12 counties.
Finally, as always, my wife/chaffeur Eileen deserves special recognition for
driving me across 18 counties in two day - especially on Sunday when we were in
near-constant rain storms most of the day.
Yaesu FT-450D
100W
MFJ-939 Tuner
MFJ-407B Electronic Keyer
Bencher BY-2 Iambic Paddles
20M and 40M Ham Sticks
N1MM Logger+ Contesting Software
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
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