I just realized this is my 25-th year of doing Sweeps (both modes) which got
me started in contesting. Before that...I was a NTS CW traffic addict.
QKS, TEN, CAN and a few times at TCC as a fill-in. Those guys were serious
CW ops.
The start came one afternoon at Kansas State University, when K0BJ took his
new SB102 up to the shack and said he was going to enter Sweeps and invited
me along. We put on W0QQQ and did poorly because of no power and no
antennas. By the SSB weekend, we had new dipoles up made out of copper
instead of steel and borrowed an amp (2x813 with 866s). The next year we
added a bigger amp and had a beam up on the Engineering building. I was hooked.
Most of my SS operation has been multi-op because it is so much fun to have
a party! Two years I operated single op, when my son was born on CW weekend
(Hey I got 19 hours in the contest and I am still married his mother) and
when I moved to Oklahoma for a year. That was fun running A-power with a 80
meter dipole and a serious Butternut verticle. Thank goodness that 10 was
still open.
We have had a great time contesting with a lot of good guys....
K9WIE, W5VSZ (don't remember his new call), N0IN (WA0MLE), K0BJ, WA0TKJ
(K9ZV - QRT not SK), AB0S, K0DAS, W0CEM, K0TQ, NW0W, NJ8M, K0UR and several
others.
It is fun for a few minutes to remember all those years. And you know what,
this year was a fun as the first year. I'm still hooked.
Lee Buller
ex-W0QQQ
ex-WA0SWC
k0wa@southwind.net
See you in SS-SSB!
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