Posted: 6/18/2015 12:23:14 AM EDT
|
I have done it - WAS digital (all JT65)
Most on 20M, a good number on 40M and some on 30M too I was waiting for AK & VT, had 3 QSO's tonight, 2 of them with the aforementioned states. VT has already confirmed on LoTW, QRZ & hrdlog, so all I need now is AK to confirm and I can send off for my certificate. People say JT65 is like watching paint dry but it takes a different mindset - one that got me WAS from March - June. Now, to get the icings on the cake (one band, then phone, then CW (or CW then phone!) |
|
Congrats. Doing WAS is a milestone in a hams career.
If you're on LoTW you may want to think of chasing Triple Play. Work all 50 states on phone, CW, and digital with all QSL via LoTW. Mixed bands and mixed digi modes are OK. Had a lot of fun getting that one. TPA #664 here. Going WAS by band 20m is the easiest. I'm down to less than 10 states on the rest of the bands for 5BWAS except 80 which I just got an antenna for. HI and AK on 80m is going to be a challenge. |
|
Quoted:
Congrats. Doing WAS is a milestone in a hams career. If you're on LoTW you may want to think of chasing Triple Play. Work all 50 states on phone, CW, and digital with all QSL via LoTW. Mixed bands and mixed digi modes are OK. Had a lot of fun getting that one. TPA #664 here. Going WAS by band 20m is the easiest. I'm down to less than 10 states on the rest of the bands for 5BWAS except 80 which I just got an antenna for. HI and AK on 80m is going to be a challenge. Congrats on the digital WAS !!!! TPA #688 Here. As I mentioned in another thread, I really enjoy chasing these awards and WAS is what got me started. I had been a ham a long time (30 years ?) and had never made any effort to get an award. But I decided that I ought to actually try to get WAS and DXCC. Once I found out how much fun it was to chase these awards, I kind of got caught up in it. Like you mention, the whole thing quickly snowballed from just getting WAS to WAS on multiple bands. Multiple modes.................... Chasing this stuff adds a whole new dimension to ham radio. Just working somebody is one thing. But trying to get on the air and work a particular state............and then getting it confirmed is another issue altogether. I guess it is a personality thing, but getting on the air with a goal adds something to operating that I really enjoyed. Plus when you are chasing states on one band or mode and you arn't getting anywhere, you realize that you could be chasing states on another band or mode while you are waiting for the needed states to show themselves on whatever you were trying for to begin with......................... It's a lot of fun. FWIW: I have WAS on 80, 40, 30, 20, and 15 meters CW. And I think I have WAS on 80,40, and 20 meter SSB. And I have WAS digital but not all on the same mode: mixed PSK31 and JT65. Still plenty more to do and it keeps me coming back to the rig. One thing that I would like to get is WAS/QRP. I do have DXCC/QRP but I have found that working all 50 states (and getting them confirmed) is harder than working 100 countries (and getting them confirmed). There are a lot of US stations that don't QSL. I think that DX stations just consider that part of the game and mostly all DX stations QSL (I use that term loosely, I should be saying confirm the contact either by card or LOTW). Also when you are just trying to work 100 countries, there are a lot more than 100 countries on the air, but with WAS there are only 50 and you need to get them all. Plus, depending on where you are located, some states are harder to work than DX. Another aspect of WAS that is interesting is that you learn about the propagation of the various bands and you find that states that are easy to work on one band are extremely difficult to work on other bands. On the lower bands, closer states are easy and distant ones are difficult. On the higher bands, the closer states are far more difficult to work than the distant ones. For me, I have never been able to get very far in the WAS hunt on 10 meters. When I was really into this, 10 meters was almost never open. Then in the last few years that it has been open, I really didn't hear a lot of domestic activity on 10 meters. I could work all kinds of DX on 10, but the US stations were tough. For this reason, I don't know if I will ever get 5BWAS. You will note that I do already have WAS on five bands, but not the five bands that the ARRL requires for 5BWAS since you have to have 10 meters. |
|
Quoted:
Chasing this stuff adds a whole new dimension to ham radio. I agree. I like to think of it as setting a goal for myself. WAS, DXCC, Triple Play, etc. I'm not much of a rag chewer, so setting a goal for each year helps keep me motivated for getting on the air. This year, my main goal isn't an award. It's learning how to use the straight key. And so far, the vast majority of my contacts have been exactly that way. I may start working on WAS, on individual bands, a little more this year, too. I finally got Oklahoma on 20m (the only one I was missing) the other day, during the SKCC sprint. Too bad he doesn't seem to use LoTW. And I have 40+ states on 15-40 meters. 80 meters ain't gonna happen, and I doubt 6 meters will either. Chasing awards can be frustrating, but it can be fun, too. So get on the air and have some fun. 
|
|
Quoted:
To me WAS and DXCC are a whole lot more challenging than contesting. It really comes down to patience and skill. I have WAS for JT65, but I'm waiting to file for the cert, since I want it for 80-10, but I really want it for 160-6 I ended up going off the deep end and started printing out calendars with state QSO party dates and all that 
Again, it's a lot of fun no matter how you go about it. I had a buddy that wanted to get QRP/WAS but he only worked random contacts as they came along. He didn't really chase anything, he just got on the air and worked people and if they were in a state he needed,that was just a bonus. He also was just doing this for his own satisfaction and didn't attempt to confirm the contacts. That's one way of doing it and having fun. Then there are people like me that got on on-line sked pages, worked state QSO parties, worked contests............... in an effort to get new states. In a few cases, I even went so far as to get on-line and ask people who they had worked to confirm a given state and then emailed that guy to try to set up a sked for a new state. And I actually wanted the wallpaper. Not because I wanted to show off the wallpaper (nobody else really cares but you), but because actually getting the contacts confirmed and going through the whole rules and application process adds another dimension to the hunt. It's all fun no matter how you do it. |
|
Quoted:
80 meters ain't gonna happen, and I doubt 6 meters will either. Sitting down to operate with a goal is what keeps me motivated. The VHF contest last weekend showed a glaring fault in my antenna system that I need to correct. Chasing WAS and DXCC has taught me much about how each band behaves and how that changes throughout the day and into the night. In doing all this I improve as an operator and the station improves as issues come up. Just when I think that a goal is out of my reach I hear of a guy who is in a similar situation and makes it. I learn his tactics and technical tidbits and move forward knowing it can be done. |
|
Quoted:
Sick part for me is that I've got more states and DX on 6m than on 80m by a large margin. And you know how often 6m is open. Quoted:
Quoted:
80 meters ain't gonna happen, and I doubt 6 meters will either. You and me, both. I have 9 states on 6m and only 4 on 80m. Getting anything on 80 meters was pretty incredible, considering I was using my 20m dipole, and the tuner in my rig. Not the most efficient way to do things. 
|
|
Quoted:
You and me, both. I have 9 states on 6m and only 4 on 80m. 28 states on 6m vs 7 on 80m. 14 DX on 6m vs 1 on 80m (the USA). I've got a rotten ass antenna for 80 and probably radiating more out of the coax than the antenna itself. Going to build a new 80m. Can't be any worse than what I've got. |
|
Quoted:
JT-65 is your friend on both those bands. 28 states on 6m vs 7 on 80m. 14 DX on 6m vs 1 on 80m (the USA). I've got a rotten ass antenna for 80 and probably radiating more out of the coax than the antenna itself. Going to build a new 80m. Can't be any worse than what I've got. Quoted:
Quoted:
You and me, both. I have 9 states on 6m and only 4 on 80m. 28 states on 6m vs 7 on 80m. 14 DX on 6m vs 1 on 80m (the USA). I've got a rotten ass antenna for 80 and probably radiating more out of the coax than the antenna itself. Going to build a new 80m. Can't be any worse than what I've got. When 6M comes up, everyone goes crazy, which is awesome. 
|