Two hour, straight key CW sprint tonight.

Details here

I was about to request a number then discovered I already have one! A fairly low one, too. The key jack on my radio was giving me issues last time I messed with it but if I can fix it before tonight I'll give it a go.

Two lines of thunderboomers moving this way, so things look iffy for tonight.

We've had beautiful weather for the past week. At least we had clear skies for the eclipse.

Weather should be OK here.

Will be using  the random wire antenna on 40m, tonight. We'll see how it goes.

What are you using for logging? My preferred logger doesn't have this contest and the official logger looks very poorly suited to a contest.

Quick, go here and download AC2C's SKCC logging program.  It works beautifully, and will work with most rigs, too.

Yeah, that's the one I downloaded.

Well everyone seems to like that logging program, and it's a pretty casual contest, anyway.  Only a few hard core contesters, so the QSO exchange is quite relaxed.


There were a few signals on 20m, but I called CQ for 20-25 minutes, and didn't get any answers.    This was with my attic dipole, and 100 watts.  I picked up a few with S&P, but gave up and moved over to 40m.  Switched over to the random wire, and backed the power down to 10 watts.  There were lots of signals, but again, I didn't get many takers when calling CQ.  But everyone I called using S&P heard me, and I was getting reasonable (559-599) signal reports.  Go figure.

Anyway, it was fun.  




Edit:  Just plugged my call sign into the reverse beacon, and there are like 3 dozen stations who heard me calling CQ.  Crazy that I got so few answers.

Yeah, the relaxation was a bit of a turn-off I worked a bit on 20 at QRP and got nice signal reports. I prefer the high speed high rate contests with simple exchanges. The free-form responses mean I don't know exactly what I'm listening for which throws me a bit.

Also, I hate copying people using bugs. I know some people absolutely love them, but something about dits going at 35 WPM and dahs going at 10 WPM really throws me off.

These sprints are more of a "get on the air and make some CW contacts" than they are a contest.  The exchange is more like a "proper" exchange, and everyone slows down to help the new operators.    I think that is why so many people enjoy them.

Some of those bugs run so fast that people just can't slow the "dits" down enough to match their slow "dahs". The result is goofy sounding code, and I don't really care for it.  But if they get spacing right, you can't even tell it's a bug.  I just wish more people would get it right.

This! There's an inexpensive fix for the "banana boat swing". It also makes changing speed quick and effortless. I can change speed mid-transmission in about 2 seconds. All I have to do is swing the arm. LINK



Fun with a bug -- "Ben's best bent wire"

Here is a home made (with 3D printer) bug tamer, from a SKCC member.

Holy shit! That guy sounds like 75 Meters SSB and he's not even on the radio!

LOL.  

You just never know who is on the other end of that key.  When I ran across that video, I thought he was about 70 years old.  But I looked at his QRZ page, and he is actually 10 years younger than me.