I’m not a big contester, but in the last three weeks, I’ve participated in the NY QSO Party and the CW Sweepstakes.They were certainly quite different, although both were fun enough.
I did moderately well in the NYQP, totaling 120-something QSOs. I didn’t quite so well, relatively in the Sweepstakes, with only 184 QSOs over about three and a half hours. On Sunday afternoon, I was working guys giving out serial numbers in the thousands. Some of them had me repeat my number. I think because they couldn’t believe it was so low!
Bringing home the bacon
Here’s another card to add to my collection of QSLs from stations whose callsigns spell words. During the Sweepstakes, I worked K1PAD, whose QSL I already have, and W4PA, who I hope to add to my collection soon.
Ragchewing
I like to ragchew when I’m on the air. I find that most people have interesting stories to tell. That’s why I’m happy that the CWOps have an award for ragchewers. To score a point in the QTX competition, your QSO has to last for at least 20 minutes.
About a week ago, I had two ragchews back-to-back. The first was with a ham down in Florid at about 16 or 17 wpm; the second with a much faster operator. What a difference speed makes. Although both lasted right around 20 minutes, the conversation was a lot more interesting because we could tell each other a lot more at the higher speed.
This is a great example of why you want to try to get faster if you’re going to work CW. You’ll be able to say more in a shorter period of time, and the end result is that the QSOs are generally more satisfying.
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