QRQ

A couple of months ago, I was asked to host Jamboree on the Air at our club station, WA2HOM, at the Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum. The museum folks said that they would handle the publicity, and expecting a big turnout, I suggested that they schedule groups in one-hour slots. One of the reasons for this is that the shack at the museum cannot accommodate more than about five or six at a time.

Early last week, the museum’s scout coordinator e-mailed me that she had two groups scheduled—one at 10 am and one at 3 pm. I was a little disappointed that they couldn’t get more to come, but  that was OK.

Saturday morning, I got there about 9:40 and got the station running. The noise level was incredibly high, but conditions were good, and I heard quite a few JOTA stations. Then, I waited, and waited. The 10am group never did show, so I went home to eat lunch and take care of some errands. 

Around 2:20 pm, I got a  phone call from a Scout leader who said he was at the museum and had been waiting for 20 minutes. I apologized, noting that I thought he wasn’t supposed to arrive until 3 and drove down to the museum. Fortunately, I live less than 10 minutes away. When I got there, I was  little disappointed that there was only one scout, but we had a fun session with Cub Scout Charlie, making contacts with stations in CT and NC. 

I think part of the reason we had such a low turnout is that the museum charged the scouts admission. At the very least, I think they should have given them a discount.

Cranking it up

Last Thursday, I turned on the radio about 5:30 pm, and happened to run into Rick, N4RLD, on 40m CW. I’d worked Rick before, and knew he was a good operator. On his second transmission, he said that he had just read my QRZ.Com page, where I brag, “I’ve increased my code speed to 30 wpm. Feel free to send that fast if you read this while we’re in contact. I’m proud of this achievement, and am continually trying to get guys to work more CW.” He suggested that we try 35 wpm, and feeling adventurous, I agreed.

Well, I’m not sure if it was I was having a good CW day, or it was because that Rick has such a good fist, but I was having no trouble at all copying him at 35 wpm. Then, he suggested we try 40 wpm.

At 40 wpm, I started missing characters, but I was able to keep up with the conversation. That made me feel pretty good.

Then, he cranked it up even faster. At 40+ wpm, he started making a significant number of sending errors, and he apologized for that, but no apologies were necessary. We were just having some fun.

As far as my own sending goes, I must admit that I was pretty bad at sending 35 wpm. I was making a lot of mistakes. It’s kind of funny that at high speeds, it’s sometimes easier to receive than to send. It’s just the opposite at lower speeds when you’re getting started.

Rick noted that he often practices sending at 40+ wpm in order to get better. I think that I might devote 10 to 15 minutes a day sending at higher speeds. And, I’m going to update my QRZ.Com page to say that I can now copy at 35 wpm.