Ive been searching for mojo for some time now. I suppose that happens when you get old enough to put all of your well worn excuses into play. Lord knows I’ve developed a _lot_ of excuses over the years. I lamented here some months back that I could not get up energy to do simple things like I used to do like run a couple of hours in a contest. Well I am pleased to report my contesting mojo has been found.
Saturday I found it again and actually enjoyed myself in a CW Contest. This one is the latest derivation of the old ARRL CD Parties now reborn as NAQP or North American QSO Party. It was a hoot. I actually managed a smallish run on 15 M early on and was quite surprised to see how many states I could work on 80 M. I had zero expectations for 80 M and so was happy with the results. NAQP is limited to 100 w and so my low and short dipole was handicapped on the lower bands.
Our local contest group (DFW Contest Group) is kind of a low key organization and is also freshly minted in as much as it has been in existence for about a year now. Since its beginning the guys have encouraged participation in lots of low key events such as QSO Parties and State QSO Parties like CAL QSO or NEQP. These are operating events that one can do without committing a whole dedicated weekend to the radio-something that a lot of us have a hard time scheduling. A link to the website is here:
At long last I finally managed to get the Function keys properly set up in N1MM Logger and so things went swimmingly throughout the test. The interface worked properly, the radio and antenna functioned just fine and the operator began to understand the vagaries of CW Contesting. I have done SSB testing before but the challenge for me always has been to do it in Morse. Well, now that I have done a modest effort it may be time to step it up a notch and try for a higher team. Our group fielded four squads and I was on Team #3. Perhaps I can climb the ladder a bit next time. Results were very modest but Matt was here on his last day before Spring Semester so time was of some concern. Still…..I was happy with the result. 51K and 385 Q’s in around 8 hours.
Thanks for reading my Blog. Best, Chas W5PG
