Attained Friendship Club and 2Way QRP Awards in NAQCC

I finally reached earning 200 points - working NAQCC club members - 4 points per ragchew, 2 points per sprint and 1 point per regular QSO. There were 157 members in the application which was approved for the award.

I also reached the certificate level for 2 way QRP QSOs - 250 points (2 points per NAQCC member, 1 point per non member and 4 points for a DX QRP.

See Awards Page

NAQCC Milliwatt Sprint

Most fun I ever had with 950 milliwatts or any power level for that matter. I started out on 40m and the weak signals were barely copiable. I did manage a couple of Qs - one to a VE station from BC and then switched over to 80m. There was so much static that I had to put on the attenuator to squelch the noise down. I managed one QSO then I heard another station with the Serial number 2 and I knew it was John K3WWP from PA and managed to work him. Then something happened with the band. All the weak signals were showing up with 4 bars with attenuator on with the K2 and I was being copied from distant stations at less than 1 watt tx power then the QSOs started pouring in. It was a fun last hour with.a straight key no less.
This had been my best sprint yet.

Latest Project Completed

Next to the transceiver is a little box for a keyer I built from a kit from Idiom Press - their CMOS4 keyer. It is the neatest little keyer.

New Key for Christmas

The key is mounted to a Cocobolo base I made. The brass nameplate has my call sign laser etched on it. The key was made by Molded Insulator Co., one of the manufactureres contracted by the US government to manufacture this key during WWII. The key is new old stock and never been used. With the nice base it will have some collector value. Its maiden voyage was during the SKCC Straight Key Sprint on 12/28/2011 and garnered 19 QSOs. It is much easier on the wrist than the AMECO that I had been using and will be the key I now will use for straight key sprints.

Centurion Level Reached on SKCC

Centurion award was given by the SKCC for having worked 100 SKCC members. The Centurion #646 and it is posted on the SKCC website. It looks like I am 4 states short for SKCC WAS and need Montana, Nebraska, Mississippi and Kansas. Working the December Sprint might help reach that goal. The next goal will be to acquire the Tribune Award which is gotten by working 50 other Centurions or Tribune holders. My SKCC member number is now 7288C.

Rookie Roundup and Homebrew QRP Sprint

Well I ended up working two contest in 6 hours shortchanging both. I worked the Rookie Roundup for 4 hours and the QRP ARCI Holiday Spirits Homebrew Sprint for two. Well, I don't really know how well I did relative to the competition - worked 10 rookies and 45 non-rookies in the Rookie Roundup for a total of 1755 points (with 27 SPC multiplier). As far as the Homebrew Sprint, I worked 22 stations for a total of 104 QSO points, with a 7X multiplier for QRP and SPC multiplier of 18 plus the Homebrew Bonus points of 5000 pts per band for a total score of 23104 pt total. We will see how well this all stacks up.

Till next time,

73 DE NY4G

Rookie Roundup Tomorrow

Looking for support tomorrow in the ARRL Rookie Roundup

Look for my calling CQ around the following frequencies tomorrow

CW: 3.550, 7.050, 14,050, 21.050, 28.050 and between 50.080 and 50.100 MHz between 1800 UTC and 2400UTC on 12/18

My last year to qualify as a rookie having been licensed in 2009

I'll be firing up the K2/100 - look forward to hearing y'all

DE NY4G ARIEL 09 SC

ARRL 10 Meter Contest

Worked the 10 meter contest for about 3 hours and bagged 54 stations mostly DX and some US West Coast. I worked a station that had almost 2400 QSOs judging from the serial number.