Author Archive
A nice way to spend an hour each week.
January 5th, 2022 | 
Author: For you CW buffs out there, a great group is the CWops. This is an international organization and their main goal is to promote continual improvement of CW proficiency across a broad range of activities. They have a CW academy which moves people along toward improving their CW skill level. They have a monthly newsletter (which can be found on their site) called Solid Copy which is all things CW.
Have ever been on the air and all of a sudden a section of the CW band becomes alive with action? Most likely if it's a Wednesday or Thursday it's the Weekly running of the CWops Tests or as it's also known as CWT. This is a mini 1-hour contest. Everyone is welcome in these mini contests, and it's a great way to improve your CW skills.
Today was the first time I took a dive into the CWT. The hours went by very fast and in this contest I was in Search and Pounce mode and not Running. I made 14 contacts for 196 points, not a record by any means. But I was getting my feet wet.
I encourage you to have a look at the CWops site and for sure have a look at their newsletter Solid Copy.
Looking back and looking ahead.
Well here we are again.......finishing off my second year in the Maritimes. It may sound a bit odd, but it seems it has taken just over a year and a half to get used to retirement. I am finally starting to settle into somewhat of a routine. It's been another year of COVID, but I am singing to the choir with this one as we are all well aware of this. Julie and I are fully vaccinated and bootered up and up to this point have managed to avoid COVID.
Looking back and looking ahead.
Well here we are again.......finishing off my second year in the Maritimes. It may sound a bit odd, but it seems it has taken just over a year and a half to get used to retirement. I am finally starting to settle into somewhat of a routine. It's been another year of COVID, but I am singing to the choir with this one as we are all well aware of this. Julie and I are fully vaccinated and bootered up and up to this point have managed to avoid COVID.
Merry Christmas
Merry Christmas to all my blog readers, and all the best to you and your families. Have a very happy and safe holiday.
Merry Christmas
Merry Christmas to all my blog readers, and all the best to you and your families. Have a very happy and safe holiday.
RAC Winter contest.
The RAC Winter contest is in the books and my second contest where I was running and not S&P. The propagation numbers took a big leap in the right direction before and during the contest. I did find that even with the good conditions there was steep QSB on 20 and 40m.
I find this more of a relaxed contest compared to the international contests. Most of the time, CW speeds were a bit slower. When someone you know makes contact, there is time to say thanks and 73. Speaking of someone you know, I had the pleasure of John AE5X a blogger I follow contact me, and we had the opportunity to send pleasantries to each other. Thanks for the contact John.
I found there was the early contest jitters, but I did settle in a bit sooner compared to the other contest. One take away was to NEVER try drinking coffee while calling CQ! Thought I had this calling CQ thing down, I decided to have a drink of coffee as the PC was belting out RAC DE VE9KK. While in mid-sip of coffee, the radio went to receive and a nice multiplier station was coming back to me! In a rush to put the coffee down my elbow was banged, coffee all over the keyboard and multi station gone!
Overall, a great time was had.
RAC Winter contest.
The RAC Winter contest is in the books and my second contest where I was running and not S&P. The propagation numbers took a big leap in the right direction before and during the contest. I did find that even with the good conditions there was steep QSB on 20 and 40m.
I find this more of a relaxed contest compared to the international contests. Most of the time, CW speeds were a bit slower. When someone you know makes contact, there is time to say thanks and 73. Speaking of someone you know, I had the pleasure of John AE5X a blogger I follow contact me, and we had the opportunity to send pleasantries to each other. Thanks for the contact John.
I found there was the early contest jitters, but I did settle in a bit sooner compared to the other contest. One take away was to NEVER try drinking coffee while calling CQ! Thought I had this calling CQ thing down, I decided to have a drink of coffee as the PC was belting out RAC DE VE9KK. While in mid-sip of coffee, the radio went to receive and a nice multiplier station was coming back to me! In a rush to put the coffee down my elbow was banged, coffee all over the keyboard and multi station gone!
Overall, a great time was had.
