My 10,000 Hour RadioSport Challenge | 9,428 - 6 = 9,422 To Go

2012 North American Sprint CW Results

Good afternoon, finally catching up on loose ends inside shackadelic after finishing my walking work out with Radio Dawg. Also, I used the elliptical bike on the first floor terrace as my aerobic conditioning is improving after my long sabbatical from physical fitness. Admittedly, why did I ever stop in the first place? It's radio frequency through the coax and importantly, it is never too late to begin physical conditioning.

Mentorship Power
First, I want to thank my mentor, John, W6SL for his tutelage and for allowing me to reach for a new level in RadioSport. His charm, wit, and ham radio wisdom is helping me achieve a deeper respect for our hobby. I notched a personal best score during the 2012 North American Sprint with 191 Qs going into the log.

Against The Clock
In the meantime, I waited for the N1MM Contest Logger clock having warmed up about a half hour prior to the official start time. Frankly, this impromptu practice session gets me into a RadioSport frame of mind while exchanging messages of less than 140 characters. It is much like looking over all the gauges to find a fault in the system before the starting clock. Likewise, exchange brief signal reports helps pump adrenaline going into the crucial first hour.

Propagation cooperated because 20m was quiet as I hopped between channels. Sprint is fun because no one can maintain a rate frequency however an enterprising operator could maintain hop channels. The requirement after calling CQ to call CQ again is a move of no less than 5 kilohertz either up or down from the original CQ frequency.

Hopping
Channel hopping from one's keyboard is an effective tactic at handling the crushing CW speeds inherent during the first hour of Sprint. Remember, one always sets the tone when in the chair that is control words per minute, search and log, while developing personal Sprint tactics for the next race against the clock.

I typed my hop frequency into N1MM dialogue box, hit enter, and repeated this sequence. However, hopping has limited benefit because one is burning serious time whereas searching and logging has a two Q return under most circumstances.

A two Q return is a result of answering a CQ then having another operator call before hopping to the next channel or frequency.

2012 Scandinavian Activity Contest CW Results 

Northern Latitudes
There is, at least for me, an immutable law of reciprocity that is return the favor. I called SL early Saturday morning asking permission for time in the pilot's seat. He had the 6 element 15m and 20m monobanders beaming at 14 degrees when I arrived in his shack. The signals propagating from the northern latitudes were loud on 15m contrasting to 20m soft start with competing signal walls either from the East Coast or EU itself.

However, an Ocean X-Ray and a Tango Fox went into the log as two new entities on 20m, while the number continues climbing toward the first 100 confirmed.

Conclusion
Overall, the North American Sprint CW event sponsored by the National Contest Journal is beneficial because it hones one's RadioSport skill set in addition to identifying any weakness in operating tactics or station hardware. It is demanding. On the other hand, the 2012 SAC CW event was pure bliss and a real pleasure to add one additional Q to each operator's log.

Contest on!