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KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog

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Operating notes: blogging, Winter Field Day, tonights Slow Speed Test

Posted: 30 Jan 2022 06:47 PM PST https://www.kb6nu.com/operating-notes-blogging-winter-field-day-tonights-slow-speed-test/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email


The other day I had a QSO with Glen, W1ND. We have worked before, but this time, he mentioned that he had started a blog: the W1ND QRP Blog. Check it out. He has some interesting posts on his end-fed, random wire antennas.
Hes had much more success with these than I have.

He also mentioned that he may start RVing soon. I told him that there
should be plenty of blog fodder there. So, look for blog posts covering RV hamming.

Talking about blogging, got me to thinking about this blog. I published my first blog post on November 1, 2002, so Im now in my 20th year. And, there
are more than 4,200 posts.
Winter Field Day

As I often do, I get sucked into contests, if only for an hour or two. This weekend, it was Winter Field Day. I didnt go out and freeze my
you-know-what off, but I did operate from a relatively cool basement. (Sometimes, I have to put a cap on down there to stay warm enough.) I only operated for about 55 minutes, but because propagation was so good on 40 meters, I managed to make 50 contacts.

Some observations:

The vast majority of stations operating were category 1H, meaning that they were operating from their home shacks. I was 1H myself, so I can t really complain about that. Maybe if I do it next year, Ill consider driving out
to a park or something and operating from my car at least.
I operated all CW, and the speeds were far lower than during the summer
Field Day.
Many of the stations calling were off-frequency. This made it harder to determine if they were calling me or maybe someone else who was near my frequency. My advice: Get closer to the calling station when searching and pouncing.

Slow Speed Test, 1/30/22

Tonight, I worked my third K1USN Slow Speed Test (SST). I made 30 contacts
in about 45 minutes of work. Not great, but not bad. Unlike my first
attempt, I dont think I worked any first timers, but I did make a couple of memorable contacts.

The first one was with W5QLF. Now, if youve worked CW for any length of
time, youll know that we say that someone is QLF when someones keying is so
bad it sounds like theyre sending with their left foot. At first, I thought someone was just using a bogus call sign, but W5QLF is actually the guys
call. Check out his QRZ.Com page.

My last QSO tonight was with Greg, W0GAS. Im hoping to add his QSL to my collection of QSLs from stations whose call signs spell words. He sent me a nice email after the SST, noting that hes interested in doing more rag
chewing, so Im looking forward to longer QSOs with Greg in the future.



The post Operating notes: blogging, Winter Field Day, tonights Slow Speed
Test appeared first on KB6NUs Ham Radio Blog.

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