Contest Fun

Although having been licensed for (hold's breath) nearly 30 years, I have spent many of them inactive for one reason or another. Second time around, I was fortunate enough to upgrade all my equipment with the latest technology and matching peripherals. One thing I made myself buy was an iambic morse key...nothing special, as it was going to be a learning curve I was embarking on.

Contests are a great way to fill in the missing spaces in your log book. I enjoy the "giving away" of points to the serious contesters but do set myself some boundaries when getting involved.

PwrSDR, DDUtil, DXLabs, Expert 1K and CWSkimmer

This weekend was CQ-WW-WPX, CW. A 48 hour fest of key tappers, side swipers and bug bashers where there is always going to be something new (for me), something that makes it all worthwhile.

I try to focus on the non-EU if possible, unless the contact is really something out of the ordinary or they're a G station, but as with most contacts I make, if they don't show in QRZ, I don't work them. The reason for this is my compulsive nature to ensure I have all the important data filed in my logbook. It was nice to exchange with some VKs, JAs and Sth Americans but my favourite for this weekend was a station from Mongolia (JT1CO). If you've ever wondered what Ghengis Khan looked like....go and check out his QRZ page.