Elecraft CW Net NON Report ;) (Long)

[Kevin Rock]

Howdy Folks,
    Rest assured, we will have ECN this coming Sunday!  Saturday and Sunday
this week were filled with other activities.  One of them was a very
successful VE session.  Each person who came in passed every element they
tried.  It felt very nice to check the pass box so many times.  I was
especially please by one YL.  She came in solely for the CW test (element
1).  I graded her paper and found only one copy error in the entire six
minutes (One minute of practice and five minutes of testing).  Since it
was one of the call signs I had to mark one wrong because of this one
character mistake.  But when I walked over to congratulate her I found she
only wants to operate CW.  Ms P was sitting in the session waiting for me
to finish.  She said I just glowed at that comment.  So when I went back
to my grading and signing duties she talked to Kathleen.  Found we are all
kindred spirits of sorts.  We have her email address and phone number.  I
will mentor her as I can but I think we may just all become friends.  Her
husband is an Amateur Extra with many years of CW experience having taken
the exam from the FCC back in the day.

    Then we went on to our next set of chores and finally to home.  Since
the VE session started at 1 PM PST I was not able to start the Sweepstakes
until about four hours into the contest.  I got all of my paperwork in
order and had Ms P create a dupe sheet to order for me.  Lucky thing I had
planned on working this event with paper tools.  Thirty minutes in to the
contest the lights flickered.  I hit the charger button and found my
candles and camping gear.  Went back to my station only to have the lights
dim and flicker out.  They were not to reappear for another 24 hours.  
First thing was to get my candles lit and arranged so I could see my copy
and dupe sheets.  Then I turned my K2/100 down to 50 watts and hit the
display button twice.  Luckily the reading was 12.6 volts.

    I wasted some time chasing the big guns until I realized they could not
hear very well.  They had pileups around them but they did not reply.  I
should not have tried them the first day; their hearing improves mightily
on the second!  I worked a good number on 20 then moved to 40 where I
worked some more.  I banged away at my paddles for the next few hours
until I felt too tired to key properly.  No, I did not use anything other
than my sending skills (?) and my paper logging techniques.  Luckily I
knew the K2's buttons very well so I could do all the fancy stuff in the
dark.  My tuner was the same way.

    I awoke to my alarm and started back in with 12.0 volts.  I was hoping
for 100 contacts total.  I worked until dawn on 80 but gave breaks to my
battery so it could recover a little between bouts of sending.  I went
back to bed at dawn with the battery at 11.8 volts.  I reawoke a few hours
later to see how long I could work on emergency power.  If nothing I would
find how long I could work on a single marine deep cycle battery.  But it
kept going with a little coaxing for quite a few hours.  I worked up
through 40, 20, and then 15 across the country.  Back down to 20 and then
40.  My battery was nearing exhaustion at 11.6 volts.  I was not sure
whether I should go further.  At 137 contacts I was about to throw in the
towel (0131z) when the power came back on!  I turned on my charger and
blew out all the candles.  My last hour was simple except for all the
folks I had worked before.  Made it to 151 at the very last moment.

    Today my arm is tender but I did it.  I ran at over 35 wpm for some of
the time.  And, YES, I attained my other goal.  Somewhere in that melee I
got W3PP.  Finally Delaware and WAS CW.  It took a while for that little
state but it sure was fun.  Now to do it all over again!  Oh, we still
need DE and SD for ECN if you all are interested ;)

    To the op who asked about this Reflector being technical?  Yes, indeed,
it is technical.  However, there are operating events which do get
mentioned here.  One of those is called the Elecraft CW Net.  It is held
each Sunday except for Field Day and the Sweepstakes.  You are cordially
invited to join us.  Each Saturday I list the where and when of it.  You
do not need to finish your K1/KX1/K2 to join in.  You will get to hear a
great number of them from across the continent and even further at times.  
We try to have fun and greet one another.  We welcome any and all who join
us.  QRS and QRQ alike.  The only requirement is to use CW and be happy.  
Weather reports and signal reports are free!
    73,
        Kevin. KD5ONS  (Net Op who will never be a true contester)
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