This morning, after an enjoyable hour chatting with my mentor on 20 meters, I came to a realization about the skills learned via contesting and acting as net control. Thursday night I had a fun catching both foxes in the summer fox hunt while on field day I had a good time work stations far and wide. ECN has me digging for signals trying my best to get everyone who is trying to check in. After I got off the air I was out hiking around the mountain thinking about the contact. There was QSB at the same rate as the CW combined with a slow fade which caused letters to simply disappear. But we made it work. If not for all those skills learned from other ragchews, a bit of contesting, and ECN I may have thrown in the towel early and said I simply cannot copy you. But, I could copy him; the skills were there due to the time spent digging during contests and nets. My walk was fun but the realization I had gained enough skills to have an hour long chat under less than ideal conditions because I had contested and acted as net control made my step a bit lighter and the day feel much better. The aches and pains of working at a computer for many hours drained away as I thought about the contact.
Amateur radio is a diverse hobby; I find each facet I explore assists me in becoming a better operator. I have the most fun meeting new people and simply chatting away on CW for an hour or so. Keeps me sane :)
73,
Kevin. KD5ONS
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