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2024 RAC Canada Winter contest.
29 December 2024 | by
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| My path around the globe |
I entered this contest as a single operator, Low power (100 watts or less) and unassisted (Did not use any spotting clusters). The radio was the Icom 7610 along with the Hustler 4BTV vertical antenna. The solar weather was great and the 24 hours came and passed with Kp1 and the Bz in the positive direction. I had zero issues with my software, radio, RFI and antenna so I am a very happy camper. The only issue I suffered from in the past has been RFI and I now feel with a few major contests in the books and no issues that the problem is in the rearview mirror.
At this point in my CW contesting ambitions I am not too concerned about my score, I want to polish my CW running skills. To do this I am not in the assisted category which means my band map is not populated with cluster spots, no decoding programs and I do very little search and pounce. I just stay on frequency and dit dit "CQ CONTEST". I was running at 32 wpm which I find to be the sweet spot for contacts. In this contest, the exchange is 5NN and my province, which in all contesting programs would be prefilled at the listener end. If it was a progressive serial number then would program into the macro code for the number portion of the exchange to be sent slower. Stations from outside of Canada would send a serial number as their exchange and some would send at over 40wpm and that is fine by me.
6 Responses to “2024 RAC Canada Winter contest.”
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Hi Mike, we worked this contest, but I use DX MAPS as my form of assistance. I find my callsign is not an easy one for either mode and I send VE3 E T E K} with the FTDX10 message memory. This seems too obvious, but seems to work for better clarity. Tnx for the contact! 73 Bob
Good morning, Bob, thanks for taking the time to leave a comment. Yes Bob, there are some letter combos out there that are a bit mind-turning once the CW speed increases. I know some ops will slow some letters down so there is less confusion and repeats.
73,
Mike
VE9KK
I received my NOVICE license in 1961, the same year I got married. I wasn’t into CW, but operated on 2 meters with modified air force radios. I spent much of my honeymoon calling “CQ” trying to raise my first radio contact. Having no success I abandoned 2 meters in favor of CW. When we moved to an unfamiliar, populated area, amateur radio was a party line for friendships. Sixty-five years later the culture I strived in has been displaced by: commonality of state-of-the-art radio offerings; computer nerds; technical scholars; DX competitors; advir…ad infinitum. Part of the former culture was chasing frequency “drift”to maintain a QSO; today being told you are off off-frequency 200 cycles is not mean-spirited.
Good morning, Larry and thanks for taking the time to leave a comment. As with all things over time things change, and in some ways, we may not agree with them. Overall the hobby is great and yes it is not like years gone by but it has moved on toward a new direction.
73,
Mike
VE9KK
Thanks Mike for your response. The hobby advancing to higher stations of technology is natural even though it leaves older generations in a lurch. My efforts to lobby youth to amateur radio have been met with disinterest or The average ham seems to be competent in radio and antenna technology, but I don/t sense the comradery th
Thanks Mike for your response. The hobby advancing to higher stations of technology is natural even though it leaves older generations behind or in a lurch. The average ham seems to be competent in today’s radio and antenna technology, but I don’t sense the comradery of previous generations. I don’t have a feel for the hobby’s effort to attract youth, but my efforts have been met with disaffected interest.