HONORING NANCY MONTH
FISTS and the NAQCC in a joint effort honored Nancy by making September 2014 a special 'Honor Nancy Month' with two events. First on September 2, the six-month anniversary of her passing, we had an extra special sprint dedicated to her. For the entire month, an NAQCC-style alphabet challenge was devoted to her memory. The words in the challenge all related to Nancy, FISTS, and the NAQCC.
Although she was never a NAQCC member, FISTS North American leader Nancy WZ8C had a prominent place in the formation of the NAQCC and continued to help as the club grew and developed. As the FISTS Keynote QRP columnist, I (K3WWP) asked for and was immediately given permission by Nancy to promote the NAQCC in my Keynote columns. I explained to her that we had no intention of competing with FISTS, but to work together with FISTS in our common goal of promoting CW operation. Our club would only concentrate on CW at QRP levels and mostly with simple antenna setups. My first article mentioning the NAQCC swelled our membership so rapidly it was hard to keep up with the new applications. Nancy continued to encourage me to mention the NAQCC in my column whenever I wished, and would often ask me how the club was doing. A couple years after the start of the NAQCC, I asked Nancy if she would consider giving annually a free FISTS membership or one year renewal to the NAQCC member who won our Participation Award drawing. She said yes without any hesitation. The cooperation between FISTS and NAQCC has been a continual show of how the two clubs have worked together over 9+ years to jointly promote CW.
Unfortunately the CW world lost one of its greatest proponents when Nancy passed away on March 2, 2014 after lingering health problems. She will be sorely missed by everyone who operates CW.
Nancy was posthumously inducted into the CQ Hall of Fame at the Dayton Hamfest.
Now here are the rules for the Sprint and Challenge.
SPRINT
DATE and TIME - Tuesday evening September 2, 2014 (USA date) from 8:00 PM to 11:00 PM EASTERN DT which is Wednesday September 3, 2014 (UTC date) from 0000Z to 0300Z. The three hour time frame is a compromise between the usual 2 hours for NAQCC sprints and the 4 hours of FISTS sprints.
OBJECT AND NOTES - Just to make as many 2-way CW QSOs as you are capable of making. Call CQ FN.
FREQUENCIES - 3560, 7040, 14060, BUT SPREAD OUT up and down from there to avoid congestion. Stations may be worked once on each band.
POWER - NAQCC members should use QRP, FISTS may choose their power level up to 100W maximum.
CATEGORIES:
B - A member of Both FISTS and NAQCC
F - A member of only FISTS
N - A member of only NAQCC
X - A member of neither club
EXCHANGE - (The call of the station you are working) + NANCY + SPC (State, Province, or Country) + CATEGORY (B, F, N, X)
EXAMPLE for K3WWP working X2XXX:
K3WWP sends X2XXX NANCY PA B
X2XXX sends K3WWP NANCY NY F
SCORING - Since this is not really a contest, there will be no formal scoring. There will simply be a list of those who honored Nancy by participating and reporting their results.
PRIZE - We have decided on a major prize to be awarded via a drawing among ALL participants in both the sprint and challenge. If someone participated in both they will be given two entries in the drawing. The drawing will be held on Sunday, November 2 at 2000Z in an 'almost live' web cast here. A reminder will be sent via our NAQCC email list shortly before that date. The prize is an HB-1B 4 Band QRP CW transceiver donated by YouKits. See here for a picture and description of this nice little QRP rig. The model we have includes the battery pack, is the very latest version, and has the gold colored tuning knob.
REPORT - Send to 
with the subject "Nancy sprint" and in the body of the email include your callsign, your category, number of QSOs for each category, the number of SPCs (optional), and any soapbox comments you wish to make.
If you still use regular mail, send your reports to:
John Shannon K3WWP
478 E. High St.
Kittanning, PA 16201-1304
EXAMPLE for K3WWP -
K3WWP
B
B-10
F-12
N-14
X-7
SPC-20 (optional)
SOAPBOX: It was nice to be able to honor Nancy in this manner although I wish we could have done so before her passing.
LOG DEADLINE - October 10 at 2400Z. (extended from Oct 2 to accomodate our late decision on the prize setup)
FINAL RESULTS in no particular order:
CALL CATEGORY B QSOS F QSOS N QSOS X QSOS SPC (optional)
K3WWP B 14 0 11 3 15
N9SE N 4 0 0 0 4
N1DN B 0 0 3 1
KN1H N 3 0 1 1 5
N0TA B 18 4 6 5 16
N4CYV N 2 0 0 0
K0MIS B 5 0 1 1 6
NT8P N 8 0 4 1 11
W4DUK N 5 0 0 0 5
AB3RU N 8 0 3 2 10
AC8LJ B 9 1 6 3 10
KQ3Z N 2 0 1 1 4
WA8AXF N 4 0 2 1 7
WB8WTU N 2 0 2 2 6
K6CSL B 4 0 0 1 3
K2VS B 9 0 7 0 13
KX1NH B 11 0 2 0 12
KB0ETU B 8 0 0 0 7
K5ZU B 9 0 5 0 13
KB4QQJ B 16 1 7 4 19
K4KRW B 7 0 1 3 10
KD8RUQ N 24 0 18 10 23
WU7F B 6 0 0 2 6
I5SKK B 0 0 0 6 1
K4BAI B 37 9 23 13 31
KE5YUM N 0 0 1 0
KE4WKH N 4 0 3 2 7
W0EJ B 6 0 3 3
K5OAI B 8 2 0 3 7
VE5BCS B 11 0 1 4
WB0PYF B 15 1 6 8 17
K0FNR B 1 0 0 1 2
K6MGO B 0 2 0 0 1
VE3FUJ B 11 0 4 1 12
KA2KGP N 17 4 0 2 15
W5IQS B 3 0 0 0 3
NP3CW B 3 0 0 9 9
KB8J N 2 1 0 0 3
KK4UGD B 1 1 1 0
W2JEK B 10 0 3 2 12
W3UEC B 4 0 0 1
WB7EUX B 2 4 1 0 5
WB5BKL X 23 1 5 1 20
KC0CCR B 7 1 2 1 11
WA9PWP F 0 1 0 7
K1IX N 5 0 2 1 7
AJ1DM B 6 0 1 0 7
NF8M N ? ? ? ? 8
W8SH N 7 0 3 2 12
VE5CUL B 2 0 0 1 3
VE3XT X 4 0 2 1
WG8Y B 6 3 0 2 11
K2DEP B 3 0 2 0 5
Totals so far: 376 36 143 112
53 reports
From Bs 33
From Fs 1
From Ns 17
From Xs 2
SOAPBOX:
K3WWP - It was a (sad) pleasure to be able to honor my good friend and CW enthusiast Nancy WZ8C in our special sprint. She did so very much over the years to promote CW via her leadership role in FISTS. Without her, I'm sure CW would not be observing its resurgence on the ham bands that it is today. She was also instrumental in helping our NAQCC to get off the ground by allowing me to promote the club in the FISTS Keynote. A lot of that has been documented elsewhere and I won't repeat it here. It was just so great to hear "NANCY" reverberating on the ham bands for the three hours of the sprint. It's a shame conditions weren't better so it could have been heard even more often. You are sadly missed, my friend. I wish we could have done this to honor your retirement instead of your passing. Unfortunately life doesn't always work out the way we would like it and you were taken before you had a chance to retire.
K4KRW - I did not have any QSOs with Nancy. But I did exchange some emails with her concerning renewal and an order from FISTS. I will always remember how helpful she was. I also always looked forward to the FISTS newsletter. Her enthusiasm for CW definitely made an impression on me. I am still learning, but I am certainly a better CW operator because of her efforts. Thanks Nancy! You will be missed. Richard
K6MGO - I had talked to Nancy many times over the years via email, and always found her to be very interested, kind and helpful. She was a wonderful person, and will be dearly missed. 20 meters was just about dead here so went to 40m and found a very high noise level, with signals down at the start and not getting better till about 0130 or so. Only made a few contacts and had to QRT, but as always, it was fun.
W2JEK - Had a good time in the Sprint remembering Nancy. I am one of the NAQCC members who received a FISTS membership as a NAQCC Participation Award. That gives this Sprint a special meaning to me. 72 and 73 Don Younger W2JEK NAQCC # 1135 FISTS # 14323
N9SE - Just got on for a few minutes with KX3 and 30m dipole. 40m sounded pretty good tonight. Good to hear so many honoring Nancy.
AB3RU - Glad to participate in this sprint honoring Nancy - a person who has indirectly enriched my life. For this sprint, I used my 1955 bug for the first time on the air. Thanks to all the OPs who copied me through the QRN on 40m. -- 73
K6CSL - I'm sorry I never had a chance to meet or work Nancy on the air. However I certainly honor the lifetime of work she did for FISTS and for Amateur Radio. Bert H. Cook, K6CSL, FISTS #13785, NAQCC #2096
NP3CW - Had the privilege to work Nancy WZ8C in the past. She was a very talented person and did a lot of work for the benefit of radio amateurs and the FISTS organization in North America. My first QSO on this event was with K4BAI in GA. Also contacted VE5BCS and VE2CW. Hope that NAQCC organization will consider to repeat this event in the future. Thanks for the opportunity to participate in this event to honor Nancy Kott WZ8C now a SK. 73, Julio
K2VS - Many thanks to Nancy for all the work she did to promote CW.
KX1NH - Nice to work John, K3WWP, thanks for organizing this Sprint to honor Nancy.
KB0ETU - Nancy would have been proud with us doing the sprint in her honor especially with the bands in poor condition. Good sprint. 72, Phil
AC8LJ - Vry nice tribute.
W8SH (WB8LZG) - I had a gud time remembering Nancy wid this sprint. It was especially nice to hear many of the OPs ive come to know thru the NAQCC over the yrs. I operated from the MSU club stn agn due to problems at home QTH. SRI to WB7EUX , I really blew it! I hr u ask fer ST? but visitor in shack es other interuptions .... es it BLEW right thru my ears ??????? when I finally realized that u were asking fer my STATE, it was too late. OOOOPS ! I met Nancy yrs ago at Dayton es we became instant friends. Always an optimist, she gave me encouragement in many ways. She was the push for me to start writing agn , and helped me pen many articles for "World Radio" magazine and others. She will be remembered fondly. The organizers did a FB job on this sprint, es she would hv ben honored. TU 73, Gregg WB8LZG # 1444
W3UEC - We had electrical storms and bands were noisy, but all OPs were patient and helpful. To me this was best of both clubs and very much in Nancy's spirit.
KQ3Z - Hope Nancy could feel the energy out there this evening
KB4QQJ - I'm sure she heard some of that....godspeed Nancy and peace of mind to your family. 88 for now, Randy
WA8AXF - Thanks Nancy.
K5ZU - Well it was a rough start on 40 meters with a 10 noise level but was eventually able to cut through it and ended with a personal best of 14 contacts tonight on 5 watts. It was nice to be able to do this and honor Nancy for all that she did for NAQCC and FISTS.
WB8WTU - Nice to hear so many stations on for this event. I heard several ops from other groups participating. It was my pleasure to participate in remembrance. 72/73 to all. dennis
KD8RUQ - It was an honor to participate in the fun exercise for Nancy's honor. I'm just a new member but having a lot of fun with the contests and QRP, that I never thought I would. So glad I ran into you John at the [Butler] hamfest and signed up. Well I'm tired and people didn't hear me or didn't care but had lots of QRM. But didn't ruin my fun, HI HI. Can't wait till the next one. 73 Take care Mike
WU7F - Nice to remember someone who was dedicated to CW and had done so much to help promote it - 73/72
I5SKK - It was nice to honour a CW lover and an Ham with the activity loved by Her, I was proud of this, many thanks for organized it. 72 de Alex
K5OAI - Nice to hear so many ops on to honor Nancy. -- GB & 73 K5OAI Sam Morgan
VE5BCS - It was a memeral nite with Nancy always on your mind tnx for doing this John
WB0PYF - It was an honor to pay tribute to Nancy. She was a true advocate of CW and she will be missed. 72 Ray, FISTS #7986, NAQCC #3092
K0FNR - Had the honor to work Nancy when she was in Belize. We miss her. Nice Tribute. Thanks for organizing this tribute John. 72 Jim
VE3FUJ - It is sad that this event had to take place, unfortunately such is life. I hope Nancy will be remembered for a longtime.
KB8J - I did not know Nancy. However, I am privileged to have participated in honoring her. I am always taken by the number of silent keys who are listed in each month's QST. The Central Michigan Amateur Radio Club always begin each monthly meeting with a moment of silence for the Silent Keys.
WB7EUX - This was a great way to honor Nancy and enjoy a "portable" operation in the back yard.
WB5BKL - I wish I had known Nancy. If a person is known by the company they keep, she must have been top-notch.
KC0CCR - I knew Nancy. She would have had a good time in this sprint.
K1IX - I did not know or work Nancy, but from the outpouring of love I see she must have been quite a gal.
AJ1DM - Nice tribute to a nice person. 72 to all.
VE5CUL - Nancy will truly be missed.
WG8Y - I met Nancy at the FIST booth at Dayton many years back.I had stopped to tell her Hi for Don WD8OCV, fist #1508.She'd give me a 'Fist" pen to give to him. Always a big smile. 72 all,Mark WG8Y
K2DEP - Did not have a lot of time to spend on this event but enjoyed
making contacts (VE3FUJ, KD8RUQ, KB4QQJ, K3WWP, & KA2KGP) honoring Nancy. Unfortunately, I never had the opportunity to QSO with her.
W4DUK - A rough time on the bands with an approaching storm, but a worthwhile endeavor nonetheless.
KN1H - 5Watts, end fed wire, straight key. Operated half an hour, wish I could have stayed longer.
N0TA - Worked the first 1.5 hours, all on 20m. W6SX was by far the loudest!! Thanks for the Q's. KD1JV TriBander @ 5w, doublet at 30', Gen Log.
N4CYV - Enjoyed it. Couldn't hear many Calls here. Can't wait for winter season! 73 Tom
NT8P - Thanks for the sprint. Ron
K4BAI - FT1000MP, 100W, TH6DXX, dipole, zepp, inverted vee. I wore my FISTS "hat" tonight and used 100W to maximize the number of possible QSOs. Pretty good activity at the start for a one-time operating event. 20M was good from as close as NC out to CA and WA plus VE5 and PR. 40M had good activity when I first moved there, but it dropped off quickly. 40M was noisy and there may have been a few that I couldn't copy under the QRN from thunderstorms in our general area. 80M was OK with QSOs out to NJ and TX, but very little activity on that band. Went back to 20M with about 15 minutes to go and there was no activity left on that band. Nice to work old friends and a few new ones. 73/72, John, K4BAI. FISTS #2158. NAQCC # 644.
W5IQS - Sorry for poor participation but I did work 3 NANCY Sprint stations.
CHALLENGE
DATES - From September 1 0000Z through September 30 2400Z.
FREQUENCIES - Any CW frequencies on 160M through 10M including WARC bands.
OBJECT - Simply make the following words relating to Nancy, FISTS, and the NAQCC from letters and numbers in the calls of stations you work during the month. Contest/sprint QSOs may not be used. A station can only be worked once for his letters and numbers. Each letter/number in a call can be used TWICE. That is K3WWP can be used for 2 Ks, 2 3s, 4 Ws, 2 Ps.
WORD LIST -
NANCY
KOTT
WZ8C
379
FISTS
NAQCC
MORSE
PRESERVATION
SOCIETY
CENTURY (optional word for the FISTS Century award suggested by KX1NH after the start of the challenge)
Letter/number list for reference - 3 7 8 9 A C E F I K M N O P Q R S T (U) V W Y Z
POWER - NAQCC members use QRP. FISTS any power up to 100W
PRIZE - See the prize section in the sprint info above.
REPORT - Simply email with the subject "Nancy Challenge" and in the body of the email tell us your call sign, state you made all the required words (or how many you did make if you didn't make them all), and any soapbox comments you choose to make. Preface your soapbox comments with the word "SOAPBOX" so we will know any comments are for posting and not just private ones.
If you still use regular mail, send your reports to:
John Shannon K3WWP
478 E. High St.
Kittanning, PA 16201-1304
EXAMPLE from K3WWP:
K3WWP
All words
SOAPBOX: Nice to again honor our departed good friend and CW enthusiast Nancy with this challenge.
REPORT DEADLINE - October 30 at 2400Z (30 days)
RESULTS in no particular order:
ALL WORDS
SM5MEK
K3WWP
N9SE
KX1NH
K0ALN
I5SKK
WB0PYF
K1YAN
W2JEK
SOME WORDS
KA2KGP
W4DUK
N8XMS
K0FNR
KO6YG
SOAPBOX:
K3WWP - A quick mastery of the Nancy challenge as I finished up in just 6 days at 1940Z when I worked OZ1SDB/P for the final S. Maybe Nancy was guiding me towards those stations who had the appropriate numbers and letters? Anyway it was nice to honor her memory in a second way this month with this challenge. I hope a lot of other folks will likewise honor her by making all the words in the challenge, or even just some of them if time and conditions don't permit making them all. Just sending in your report will honor her a bit more.
KX1NH - Added CENTURY to my list of words. The CENTURY award supported by FISTS and Nancy went a long way in encouraging new hams, like myself, to get on the air and make contacts. Thank you Nancy. You are missed.
K0ALN - Sorry I couldn't participate in the Nancy Sprint, but was glad to complete the Challenge. I didn't know Nancy, but the Sprint and Challenge seem to be a fitting tribute to a terrific representative of our great organizations.
I5SKK - Proud to be able to honor a true Ham Radio, CW and QRP activist and proud to be able to complete the Century too, in honor of Nancy. 72 de Alex I5SKK ex I0SKK
WB0PYF - Nancy was a friend who took time to help anyone with CW and Fists. We will truly miss you Nancy, you and your family are in my prayers. 73/72 Ray Myers WB0PYF Fist # 7986, CC # 1085 NAQCC # 3092 All contacts made by my station were QRP 4-5 watts.
K1YAN - I did not know Nancy and it seems that was my loss. Glad to help remember her in some small way.
K0FNR - Did not have very many contacts that were not part of some contest, but, fittingly, was able to spell NANCY. I just renewed my FISTS membership in memory of Nancy. 73 Jim K0FNR
W2JEK - This was a great challenge and a wonderful way to honor Nancy. She will be missed. Needed an R for the last letter and got lucky and worked 3B9FR which is a new country for me. 72 and 73 Don Younger W2JEK NAQCC #1135 FISTS #14323
KO6YG - Unfortunately I never got to work Nancy. But I did have a nice Eyeball QSO with her at Dayton in 2007. She really encouraged slow operators like myself to continue to improve. Thanks so much. And I really appreciate the many emails from FISTS she sent out to announce "Get Your Feet Wet Weekend" and announcements when dues were due. Rest in Peace Nancy 73. Dan. KO6YG
SM5MEK - This time it requied 17 calls to fullfill the challenge. Got K4DY as i was portable in JP90fi and only 3 watts with vertical 4 bands antenna,(4ant)
KA2KGP - A fun Challenge, didn't get the "7 & Z". Bands were in OK shape here in WNY but got only 2 on 20m. Lot's-O-QRM on 80m. with nearby T-storms crackling. 73