pix_logo01 (5K)NAQCC News

Dec 25, 2010NAQCC Web Site Issue #133

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!
In this issue:
1. January Challenge
2. December Sprint Results
2a. December Special mW Sprint
3. General Club News
3a. Chapter News
4. Elmer Project
5. Latest Award Winners
6. Member Spotlight
7. News Items and Articles by Our Members

1. JANUARY CHALLENGE: After you warm up this coming week with the NAQCC December mW sprint, you'll be ready to take on the January mW challenge, I hope. We challenge you to make at least 10 QSO's during the month using mW power and simple wire antennas. NO contest or sprint QSO's may be used toward the total. QSO's must be of the regular everyday kind.

Beginning this year we are not allowing contest or sprint QSO's to be used for any challenge except our annual FD challenge in June.

Another change is to not have any open-ended alphabet challenges. That is we will give you a specific list of words to make, and anyone who makes them gets a certificate, period. None of this whoever makes the most words, or does it the fastest, etc. We will try to adjust the word lists to a number that is neither too easy nor too hard to make. You can let us know your thoughts about that as we go along through the year.

One other change is eliminating the 'double letter' callsign rule. If you work, say W3WWX, you can use each of the W's for two letters in the challenge for a total of 6 letters. Previously you could only use one of the duplicate letters (W in this case) in a call sign for a total of 2 letters.

I think that sums it up, but always check the complete challenge rules pages here before embarking on a challenge.

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2. DECEMBER SPRINT RESULTS: We continue to roll along at our record setting pace. This is the 9th month in a row now we've topped the 100 logs month with 120 to make our sprints perhaps the most popular 2 hour sprints in ham radio today. Why? Perhaps part of the reason is what Bob K9OSC said in an email to me, "I have to comment that the manner in which you handle the Sprints is way above the norm. Quick posting, excellent rules that make real sense and concern for others is simply not part of other organizations these days. Frankly, our guys don't know how you do it all. But, we all appreciate and respect you for it." Bob's mention of 'our guys' refers to the MN Chapter members.

Well all of our members are like a big happy family to us, and when there is a big happy family, all members are treated with respect and great friendship. We do our best to treat our sprint participants (and all members) that way. Each one of you is a person to us, and not just a number.

Another reason is that participants in our sprints for the most part consider them to be low-key events without the frantic pace of other sprints. The straight key bonus is a huge part of this. When using a straight key, it is easy to adjust your speed as you go. If you're calling CQ at 15 WPM, and someone answers you at 20-25 WPM, you can go back to them at that speed and get a quick QSO in the log.

However, and this is important enough to warrant a new paragraph, you can also slow down for someone who answers you at a slower speed than that at which you were calling CQ. It's quite possible that someone had to listen to your CQ several times just to copy your call, and if you went back to them at that speed, they might be lost. So if you are calling at 18 WPM for example, and someone answers you at 10 WPM, please slow down to their speed. You won't waste any time because if you send at 18 WPM, you're going to have to waste time repeating info. If you send at 10 WPM, the station you're working will probably get the info in one turn. Always keep the speed factor in mind.

I know just about all of our participants do watch their speed, and thus make our sprints a popular learning place for those new to contesting, adding to the popularity.

We are certainly grateful to K8KFJ for suggesting way back in November 2004 the use of straight keys. We adopted the suggestion for our December 2004 sprint and every sprint since, and have never regretted it.

Speed is an important issue, and I wanted to dwell on it a bit, but now let's get to the statistics, after which, we'll tell you about our upcoming special mW sprint.

We set one record this month - the most 80M QSOs - 792 topping 765 in 2/10.

StatsCurrent
Month
Previous
Month
All-Time
Record
Mo/Yr
Logs1201061358/10
Participants1781572118/10
Total QSO's1421107319298/10
Hour 1 QSO's76961610288/10
Hour 2 QSO's6524579216/10
20M QSO's3010006/10
40M QSO's62655112778/10
80M QSO's79252279212/10
Avg QSO's per stn11.810.119.19/06


AWARDS
SWA Category
DivisionWinner
W1K1IEE
W2AA2YV
W3K3WWP
W4K4ORD
W5WD5IYT
W6N6VOH
W7N7YY
W8WB8LZG
W9K9FO
W0K9OSC
CanadaVE3RCN
DXNP3CW
Other Categories
Gainn/a
First time entrant
high scorer
WA4FNG
Knob/handle
drawing
TBA

Congratulations to all including winners and non-winners. Everyone who participated and sent in a log is a winner because you have helped show the ham radio world that there are many folks still using and enjoying CW on the ham bands. That's one of our main goals here at the NAQCC.

Very special thanks to those who reported their results even though they made only a few QSO's. Your reports are important also.

We had a total of 9 stations who didn't submit a log show up 5-23 times in the 120 logs we received and cross-checked. Hopefully they and many others will be back next month AND submit a log. Remember submitting a log doubles the strength of your statement that you support CW operation.

We welcome these hams who submitted a sprint log for the first time. We hope they will continue to participate and report their results:
WA4FNG W9NU NQ2W K1NAJ K9DTH KB2RAW K5MMH K0KCY AK3X W8RTJ AC4RM K2QPN WD4OHD AJ4AY K7HAP WB2LQF WA4FYN KJ6EIF N7RCS WA4IQL N3RSD

A few who enter as first-timers never return again, but most become regular participants. As 2010 draws to a close, let's list those now who have participated in half (37) or more of our 74 regular sprints:
K3WWP John - 74
KA2KGP Tom - 66
W2JEK Don - 55
W2SH Chas - 55
W9CC Larry - 54
KD2MX Paul - 52
K4NVJ Joe - 50
WY3H Tom - 50
N4FI Dan - 49
K4BAI John - 46
K4JPN Steve - 42
WB8LZG Gregg - 41
NU7T Steve - 40

GOLDEN LOGS. Everyone who submits a log with exactly the correct format as defined in the rules plus has every bit of info (numbers, states, etc.) correct in the log gets a listing in the GOLDEN LOGS section in the results. Many clubs penalize mistakes in logging, some to the point of disqualification if there are too many mistakes. We don't do anything like that other than fixing a score if a mistake changes it. Instead of penalizing errors, we will reward perfection.

There also is going to eventually be some sort of prize in conjunction with the GOLDEN LOGS. We haven't decided the details yet.

We hope that is an incentive to run a fine-tooth comb through your logs before submitting them.

GOLDEN LOG's were submitted by 48 participants this month. To see if you're one of them, check the results page.

196 different hams have submitted at least one GOLDEN LOG since we started keeping track in March 2010. Here's a Top 5 (+ ties) list of most GOLDEN LOG's:
WB8ENE - 10 (all)
N8XMS - 8
K0HJC - 7
N9KR - 7
KB1PBA - 6
KC2EGL - 6
KD5MMM - 6
KU4A - 6
W9CC - 6
WA2JSG - 6

Thanks to all GOLDEN LOGgers for making my cross-checking job that much easier.

Full sprint info here.

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2a. DECEMBER SPECIAL mW SPRINT:

Yep, special mW sprint. Last year we moved our mW sprint from summer to winter hoping for better conditions and more participation. It worked as we had 34 logs submitted beating our record of 28 for the summer versions. Since we did have increased participation we are going to divide our mW sprint just like our regular sprints. We'll have a certificate for each call area, Canada, and DX in the SWA category and one more for the GAIN category.

Oh, when is it, I hear you asking. This coming Wednesday evening USA time which is Thursday December 30, from 0130-0330Z. Hope to hear you there.

Other than the power level, it's pretty much the same as a regular sprint, but of course read the complete rules here before jumping in the action.

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3. GENERAL CLUB NEWS:

pix_blueball (1K) - STATE OF THE CLUB ADDRESS BY VP JOHN K3WWP: It's been a great year for the NAQCC. We've reached (and shot past) the 5,000 member mark which was my goal. It still amazes me how our numbers stack up against other clubs since our pool of hams to draw from is smaller than those clubs. Not all hams are interested in CW AND QRP. A lot of hams love CW, but wouldn't operate QRP if you paid them. Of course a lot more wouldn't even operate CW if you paid them. So that eliminates a lot of 'candidates' for our CW/QRP club.

As I mention further down here in the Club News section, we also got a much better home for our web site and an easy to remember address (naqcc.info). We would have preferred a .com or .net address, but someone has naqcc.com and naqcc.net tied up and they do not respond to our communications about releasing them to us. I think it's even better now though with naqcc.info as you can just say something like, "To find out more INFO about the NAQCC, just go to naqcc.info." That's kind of clever and logical, so who needs a .com or .net address anyway.

Another highlight of 2010 is the progress of our sprints. WOW! Once we crossed the 100 logs barrier back in April, we haven't looked back since. I don't know of any other club's sprints that are enjoying our level of participation.

One great new thing with the club is the creation of our first two Chapters.

Our European Chapter among other things, now has a sprint designed for those in Europe who have been unable to participate in what are basically our stateside sprints including for the most part, just the USA and Canada.

Our Minnesota Chapter includes a great bunch of members from that state who get together regularly for various NAQCC activities. I understand that they may issue a challenge to other areas to form their own Chapter and compete against them in our sprints and other activities.

We would love to have more Chapters formed, and I think there are a couple in the works even as I write this.

I do think some areas of the club could still be improved upon. For several reasons (health, job, etc.), our Elmers have not been able to devote as much time to Elmering as they would have liked to. That also has affected our QRS Net. We need volunteers with a lot of time on their hands to devote to setting up and co-ordinating our QRS net(s) as well as the Elmer project overall.

Our Awards Program has ground to a virtual halt as noted in the Latest Awards section of this newsletter. That's a real puzzler. I don't have an answer to that one.

I always thought our Challenges would sprout and blossom just like our sprints have, but participation in them has remained at the same level for a long time now. We can count on a few regulars each month plus a couple different members who do maybe one or two challenges a year for a total of a dozen or so entrants each month. That's about it. I think our challenges are ideal for those who are not into contesting. They can be done at a relaxed pace whenever one has free time to get on the air.

All in all, I'm very happy with the progress of our club in 2010 and look forward to even more and better things in 2011.

I think the bottom line for the NAQCC is the wonderful members we have and the camaraderie that exists among them.

pix_blueball (1K) - The most exciting news is our new club web site. In another week, our site on Windstream will cease to exist, and you'll have to go to our new site at http://naqcc.info. Many of you know this already and have been using the new site. There is now a counter near the bottom of the main page and it shows some 7,000 hits already for the month of December.

An easy to remember URL is one big benefit of the new site. Now when you refer someone to the club 'info' on the Internet, you can just say go to naqcc.info instead of referring them to a search engine or trying to explain our convoluted Windstream URL.

What really excites me though is that we now have PHP and MySQL available to play with and do things we couldn't do at Windstream without those features being available. I'm learning the PHP and MySQL language now, and have already used them to create a couple great and convenient features for the site.

First of all is an easy to use membership search. You can now search the database in one of 4 ways. You can look up a call to see if that person is a member. You can search for a name (last or first) to see how many members share your first or last name, or to just look up someone by name whose call you may have forgotten. You can search to see how many other members are in your town or in your state. We may (should) also add a search by number or country. Perhaps by the time you read this, that will have already been done. Also the search will (if it doesn't already by the time you read this) give previous calls of members, other calls held by members, and indicate those members who unfortunately are silent keys.

I've also written a sprint search. You can now easily call up the results of a certain sprint. Even more interesting, you can check to see how many sprints you've entered with a list of your results for each one. You can look up to see who the winners have been hc038 (1K) for each sprint. Perhaps there is even more that can be done now, or will be added later.

Another benefit of our new site is the huge increase (a thousand-fold from 10 MB to 10 GB) in web site space available. With only the proverbial drop in the bucket referring to web site space, I've now restored all past newsletters in HTML format to the site, as well as all past Featured Member pages and Member Spotlights all together in one place.

It's just all very exciting to me as I love to dwell into that webmaster stuff, and this is my new 'Christmas toy' to play with now.

We'd love to have your comments on the new web site. Send them to pix_email_naqcc (1K)

pix_blueball (1K) - Just a quick reminder we're continuing with the hidden call sign idea originally suggested by Bill KB3XS. Somewhere in this newsletter is a call sign of a member in a place that is definitely out of context and containing a mix of upper and lower case letters. If it is YOUR call sign and YOU find it, email pix_email_naqcc (1K) BEFORE the publication date of the next newsletter (January 15) and win a gift certificate for 100 NAQCC QSL cards produced by the CheapQSLs.com company run by Hal K6RF (#0171) and donated by the NAQCC thanks to your generous monetary donations to the club. Cheap refers only to the price of the cards, NOT the quality which is superb. So far we've had 38 hidden calls and only 7 'eagle-eyed' winners - KD1R, KM6NN, K4UK, K5RIX, N9AKF, W1ICU, N4OLN.

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3a. CHAPTER NEWS:

Here is where our club chapters present news about their chapter activities. We currently have two chapters - European and Minnesota. We're looking forward to expanding that roster. Chapters are more or less independent local gatherings organized by members in a geographical area and subject to a list of guidelines under the auspices of the NAQCC. If you would be interested in starting a chapter in your area, let us know and we'll send a copy of the guidelines.

EUROPEAN CHAPTER:
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Items in this section are from EU Chapter President Matt MW3YMY unless otherwise credited. Questions or comments should got to pix_email_mw3ymy (1K)

I'd like to wish a very merry Christmas to every member of the NAQCC, especially those in Europe.

2010 has seen the creation of the European Chapter. The chapter has certainly had lots of support and we have had our first four sprints and newsletters. Hopefully the chapter will continue to grow throughout 2011 as more development ideas come to light.

The next European sprint is scheduled for Monday, 10th January. Let's see if we can break our record number of participants and see 20+ logs submitted. The dates of all the European sprints until April can now be found on the chapter calendar and lots of other information is on the website. So have a very Merry Christmas everyone and a Happy New Year: --... ...--

As ever, any comments/suggestions/questions about the chapter are very welcome. The address is: pix_email_mw3ymy (1K)

MINNESOTA CHAPTER:

Items in this section are from MN Chapter member K0HJC unless otherwise credited. Questions or comments should go to Chapter President Rich, WD0K at WD0K@arrl.net.

Greetings from the Minnesota Chapter! Wow! Eight logs from Minnesota for the December Sprint! Our Friday Brunch had seven members and four spouses present! In January we will brunch at R. J. Riches in Mounds View, and possibly a Saturday Brunch after the St. Paul Radio Club Auction. Check out the Minnesota Chapter Website at http://www.naqccmn.com/ for details of this and recent activities, photos and rag-chew times.

The November Sprint saw Reg, KA0RJY #3877, using his home-brew craftsman key. He fashioned it from a solid piece of Black Walnut harvested by his father in 1952 near Oregon, Wisconsin. In the December Sprint, Bob, K9OSC #3894, used his Home-brew Cootie Key fashioned from Maple and Walnut. Both of the keys function as good as they look!

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KA0RJY's Homebrew Craftsman Key

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K9OSC's Homebrew Cootie Key


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4. THE NAQCC ELMER PROJECT:
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The Elmer project is co-ordinated by Karl N3IJR (L) and Ron K5DUZ. If you are interested in helping out or need help with any CW and/or QRP matters contact:
K5DUZ - pix_email_k5duz (1K)
N3IJR - pix_email_n3ijr (1K)
Unfortunately the Elmer Project is lagging far behind other club activities. We desperately need members to step forward and help out. We really need the following to keep the Elmer Project alive.

1. Someone to actively oversee the whole Elmer Project, and make sure it is running smoothly and well promoted in the newsletter and elsewhere. Basically an Elmer Project Manager.

2. Someone to oversee and co-ordinate our slow speed code-practice nets, and to start up local area nets. We are getting some volunteers in this field, but need someone to co-ordinate the efforts and send in info about the nets to be posted here on the web site and in the newsletters. I (K3WWP) can't do it as I am too busy with running the many other every day matters involving the NAQCC. Karl N3IJR tried to do it and was succeeding at it until other personal matters forced him to give up the effort. Tom WY3H stepped in to help after that, but he is having health problems that are making it hard for him to do the job. I would hate to see our net(s) die, but without YOU to help out and co-ordinate things, they will flounder like a ship at sea without a crew to run her.

3. Someone to be available a good deal of the time to promptly answer questions about a variety of topics that newcomers to CW and/or QRP might ask. We could even have several Elmers to do this with each one handling some specific topic like antennas, operating procedure, rigs, etc. I know a lot of our members have the expertise and knowledge to handle something like that.

4. Someone who could write a column for every (or even every other) newsletter that includes tips on QRP and/or CW similar to what I've tried to do the last several issues, but now no longer have the time to do so.

5. Someone who could match up folks wanting on the air code practice. Like matching up a veteran CW op who is willing to help someone new to CW who needs the help.

Many folks are returning to CW after a long absence or discovering the joy of CW for the first time. That makes our NAQCC Elmer Project a very important one, but one that is now without the very active leader it needs. So think about how much good you could do for CW and let us know you're willing to help out in one of the above ways or perhaps some other way I've overlooked.

NAQCC QRS Net Report
Date(UTC)   NCS        Participants
12/13/10  WY3H  11 - WY3H K3WWP WD0K VE1VEI K3VIG W4HH N9RLO WB8ENE N0AZN
                     K1IEE KD8GZ
12/20/10  K3WWP  9 - K3WWP AC8AP N8XMS WB8WTU N8IUP KA0RJY WR9H AA2ID
                     K3VIG
Our net is now in it's winter schedule, and searching for a good time and frequency. The following has been pretty good for the past couple nets, so we'll stick with it for a while to see if it stays that way. The time is Sunday 7:00 PM EST (Monday 0000Z), and the frequency is 3562.5.

Briefly, our net procedure is as follows:
CQ NQN DE N3AQC QNI
NQN standing for Naqcc Qrs Net. QNI being the net QN signal for check In now. When the NCS (Net Control Station) sends QNI, just send your call letters once, and then follow the instructions from the NCS. Be sure not to leave the net because after everyone is checked in, all will get a chance to make comments in turn.

We need YOU to make our Elmer project work. If you need help with any ham radio matter or are willing to help others with your expertise, please contact our Elmer directors:
K5DUZ - pix_email_k5duz (1K)
N3IJR - pix_email_n3ijr (1K)
WY3H - pix_email_wy3h (1K)

Also see Elmer Project on the web site.

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5. AWARD WINNERS THE PAST TWO MONTHS:

CERTIFICATES:

None

ENDORSEMENTS and/or WEB SITE LISTINGS:

None

How disappointing! With the great participation we are getting in our sprints, it should be easy to at least earn our Friendship Club award as each QSO in a sprint or contest is worth 2 points. You could also rack up some new states towards your NAQCC QRP WAS award as we now routinely have up to 35-40 or more states active in our sprints.

It almost seems like somehow or other we are letting our members down with our awards program, but I don't have a clue as to how. If we are, let us know, and we'll try to remedy the situation.

Full List of all award winners here.

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6. MEMBER SPOTLIGHT:
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This section is managed by Paul N8XMS and any questions about it should go to pix_email_n8xms (1K). Paul selects members at random and asks them if they would like to be featured in the Member Spotlight in the newsletter.
This month we have a double treat for our Member Spotlight - a father and daughter!

Dave and Jen Kruh WB2HTO and KB1TSU #4590 and #4591

Picture of WB2HTO and KB1TSU

David, WB2HTO, is originally from Long Island, New York, and has been a ham radio operator since 1972, when his "Elmer" nursed him through the Novice exam and the Morse code test of five words per minute. Whew. Two years later he passed his General, and later the Advanced Class ticket. David was active for many years (among his early thrills was working stations through Oscar 7 and 8) but, as the schoolyard poem goes "first came love, then came marriage, then the baby carriage." In 2007, after pretty much being QRT for 24 years, things settled down enough so he could get back into the hobby, that he found had changed in many ways, what with all the PC-based digital modes. However, he still had his original straight key and was happy to see that he could still copy 10+ words per minute! (It really is like riding a bicycle!)

Speaking of the baby carriage, in November of 2009 David's daughter Jennifer (the girl who used to be in that baby carriage) announced that she wanted to get her license, and in February 2010 passed her Technician test to become KB1TSU. Unlike many Techs, Jennifer stayed down on the HF bands, working mostly CW and collecting 36 states in the process. Then, just this past August, she passed her General, and is now tearing up 20 meters, shooting for her goal of Working All States before her 13th birthday. (By the way, Jen inspired David to study for his Extra class ticket, which he got earlier in 2010.) Jennifer is proud to display her FISTS membership (#14764) in the shack.

As Jen continues to improve her "fist" and David looks for some air time, they both want everyone to know that if you work both KB1TSU and WB2HTO in the same mode you can earn an award they have created called the WORKED ALL KRUH Award (see the link for details.)

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pix_sm_kd2mx (13K) 7. NEWS ITEMS AND ARTICLES BY OUR MEMBERS: This section is a forum for you to tell other members what you've been up to on the ham bands or to submit an article dealing with some aspect of CW and QRP operation or equipment. Send your news items and articles to our news editor Paul KD2MX at pix_email_kd2mx (1K). Deadline for submitting news items for the next newsletter is January 13. For your convenience any links in this section will open in a new browser window so you can come immediately back here to the newsletter just by closing that extra window.

DISCLAIMER: Any views expressed in this section are those of the member submitting them, and may or may not be those of the NAQCC or its officers.

pix_blueball (1K) From John K3WWP #0002 - No real news this issue. I just want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

pix_blueball (1K) From Michael KM9R #3916 - To date I have had zero participation with on air club activities due to HomeOwner Association(HOA) restrictions and illness. However, after intentionally taking the bad end of a trade to give me the opportunity to set up an stealthy clandestine QRP CW station, I am happy to report that I am really looking forward to putting some NAQCC sprint time into my log next to my normal QRP CW operations. I had moderate success running QRP with an indoor ATAS 120A antenna during the recent 2010 CQ WW CW and ARRL 10m contests. It would be great to also have 80m capability for our club sprints, but budget and the HOA dictate otherwise. However, all is not lost and I will give it my best on 20m and 40m.

This is my first serious effort at 100% QRP operations and I am happy to report that so far I am having a blast. Initially, QRP was an effort to remain covert within the HOA and so far so good. My agreement with the HOA is no "external" antennas and I have complied 100% with that agreement. The QRP is a self imposed limitation to avoid any RFI issues. Despite the external antenna and self imposed power output limitations, I am having good success at the beginning of Cycle 24.

Regardless of the initial success, I am quickly learning some QRP basics. The type of antenna and minimizing the loss of RF energy to the antenna are key. Just as important, is the receiving station's ability to hear. I have quickly learned that not all receiving stations are created equal. If they are going to hear you, whether in a contest or just answering their CQ , then it happens fairly easily. If they are not gifted with the ability to hear, then the art of patience pays huge dividends. Patience from the standpoint of not calling the station until carpel tunnel sets in, but waiting until propagation changes and overcomes their inability to hear.

I am certain a lot of you have learned these basic QRP operating principles already, but I am just trying to express to you my new found fascination with the rewards of operating QRP. As a side note, from my location (NTX) and with my present station, I heard and worked numerous CW stations during the recent ARRL 10m contest. I scanned the phone portion of 10m only twice, once on Saturday and once on Sunday. I heard only one station on Sunday and that was it. I do not mention this in an attempt to prove a lack of popularity with SSB transmissions, but to emphasize yet again the real world superior efficiency of the CW mode of operation. I am already drooling over the thought of deploying a double zepp, an inverted L or even monoband gain antennas if I ever find myself blessed with the opportunity to do so. I am also getting excited about entering the world of milliwatting, but I am presently limited to "QRO" at 5w.

I am looking forward to my first ever QRP x2 contest and meeting some fellow club members on the air. I am grateful that this club exists to promote CW and QRP operations.

pix_blueball (1K) From Carl AA4MI #1237 - The Lake Monroe Amateur Radio Society (LMARS) has a Special Interest Group (SIG) for CW.

I conducted a Morse Code Training Class from Sunday, October 31st To December 19 at our local Casselberry FL Seminole County Public Library. We had eight students, Bob, KJ4HUH; Don, KC4UUM; Chuck, W4CFC; Olon, AJ4HP; Walter, KJ4HGH; Armond, AJ4IC; Perry, KF4NLL and Steve, KI4ORY. Seven Elmers voluntered to help out with each Sunday's 90-minute CW session: Dan, N3ND; Joe, K4JGA; Frank, W1IBM; Bruce, KL7IV; Jim, K4AHO; Robb, WB3HNP and Les, KW4V.

Each session consisted of a "pop quiz" of the characters learned at the prior sessions. The method used was the "ound" method where each character is verbally sounded of its dit(s) and/or dah(s). Students are forbidden to write down or say any dots and/or dashes. This method incorporates as many of the five senses as possible and students learn quicker. Each letter is sounded en mass so that everyone will reinforce the adjacent student's learning.

Additionally, I purchased/refurbished six code practice oscillators for class use. I insisted that the students learned by sending each character. They sent individually and as a group. This latter method sounds like mass confusion but its purpose is three-fold. First, each student gets rid of the initial "key fright" which freezes so many from actually getting on the air. Second, when everyone is sending at the same time, students quickly are exposed to "real on-air conditions". Hearing other signals forces them to concentrate harder. And third, they are instructed how to use the straight key with proper posture and hand positioning. Then students are "paired off" to send a few words to each other and to then generate an audio QSO.

Finally I arranged for Jim Diggs, K4AHO, #1713, to set up his QRP station and allow students to have an on-the-air contact with Les Smallwood, KW4V, whose QTH is about a 1/2-mile distant. Certificates, QSLs and World Maps will be presented at our January 6th LMARS meeting. Each student was of course informed of the NAQCC web site and Newsletter.

pix_blueball (1K) From John N8ZYA #2279 - I participated in the recent Rookie Roundup and found fellow NAQCC member K3ROI #516 on the 40-meter band. He is thirteen years old and was doing a fine job with his contacts. I wrote it up on my radio blog: N8ZYA's Radio Blog.

Thanks to the NAQCC advance e-mail, I found myself in the right place at the right time. This was a fun event and another bright spot in CW operations. Despite the anxiety about dropping the code requirement a few years ago, I find CW taking a step forward every day. Participation was very good in this event.

I don't do a lot of contests since my location is so poor and my antenna is so modest. But here I competed with many other stations (QRO) and found different operators in nine states that could pull me out of the hive. I felt good about it. CW is alive and well today, and even growing more and more, as new operators find the advantages of this mode.

pix_blueball (1K) From Carl AA4MI #1237 - Here's something of interest that I received from the WorldRadio Online Newsroom in CW!

.-- .. .-.. .-.. / -.-. .... .- .. .-. / -.-. --- -- -- / .- -. -.. / - . -.-. .... / ... ..- -... / --... ...-- ... / .-- --... . --.- ..

That was how Rep. Greg Walden of Oregon, W7EQI, tweeted the news that he had been named Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Communications and Technology. The subcommittee's responsibilities include oversight of the FCC. In a follow-up Twitter message, Walden explained that "The last tweet was Morse code! Just the ham radio operator in me having fun...". Since it is much easier to copy CW by ear rather than decipher it by eye, the translated W7EQI tweet is, "Will chair comm and tech sub 73s w7eqi". Walden is one of two ham radio operators in Congress. The other is Rep. Mike Ross, WD5DVR, of Arkansas.

Club email address - pix_email_naqcc (1K)

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