CQ WW CW Participation

Sort of by mistake I participated in the CQ WW CW contest that took place this past weekend. It really was not my intention, but the bands were jammed with ops calling “CQ TEST” it was hard not participate. I only logged about 6 hours, on and off Sunday, while working around the house. Nonetheless I was rather excited chasing DX and countries that I did not have.

Before I go any further, I must say I used a keyboard for sending all my CW, as well as MRP40 to help receive and decode it. I know CW purists will say that I was not using code, but I am still learning, both the sending and receiving aspect and when ops out there are pushing, 40-50 wpm and more there is no way in hell I will be able to copy.

Once I set up AC Log to send code, I turned off the sending option on MRP40 and set up three macros keys, of which I only used two, ‘W6ONV’ and ‘TU 5NN 3’. Those were all I ever said in any one exchange.

My first QSO was W0AI in Colorado followed immediately by an exchange with K2LE in New York and NQ4I in Georgia. I thought to myself, what a snap and seriously thought I could knock out my WAS award in a few hours. But I was listening for more. Part of the lure of ham radio for me is working distant countries, which I was able to do.

The first DX I snagged was D4C in Cape Verde, off the west coast of Africa. I was thrilled as this was my best attempt and longest DX to the east. I followed up by hitting KH7X in Hawaii and HC8N on the Galapagos Islands. Other DX entities include Guatamala, Canada, Ecuador and Bonaire, Curacao in the Netherlands Antilles and Japan.

All in all, I had 44 contacts, 4 new countries and 14 new states, I can only image what I could have totaled if I actually participated a bit more, but I had other responsibilities during the weekend and the XYL would not have been happy. With that said, it was an interesting introduction to contesting, in a non-serious environment.

Not sure what I will do for future CW contests, who knows I might give it another shot, but dedicating a weekend is something I really cannot do with everything else going on. But whatever I do I will look to enjoy it and have fun, which is what I want most out of amateur radio