Hi all, Barry, KF6RDI here,
I just thought that I would drop a note introducing
myself and tell you all about my first week in HF CW.
I got my Tech ticket back in may and a few weeks later
tried to go for my General. I passed the written with
no problem, but I basically just sat and listened to the
13wpm tape. I did pass the 5wpm by getting 43 straight
letters.
Last week I finally got a HF rig. It is a totally
beautiful Heathkit HW-8 running 3 watts. My temporary
Ham Shack is my Jeep Cherokee. I took of my old CB
whip and replaced it with a 40 meter Hamstick. After
4 hours of tuning I got an SWR of 2:1 on 7.110MHz.
I added an antenna tuner that I picked up at a swap
meet which got the SWR down to 1:1. I was not
expecting to much from this setup (it is only
temporary until I get my dipole up at my house).
The first night was a bit frustrating. I was basically
chasing CQ's with no results. I started to think that
I was not getting out. I finally gathered the nerve to
call CQ myself on a frequency that had been active.
So a called CQ CQ CQ DE KF6RDI KF6RDI KF6RDI/QRP K
As soon as I sent K, I heard my call sign coming
back! It was KF6LOP calling with a signal report of 579.
He said his QTH was Oroville, CA. I did not know where
it was, but I assumed it was somewhere local. When I got
home I checked the map and lo and behold, Oroville is
way up in Northern California (I live near Los Angeles).
540 miles, not exactly DX, but further than I have ever
called before.
In the next few nights, I talked with KF6LOP a few more
times and then hit W6RA in Eureka, CA. Much further, but still
in my own state (A very big state though :)
Then, last Friday I worked N5MKU in Pawnee, OK. 1200 miles
with an RST of 539!
My real goal was to work my Uncle (WA0NUH) in Ft. Collins, CO.
Saturday night I was calling CQ, and he came back! Very cool
and quite a gratifying first week in this hobby.
My ability to copy code is still pretty weak. So if you happen
to hear KF6RDI/QRP calling CQ, slow down :)
--
-------------------------------------------------------
Barry L. Geipel (KF6RDI) ||
Email:bgeipel@primenet.com || Lacking a muse, my mauser
NRA HMGS-PSW ARRL || must be my thunderbolt
QRP-L #1653 ||
http://www.primenet.com/~bgeipel/barry.html
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