KA3DRR (Scot): My 10,000 Hour RadioSport Challenge | 9,325 - 4 = 9,321 To Go

2013 North American Sprint CW Results

Good late afternoon as I'm loading up the weekend inside #hamr shackadelic and it actually hailed for a few minutes. The current weather system brought scattered showers, cloudy skies, and a cold front.

The latest running of North American Sprint CW is in the lesson learned archive and my result was a personal best. What made the difference? I went after the one kilo hertz QSY rule with a vengeance unlike previous events. And, this technique added a new dimension that is, pay attention to 'where' the frequency dial is before launching my callsign into the swarm.

It was easy to forget due to the dense packing of signals and lack of operator concentration.

Perhaps, this explains why there aren't as many CQs within the first 45 minutes because stations are logging participants. It seemed my dupe warning appeared more times than not at the tail end of the hour. Subsequently, I called CQ much later in comparison to previous events with improved results.

On another note, potentially, my exchange confused an operator waiting to pounce on the next Q because tail ending made for lost information. I felt "dit dit" or "dah" at the end was a definitive signal to unleash a 1,000 watts into six elements or three elements.

My exchange examples --

1. KL8DX 01 Scot CA KA3DRR
2. KA3DRRKL8DX 01 Phil AK (I respond either with "dit dit" or "dah") then station X pounces
3. Or KA3DRR 01 Phil AK KL8DX

The chief frustration was tail ending while information was sent. I'm positive a few Qs will be removed from my log because I didn't complete the exchange with confidence. I really appreciated those operators who used the "dit dit" or "dah" method to signal completion before releasing the dawgs of RadioSport.

My take away from this event is pay attention to the frequency dial, feverishly practice the one kilo hertz QSY rule, and improve my exchange configuration.

Contest on!