July NAQCC Sprint

Last night I participated in the NAQCC Sprint for July. It was a good time; and I heartily recommend that you join us if you've never tried contesting before. The atmosphere is fun and friendly. You'll find a whole range of Code speeds; from beginner to experienced contester.

I made 23 QSOs in the hour and 45 minutes in which I operated. I was disappointed in the lack of activity on 20 Meters. I only got 5 QSOs in on that band; and I thought there's be more. 40 Meters was once again the most active band. Plenty of stations to be worked there; but the noise (QRN) was tremendous! By the end of the contest, I was getting weary of all the static crashes in my headphones. Probably wasn't too good for my hearing, either!

I heard only one solitairy station on 80 Meters; and that was John K3WWP. John was a tough copy - I believe I only gave him a 449 report. On 40 Meters it was a totally different story! There he was a good 579 to 589. This is the loudest I have heard John in an NAQCC Sprint yet.

The high point of the evening was that these QSOs put me over 1000 QSOs in the log for 2006. Now that my "QSO a Day" streak has gone by the wayside, I'm still on track to complete my other goal - 2006 in 2006. I'm hoping that between regular ragchewing and all these QRP Sprints that I participate in, I'll have accomplished this at the end of the year.

73 de Larry W2LJ

Doing my part to keep Amateur Radio alive.