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Saturday, April 19, 2008

#85 is in the books!

I was twiddling the dial down in the lower portion of 40 Meters tonight; and I heard Bengt YN4SU calling CQ down around 7.010 MHz. I threw out my call and nabbed him, first try! I've worked Bengt several times before; but never QRP - so DXCC Entity #85, Nicaragua, is now in the books. Only 15 more to go for DXCC QRP!

I heard and called XE72IARU out of Mexico; but only got an "?" for my efforts. Mexico would have been #86, but it was not to be tonight.

I received a nice QSL card in the mail today from Lanette KA1NKD. We QSO'ed back on the 15th. She's been licensed for a year; but I was only her 7th CW contact! It was nice to get her card with the note on the back. I will definitely send one in return.

An important note for you Ham veterans out there. And I don't think I need to stress this; but I'll mention it anyway. Lanette answered my CQ at a much slower rate that I happened to be sending at the time. I QRS'ed down to a speed more in line with her sending - just a wee bit faster. I got a "thanks" for that on the QSL.

Since the CW requirement went away, there's a lot of new ops out there attempting to get their feet wet in the pool. Be courteous and slow down! Your QSO and words of encouragement just might be the "ticket" towards developing a lifelong love affair with CW for a newbie Ham.

Other than that, no getting up on the soapbox or ranting tonight!

73 de Larry W2LJ

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