Saturday, February 08, 2014

Getting to be crunch time

For working FT5ZM, and it looks like I may not get them. I spent three hours tonight, trying to work them on both 20 and 30 Meters - no dice. They QRT on Tuesday, so time is running short. I would really like to work them, as most of the QRPers that I know are in their log book. But if it turns out that I don't ..... well, the sun will still keep shining, the Earth will still keep spinning, and come Springtime, bunnies and birdies will dance on the lawn. And come 500 years from now, no one will know who W2LJ was, or how many countries he worked and at what power. You have to keep your eye on the bigger prize.

That's like at the VE session that I worked this morning ..... there was a Ham there who was quite disappointed about being a General Class operator. This person has tried to upgrade to Extra, but is having a hard time of it, and is getting discouraged with the whole deal.

Goals are a good thing, but you have to remember that this is a hobby. We're not looking for a cure for cancer here. It's high time to enjoy what you have and not worry too much about what you don't. Once you have fun with where you are, that just may take off enough self inflicted pressure to allow you accomplish what you feel is an impossibility.

As they say, the joy is in the journey, not the destination, whether that be an Extra class license or DXCC Honor Roll.

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!

1 comment:

  1. FT5ZM is a hard path from Zone 5 in the US. Not too hard to do it with 100 watts or more, but QRP would be more of a challenge.

    I've managed to work them on 10,15,17,20,30 and 40m, with contacts in both CW and SSB.

    I think it might be easiest on 20, 17 and 15m.

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