News from A.R.S KD8JHJ

Photo by LeeAnn

This is what it looked like outside this weekend after the first major winter storm of the season past through.  I stayed warm inside and played ham radio.  On Saturday the Feld Hell Club celebrated the birthday of Rudolph Hell with the annual 24 hour Feld Hell Sprint.  Here's a list of  9 contacts I made during the event.  Not terribly impressive but one more than last month's tally.

Green-  3.5 MHz   (80 meters)

Blue-   7 MHz   (40 meters)

Red-   14 MHz   (20 meters)

3.573     K3QIA              Pennsylvania

3.571     KI4UKF            North Carolina

7.077     K0PFX              Missouri

7.077     WA2HOM        Michigan

7.078     W8LEW/qrp     Michigan

14.062   N7ESU             Idaho

14.062   KZ1Z                Florida

14.064   NX8G/5            Louisiana

3.584     WF7T               Tennessee

           

Straight Key Century Club Week End Sprint

Saturday evening the SKCC Week End Sprint started but we went out to dinner as a family to enjoy some Mexican food.  We got home late but I did head down to the shack to listen for a bit and see what was happening.  I heard a few stations on 80 meters calling the familiar CQ WES in Morse code.  I was tired and called it a night looking forward to getting up early and giving it a go on CW.

Amateur radio is full of awards and distinctions if one is so inclined to pursue these goals and the Straight Key Century Club is no exception.  The first certificate one can earn in the SKCC is the "Centurion" award.  Once an operator has contacted 100 club members and exchanged name, QTH (state/province/country) and SKCC member number he or she submits this log to the club's awards administrator.  Upon approval the operator amends their SKCC number by adding a "C" at the end. 

Once an operator has earned Centurion status he is worth an extra five points to any club member worked during the sprints.  The freshly minted Centurion now begins to compile a new log by attempting to contact other Centurions and Tribune members on the air.  Basic members don't count towards the Tribune award so it becomes a more difficult endeavor to attain Tribune status.  Once the Centurion has a list of 50 different C's and T's the award application process is repeated.  A Tribune member is worth 10 extra points to any member contacted during a sprint.  These bonus points are the incentive for complying with the paperwork aspect of the awards process.

After a year as a Centurion I finally got my Tribune award.  My SKCC number is now 4877T and this was my first sprint participation as a Tribune.  I was very happy to pass out the extra points.  The SKCC member list is up to 7,356 members and of this number I am only the 357th club member to apply for and receive the Tribune award. 

KD8JHJ Sprint Log  SKCC WES:

7.055    K8WSN              Michigan

7.050    W9DLN              Wisconsin

7.049    K0LWV              Missouri

7.050    K8KIC                Michigan

7.115    N8KZH               West Virginia

7.056    W9HLY              Indiana

7.056    WA8BIJ             Michigan

7.051    WA1AR             Massachusetts

7.051    WA2JSG            New Jersey

7.051    AA9KH              Illinois

7.051    VE3WMB          Ontario, Canada

7.051    N3EIN                Pennsylvania

7.112    VE3AKV            Ontario, Canada

7.111    N8BB                 Michigan

7.114    KU8L                 Michigan

14.053  W7GVE             Arizona

7.112    W4FOA             Georgia

7.054    KB2RAW          New York

3.554    W3NP                Pennsylvania

3.554    W4TMW           Georgia

Not a big log but still lots of fun working the stations with my NT9K Pro Pump straight key and Vibroplex Original bug.