Zombie contest - I ****!

Mark_WS7M

Having been inactive for some time I tried last night to do the little Zombie CW contest and I quickly found that I have a TON of work to do to be up to speed for any contest!

First was my CW copy.  The contest is QRP so everything was in the muck and it was difficult to decode stuff.  I still managed about 44 contacts over 2 bands for a period of 2 hours.

Second was keyboard, keyer.  I **** at my paddle keyer.  My zombine number was 192 and I had a heck of a time sending that reliably.  I know... practice practice.  So I'd go between the keyboard and the paddle.  It is kind of a pain to switch back and forth.

Third was logging.  I decided to use HRD log book to log the contest.  I **** at changing focus between SmartSDR and the log book to enter a call.  Sometimes I start typing in the call sign and I'd be sending it.  Or I thought I was sending when I was entering the call into the log.  sigh...  I didn't have time to look at a real contest logger but I did find this method ****.  So without a log I had to contact and reject about 5 dups.

It was a fun little thing to do.  Being limited to 5 watts on noisy 40m with my lousy antenna made this a real challenge.  I think the exercise was good for me and it clearly pointed out that I need some serious work on things!

Everyone in the little contest was nice and it was a fun event!  I'm pretty sure I'm dead last LOL.

Walt - KZ1F

The best way to keep focus on the logger is not leave focus on the logger. What will help is don't mix keyboard and paddle. What's good about ARRL code practice sessions is they come complete with static crashes and bad band conditions. Throttle the agc-t so they are very weak. But the good news is it appears to had some fun with it.

Mark_WS7M

Good advice Walt!  I'm gonna seek out W1AW more often!

I don't think I'll be a big contester but it was fun to do.