While at Dayton 2022 I tried out the Begali Intrepid bug key. Very nice! I did not jump at the chance to buy it there, but days later I went ahead and made the purchase. It came in yesterday (2022-06-13). It is even better than it was at Hamvention. What a key!!
After a ten year hiatus we made the trip to Dayton. We spent two full days at Hamvention 2022. We had to pass on Sunday’s activities to return home. It was a fantastic show! It is great to be around like mined individuals that understand what Ham Radio is with no explanation required.
As the singer-songwriter Bob Dylan wrote a long time ago, “The Times They Are A-Changin'”. This certainly applies to Ham Radio. We went from substantial effort to accomplish getting a station up and running to snapping one’s fingers and it is all before us. I am not saying which is better and in fact somewhere in the middle sounds about right to me. Fantastic radios, great antennas and even quality coax with the connectors already attached are only a credit card away. As for a license, the test questions are even available for the download. The ARRL during my tenure in the hobby went from Incentive licensing (their way of raising the quality of the operators) to just numbers matter. Okay I am old, so I am just not keeping up with the times. For example, I operate FT8 and FT4, but I just prefer operating a mode that requires a little more participation and skill by the operator. Therefore, I spend most of my operating time on CW. See I am old because I operate Morse Code.
The SKCC WES is fun for a non-contester. Every so often I spend a short time operating the WES and the two hour Sprints. It is a good time to give my TR-25 a workout. Below is a picture of the little radio in action from Studio HO during the March 2022 WES.
Stations can work whomever they please. However, it is common courtesy that if you want to restrict your replies to a certain entity, state etc. say so. This morning a station from Central America was operating and working from what I could tell JA’s. He was not showing any signs of restricting his calling (CQ; QRZ) so every so often I called. Keep in mind that when you run 25 watts with an attic antenna (especially under a wet roof) any contact is revered especially one in a not so common entity. At one point he sent DS? only to ignore my call. Only then did he restrict his calling to JA’s only. I have worked many DX stations in the middle of a JA string so I believe calling him when I did was not out of line. As I said, he can work anyone he wishes, but a little courtesy would not hurt.
I am not a contest op nor will I ever be one. I tried my hand at working a few stations in the 2022 ARRL DX contest. Not properly reading the exchange required and then not paying attention to the other stations when they asked for the required info, created confusion. (Since I am running 25 watts into an attic antenna, when I hear a question mark during a contest, I assume they are asking for a repeat.) What got my attention was when one station dropped down from 30 WPM to ask for my state when I realized something was not right. I was ready to pull the plug as I felt no one could hear me, but when I started sending the correct information my success rate improved.
I guess in the future during big contest weekends I should head to the WARC Bands.
Well, there is DX and there is DX. When you run low power and an attic antenna there is a range that one can expect to work other stations. In that range there are DX entities. In my case those entities are not very rare but are rewarding to work. Working far off rare entities is impossible with my working conditions. Well not really. The other morning, I worked a VK9 station (Norfolk Island in the South Pacific). I was running 15 wats on 40 meter CW with my 55 foot attic doublet (bent to fit) under a very wet roof. Yes, band conditions were good, and the other guy was an excellent op with a FB station. But, I hope I had something to do with making the contact.
Well, the HW-16 is salvageable (I think). However, I returned the unit as I purchased a working radio not a restoration project. My search for “old stuff ” has ended or at least is on hiatus. I have deleted all my saved searches on eBay, but I did not delete my logon – yet. Having old tube radios shipped is a thing of the past.
FEDEX, after a long delay, destroyed the radio. What a sin! It was a good looking unit and due to a shippers negligence it is a mess. Looking at the outside of the box it is surprising it still looks like a radio.
After two failed attempts to out bid others on ebay I said I would never bid on an item again. (Not only was I outbid on two bug keys, but I was left in the dust!). Well, I did. For the longest time I wanted to have operational “boat anchor” gear. Knowing my knowledge and energy levels to refurbish and maintain the type of gear I would like to put on the air along with restriction due to my operating environment, I aimed low. I won the bid for an HW-16. I hope the pictures and description were close to accurate, because if I won than others saw something I did not see. The HW-16 is too new for what I would like to operate, but it is what I believe I can handle.