Sunday, Dec. 18, 2016 — Two weeks away from Straight Key Night and I’m thinking of what rig(s) I’m going to put on the air come New Year’s Eve.
And you can tell we’re getting closer to SKN. About mid-December you begin to hear that wonderful sound as you scan the CW subbands — the sounds of vintage gear calling CQ or in QSO with another station.
I routinely will take time to scan the CW portions of 40 and 80 in the evenings, scanning for the sound of vintage signals, and as we get closer to Christmas, I’ve been rewarded with some great QSOs to copy. I grabbed my phone last night and recorded a snippet of a QSO that was part of the 2016 AWA Bruce Kelley Memorial CW QSO Party that was operating last weekend and this weekend.
Earlier today I went back to the rig and found more stations calling “CQ AWA.” In checking the rules, I found that the event is open to 1929 and earlier transmitters, not to modern gear. I was a little disappointed, I wanted to work some of these stations, but I also understand the fact that “thems da rules.” It did prompt me to investigate building my own pre-1929 transmitter.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUTwLtSbwKE width=”600″]
The video/audio I have with this post is N2BE calling CQ on 40 meters. He was the one I copied last night in QSO with another station.
But don’t fret; there are upcoming events — which include SKN — that encourage putting classic gear on the air. I have my HW-16 I know for certain I’ll have on the air; I also have my Tempo 2020 I can get on the air in a heartbeat. As busy as the bands are for SKN, I may need to stay with the Tempo and its excellent CW filter. I have an outboard Datong FL-3 audio filter that in my book is about the best they made, and it helps the HW-16. Unfortunately, it doesn’t help the HW-16’s awful sidetone, but that’s the topic of another entry.
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