I have to admit that my favorite times to be working CW are Straight Key Night (which I missed this year!) and every time the Classic Exchange contest comes around.
The Classic Exchange may have attracted more attention this weekend because of a recent write-up on the ARRL Web site about it. I discovered it quite by accident several years ago when I heard a rather unsteady, wavering CQ CX CQ CX … on 80 meters late one night. At first I thought someone was calling for a contact in Uruguay, and realized that that was unlikely. I tuned the band and heard other CQ CX's, and knew it was a contest.
The Classic Exchange is a favorite of mine because it brings out gear that you don't hear much on the air these days. Not only classic gear like fills my shack (classic meaning “old” and “glow in the dark”), but also replica homebrew gear from the 1920s and 1930s.
Had I any cents, I would mark the CX contest on my calendar and put some of my gear on the air. I have a 1946 slat-board single-tube transmitter that is dying to go on the air. I still have to unbox my NC-300 dream receiver (once I find a spot for it in the shack!).
But the gear you hear just makes listening a pleasure. I spent parts of the evening (up until 3 a.m. when CX ended) tuning on 40 and 80. I didn't make any contacts, just spent time lurking and copying the mail.
One OM was calling CQ with a beautiful signal that sounded just pure D.C. Turns out he was running a B&W 5100A transmitter. He must have had it warmed up because it didn't drift much if any. The note was better than some solid state rigs I've heard.
A frequent QRZ posters, Mac, W8ZNX was busy on 80 running one of his homebrew tranmitters. There were plenty of other guys calling CQ CX, some of which with signals that indicated they probably weren't xtal controlled or brand-new rigs, hi!
I think today's “perfect” tone rigs make it more difficult for guys who wish to use classic gear. I suspect there were a lot of OO notices sent this weekend for less-than-perfect CW notes. On old gear, I think that expecting it to be as pure as modern gear is expecting a lot. I've heard that some OOs won't tolerate any chirp. For whatever reason, I don't think its an issue unless its huge. Of course, the OO notice is simply to let the guy know he may have a problem with his signal quality. I would expect that someone calling CQ CX probably is well aware of the limitation of his rig's CW purity.
Some of the rigs I heard had some very raspy notes. One guy was running at a pretty good clip, and his buzzy CW note made it a pain to try to copy. I didn't hear a lot of really bad chirp, but did hear some that were jumping around in frequency. I didn't listen long enough to find out what txmtr they were running.
The phone portion of the Classic Exchange contest is Feb. 15th … perhaps I can use my old Hallicrafters SR-150 and my FPM-300 to make a few contacts? I have a Swan 350 as well … hmmm. I also have the HT-40/SX-140 combination in the shack, though I've never had that combo on the air. The HT-40 runs about 50w on AM, which would be a decent signal. I have the HA-5 VFO, which saves me the hassle of locating xtals. I may have to work on this station, sounds like fun!