Tonight I checked into the KSN with the 746PRO. I had the Heathkit HW-16 warmed up and ready, but I got to the rig late and the Icom was ready to rock and roll.
Glenn, KO4OF, was NCS, and I tuned in just as the Saturday NCS report was being passed to Glenn, who is also the KSN net manager.
Sigs were good, though the band was noisy. About midway through the net, a station fired up just a few cycles away from the net frequency. I was using a very narrow filter, but could still hear the other station. I widened the filter so I could shift the bandpass around. I finally got rid of most of the signal. The station must've been some distance off as it finally faded mostly away.
There's a fairly dedicated group of stations who check in on the KSN. Occasionally there's a newcomer, usually from out of state. One night last week a VE7 checked in — no wonder we were having trouble hearing in-state stations. The KSN would be great practice for hams studying CW, though the traffic net format is probably rather foreign to most hams. And I think a lot of hams are probably worried they might have to take some traffic if they check in.
Most traffic — if there's any — apparently goes via the KYN CW net. Since there's no phone traffic net in the section, it's via CW or no way (of course you can check in on a neighboring section traffic net if you wish).
While nets seldom handle much traffic, nets — both CW and phone — still play an important role. The way I see it, nets are the great ham radio social mixers — they're a great way for new hams with mic/key fright to introduce themselves to their community or section. We aren't going to be handling much traffic, but getting new hams on the air, and getting them into the established ham community (i.e. us “old farts”), is vital.
One new-to-HF ham asked me once why everyone seemed to joke about the fact he was using a G5RV and 100 watts on 75 meters in the middle of August. Should I have told him that summer conditions on 75 often demand greater power? And that most old timers shy away from compromise antennas like the G5RV? He demanded answers, and I gave them to him as gently as I could.
I was tuning across 80 cw tonight about 11:30 p.m. when I heard a shakey-sounding CQ.
For a moment I wondered if this was the same operator I heard last week — the one who was sending characters that I couldn't copy. No, this fellow was sending very, very slowly and very deliberately. I could copy him just fine.
His CQ ended without any prosign; no K, no AR, nothing. I wasn't sure he wasn't going to send another string of CQs. I paused and sent a question mark.
He sent another string of CQs, followed by his callsign, a 2×3 from 9-land. His keying sounded tentative, as though he was nervous.
He ended his CQ with AR; I paused to listen for a K, but heard none. I switched keys, wiring up my grey-based Vibroplex bug I worked on a few days ago. With my bug tamer installed, it will run slower more smoothly than the Mac Key.
I answered him, sending very very slowly, with deliberately long pauses between letters. I don't like sending letters with individual dahs and dits dragged out, but prefer instead to increase the spacing between the letters. Hopefully this op will follow along.
I didn't send all my info, just signal report and name. I wanted to make sure he stayed with me. After my K, he came right back, sending his name, my RST and his QTH. It was slow, but accurate.
On the second transmission, I learned I was his first CW contact. I know I'm probably a bit wacky, but there are few things as rewarding as being the first CW contact for a ham new to HF!
Since the Novice license disappeared, you don't have so many newbies on CW. This guy was fairly typical I guess — he got his Tech in 2002, and upgraded 2 weeks ago to General. Kudos to him for tackling CW!
It was a slow but fun QSO. I get a charge from working CW newbies, they're a bit rare, LOL.
Well, my typing is getting worse, its time for bed. 73 es CUL … de KY4Z … SK …. dit dit ….