ARRL
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Straight Key Night Report from N5BF

Amidst other New Year's activities, I managed to make six SKN contacts as follows:

0219-0231, 7 Mhz, W9NN, Bob in Wis.
Rough sending on straight key.  Nice rag chew but never told me where in Wis.

0233-0238, 7 Mhz, KN4TP, Ches in Bowling Green, KY
Slow, steady sending, cut short, not interested in rag chewing.

1833-1846, 21 Mhz, N7MSU, Bob, Missoula, MT
He's not using a straight key, he's waiting for the Rose Bowl where Washington State has a Montana Quarterback.

19:22-20:03, 21 Mhz, W7DU, Carroll, Des Moines, WA
Yes, that's right, Washington.  He was upset about not being able to tell from callsign numbers where stations were and spent much of the QSO telling me how he had avoided losing his 7 call despite living all over the place during his 84 years.  Only used a straight key for one transmission in the middle, was rusty.

20:20-20:51, 21 Mhz, N1CSD, Gene, Amarillo, TX
Good sending, was also impressed with mine and took my address to send FISTS info.  On learning my last name, greeted me as 'fellow Celt.'

23:30-23:52, 18 Mhz, VE6AUV, Norm, Calgary, AB
Not sure he was using a straight key, but if he was, he had the best sending, good rhythm like mine but without sending errors.  'Do I believe in UFOs and aliens?' he wandered.

Tuning around, I didn't hear many of what sounded like SKN activities, so I didn't hear any other fists.  My vote for best fist is for Norm, VE6AUV, second place (in case Norm wasn't using a straight key), Gene, N1CSD.

73,



Courtney Duncan, n5bf (/6!)