April, 2003
Date UTC Freq Callsign Rcvd RST Sent RST Name QTH Rig Ant WX Comments
4/1/03 0307 7120 ki5ww 599 544 Johnny Sayre, OK Yaesu - - -
04/01/2003 0100 7120 n0msrn 599 579 Charles St. Louis Icom Inverted Vee - -
04/01/2003 0200 7040 kc8aon 599 579 Rick Troy, OH Yaesu End fed wire - Sending from a Knight's Inn Hotel in Troy OH. Has a SW40.
04/03/03 0200 7045 VE3BRL 589 588 Jim Toronto, ON TenTec Sloper Ice Storm -
04/07/2003 2100 7120 aa5go 599 599 Greg Howell, MI Icom 756 70 ft - 100 W, reported good job with qrp on new ant.
04/07/2003 2145 7040 w8kc 599 569 Paul Detroit TenTec Argonaut H15 - - 5W
04/08/2003 0250 7040 k9lir 599 569 John Marion, IN 5W - - QRN ended QSO
8 IV 2003 0210 7043 aa1my 599 599 - NE 5W - - Spartan Sprint
8 IV 2003 0230 7043 k1cyg 559 599 - ME 5W - - Spartan Sprint
8 IV 2003 0300 7040 wd8ol 599 599 - OH 5W - - Spartan Sprint
8 IV 2003 0315 7040 ve3xtb 599 559 - ON 3W - - Spartan Sprint
16-IV-2003 0120 7125 n9dt 599 599 Darrell Fowler, IL Kenwood TS570 Dipole Cool, raining -
18-IV-2003 0015 7120 k8zct 599 579 Bill Pickerington, OH Icom 746 Pro Dipole 20 ft up Cool and rainy Bill lived in Toledo for many years
18-IV-2003 2245 7120 wb2zhl 599 599 Tom Syracuse, NY Kenwood TS520 Dipole - -
20-IV-2003Date 0330 7040 n0hsn 599 559 Brad Springfield, MO Kenwood 570 Vertical Cool, 55F 35 W
21-IV-2003 0109 7130 wj0c 599 579 Jim Waterloo, IA Kenwood TS 430 Dipole up 45 feet Clear skies, 51F 75 W, Long QSO, over an hour!
23-IV-2003 0215 7040 km2y 599 359 Joe Flemington, NJ - - - QRN, fading, poor conditions
26-IV-2003 1300 7040 kb3jkr 579 579 Bill PA - - - Bad fading, poor conditions
30-IV-2003 0015 7120 wn1b 579 599 Scot Leonard, MI 35 year old Collins! g5rt - Nice sounding rig, very distinct tube tone
30-IV-2003 0115 7120 ki0km 579 559 Bob East Grand Forks, MN Heathkit dipole up 30 ft - 40 watts
Date UTC Freq Call Rcvd RST Sent RST Name QTH Rig Ant Wx Comments

I enjoyed the Spartan Sprint very much. This is a contest of QRP hams with an encouragement to hams that send outdoors and with lightweight rigs. I only got 4 QSO's but I learned how to send in a contest. I definitely need to increase my code speed, I heard lots of activity in the 7040 area but could not copy at their rate. I also seem to have qso'ed with a few hams that do not exist in the database, so the quality of my code skills leaves something to be desired.

I thought about practicing on MorseCat, and did it a few times but I am spending what little free time I have on the radio. Sometimes I just practice copying the faster code on 7040. Still have a long way to go but the beginners panic seems to be lessening.

I am trying to improve my CW skills by listening to fast code. This CW stuff takes daily practice, if I don't do it every day I seem to lose a little capability.

I made a dipole antenna that I can take along outdoors. I also made a AA battery pack so maybe next month I can do the ARS Spartan Sprint outside. My CW skills are still pretty slow, but I can send OK. I only copy about half of what is sent sometimes though, got to keep practicing!