Use the following menu to go to access contest scores and see what I have been involved in...throughout the radio spectrum. The year pages consist of my scores from various contests and the associated band counts (where available). Soapboxes and pictures can be accessed from the individual contest entries.
The contests I have participated in consist of various ARRL and CQ Magazine contests as well as various other misc. contests such as various QSO parties, 10-10 contests, and local competitions.
For those interested, these are some of my reasons for contesting. I work a long week and the only time I usually get on the air, other than mobile to and from work (70 miles one way), is on the weekends. I am a "paperchaser", and to those who don't know what that means, it is simply a term that applies to anyone who work toward goals (either officially sanctioned awards or personal hurdles). I am working toward various ARRL and CQ Magazine awards as well as privately offered certificates. By working the contests, I am guaranteed a large station pool to draw from that usually is not active on non-contest weekends. The QTH I have, being in a trailer court (ugh!) is a detriment to this activity in a way. I cannot put up large permanent structures for antennas, and cannot really run optimum feedlines or antennas. Therefore every contest, it seems, is an excercise in portable setup...a mini-"Field Day" if you will. I switch radio and antenna setups constantly (though I have favorite configurations).
I also work portable out of the mobile or portable locations. It is a challenge to get things working sometimes, and I learn from this. Hand in hand with the constantly changing setups, I believe that contesting will bring out the trouble spots in a station's setup, whether it be audio settings, bad feedlines, damaged rigs or antennas, etc.... By realizing these problem areas, hopefully before the contest, but usually *ahem* during them, I can add to my working knowledge of my station.
Contesting, in my mind, also serves another purpose in becoming more proficient in radio operation. I know the grumbles about what is the big deal about "5,9 WI, thank you, next?" type of contacts. This is subject to personal interpretation. A contact in the "official" language is simply an exchange of information. This means for a set of information that I give, I receive a like set of information. Whether this means a contest "5,9 WI, thank you", a weather report of your statiom, what you did today, technical dicussion, or anything else vital to one's particular interest, this is a contact. As long as both paries have exchanged information, it is a legal contact...period. In contests (and DXpeditions) though it tends to run quite short...and usually with a large amount of interferance, created by other operators clammoring for attention/frequency space (more so on HF), or a minimal signal (more prevalent on VHF and up).
The task of picking out this signal through the noise or lack thereof, is a challenge and has improved my ear to differentiate signals or hear the quiet one. It is about copying the information the other staion in conveying. Unless I am out at W0AIH's farm during a contest I do not use a packet cluster to feed me information. I mainly dial around in search and pounce mode looking for contacts the hard way. I also tend to listen first and gather all the information I need from the station first, such as who, where, grid, state, country, etc... before I answer a call. This way I know I have the information other than a serial number when the station responds to me. I can give my information, wait for a confirmation, and it is nice and quick (usually). More often than not unfortunately, the other station is in "hurry mode" and in the middle of a pileup, so the less time saying "what is your information?" the smoother it goes.
I know contesting is not for everyone, and there is usually a headbutting thing between ragchewers and contesters. I do both, depending on the day. I am not one to care about how one's bursitis is acting up, or the local weather every day, but others may not be interested in a quick valid contact with a rare station in Antarctica, Peter I Island (missed it), new country, or state. This is what floats my boat, and I don't try and force my likes on others.
The "Events" other than contests here are things such as conventions, antenna parties, contests I participated in other than under my call, etc... so follow the links as you will.
Contests:
Events:
K9CVC September VHF Partyfrom "the farm."
K9CVC August UHF Contest 2005 from "the farm."
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