I DID IT!!!

 I FINALLY DID IT!!! After 6 years of off and on practice, I now can say that CW is my new favorite mode.

The Scoop

I was messing around on HF on February 12th since classes were cancelled due to excessive snowfall. The night before, I had put up my end fed antenna before the snow fell.

I initially began to mess with WSPR, and here's what I found - frequencies 15 meters and above were open for national contacts. I was getting WSPR spots all the way into Austria and the middle of the Atlantic in St. Helena's Island off of Africa. So I wanted to put it to the test...how well did top end QRP actually do?

I began calling CQ on 15 meters at least three or four times. Nothing, not even a single beep or tuning note. 10 meters seemed open, and has been on fire lately - probably some gumption to finally get my 10 meter CB CW radio up and working. But surprisingly, nothing. The only band left was 12 meters. So I tuned my dial to 24.985MHz and began calling CQ. On the second try, clear as day, I had a catch. Nerves got the better of me - as always - and I had to ask for the poor operator's callsign at least 3 or 4 times. I was excited, had I finally done it?

5 watts on a wire

After a few times, I finally got his callsign - W3DF, Dan, from Westminster, Maryland! Funny enough, I was only using 5 watts on my FT891 and my DIY random wire antenna. I can't count how many times I messed up but I realized that Dan had slowed down for me, so I did the same. In the end, slow and steady wins the race. We traded QTHs, names, and I apologized up and down for my sloppy sending. As we neared the end of the QSO I began to get comfy with using my Putikeeg, and the knowledge of the Morse alphabet began to come back to me. At around 4pm local time, we exchanged our 73s and RRs. I can't tell you how excited I was. I had finally accomplished the one thing I wanted to do in ham radio - make a proper CW contact.

Will I do it again?

I can't wait to do it again! CW is a really fun mode and if you're on the fence about it, go ahead and tap out a CQ on your key. I'm looking forward to Monday where the NAQCC Midwest chapter will host their weekly CW Net.

I am officially settled in regarding my radio station setup and I can tell you I've come a long way from the 16-year-old I was 6ish years ago. I have an HF radio, I've built MANY radios, and I'm in the process of implementing amateur infrastructure in the city of Maryville.

So if someone were to ask if ham radio was worth it - my answer is a resounding yes.