KY8D: SKCC Marathon Award (original) (raw)
KY8D: SKCC Marathon Award Stations worked toward SKCC Marathon Award KY8D, SKCC, Marathon Award Gan Uesli Starling 2022-2023, Gan Uesli Starling SKCC Marathon QSO Award
Earned 2023-04-22 by KY8D, SKCC Member 14636C
List updated 2024-08-27
Home: KY8D.net
Current Tally: 118 of 100
Sorting Order: Region, Suffix, Prefix.
Color Code: 100 Confirmed; 62nd Not; 16 Surplus;1 as VA7KYD*
* My callsign when operating in Canada.
| 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| K0AFNN0DKD0EVPKK0IN0IPAK0SPUK0ROW0RLY/mKE0STTAA0YYK0ZN | VE1AHXKA1CPRKB1FGCN1GKEKS1INF1OK1PUGK1RWTK1SP K1WORK1YANW1ZAH | KD2BDK2FWVA2GJKD2GUT WZ2J KD2NFZW2TAWWB2TQCAC2WUKD2ZUD | VE3HZW3DF KC3LNB W3NPWA3RSRKA3TTTVE3WHVE3SOK3SUI K3WK | WB4AJLK4ARDW4CLR W4CMGKI4DNYNI4EW4EML WA4FATKF4GNVN4HAYWB4HULWF4IWA4IARKY4IDK4ISWN4JEHK4KYN WA4JUUN4LQAB4RHW4LSVKY4OWM4QAF4QKKJ4RAA4SNK4TNE ND4UAI4UH KA4UPIKO4WFP | NE5AVA5CWWB5EVON5IRAA5JCWB5JWIN5KIPK5MEGAC5PKA5TJSN5URLW5WTHK5YQF | N6CUQW6DFMN6DIQ N6EVAK6FB AA6MKW6RKEN6TTV | N7ANHKJ7GNBK7IOLKB7KY K7NXLN7WI | AI8AISV8ANW AA8CLNJ8DAB8DY K8DZRKA8HFNAC8KJNJ8LW8RBFNQ8TKE8UEX | AK9AW9AILW9DLNKD9KHAK9ZIP |
Straight Keys: LNR Cootie, Begali Camelback, Chinese K4.
What it’s about...
Imagine, if you will, an award in support of substantive communication! One where participants must actually communicate with one another. One where where you cannot chalk up a win for having merely clicked a memory button to auto-send “RST 599 TU SK” over and over again. An award where the goal is one hundred QSOs, each with a different operator, none of those less than one hour long. Add to that a requirement that you both spend the full hour on straight keys.
When I began my pursuit of this award, only fifteen hams had yet to win it. After about half a year’s effort, I myself earned it on 2023-04-23 as the 21st awardee. How it happened that I chose to seek it was mostly chance. I had set a goal for myself of pushing my average QSO duration out further and further. Toward this end, always I’d wait for the other op to send “73” first. On account of which, some QSOs would run more than an hour. And near the end of some of those, I would be asked to please confirm it with the SKCC. Once the total of those had reached five, Cecil, the award manager, enrolled me as an official paricipant.
And so it began:KY8D Award Log
Shameless Bragadoccio
My key of choice for all QSOs at 22 wpm and below is a sideswiper (nicknamed “cootie”). Worked manually side-to-side, with contact closure in both directions, all speeds acheivable on an up/down key can be matched with half the effort.
Cooties are notorious, though, for a an eccentric sing-song accent someitmes called "Lake Erie Swing". I have heard this myself from a number of ops on the dedicated weekly SideSwiper Net. My own sending, so I am often complimented, suffers from that not at all. To get there, I practiced off-the-air for a full month obefore ever once using it in an actual QSO. The trick of it, quite literally, is all in the wrist.
Video Here is a video showing how I work a cootie. As you will see, I don’t lay my wrist on the table. I hold it above. My thumb and finger do very little. Mostly I just hold them in an inverted U. And that is all there is to it.
My SKCC Cootie
Visible in the photo above is a custom modification performed by myself. Namely, affording the key pure copper contacts. This versus the original steel-on-steel, which my prior rig, an IC-745, did not like at all. A detailed write-up on that may be read here: Link