Brian, Some of us have radios and antennas that rank well above the "peanut whistle" category. The rigs at the WY7's place will be blistering the airwaves for the RTTY Roundup this weekend. We are coming off a Division winning, fourth place W/VE and sixth world-wide score and plan to defend it. I once heard a Division Director say to a crowd at a division convention in WY, "If you are bored with Amateur Radio, you aren't looking deep enough". Might I suggest an on-air activity that will suit your station? You could try JT65 or JT9. Neither of these require power and may be paced more to your operating style. See you in Windsor, Dwayne, WY7FD On 2014-12-31 17:25, Brian Mileshosky wrote:
Okay, now I'm bored on the air -- same for a zillion other League members and hams across the world. Fair warning: I'm making a Director's motion in January to create a Centennial QSO Party Anonymous or Points Anonymous service, because lots of people now find themselves staring hopelessly at their now absolutely quiet radios.
A huge THANK YOU to everyone -- ODV, staff, volunteers, members,
hams -- for an absolute home run on the air this past year. Centennial celebration aside, if there is one thing that I hope everyone who participated in the QSO Party walked away with, it is that they became better and more dedicated radio operators throughout the year. That they used this year-long opportunity to learn more about themselves as an op, learned more about their gear, uncovered station and operating limitations and found ways to resolve them, and rediscovered the magic, fun (God forbid), and camaraderie that is ham radio.
One very
profound moment today was working a few folks in the QSO Party who I hadn't worked since back in January 1, 2014. Staring at that date in the log, and greeting those hams once again, with literally one year of time padding our last QSO was an in-your-face "this year has absolutely flown by way too fast" epiphany. I hope everyone enjoyed it as much as they could while it lasted.
Happy Centennial, and Happy New Year
everyone. Be safe this evening and see you in a few weeks.
73,
Brian N5ZGT
ARRL Director, Rocky Mountain Division