RADIO SPORT

2011 RADIO SPORT AT SKYVIEW!

We did a lot of contesting from the clubhouse this year. Radio sport is by far the fastest growing aspect of amateur radio. Through contesting, operators hone their radio operating skills and proficiency. This operating time helps greatly for when the need comes to operate under emergency conditions. Combine this with the fun of the contest with friends you operate with and you have a great time that just can’t be beat. Enjoy the pictures!

RTTY Round-Up:

Skyview has been working the RU for a number of years now. Our RTTY contesting skills have come a long way over that time. With the use of modern logging software and radios with good RTTY receive capabilities we manage to put out a respectable score. It was a COLD weekend outside, but a warm time inside with the radios, amplifiers and operators working hard.

PA QSO PARTY:

Last year we had the privilege of being the bonus station for the PA QSO Party. This year we congratulate the Somerset ARC, K3SMT for their bonus station effort! At Skyview we also had a great time and once again got the clean sweep, working all 67 counties in Pennsylvania! (Not an easy challenge) We believe our score will be near the top of all in-state participants and look forward to seeing the final results.

CW WW PHONE:

We operated the CQ World-Wide phone contest casually at Skyview. This gave some of our newer operators a chance to learn the fun and excitement of operating in a major contest. With a contest of this size it is super fun working the many DX stations that are on the air just for this event and your score starts to add up quickly. This is also a good chance to let new operators get to know the ins and outs of the logging software. A great time was had by all.

ARRL 160 CW contest:

We hit the ARRL 160 contest hot and heavy this year from the clubhouse. Our 160 meter dipole performed very well strung from the top of our 120 foot repeater tower. We had a mix of experienced CW operators and relatively new CW ops at the key and keyboard. CW contesting is intimidating to the inexperienced CW op at first, at least until they find their grove. Then they are amazed at just how fast they can crank out contacts. The 160 band was packed full with stations participating in the contest. Q rates of well over 100Qs/hour were easy to maintain. It was a very fun time and we look forward to seeing how we did in the final results.

Last Update December 18, 2011