[Alexandria Radio Club Reflector] 13 Colonies a great time to practice your CW

[Edward Bradshaw]

The 13 Colonies special event has kicked off again this week, it goes from
July 1st to the 7th, and while I've participated in the past using phone I
decided that this year I would try getting a "Clean Sweep" with just CW.

The exchange is so simple that it is a great opportunity to get some CW
practice in, not to mention the stations are all 1x1s (not including the
two bonus stations).  The typical exchange you will hear is:

-> CQ de K2H
<- W4EDF
-> W4EDF 5NN MA
<- 5NN VA
-> W4EDF TU QRZ

You pretty much just need to know your call sign, 5NN (instead of 599) and
your state, VA.

I am using a bit of assistance in reading the CW with a great bit of
software I found, MRP40, which decodes CW pretty well.  I then send my
response using paddles.

If you are a new ham, 13 Colonies can be great practice for phone as well
and give you an opportunity to see how the time of day on each band can
affect the distance you can reach as well as trying to push through in a
pile-up.

Info on the event can be found here: http://www.13colonies.us/

73

Ed
W4EDF