[CW] bugs on SKN ??

[N2EY at aol.com]

In a message dated 12/29/05 8:46:37 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
k-zero-hb at earthlink.net writes:


> SKN was "invented" by ARRL about 15 years ago as a nostalgic "Auld Lang
> Zyne" way to get everyone to put away their electronic keyer/keyboard for
> an evening, and since it's their party they get to make the rules.  
> 

Actually it's a bit older...here's a quick history:

The first mention of SKN appears in QST for April 1970. K4MD suggested it,
and the first one was held on New Year's Eve/day of that year (1970--->1971).

First one was 8 PM to 1 AM local time. They got over 160 reports, and SKN
has been repeated every year since then.

The meaning of "straight key" was specific: no bugs, no keyers, no keyboards
just plain ol' pump handles.

Quick timeline:

New Year's Eve 1970 --> 1971 - First SKN, 8 pm to 1 am local time. 
There has been a New Year's SKN every year since that first one.

New Year's Eve 1971 --> 1972 - Time extended: 8 pm to 3 am local time

July 1974  - Addition of "4th of July" SKN. Actually run the night of July 3
if I understand the times correctly. 

New Year's Eve 1974--->1975 Time changed to 6 hour period starting at
0100 UTC on January 1 (1975, actually, but in USA it starts on New Year's 
Eve).

New Year's Eve 1976--->1977 Time changed to 24 hour period starting at 0000
UTC on January 1 (1976, actually, but in USA it starts on New Year's Eve).

July 1979 - Last "4th of July" SKN. Lack of participation cited as reason for
cancellation; the New Year's event got more reports.

New Year's Eve 2004 (Jan 1 2005 UTC): Definition of "straight key" expanded
to mean bugs.

---

Researching SKN was a bit of a sporting course because in the early years
it was a very low-key (arghhh!) event. It appears as a small paragraph buried 

in "Operating News", and doesn't show up on the ARRL indexes for the first 
few 
years. SKN didn't get a separate announcement or result until 1976.

But even with that tiny amount of publicity, the first one drew over 160 
reports
and had over 600 different calls reported worked. 

The report can be very informal, or highly detailed. There is no "wrong" 
format of report!

So get on the air and make some QSOs. And report them to ARRL!

I'll be using my J-37, but if someone requests that I use a bug, I'll let 
them hear the difference...
if they can!

73 de Jim, N2EY