[CW] N7OC February Morse Gabfest

[Bruce Prior]

Based
on a program begun by Stan Schmidt N7OC at the Mountain Baker Amateur Radio
Club in Washington State, we’re continuing the month-long February operating
event that encourages conversation using Morse code. Most operators will use
regular CW mode on MF and HF frequencies, but sending Morse tones via FM is
fine, too, as long as no repeaters are involved. We don’t want to clog up
repeaters with such wonderful sounds!

            Call CQ GAB.

Gabfest
is not a contest, so any Amateur Radio band or combination of bands may be
used. There are only two required exchange elements: 

1.    
call signs and 

2.    
USA zip codes or Canadian postal codes or
Maidenhead grids if away from civilization or outside of the United States or
Canada. 

You
need to log: 

1.    
the date and time in UTC of the start and end of each QSO, 

2.    
the Amateur Radio band, and 

3.    
your power output.

            There are four entry classes:

QRPp: 1 W or less output

QRP: 5 W or less output

QRO: more than 5 W
output

QROo: more than 100 W
output

            If you operate in different classes,
submit separate logs for each class. Don’t forget to include your name and
email address with each log.

            The object is not to accumulate long
lists of quick QSO’s. Those are contests. The point is to use your time for
gabbing. Gabfest begins at 2016-02-01-0001 Z and ends at 2016-02-29-2359 Z. Spend
as much time as you are able during the month of February gabbing in Morse
code.

You
are welcome to add notes for each
contact and a soapbox at the end of
your logs.

Deadline:
Submit your logs in any convenient format to the Morse Gabfest Honcho: 

Bruce
Prior N7RR n7rr at hotmail.com by
2016-04-01.

Note:
You don’t need to know Morse code in order to participate in the N7OC February
Morse Gabfest. There are computer programs which both decode Morse code and
display what is being sent and then you can use a computer keyboard to send
Morse. The higher-end Elecraft transceivers come with a computer program which
does those things. There is lots of Morse decoding and sending software
available[1]
for free or for little cost. Maybe you’ll have so much fun gabbing in Morse
code that you’ll want to learn to decode Morse code by ear and to send it with
some device like a paddle plugged into an electronic keyer.

 

73
and happy gabbing, Bruce Prior N7RR  









[1] http://www.dxzone.com/catalog/Software/Morse_Code_Decoders/





 		 	   		  
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