[PVRCNC] A new contester

[Jim K4QPL]

Absolutely great, Marty. That's what ham radio, contesting and the club 
should be about. Welcome Ray. I really hope you can join us often. Now that 
you've proved the concept, I look forward to your building on it and adding 
your scores to our club totals as well as joining a great group of hams. 
Hope to meet you soon.

73,

Jim, K4QPL

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Marty Young" <w4my at yahoo.com>
To: <pvrcnc at mailman.qth.net>
Cc: <rtmahorney at earthlink.net>
Sent: Monday, January 22, 2007 12:05 AM
Subject: [PVRCNC] A new contester


> I'd like to share the unique way I spent NAQP SSB this
> time.  I've already shared this with Jeff (aka "Jim")
> NX9T and appreciate his comments back to me, thanks,
> Jeff.  I'll try not to make this too long ...
>
> I have a friend, Ray, WA4WGA, who has been blind since
> birth.  He also suffers from related CP (mild) which
> has something to do with his blindness,  He is a good
> radio op., but has always needed some form of human
> assistance whenever he has tried his hand at
> contesting.  Mainly needing a sighted "logger" and
> restricing his contesting to Field Day.
>
> These past months we have been brainstorming, as he
> has shown a keen interest in contesting, in ways he
> would be able to operate an HF contest autonomously.
> We decided to use NC QSO party as a test bed for our
> ideas.  He would operate my station while I was out
> participating as a mobile rover.
>
> He came over this past Saturday.  We implemented the
> computer screen reader onto my PC, got him acclimated
> N1MM and my rig's audio enunciation feature, and we
> made some q's in the NAQP on a S&P basis.  Things were
> looking up.
>
> I must say, what followed was amazing.  Now I know
> what the Israelites felt as they watched Moses part
> the Red Sea!
>
> I explained to Ray the benefits of running, and that
> he needed to learn how to do it.  He certainly knows
> what that was and we discussed logistics of it.  One
> thing led to another and the next thing I know he has
> two headsets on simultaneously (one for the computer
> screen reader and other Heil set for the radio)  He's
> got the screen reader yaking at him incessantly,
> working Q's, and typing all at the same time.  He got
> a rate going of about 50/hr on 75 meters.  You would
> have to be there to believe it!
>
> After about 45 minutes during a lull, he removed the
> headsets and turned to me and said, "I think we have
> proof-of-concept!"
>
> Like all of us, he will need to refine his technique
> and learn the subtleties of contesting, but gents, he
> has slept with the pod and is one of us now.  (For you
> younger guys, have an oldster explain what that
> means!)
>
> I'm going to try to coerce him into joining PVRC-NC so
> help me "twist his arm" by welcoming him into the
> fold.
>
> Contact information for Ray, WA4WGA, is:
> rtmahorney at earthlink.net
>
> 73  Marty
>
>
>
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