17 February 2025
Part of my reasoning for not getting on the air in the morning on my day off today, on Presidents’ Day, was due to the fact that several people and I put together a 10 K race. It was scheduled for the morning, but due to a work conflict we needed to push it to the afternoon. We get aircraft that zip in and out of Wake in a brief “Gas-&-Go” capacity so I thought that naming our inaugural race down one of our taxiways, out to our marina, and back in a loop, rather fitting.
This was a friendly competition, but I am definitely competitive with myself so I wanted to see how well I could do. I’d call myself an active “runner” as of about 2 years ago. Since then, I’ve run one marathon, a couple half marathons, and one unofficial half marathon here on Wake Island. I am of the age where I figure if I don’t use it, I will lose it, so trying to stay fit is a top priority. Mental acuity is also on the forefront of my mind as I believe it is important to keep your mind engaged with new challenges. CW is a great mental challenge as it is akin to learning a new language. If you are thinking about learning Morse code, I just encourage you to dive in. It takes practice but it is worth it. I have really come to enjoy my brief CW exchanges while participating in Summits On The Air. That arena allowed me the opportunity to practice with routine exchanges and in a community of supportive CW operators.
That brings me to going live with CW here on Wake Island after much consternation from dealing with some big pile ups on SSB. My mild fear of jumping into the metaphorical deep end of the CW pool has been put aside somewhat as I have become more comfortable working split. That allows me the flexibility to find stations better across a few kilohertz of bandwidth. With hope and optimism for favorable band conditions I set up for 12m not too long after dinner. I checked the SWR on my antenna and it was happy at 1.02:1. Immediately I had a pile up after a quick QSO with Oiva, OH2NSM, and away it went better than expected. This was a much slower pace making contacts that I am used to on SSB but it was enjoyable. 71 QSOs in two hours. The band really started to close by 0930z. I was also unaware V73WW was also in the mix of frequencies or I would have QSY’d. I neglected to check on my transmit frequency while I was white-knuckling my key and shooing away bugs while trying to log CW contacts. I’ll do better on that next time around. All in all, it was a good day on the track and on the radio.
In case you were wondering, 10K completed in 51 minutes, 33 seconds. Not too shabby if I do say so myself. 73, Allen
12 responses to “Gas-&-Go 10K, with a side of Ham Radio”
Hello Allen, it was a real terror, those who answered V73ww were on top of you and did not let me hear you well, in the end I don’t know if we made contact or not, greetings and let’s hope for better conditions this afternoon in 10m, I will look for you.
Greetings
Josep, EA3CJ
Hello Allen, good evening.
This morning, for us, it was impossible to connect you.
As colleague EA told you, your transmission was in the V73 split. The northern European stations “crushed” your signal!
Which was good, but not enough to give continuity to the qso.
After about half an hour I stopped with my calls… too bad!
As the season progresses, your signal arrives through the polar path. We must therefore overcome with great difficulty the “wall” of the northern Europeans.
I hope that the next time you are in the air the conditions will be better than today.
Good work on Wake Island….!
73′ by I5NSR Sergio.
P.S.= I read that you ran the marathon, and that you are a long-distance runner, well done!
In my youth I also ran long-distance… my record was less than 3 minutes per km…. that was a long time ago… sic!
Thanks for the CW contact on 10m this morning Al. I’m glad I found you before the pileup started and hope to work you on a few other bands. Have fun!
Nice to meet you on 10 Mike. Catch you on the next one.
73 and good DX,
Allen ~ KH7AL/KH9
Indeed, it was difficult to copy you in the middle of V73WW pileup. But you were fully readable sometimes. Hope to work you in CW mode next time. 73!
Yury, (or is it Alf?)
Next time!!
73 and good DX,
Allen ~ KH7AL/KH9
I want to tell you how impressed I was at your operating on 10m CW late this afternoon (in Colorado). I’m not just being polite … I was very impressed that you didn’t let things get out of control — sadly, but understandably, too many newcomers to CW are overwhelmed and go QRT when a pile-up forms. And it was also nice that you didn’t send canned 5NN reports. So good to hear a new DX station on CW, and doing so well. I also want to say how impressed I was at the operating in the pile-up! Pretty much everyone slowed down, and I didn’t hear anyone trying to stamp on people to whom you’d come back, so that everyone I heard had a chance to complete the QSO after you’d come back to them.
Thanks for taking the time to be QRV.
73 — Doc N7DR
Well Doc, Thanks! I also agree that the majority of people waited patiently while I worked each station. That was an unusual experience, silence, when I returned most peoples’ callsign back to them. I just wish I could have spent more time on the air before my battery started to die on me 2.5 hours in. I also noticed that occassionally those calling faster I was able to copy, so maybe that’s a good sign that my ears and brain are getting in tune with much repetition. Thanks for the QSO.
73 and good DX,
Allen ~ KH7AL/KH9
Hi Allen
Im very glad that u where on cw 12 yesterday, and a big plus with real rst š
Yes the pile from v73 was sometimes hard but if cw is in your dna like mine then you know patience will bring them in the log.
Keep up with the good work and cu in the piles
73 sm7sms Marcus
Thank you Marcus. Your callsign stood out to me as unique. Glad we could meet on 12.
73 and good DX,
Allen ~ KH7AL/KH9
Iām older than you, I think, at age 83. Never ran more than 5k. My best was 27ā. You beat that TWICE running your 10 K. Congratulations! Rusty, KG5GM.
Rusty, you have a couple years on me. I’m a few months into trip number 48 around the sun.
Thanks and 73,
Allen ~ KH7AL/KH9