21 February 2025

Some days it just all comes together. Last evening I met a new friend I’ve been corresponding with over the past few weeks on the air to have a quick QSO on 12 meters SSB. After a brief chat, I switched over to CW and started calling CQ. This time I was smarter and avoided the V73WW pileup that was happening at the bottom of the 12 m band. It took a few minutes, but eventually, some people found me.

The signals coming in were strong with several German stations right from the start. I took that as a good sign the band would cooperate into Europe. However, my initial concern was from the strong wind off of the ocean. It felt like I was in a wind tunnel. My earbuds I have used in the past were a knock-off brand and one of them broke apart recently so I had left them at home. That made hearing my radio’s speaker more difficult. In addition, my ability to understand all the callsigns that were coming out of my radio was amplified by the fact that I think nearly half of Europe was trying to call me all at once. Even working split it was very difficult to pick people out. I recall pausing a few times to just stare at my radio and wonder how it was making that sound. It was almost like a callsign meat grinder, lobbing out chunks of sound that was incoherent even with my radios filter cranked all the way down. I managed to do my best and the call sign started to fill up the logbook.

At some point I realized that something had clicked. I was able to understand and remember five and six letter call signs a little bit easier. Hopefully that is signed that my mind is gearing up for the work that CW from Wake Island requires. While the wind did not die down, the band did begin to close as expected shortly after 0900z. I continued to work a few EU stations but the log consisted of mostly JA stations towards the end. For a somewhat impromptu decision to get on 12m it was a lot of fun. I’m looking forward to more CW action in the next few days. 73, Allen

PS – the image above is fictional and brought to you by ChatGPT.