November SS

There was a time that I did not operate in the CW Sweep Stakes and have only taken an interest in it over the last few years. I like this contest as it pushes your CW skills to the limit. This contest requires much more information exchanged than your typical weekend contest. I have yet to do more than hunt multipliers and call CQ a few times in this contest but it becomes addicting. I use it more for a warm up of my CW skills for the CQ and ARRL contests in the coming months. After having a summer off and doing more digital, it goes not take long for my CW speed to slide back to slow. It would be great to get a clean sweep in this contest but it takes skill, timing, and cooperative propagation. The 2009 CW SS has been fun so far and the band conditions have been pretty darn good especially for this northern station. There are still several sections that are white on my map above but hopefully I can fill in a few more before the end of this contest. If you have not tried it, give it a shot. If your CW is slow by your standards, I worked several slower stations toward the upper part of the CW sections on 20 and 40 meters, one even calling CQ SS QRS! Soon you will find yourself looking for that broom!
***************************************
I could not operate but a small part of the contest but I did manage to work all but 9 Sections. I missed out on the following; EMA, ME, RI, WTX, NE, ND, NL, QC, and MB. If I could have devoted more time to the contest, I'm sure I could have made this list smaller. I entered unassisted so it's much harder to earn that sweep! Hats off to the fast CW guys & gals that can run high rates in this contest. My CW will never be that good but I will sure be participating when I have propagation and my schedule allows.