WES Results

Managed to work F6HKA, OH7QR 2 bands, N1GKE, WA5KMA, K8XXX 2 bands and W4KRN. All great fun, but my bug sending leaves a lot to be desired :0)

John / G0RDO / #2133T / Eddystone bug, England.

Attached pix of Teddy who is asking why the Vibroplex used in the Oct2012 WES isn't turned around so he can reach the paddle? Thanks everyone for a great WES.

I spent most of my time this WES looking for specific states on specific bands working towards completion of a very old 5 Band WAS/CW. Found a couple but missed several. The storms here pretty well washed out the first 12 hours. Time was limited after that due to issues at home. Had a good time working the bugs and hope everyone else did as well. CU next month 73 Jerry

Thanks for the WES QSO's. Several T/storms in MO last night and did not have a lot of time to operate. Hpe to hv more time next month

worked k8xxx for bonus.

first entry in WES in a while. I had fun but not many QSOs.

Good practice for the bugs

Only had time for about an hour, but at least I gave a few people some points. I was operating portable with a small vertical set up on the apartment balcony in Austin, TX.

Great to hear so many bugs! Music to my ears!

Enjoyed the "Bug" WES.

73,

John, K5ENA

Too much baseball and not enough time, got a very late start, actually started at 23:57 and got 2 contacts with my bug and worked bugs, not going to do the math for more points, just wanted to thank KB4QQJ and K4CNW for the very quick contacts so I could remain active, tnx Randy and Jack. Hope to see everyone else next time around. ! watt was working very well by the way.

My first SKCC event in a few months, but turn out was great and 10m was even open. Nice to see new calls and some familiar calls, too. Only worked about 2 hours total, but getting closer to earning the Tribune.

I hope I didn't break some rule but I switched to my never before used Vibroplex bug on Sunday afternoon. Very touchy. You can see the silly "dot reducer", two alligator clips to slow it down. Thanks for the Q's and 73 to all. Paul NG7Z

Had too much happening this weekend, was definitely in the multi-task mode, I don't multi-task well, nobody else does either. Sort of like running out of resonance!!!

It has been a busy Summer. It is nice to get back to CW and have some additonal fun

Another fun WES, stayed home with the KX3 and used the home antennas for my 5 watts ! Worked Sat night for a little while, then a little on Sun morning, then the last hour and a half. Conditions were pretty fair for me on 20 meters, only one 40 meter contact.

Did pretty good with my Vibroplex and BK-100, still need the practice, but that what WES's are for ! Had a lot of fun, and that's the whole purpose here !

Thanks again to my contacts for putting up with my mistakes today, all of you out there are great, I love this CW stuff ! See everyone next month............72/73 !

A GREAT CONTEST THOUGH BAND COND AT START NOT SO GOOD GOT THE FINAL O''s FOR ALL 5 BUGS ON MY LAST qso WITH W1OOO LOTS OF FUN SEE YOU NEXT MONTH DAAVE W0YZZ

Excellent WES! I got to learn the ways of the bug too, hihi! 73, all! . .

It was fun to work all thoes bugs. Some of you guys have great fists.

Alan

I got rained out Saturday night...lots of lightning. Got in 3 hrs Sunday after the bands got a little better in the afternoon. Had a good time as always..

Was able to work a few stations before going to church but then never made it back into the shack until after the bewitching hour! Ran a 1940 McElroy at about 14wpm and an original at 18-20wpm. Was able to harvest "Vibroplex" out of the calls I worked. During the time I was operating I found the bands to be marginal with very few strong signals. I had a lot of fun and that is what counts. 73 Kieth wi0s 2048t

Beautiful day here in SJN land, so had to catch up outside chores, so not many contacts. Here IC-703 5 watts from a 12v battery into an elevated vertical. KK-1 straight key by American Morse.

Another good time with all the straight keyers. Those bugs are really ugly, hi hi.

Had quit a few contacts on 10 meters today. I gave out another 119 to Ed W7GVE, hi hi.

Thanks to all I worked.

73, Rick

better late than never

I had a great time using my Vibroplex Original Deluxe bug for the first time. Maybe a little raggy but fun. I have a Blue Racer that I bought years ago, 1964, but I am still a little intimidated with its speed plus the base is much lighter than the Original. Loads of fun for me. Wish I had more time to spend on the WES. Tnx for the QSOs all. Steve

Much fun. Although my bug got a "frog in it's throat" and tended to send very scratchy dits. I need to figure out how to adjust it!

I think I caught the bug.

Great Sprint folks. I got contacts on 80, 40 and 20. I had to go so did not get a chance to try 15 or 10 Sunday afternoon. The activity was higher on 80 so you can tell we are getting close to winter. Got lucky and got K8XXX on 40 and 20. Thanks a bunch and 73's to all.

CU Next Month: Allen KA5TJS

I was only able to work Sunday morning and late Sunday evening, but had a blast. This was the first time in quite a while that I have operated QRO. Lots of confirmed bug contacts. Probably had more. Many sounded like a bug, but if they didn't identify as bug, I didn't log them as bug. I was impressed with the number of really good bug fists that I worked. I used my Vibroplex Blue Racer for all QSOs. This was a great theme. What's next ? Cooties ?

First WES, it was really fun. K8XXX on 3 bands. Thanks guys to hear my weak signals (QRP). 73/72! Szabi

Too nice of a day to be inside. Gotta set up portable! Weather was great plus things had to be done. Not many contacts, but at least better than none. Thanks guys es gals. 72/73, Phil

Had a good time even with not so good conditions. Worked the Sprintathon only a few hours each day. The weather in Southern California was just too nice to spend the day in the shack. Heard a lot of bugs while in the shack, those guys were everywhere.

Great WES ! Added quite a few entries towards centurian, only 7 more contacts.

Enjoyed the WES. Great activity on 40, 20 and 15 meters.

Made many new contacts.

This weekend was beset by family needs, plus the band conditons on Saturday were terrible, what with the Solar A Index running at 38. I was tyring to compete in the Ocwana CW DX Contest, with just aweful results. So hopefully I''ll do better next WES. 73''s to all. Bert, K6CSL

Only got to work a few hours Sunday afternoon but it was fun. I was able to slow my Vibroplex Original down to about 15 wpm but it felt real sloppy. This was a very fun sprint. Thanks for all the contacts. Ray

More bugs worked than found in my crawl space (I hope). Nice to work W7GVE on four bands. Thanks to all and see you next month. 73 from AR

Lots of fun. Too little free time to play radio!

Another fun theme!!Hats off to Pete! Used my Les Logan 515 for the whole WES. Even after much practice,still had an extra dit here and there. Great to work old friends George,Dan,Randy,Keith(160m),Ron,Bert,and always Ed(AZ)plus a few new ops. Thanks to all!!

Had fun even tho extreamly high noise levels on all bands. Glad there were so many hams with good ears to pick me out of the buggy mud :)

Only one contact this month. Couldn't get the radio away from the OM, KX1NH ! 73

Just popped in to the shack and worked a couple stations. Always fun to hear all the keys and in this case bugs working the bands.

K3 @ 5 Watts

Ant = EDZ

Key = HK-802 "Swedish" Presentation Key

Great WES and a fun theme. I had fun using the new KX3 at 5W with the Vibroplex bug. Too bad I had only limited time to operate.

Had a limited amount of time to spend on Sunday, with soccer games in the afternoon. Thanks to Dan/W9DLN for pulling one out of the hat with me on Saturday night, when the QSB and conditions were attenuating everything. Also had qso's with quite a few new calls.

Don KF7DS

That was a lot of fun! Thanks for another interesting WES theme. But for the want of an "O", I missed the full key name bonus. Bands were noisy, up and down, and crowded at times. Got 2 fellow Missouri Outlaws K0KEX, K0LWV, and one honorary outlaw W1PNS, Pete! Always good to work Ed W7GVE on more than one band as well. A number of first time WES contacts for me, including PS7HD, Nat in Brazil. Also found K8XXX on two bands. Not too bad for marginal conditions. Thanks to all. Station: 1954 Vibroplex Original Standard, Ten Tec Jupiter, 33' Doublet and S9V 31' ground mounted vertical.

Even with weak conditions and thunderstorms on Saturday night, I got pretty good signal reports, although I didn't hear that many stations. Conditions were better on Sunday. Got K8XXX on 40 and 20. Worked call signs with plenty of X's but not enough with L's and E's, so I couldn't spell any of the bug brands. I used an Electric Specialty bug for the sprint. Another enjoyable WES. 73.

T-Storms knocked us out Sat. nite . Had to fire up between lightning cells.Still had some fun with the bug and found quite a few of them on the air.Sure not many letter O`s in my log,only one for the word Vibroplex. Got it and Speedx for word bonus. Made Q`s with K8XXX twice for 100 pts..TNX! 26 unique Calls with BUGS for another 520 pts..guess the 2xbug Q`s counted once per callsign like 1x bug Q`s.

IC-746 and Vibroplex Original Deluxe . K2RFP Sprintlogger

Saturday night was pretty sad with the bands closing down. Some activity on 40 and 80 but 20 and above was absolutely quite here. Sunday proved to be much better with 80 thru 10 providing contacts. The bug theme was a lot of fun. My Vibroplex original deluxe was resting nicely in it's case not suspecting a thing and suddenly it was in service, although I did install the "arresting gear" for the sake of all who caught my signal. Thanks for a great WES and thanks to K8XXX for contacts on 2 bands. 73, Jim

I had a slow start Saturday evening due to heavy thunderstorms in the area and poor band conditions. Things improved on Sunday afternoon, and I really enjoyed this WES.

I heard several really good bug operators. Worked a couple of the Missour Outlaws, and also my friend Gerald, WA5AFD, from Oklahoma.

I hope we can do this one again, as I really enjoy bug-to-bug QSO's. Thanks to all who put up with my bug fist.

I always look forward to the WES. Thanks

My ''''63 Chevy, er Vibroplex, has never had such a workout. Many thanks to all who participated at whatever level and with whatever (SKCC-legal) keying device!

That was fun. Think I'll use my bug more often.

Great to hear so many bugs !!! Used my Vibroplex 100th Anniversary , TAC and Electro Bug. Heard some good buggin out there !! Great to work Karen , Curt , Jason , Randy and Randy and Ethan and more !!! Great WES and great ops !!!

I had limityed time for WES due to family obligations but managed to get 7 QSOs on 40, 5 on 20 and one on 15M.

See you next month.

I had a great time with my right angle VIZ key and my Argosy II backup rig running about 45 watts!

HB-1B @ 4-5 Watts / 110'' random wire antenna - Been aprox. 2 years since I worked a WES! I totally forgot how much fun they are...The fist is rusty but this sure helped to get the juices flowing again. Ran QRP from the kitchen table with my new HB-1B setup,4-5 watts depending on battery...Changed call since last WES - from WA2OQJ to K2MIJ so much more CW friendly! Thanks to the 20 who gave me much needed practice, I''ll be back... 73 de Jim

This was a great contest. So good to hear the bugs being used.

I was using my Vibroplex Original Standard (1974).

73 to all.

First WES for me had fun, though I had to come and go. Hope next time I can stick around and make more QSOs

Tnx for the QSOs. Condx poor! 73 and cuagn.

Sorry, but only got to operate for a few hours. Bad thunder storms all night and in to the morning, and then family activities. Hope to do better next time. Best 73 es God Bless. Ric KA3LOC/QRP

I only had Saturday evening to operate and band conditions here were the worst since I have been participating in the WES's. I did catch the special station K8XXX on 2 bands.

Rig: Ten Tec Eagle @ 5 watts and I used my vintage 1915 Vibroplex bug for all 11 contacts.

Had a great time, as always. Missed "McElroy" because I ran out of "O"s. Tnx to all who worked me and also tnx to the organizers who make these events happen.

Great time and some really great bug fists. Even those struggling were doing OK and seemed to improve through the event. I used my 1920 Vibroplex Martin Junior and my 1955 Blue Racer Deluxe. Even had a Junior to Junior QSO with Randy, KB4QQJ. I had an RFI problem locking up my external keyboard and it was difficult to type on the laptop keyboard when it happened, throwing my sending into a tizzy. I just miss my antennas at my old QTH. Great fun, but work did take away some of my operating time. Until next time, 73.

Used the Peaberry SDR I built last month. Puts out about 800 mW to an end fed Zepp I have strung between the trees in front of my apartment. I love working QRPp! Thanks to all the stations that pulled my signal out of the mud.

Thanks to all for another fun WES. Bug used was a E.F.Johnson Co. Speed-X. Long forgotten and unused since a feeble attempt to go the Paddle/Keyer route years ago. Glad to have the Bug back!

73, Dennis W8BFX/Bug

Hello All, thank you very much for this WES, only 40 Qsos, conditions very poor. Working conditions are K2 100W and old Vibroplex Champion black base...

I was more active in this WES than the others. I was unable to work some states due to propagation, and, it just wasn't there. Hopefully next WES conditions will be better.

73 Jerry

Condition so poor :-( for Bug tribute.

Only PR fiends as NP3CW , KP4SJ ; ann John VK4TJ had nice strong signal .Happy to qso N1GKE,W4FOA,W9DLN.

So tried to give points to French team friends .

Use old TS-520 sometimes for this wes , tnx to all 73.

Made my contacts while mobile in OH and PA (my XYL was driving). Rig is FT-857D at 100W with 40M hamstick mounted on trunk. Key is J-37. Thanks for the contacts. 73, Art

Not much time spent on this one. 22 QSOs didn't name any Bugs. Still fun. Thanks to all and 73.

Great idea this time. Nice to hear so many bugs out there. I hope it encouraged the new bug users...keep at it, it gets better with time...trust me. Made contacts on three bands. Used the KX1 and the old Mac Key 600. Thanks for all the contacts! See you next trip. 73, jack

Alway''s fun to enter these event''s. Find a lot of

old friend''s onin them too.Split my time between

a 1924 Original and a 1964 Original Deluxe.

lot's of fun as always. I didn't have lot's of time, but i did get in a few. It was nice to hear those "bugs" getting some use.

Worked 5 Bugs, spelled out all manufacturer's names, plus bonus station on 1 band for bonus points!

Enjoyable Sprint things weren''t clicking too well on 40. I just could not get myself to change bands, afraid I would miss something on 40, funny how you can get stuck on one band. Brion 4936T

My first WES after my recent move from ME to FL. Rig is a FLEX 1500 at 5 watts to a Hustler mobile antenna mounted on my mobile home, and an Ameco key. Only have resonators for 20-15-10 meters right now. Still trying to get used to this rig.

Best WES yet. Congrats to those who thought up the theme of a bug event and to those who participated.The picture is of the guy that did all the work. I wonder who first used it in 1910.

Had fun but went crazy trying to get a bug to work. back to the cootie now. used vibroplex deluxe with a bug napper and a cedar rapids with added weights running 5w with Jupiter and loop ant. looking forward to a "cootie" WES

Eldon

Football, baseball, and Weekend Sprint. Is this a great country or what? I didn't operate with a bug but I was able to collect a dish full of extra dits. Seriously, can the bearings support all that weight used to slow down those contraptions? :-)

I wasn't sure exactly how to score the Spelling Bee bonus, or find a place to enter it.

MY FIRST WES VERY GOOD EXPERIENCE. PROPAGATION WAS BAD ALL NIGHT, BUT DURING THE DAY VERY GOOD. THANKS TO K9AAA DAVID AND F6HKA BERT WE COMPLETED 8 BAND WORKING 80 METERS. CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL MIS AMIGOS THAT PARTICIPATED. 73 DE PABLO.///

Forgot about the WES till I got on for a net and heard the sigs. So a late start, but fun. 73, Steve K4JPN

Worked many stations using bugs.

Propagation bad on Saturday.

Spent around 6 hours on the event due to family activities.

Nice to work again Joe V31JP and K8XXX EMI ARC.

Good luck to all participants.

Tried to get some locals members of SKCC involved this weekend but had no response from them. Maybe next time will be.

Julio

Thank you so much everybody for contacts.

Thank to K8XXX for bonus on 2 bands.

See you in next event.

73 Bert

Fun contest. Didn't know there were so many "bugs" out there - and most sounded good too. I sure couldn't do it!

I didn't know about the "bug" deal, didn't keep track so score a zero in that box. I use a bug about 90% of my regular op time. Also a side-swiper, straight key, and iambic. They're all lined up at the op position. I've been using a bug for 61 years and it is the preferred key. I am getting better with mastering the Cootie but it continues to be a challenge. 73, Don W7GB

Conditions were reasonable in PA and I worked all five bands on the C21 (although only Julio on 10 meters and Special Station K8XXX on 80 meters). I caught most of my species in a swarm on 15 meters while the rest were buzzing around on 20 and 40 meters. The EMCC really did a fine job as I heard them everywhere and we worked two bands. I was only able to spell “SpeedX” as I had no “I’s” or “Y’s” and only one “S” (I guess I should have set up shop with my call-sign instead of S&P). Great fun! Thanks to all.

Matt-N3EIN Ten-Tec C21/G5rv-Lite/Skcc Key

This was a fun Sprint! The bands were not the best, but workable. Thank you to all the bugs, and to the team at K8XXX for the extra bonus points. I worked a couple new ones, and some old friends too! Used the Ten Tec Eagle, and the K2 at 100 watts, with the Bencher RJ-1 and the Begali Spark.

73 fer now...Scott N3JJT 255T

The conditions were bad. They did not even improved for 20m in the evning (EU local time).

I managed to work Jerry DU3/W5LFA on 10m. This was the highlight of October's WES.

DIDN" GET LOT OF OPERATING TIME. BIG THUNDER STORM SAT.

NIGHT. OTHER ACTIVITES SUNDAY. read xyl!

I forgot abt the "bugs" count. did work some but didn't note it. Fully enjoyed the sprint. Getting to know some of the "regulars" somewhat.

Spent way too much time in the RTTY contest but still had lots of fun. Conditions stunk for the most part. Noticed its been a while since some of the bug ops used a bug! But I can't talk since I stuck to my straight key (NT9K Pro Pump). What a great key. Nice to run into a lot of new members.

limited time, but again a very good WES.

Worked K8XXX on 2 bands and as usual

F6HKA Bert, S57WJ Gabor and VK4TJ John.

See you all next WES !!

73 Joerg DL9YCS SKCC# 7150T

Hello,

WES BUGs this was a great idea, I made 22 QSOs with T or C, quickly completing my Tribune Award, FB. My first QSO was with N5YG (00:31), TNX Mike, the last was with K7VM (04:44) TNX Craig, sorry not operate more, 73 ES CUAGN.

Nathan PS7HD # 8094C

Poor conditions and not much time but enjoyed whatever time I had. Thanks everyone.

Busy weekend on the bands. Fun as usual although

at my QTH Sat. condx were poor.Sunday was better

with even some 10m activity. Thanks for the sprints.

This was my first WES with the new vertical. I was only on a few hours Saturday night and conditions were poor due to the geomagnetic storm. Between the conditions forcing me and the antenna enabling me, I was on more bands than usual. I had QSOs on 15, 20, 40 and 80. I enjoyed the bug theme. Thanks for the contacts. 73, Brian

I enjoyed the Bug catagory. I used two different bugs: my 1961 Blue Racer by Vibroplex, and my E.F. Johnson Speed-X.

Ahh nostalgia. Those bugs sound good. Each operator has his own unique key signature. A great addition to the overall SKCC theme.

Rig IC-718 , 100 Watts, Bencher RJ-1 straight key, horizontal longwire VEE antenna.

Nice to see 10 meters open up, great contest, had a lot of fun as usual. Some QRN but it cleared up.

Couldn't get my Virbroplex adjusted so used the straight key.

In 1958 I saw my first bugs. My girlfriend's mom was a station agent for Southern Railroad. She could send and receive while talking with us and smoking a cigarette. I was a Civil Air Patrol cadet and got a chance to fly on an Air Force C-124 Globemaster transport. The radio operator's position had a bug and the station was an ART-13 transmitter and a BC-348 receiver.

Started to run QRP this weekend, but I decided that it would be enough of a burden on the stations worked with me just using a bug so I ran 100 Watts.

A W7IS "Extend-A-Dot" on my Vibroplex "Presentation" slowed it down to where it was manageable ... still sounded kinda choppy to me.

Yaesu FT-950 @100 Watts to a 25' end-fed wire.

FT1000MP, Alpha 78, 1 KW, TH6DXX, dipole, inverted vee. Pretty good conditions stateside with QSOs 80 through 10M. Worked three members in France plus two in Puerto Rico. No other DX. QRN was bad on 80 on Saturday night. I counted for the "bug" multiplier only those who sent "/BUG" or "/B" even though I am fairly sure that others were using bugs. Almost nobody using a bug sent fast and that made it a bit harder to tell a bug from a hand key. I didn't try to spell out any bug models. I have several bugs myself, but won't embarrass myself by trying to send with one of them. There was a time when it was said that I had a good fist on a bug. Thanks for all the QSOs and fun. 73, John, K4BAI.

I tried to get my HB 20 Meter Hex Beam completed for WES, but alas, finished tuning and raising it early Sunday afternoon. At least I got to try it a little!

Also this past week I received my new Parkwood TINYBUG from Richard WB9LPU and now use this incredibly smooth, sweet key always! It fits in my small pistol case that I use to carry my KX3 quite nicely still leaving room for the LiFe-Battery pack and earphones! Bottom Line is that I had FUN as usual. Perhaps a future WES will have bonus for operating on batteries or at least portable OUTDOORS.

How about bonus for using portable Antenna? just a thought!

Rich W4RQ

Updated entry for the bug I used. My hand is still recovering... I think the straight key is easier!

Had a blast for the time spent. Does anyone stay up all 24hrs??? Sorry for the stations I missed.. At least you missed my sloppy bug sending.. Almost got better toward the end. The key still sticks and sometimes that fishing weight has a mind of it's own!

I got a Vibroplex 100th anniversary bug for my birthday last month, but I just could not get the hang of it! Back to my Vibroplex straight key. :-(

I was not able to be on the air much this time, but enjoyed when I was. Great to hear everyone on the air!

Lots of QRN here on Saturday. Made hard on us outlaws but it was still fun. This was my first try using a bug. It was pretty scary! Thanks to KI0I, Mark for loaning me the J-36 Lionel...73 all es cul....Bill

PS: Which one is the scary bug?

"I'd like an E please". (BUZZ) "Sorry, no E's".

Looking through the log I found several bugs but was vowel challanged for the Halloween bonus. BOO! hoo.

That really was scary...first time I ever tried to use a bug. My apologies to my first victim, Carl N5XE. I worked most of the sprint with a sideswiper, but if someone signed /bug, I would switch to the bug for the exchange. I guess I should have been /ug :] New members worked this time around:WU3H 9661, F4FGB 9648, K1EDG 9625, and VA2FDT 9505. Wecome to SKCC and I hope the Halloween bugs weren''t as scary for you as they were for me. Is there a sideswiper sprint in our future?... CU all next month 73

Very limited time to operate but still had a good time.

Only had time to snag 3 contacts but all three were /Bug. Had a chance to use my "new" Vibroplex Original I got at a ham fest for $20. Had to make the paddles because they were broke, but turned out pretty good. Made my version of the "bug tamer" to slow it down. Forgot how hard it was to get used to sending with a bug. Thanks all! Great fun.

WA0YEI - Russ 6300T

Best yet. I had a Blast. Used my Flex-3000 @ 5 watts out. We had a few nasty storms come thru so I hooked up a Indoor long wire of 32' working against station ground. I switched back and forth between outside and inside antennas. Thanks to all who copied me.

Had a great time. I don't yet own a bug but this event has inspired me to get one.

So many great bug fists to hear and so many willing to put up with my attempt to use one! Got to break in the new FT817-the first contact was with Randy KB4QQJ. Just wish all those zeros in worked calls were o's! Thanks all and 72/73!

First time to submit a score for the QRP class, I gave a little bit of a workout to my old 1941 Vibroplex Original and my brand new Flex 1500. I hooked up the new rig the night before the sprint. Thanks to all those who listened to my puny weak signal and poor bug fist!

Wow had a great time. Some great sounding bugs out there! Thanks to all. -N9oL

Only worked a short time on Sunday afternoon but enjoyed the contest. I notice that with my station there are 6 OK stations reporting. Nice going Sooner State! Look forward to the next one. Carl, N5XE, plan on that BBQ.

First attempt in the WES

Really fun WES. Had more time to work than usual and took advantage of it. Got the Last 2 'L's needed for BUG Manufacture sweep with 20 minutes to spare. Thanks all - I may have to try to find and learn the ways of the scary bug.

The Chief Scheduling Officer had other plans for my weekend time, so I only snuck in 5 contacts spread over the 24 hours. Enjoyed hearing all the bugs on the air... I seem to use mine exclusively now when I get a rare chance to operate.. I stayed on 40 meters with 3 watts from my trusty DSW-40. Enjoyed the contacts and working 4 new "T"s in my journey towards Tx3. 73 to all til next WES. Peter

enjoyed the few minutes I had to work this. First time I tried the contest. Dont know if the log is sent in right..

Will find out if I dont show up in the results

Got up early Sunday morning and LOTS of DX on the sked page. I was going to use my GHD sideswiper, but the bands were terrible and no contacts. I kept seeing /bug on the sked page and went back to read the theme about bugs. So, I came back later in the day with my Tiny Bug by Rich WB9LPU and made a few contacts. I'd also like to see a similar theme for sideswipers. What happened to the Junk Box and Craftsman key themes?

73, Bill NT9K

Enjoyed the swing of all those bugs!

band was very good and wx wasvery good

I only had 20 minutes to play before a trip, but still had fun. Keep up the great work with a fun mode. 73, Rick

WAS A GREAT WES, STILL USING MY 1962 VIBROPLEX BUG (HAD BEEN SITTING ON THE SHELF FOR 20+ YEARS) FORGOT HOW MUCH FUN IT WAS TO USE, 73'S RAY WB0PYF, SKCC #5169T

great time but football does have its place to be first hi hi

I planed to be as active as possible for this Halloween WES and I prepared all my bugs to be used.

Unfortunately plenty of planed and unplaned chores made me unable to do so. I was very sorry, however I took a few minutes to do some QSO. In addition to that, propagation was horrible when at home and very difficult to make contacts.

I hope to do better if a "SideSwiper" theme occurs one day !

On the photo, all my bug keys are proud to be sitting in front of our Halloween pumpkin !

See you all soon !

Nice WES. Good propagation and lots of operators. Enjoyed it as always.

Hello the Group,

First and foremost I want to apologize to N5DY. While setting the speed of one of my bugs I thought I was on the dummy load and realized too late I was on the air on top of him trying to make a contact. My mistake, I know better and regret it.

It was a really fun event and since it was about bugs I went all in. I played for most of 10 hours and used one each of the manufactures listed for bonus points. That included a TAC Hole in the Wall, Lionel J-36, 1928 Vibroplex Martin Jr (my favorite for QRQ, thanks V31JP and N8BB!!) 1954 Vibroplex Blue Racer, McElroy P-500, Les Logan 515, Johnson Speed-X 114-501 in addition to my Dentsu-Seiki Swalow ( one L).

It was great to work Joe V31JP 2x Matin Jr.

It was great to hear some old friends and make a few new DX contacts. Werner kind of stumped me. We are normally each other last contact and this time I was his first!

K2OGT was the strongest signal at 40 over. Really nice to see Spain, EA3NO and Puerto Rico, NP3CW in the sprint.

Well Done Pete and I don’t think it was complicated at all, let’s do it again soon!!!

Rig – KX3 #085 3-5 watts

Antenna – PAR EndFedz 20/40 and 5 band doublet both at 33 feet

Keys – see above.

73 for now,

Randy_KB4QQJ

Enjoyed using my 1948 Vibroplex Bug. Nice mixture of contacts on the bands. DX worked PS7HD, G0RDO, F6HKA, DL9YCS, F5JWH, and S57WJ. Thanks to all for the contacts.

I worked K8xxx and xe2if. I used a straight key. I don't know if other stations used bug or not.

All qso were with Lionel J36 Cost me 1 dollar in 1947

Its still eager to supply extra dots at times

I don't have logging software right now. I put this together from my ODS spreadsheet:

1. 10/14/12 0001Z 7090 K8SOR S:599 R:559 Me:100W 2483T Skip, WV

2. 10/14/12 0043Z 7090 W0MRZ S:339 R:559 Me:100W QSB, only RSTs exchanged.

3. 10/14/12 0056Z 7049 W9DLN S:459 R:579 Me:100W 3635T Dan, WI

4. 10/14/12 0132Z 14056 NV9X S:469 R:569 Me:50W 1358T Jim, IL

Storms Saturday night made it tough..caught K8XXX right off and decided to ground everything and get a fresh start Sunday.

The BUGS were out in force and the condx were good..thanks to all for the great contacts..comments..and the new numbers in the log. When I began operating at age 17 I had seen operators with BUGS and always wanted one...Well I have a few here now to play with and I feel that is due to the SKCC.

The Presentation did most of the work but the Blue Racer & the 1939 Original picked up a few contacts.

It is nice to have so many activities to catch up with old friends as well as new members..Thanks for the great fun,

73 Rick

Fitting...only spelled VIBROPLEX

L to R "54 Presentation" "59 Blue Racer" "39 Original"

Lot of fun again! Maybe next time I can get on longer.

This was my first WES in quite a while. Lots of fun - thank you!

On Tuesday evening, I was a part of the K8XXX multi-op contingent, working 80 meters. After returning back to my home QTH, late that same evening I worked some with my call K8UV 2250-T. The next morning I worked K8XXX on 15,20 and 40. It was evident that because of midwest storms, there was little activity from that area. I will be working the next one on the 23rd. Best 73, Rich

Thank you very much wa8bgV nk8I aa2xB f5pkR n2sO n0umP n9oL n4rE k0keX kf7atL ki0I wd8ecO n5rdN n1gkE n5luL k5zoL n5xE kd5rsS wa1viL nf1O k8ljG k5enA ai4uN k7vM ac2C wb8enE kf7jL k8soR ke3O w9saY w1pnS k2deP w8mdE w7gvE aa2fD kl8dX and I guess pretty much everyone else that played as well. The bugs were out in force. Caught bugs in four countries and 37 states and completed the basic collection twice before my arm couldn't swing the net anymore.

Rig here still the IC-746 with a Signal Electric R-48 key. Antennae here parallel perpendicular dummy loads at 50', one pointed N-S and other E-W. Hopefully by next month I'll have them in the same can.

Special thanks to K2RFP and K3UK. Couldn't do it without you guys. Until next month, 73 GL...

I operated this month's WES from the ship that I work on only out of necessity. I discovered after arriving on the island on Sunday afternoon that I'd somehow left the power cord to my rig's supply on the ship. Retrieving it and returning to the island would have left maybe an hour of operating time, so I stayed on the ship to operate the WES as maritime mobile.

When I'm set up at my usual operating spot on the island with the Indian Ocean about 100 feet or so away, my antenna typically shows a nearly flat SWR when it's hoisted 30 feet up.

But raise it a few feet above my ship, which is a 40,000-ton piece of floating metal, and the effects on the SWR are quite noticable. Thankfully, I have a matching unit with me to deal with that as I didn't have time to re-cut the antenna.

The picture shows a platform high up at the back of the ship. That's a flight deck for helicopters, and is about 85 feet square. It's a little more than 100 feet above the water line. It also serves as my operating station when I work satellites and give out "wet" grid squares for VUCC hunters. (Operating from the ship doesn't count for DXCC though.)

My antenna this weekend was attached to the small tower just to the right of the stack with the White on red "A", and it was run at an angle down to the railing; my office / ham shack is one deck below that point. I have easy access to the flight deck through an escape hatch that thankfully has never been needed in an emergency!

My ship is the USNS Sgt William R Button, which is a Navy ship that's based at Diego Garcia, BIOT, as part of the pre-positioning force. Most of the time, we're anchored about 1-1/2 mile fromt the island. I'm a civilian contractor working on board as the ship's comms officer, electronic tech, and IT engineer.

Some basic info on the ship is available at this web site: http://navysite.de/ak/ak3012.htm

finally im returning to radio after moving qth

operated only 10m using a quicly made dipole...

I promise i will have more presence in the next wes's

Had company over the weekend so not much of an effort this time around. Got one bug-to-bug QSO into the books (tks John N9OL).

Conditions were varied but enjoyed meeting folks on the air and listening to the bugs that were out in force for this event. Nice to work Bert, F6HKA for my DX contact for this WES. Rig used was my K3/10 at 5 watts to the random wire. Key used was my Bencher RJ-2.

I worked K7SDW/bug (CA) for a bug-to-bug QSO. My key was a Vibroplex Champion won at a transmitter hunt in 1961.

I had a good time, but making the scoring so complicated made me put it off until it was almost too late. Simple is good. 73, all.

Bug was acting a bit buggy at times, needing occasional adjustments and contact cleanings. Had fun all the same!