I’ve been working hard on my CW skills. I took the level 2 prep class in the CW Academy and we’ve been meeting every week in the time between sessions. I’ve been putting a lot of time into and it’s coming together. I figured I’d try this contest without the decoder and see how I did. I was able to copy one call, then another, and so I just kept going. Last year I made 176 contacts, with the decoder, this year 110 without. I had to listen over and over to many of them, but some I got on the first try.
In this contest contacts from your own country aren’t worth any points, so all the contacts (except 1, for the multiplier) were with other countries.
I’m really happy with the results and the new Flex radio worked really well. I was even able to work some of the contest while having a cigar on the porch.