In 1993, Field Day planted the seed of contesting inside my soul. In 1994, this seed was starting to flourish into a real passion. I upgraded to Extra class in August and the first real contest using my new privileges was the Pennsylvania QSO Party. This was a limited portable multi-op in a poor location to coincide with an annual Fall Foliage Festival. In September, I got my first modern HF rig, an Icom IC-736, as a birthday present from my tolerant wife, Bonita. I put this rig to use in a contest for the first time in the CQWW SSB Contest. My antenna was a crummy dipole that was cut for 80m. My score was pretty miserable by most contester's standards, but I felt like I had just won the Olympics. I couldn't believe how many new DXCC entities I had landed over one little weekend! This stuff is for me!
| Month | Contest | Submitted Score | Final Score | QSOs | Class |
Mode
|
Call | More Information |
|
Jun
|
ARRL VHF QSO Party | 256 | ? | 27 | SO |
FM
|
N3BDA | |
|
Jun
|
Field Day | ? | ? | ? | 2A |
Mixed
|
K3II | Carbon ARC |
|
Oct
|
Pennsylvania QSO Party | 11,216 | ? | 164 | SOLP |
Mixed
|
N3BDA | |
|
Oct
|
CQWW DX Contest | 119,040 | ? | ? | SOLP |
SSB
|
N3BDA | |
|
Nov
|
ARRL Sweepstakes | 950 | ? | ? | SOLP |
CW
|
N3BDA | |
|
Nov
|
CQWE Contest | 1,219 | ? | ? | SOLP |
Mixed
|
N3BDA | |
|
Nov
|
ARRL Sweepstakes | 26,536 | ? | ? | SOLP |
SSB
|
N3BDA |
Highlights:
| Score | Contest | Results |
| Field Day | In K3II's back yard with the Carbon ARC | |
| 11,216 | Pennsylvania QSO Party | First contest as an Extra class licensee |
| 119,040 | CQWW DX Phone Contest | First "serious" single-op contest for me |