This past Saturday, December 9, the BARC clubhouse was opened for the ARRL 10-Meter Contest. Technician class operators have voice and CW privileges on 10 meters so this was a great opportunity to familiarize yourself with the BARC radios in the clubhouse and get on the air on HF. Contests are easy and fun while using a short exchange that helps get over the fear of talking on the radio. Contests are also an opportunity to tune your ears to listening for callsigns and specific phrases that are often used.
Our BARC operators worked for 3 hours and logged 29 QSO’s while learning about the BARC radios and how to listen when working other stations to match their rhythm and when to jump in with the W8DGN callsign. BARC scored 870 points with the 29 contacts and reached stations in the Carribean, west coast, and Central America. Greg Yingling, KE8YMA, even brought in his IC-705 QRP radio to test it out and made several contacts.
