Did you or any of the other Mills County hams participate in the recent Rookie Roundup? I did, had planned to play in their sandbox to provide them with a few extra points.
I only worked 13 of them. Why? The pathetic band conditions, really bad. Noise, severe QSB, etc. Sort of reminded me of the novice days over 50 years ago, if one couldn't copy code that fast, often the report was "QSB just hit." This time the QSB was real.
Some of those I worked were pretty serious. One was a young fellow, a tech, who was cleverly using his father's call. I was checking out their QRZ stuff as I was filling out QSL cards for all of them, I noted the license date didn't allow him to be a rookie and as I went back to call him again, someone else had noted issues too and his dad was responding.
Four of the 13 that I worked were YLs, one a very young one. That was a pleasant surprise. Really a plus to find them out in force. When they discover that in pileups the YLs are often the first recognized, that will turn them on to radio sports.
Who were the 13?
- KJ6ELO, PHIL, 09, CA, log submitted, raw score 13552
- KF7IYQ, KEN, 10, CA
- NG1R, ROGER, 09, CT, log submitted, raw score 6270
- KE5VLX, CHUCK, 08, AR, log submitted, raw score 3161
- NF6A, SARAH, 10 CA
- K7MKL, SHELLEY, 08, NV, log submitted, raw score 2475
- WB1ADR (KA1RON - Op), ARRON, 08, NH log submitted, 6346
- KF5GDJ/W5WZ, JORDAN, 10, LA, log submitted, raw score 253
- KE1BYL, ANNA, 09, CA, log submitted, raw score 7160
- K4HIN, DAVID, 09, VA, log submitted, raw score 11952
- KD0JLE, STEVE, 09, KS, log submitted, raw score 969
- W5MRM, MARTY, 09, TX, log submitted, raw score 3720
- WT6H, MIKE, 10, CA, log submitted, raw score 748
The four YLs were NF6A, K7MKL, KF5GDJ, and KE1BYL. Note some of those calls are ones you would expect an old geezer to be using, looks like the FCC is selling a fair number of calls these days. One of these years I am going to apply for W5PWT (can't think of a better Field Day call).
K5BZH only made 260 points. It appeared many of those I worked had much better band conditions. A couple or three may have been similar to what I had from noting their low scores.
August 15th was the second Rookie Roundup. The first was held in April, it was SSB. Come next year the August event will be RTTY. The Rookie Roundup held in December will be CW. April will be SSB again.
My understanding is the Rookie Roundup was modeled after the Novice Roundup that lasted from 1952 to 1995 and Kids Day plus a little Sweepstakes influence.
My take on it is that the six hour window is probably good for new contesters. I have also noted some free software surfacing, one source was N3FJP.
The exchange was name, check (year first licensed), and state or province. I figured with my check of 55 it would be one of the oldest. It wasn't. There were a lot of checks from 50 to 75 in use.
I had hoped to work around 50 Rookies, the conditions pretty well put a stop to that. I will be there in December for the CW Rookie Roundup to see how many are there with Morse skills, it could be good. My fear is that most of the new hams that work CW found their way there from contesting and already work so many serious contests that they won't care about Rookie Roundup. There could be a few surprises though.
Regards,
Jim, K5BZH