RAC Winter Contest

Every December the Radio Amateurs of Canada sponsor the Canada Winter Contest. This is a 24 hour contest starting at 0000 UTC to 2359 UTC of the chosen Day. This year it started for Me at 6:00 PM CST on Friday December 18th and ended Saturday at 5:59 PM. No contest I participate in ever sees Me in the shack for very long. This one was no different with some time spent on Friday evening and again Saturday Afternoon for a total of about 2.7 hours!

Several weeks ago I noticed this upcoming contest and decided to give it a try. Always nice to contest with Our Canadian neighbors and this time was no different. They again were very cordial and relaxed and made this a fun contest for all!

Friday night I did not start to operate till after contest began and was quickly tired from a long work week. Conditions were noisy on 75m where most of the activity was occuring. Hoped Saturday would be better which it proved to be. Again did not start till lateer because of two exciting Basketball Games My Daughter Katie played in. 20m was the better band now and I received many good signal reports of 20 over and also gave many good reports. The band was excellant! Kathy, My other Daughter sat with Me for a time enjoying the Canadian contesting style. Eventually duty called and had to leave when conditions were still good.

I returned for the very end of the contest but 20m had died out and 40m and 75m were again very noisy so called it before the end of this contest. I later uploaded logs to eQSL, LOTW and of course RAC. My totals are not competitive but I had a great time and it was extra special spending some of it with My Daughter and answering Her "contesting" questions! Maybe a future contester!!

Here are My totals, not too bad for time spent and just "S&P" mode. ( Search and Pounce for the non-contesters!!)
38 QSOs 384 Pts 16 Sec

for a Total : 6,144