I made my first ever QSO with the CC1 beta a week or so ago. It was with Jason NT7S (the designer of the CC1 and proprietor of Etherkit) and on top of that, it was the first ever CC1 to CC1 QSO. Very exciting! I was hoping to have been the first ever QSO Jason had with his CC1. That honor actually went to WA0JLY, but I did get to be Jason’s 2nd QSO.
He was recording video of the QSO, which is up on his website if you want to take a look, though I am rather embarassed by my sending. For some reason, I hadn’t plugged the paddle into the jack on the CC1 properly, and when I came back to Jason, the paddle went nuts and wasn’t sending what I wanted it to at all. I finally discovered the error, plugged it firmly into the jack and continued with the QSO. Jason for his part, (due also to nervousness at our historic QSO I’m guessing, just like me,) wished me 71 at the end of our brief exchange. I like that! As I pointed out to him, 71 is like 72, but even better. From now on, whenever I QSO with NT7S, I am going to sign off by wishing him 71. Perhaps that could become the default sign-off for any CC1 to CC1 QSO’s in the future? He also told me that my mess-up in sending due to not plugging the paddle in properly is one of those things that help create a narrative to remember these occasions with. Well, I guess so 🙂
I don’t normally collect QSL cards, but some are special. This one from Jason is one of those in my collection that have great meaning. In the early days of radio a QSL, instead of being seen as merely the final courtesy of a QSO, was the much-desired proof that a hard-worked for contact had taken place. The early hobbyist would labor hard building his entire station, and spending many hours adjusting and tweaking in order to make contacts with other amateur stations. QSL’s were highly-prized pieces of proof that validated the work of the experimenter. I got some of that feeling on receiving this card from Jason –
This, in my opinion, is a QSL in the best time-honored tradition of amateur radio. I’m running off to Fedex Kinko’s this morning to do a test-print of the custom QSL I’ve designed for my CC1 beta and hope to be spotting myself on QRPSpots later this week once I repair the final that I fried. I’m still not completely sure what I did, but it most likely had something to do with a stray clipped component lead or metal screwdriver 🙂
Dave Richards AA7EE 