Tuesday, December 8, 2015

SKCC Centurion Achievement

I set forth my hand on key...

Only manual keys like straight keys and bugs count on SKCC contacts

I joined the SKCC when I started operating CW in late August this year.

SKCC is an abbreviation for "Straight Key Century Club" (not to be confused with "Silent Key Century Club").  
SKCC is an organization similar to FISTS, dedicated to promoting Morse Code / CW operations, but in particular, fostering the continued use of manual keys (straight keys, bugs and side-swipers) because of the historical significance of manual keys in Morse Code.  The SKCC group has some nice tools on their website for looking up member information as well as a special link to the K3UK Sked site so that you can arrange a QSO whenever you like.  You don't have to call CQ till you're blue in the knuckles, just post your frequency to the Sked page and within a couple of minutes you'll likely be in a QSO... the only caveat is  you should be using a manual key (no electronic keyer).

Awards and activities

SKCC members are an active and chatty group of operators who exchange their member numbers even when not in a contest.   They offer a number of achievement awards; some awards are for logging contacts with active SKCC members over time.  The first achievement level is the Centurion Achievement which is given for 100 unique SKCC member contacts.  I hadn't been keeping close track of my count of unique SKCC contacts but I figured I likely had over a 100 unique. I finally went through my log and found that I had over 150 unique SKCC contacts since I became a SKCC member.  So I submitted my log to the SKCC and within a couple of hours it was verified and I received this amusing notification via email of my achievement:
Hear Ye! Hear Ye! Gather 'round and pay heed to the news of this day !

Let there be celebration to recognize a fellow SKCC member who has advanced to the Centurion level of SKCC achievement !!!

Having submitted a log and sworn statement, documenting the completion of QSOs with 100 other SKCC members, Richard Carpenter, N4PBQ, SKCC #14276, is duly proclaimed to be SKCC Centurion Number 1261 effective at 0000Z on 9 Dec 2015. SKCC Centurions are encouraged to proclaim their accomplishment by appending a C to their SKCC Number.

The Master Centurion List has been duly scribed where all SKCC Members may reflect upon and pay tribute to this momentous achievement.

Duly approved, recorded, and published.

I set forth my hand and key.

8 Dec 2015

Ron Bower, AC2C
SKCC 2748S
SKCC Centurion Administrator
As a new CW operator little things like this are nice incentives to keep moving forward with my on-air activities.  This isn't contesting but I feel like I am achieving something as I reach little milestones.

Update 12-19-2015

Well going from Centurion to Tribune is pretty easy when you spend some time in the weekend sprint.  My Tribune level was confirmed today, but going from Tribune to Senator is quite a long road so I expect it to take more than 11 days haha.
That's all for now

So lower your power and raise your expectations

72/73

Richard N4PBQ

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