Rookie Roundup SSB 2013

The ARRL Rookie roundup SSB  took place on Sunday April 21 and we participated from VE7IO.

Pamela Hamilton, VE7PFH, who has been licensed since November 2012 joined in for a couple of hours of training and fun on ham radio.  Pam quickly adapted to the operation of the equipment and after a very short introductory session on search and pounce moved to the running mode.  Once in the running mode she started making contacts sometimes in excess of one per minute and the chart below shows how her activity increased. The QSO's/hr at 30 is when Pam was in the "run mode" and the rate continued in the next hour but unfortunately Pam had to leave for another appointment.

I provided the station and set up for Rookie Roundup but the training was handled by Brett, VE7GM, who did an outstanding job of helping Pam to relax and build her confidence.  Brett had Pam into the run mode very quickly and assisted her with the logging.  Pam had a strong voice and used phonetics with ease.

It was a pleasure to have Pam and Brett in the shack and I look forward to more contests in the future. I also had a good visit with Don and enjoyed a hot dog for lunch.