Just got off the phone with Kathy who was speaking for Dan Henderson, N1ND (Head of ARRL contest division) who is on vacation. I asked her what was the thinking of the organizers of SKN pertaining to what kind of keys are acceptable for use during SKN? Her answer was very definite in as much as "Any mechanical means of producing a CW signal is acceptable". The bug is every much a part of radio history as the "straight key" and is perfectly acceptable for use during SKN.
You can quote the statement shown on the ARRL site as much as you wish but this is not a "Set of Rules" but more a philosophy of what the night is all about. The celebration of the "Good old days". Vintage equipment is being used more and more on that evening along with the mechanical keys used to generate cw signals from that era. All is encouraged and acceptable. The ONLY thing that is not acceptable is the electronic generation of the cw signal. eg: electronic keyers of any type, keyboards, etc. I have tried to represent the thinking of the officials organizing this event in as simple and straightforward method as possible. I am sure someone will read something into this that isn't there to promote their thinking that because the name of the event is Straight Key Night that it is the only device acceptable. NOT TRUE!!! Gee, I hope this settles this thread. Larry KW4A K2 ser# 811 _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
