My SKCC Cootie
Earned 2023-04-22 by KY8D, SKCC Member 14636C
List updated 2026-09-03
Home: KY8D.net
Current Tally: 123 of 100
Sorting Order: Region, Suffix, Prefix.
Color Code: 100 Confirmed;
62nd Not;
21 Surplus;
1 as VA7KYD*
* My callsign when operating in Canada.
| 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| K0AF
NN0D KD0EVP KK0I N0IPA K0RO W0RLY/m K0SPU KE0STT AA0YY K0ZN | VE1AHX
KA1CPR KB1FGC N1GKE KS1I NF1O K1PUG K1RWT K1SP K1WOR K1YAN W1ZAH | KD2BD
K2FW VA2GJ KD2GUT WZ2J KD2NFZ W2TAW WB2TQC AC2WU KD2ZUD | W3DF
VE3HZ VE3INE KC3LNB W3NP WA3RSR KA3TTT VE3SO K3SUI VE3WH K3WK | WB4AJL
K4ARD W4CLR W4CMG KI4DNY NI4E W4EML WA4FAT KF4GNV N4HAY WB4HUL WF4I WA4IAR KY4ID K4ISW N4JEH WA4JUU K4KYN N4LQ W4LSV KY4O WM4Q AF4QK KJ4R AB4RH AA4SN K4TNE ND4U AI4UH KA4UPI KO4WFP | NE5A
AI5BE VA5CW AA5EN WB5EVO N5IR AA5JC WB5JWI N5KIP K5MEG AC5P KA5TJS N5URL W5WTH K5YQF AF5Z | N6CUQ
W6DFM N6DIQ N6EV AK6FB AJ6FN AA6MK W6RKE N6TTV | N7ANH
KJ7GNB K7IOL KB7KY K7NXL N7WI | AI8AI
SV8ANW AA8CL NJ8D AB8DY K8DZR KA8HFN AC8KJ NJ8L KB8PVQ W8RBF NQ8T KE8UEX | AK9A
W9AIL W9DLN KD9KHA K9ZIP |
Straight Keys: GN309FA Fully Automatic Bug, LNR Cootie, Begali Camelback, Chinese K4.
Imagine, if you will, an award in support of substantive communication! One where participants must actually communicate with one another. One where where you cannot chalk up a win for having merely clicked a memory button to auto-send “RST 599 TU SK” over and over again. An award where the goal is one hundred QSOs, each with a different operator, none of those less than one hour long. Add to that a requirement that you both spend the full hour on straight keys.
When I began my pursuit of this award, only fifteen hams had yet to win it. After about half a year’s effort, I myself earned it on 2023-04-23 as the 21st awardee. How it happened that I chose to seek it was mostly chance. I had set a goal for myself of pushing my average QSO duration out further and further. Toward this end, always I’d wait for the other op to send “73” first. On account of which, some QSOs would run more than an hour. And near the end of some of those, I would be asked to please confirm it with the SKCC. Once the total of those had reached five, Cecil, the award manager, enrolled me as an official paricipant.
And so it began: KY8D Award Log
My key of choice for all QSOs at 22 wpm and below is a sideswiper (nicknamed “cootie”). Worked manually side-to-side, with contact closure in both directions, all speeds acheivable on an up/down key can be matched with half the effort.
Cooties are notorious, though, for a an eccentric sing-song accent someitmes called "Lake Erie Swing". I have heard this myself from a number of ops on the dedicated weekly SideSwiper Net. My own sending, so I am often complimented, suffers from that not at all. To get there, I practiced off-the-air for a full month obefore ever once using it in an actual QSO. The trick of it, quite literally, is all in the wrist.
Video Here is a video showing how I work a cootie. As you will see, I don’t lay my wrist on the table. I hold it above. My thumb and finger do very little. Mostly I just hold them in an inverted U. And that is all there is to it.
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Visible in the photo above is a custom modification performed by myself. Namely, affording the key pure copper contacts. This versus the original steel-on-steel, which my prior rig, an IC-745, did not like at all. A detailed write-up on that may be read here: Link