In the US we pride ourselves on our ability to compete and we admire those that achieve and finish in first place. There are times when it is great fun to finish last. Last night we received a SKED request for a ham who needed only one more contact to finish the ARRL Triple Play Award (TPA). He had acquired 149 contacts (50 digital + 50 phone + 49 CW) and needed only 1 final CW contact with a New Jersey station to finish the award requirements.
We were really excited to have an opportunity to help complete the award. Triple Play is a wonderful and challenging amateur radio award. We completed TPA some time ago earning #464. The final few contacts can be quite difficult to secure. So the prospecting of being the final contact made this SKED extra important. We were determined to do whatever it took to make the contact.
We arranged a time and met on K3UK's SKED site and agreed to move to 40m. A few station adjustments were required since our station had been off the air for a couple of weeks. Once the station was functioning properly, the contact was easily made and logged. 2012 sun spots giving an assist.
The ham filed for his TPA award today on Feb. 29, 2012 which is of course Leap Year Day which adds an unusual twist.
Sometimes it is fun to finish last.... especially when helping a fellow ham complete a final contact for a challenging award. We look forward to helping other hams earn their awards and paying it forward.
By Michael Maher (NJ2X)
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