From 3830

CQWW WPX Contest, SSB

Call: KL7RA
Operator(s): AL7IF AL2F KL7SB N1TX AL1G KL2HD KL1JP K3PN WL7BDO KL8X
Station: KL7RA

Class: M/M HP
QTH: Kenai, AK
Operating Time (hrs): 48

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
  160:   47
   80:  120
   40:  449
   20: 2932
   15: 1474
   10:   13
------------
Total: 5035  Prefixes = 1334  Total Score = 18,389,198

Club: North Pole Contest Group

Comments:

It is with a heavy heart that I post the final 3830 summary for KL7RA.

I want to thank Jyl, Rich's XYL, and Missy, Rich's daughter, for suggesting and
encouraging our effort. We thought that perhaps the best way for the contesting
community to express their feelings for Rich might be to work the station in a
contest. I think it was the right thing to do, and a great success.

I want to thank everyone that contacted us. Many of you took a moment to
express your consolences, to thank us for putting the station on the air, and
helping us celebrate Rich's life, and his passion for radio and for contesting.
If there was ever any doubt how much Rich meant to so many of us, it was clear
from the hundreds of comments that we received on the air that he made a
difference in the lives of hams all over the world. It was an honor to share
the experience with all of you.

We had our traditional post-contest dinner, and we toasted Rich with a 591. We
told lots of Rich stories, and there were a lot of tears, and a lot of smiles
and laughs, too.

We took a lot of pictures and videos from the contest, and we will be posting
them over the next few weeks on the website, www.kl7ra.com. We would love to
have your stories, photos and rememberances for the site, and if you have
something to share with us, you can email them to me at al7if (at)
borealconsulting (dot) com

In order to make this happen, the North Pole Contest Group took on Rich's call
as a club callsign, and it is our intent (and Rich's wish) that the call be
retired. There was a lot of discussion among the team members to find ways to
make Rich's passion and dedication to contesting and radio live on... so while
the call may not be on the air, the spirit will live on.

We will be making special memorial QSL cards for this contest. My suggestion is
that if you want one, check with the website in the next few weeks to see when
we have them back from the printers, and submit your request then. Tree, N6TR
is handling our QSL cards. The address on our QRZ.com page has the correct
information.

Now... about the contest. Conditions were... terrible. And strange. We worked
Europe  at high noon on 40 meters on Saturday. In fact, OH0X said, "Isn't
it the middle of the day there?" 

Yes. Yes, it was.

Again, thank you everyone for your support and your kind words. It meant a lot
to us, and it meant a lot to Rich's family.

Wigi, AL7IF