David N6AN: from Teen with Tubes to 2024 SOTA Challenge Winner | Sofas on the Air Ep. 11

In this episode we welcome David N6AN! David was #1 in the USA for the 2024 10m SOTA challenge, and #5 in the world - all done while QRP. He's a consummate contester and DXer, with ears trained to hear CW whispered by a mouse across a canyon in a hurricane.

In this episode David shares his journey from eager teen to seasoned CW op amidst plenty of jokes and fun tangents into activations and other SOTA-ventures!

As always, the Sofa was captained by Mark KD7DTS and Ara N6ARA.

__PATREON__

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__SHOW NOTES__

Ara N6ARA on YouTube: @N6ARAElectronics

The N6ARA Store: https://n6ara.com/

Drink tastings:

- Hazy IPA by MadeWest Brewing Co.

- N6ARA: Opt Outside by Chapman Crafted Beer

- N6AN: Pink Lemonade by Spindrift

High Speed Telegraphy Record: https://youtu.be/Gkn4SsUMMnI?si=DbZALXIRUrSly6tD

__CHAPTERS__

0:00 Welcome and Episode Summary

2:47 Drink tasting

5:22 The Retrorig for April Fools

18:41 Today's Activation: Pebble Build!

33:59 David's Ham Journey

1:03:14 How did David get SO good at Morse Code?

1:14:25 Winning the 10m SOTA Challenge in America

1:29:00 Telegraphy Competitions

1:43:48 Thanks to our Patreons and... DIT DIT!

__THANKS & ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS__

Umesh KK6TXI - outro music

Di KO6BTM - intro/outro graphics and cover art