ARRL 10 SUMMARY SHEET
Contest Dates : 12-Dec-98, 13-Dec-98
Callsign Used : WA1KID
Operators : W6XR, KB2MTI
Category : MS
Default Exchange : 59/599 NY
WNY
Name : Natan Huffman
Address : 27 Hungerford Rd,
City/State/Zip : Ithaca/NY/14850
Country : United States
Team/Club : FRC
BAND Raw QSOs Valid QSOs Points Mults Countries
______________________________________________________________
10CW 724 724 2896 54 61
10SSB 900 899 1798 50 75
______________________________________________________________
Totals 1624 1623 4694 104 136
Final Score = 1126560 points.
I have observed all competition rules as well as all regulations
established
for amateur radio in my country. My report is correct and true to the best
of my knowledge. I agree to be bound by the decisions of the Awards
Committee.
Date ______________ Signed _____________________________ Call
___________
John KB2MTI and I had a wonderful time doing this most interesting contest.
Friday night started very slow and by local midnight we only had 60 Qs in
the log. Interestingly, most of these were what I believe to be contacts
that were very similar to VHF/UHF meteor scatter. Signals would jump out of
the noise for a 2 or 3 second duration ---- just long enough to exchange the
requisite information. Saturday morning I patiently waited for the Eu open
to begin and started to hear the big signal guys about 12:19 when I worked
OT8U over the south pole. Verified with both 10 meter antennas that indeed
the signals were coming in from the south and that direction prevailed until
12:45 when in a breath the path changed to a direct path. The floodgate
opened and all of Europe was there--what fun! The opening was good, but not
great as it closed early for me. This QTH is almost a Midwestern location,
so my openings have certain unique characteristics to them. I toiled on
till sunset and try as I did, not one JA in the log.
Sunday was very much better than Sat. and much different. Better because
more volume was to be had and different because even though the Eu. opening
started at the same time, I never had the south or even a skew path into
Europe. All the Qs were made on a direct path. Had some strange things
happen on Sunday afternoon including one station, on a Rocky Mountain high,
get abusive with John when John told him he was a dupe. He actually was
trying for a quad-peat and resorted to a dialog that was entertaining, but
not conducive to making more Qs. I had one station suffering from the same
malady answer my CQ and after giving me my report, he proceeded to call CQ
repeatedly! This happened after running on this frequency for 1 hour and 12
minutes. I guess this is consistent with a thread noticed on another
reflector that after 2 CQs without an answer means the frequency belongs to
whoever is listening! Also heard the absolute most pathetic CW signal ever
coming from a N6 callsign ----it had a chirp, the tone was one you would
expect from a rig void of capacitors in the power supply and it moved
several hundred cycles too. After several attempts to call him (even bad
signals count in the tally) I realized that I was chasing one of his/her
many birdies!! Finally gave up as I was unable to find his "real" signal.
Bet the Official Observers sent out some QSL cards!
Was really worried that we would not get a JA as it was Monday morning there
but finally managed to find a few loud JA signals in the general QRM of the
band. Was very surprised at the number of KH0 stations on the band. Also
noticed that we seemed to work an extraordinarily high number of Montana
stations --- guess the sheep did not need tending to!
Sunday was a much better propagation day than Sat. and reviewing the
"numbers" I see why. We had no problems and can only look forward to next
year when the numbers should provide even more excitement. Did make an
observation that may be due to the two antenna systems reacting to arrival
angles : ---on Sat., the poorer of the two days, the 4 el monobander was
used almost exclusively. However on Sunday, the stack was better than the
monobander all the time.
Next year I will spend much more time on CW. Will also endeavor to
understand the "meteor scatter" type of propagation so as to exploit that
means of working the QSO rich 8th and 9th call areas. I am just too far
west to get a real signal into those parts of the country. Unlike last
year, we never had any sporadic E type of propagation -- too bad.
Thanks to all who worked the old KID call now issued to our local contest
club.
73,
Natan W6XR/2
W6XR and WA1KID is:
Yaesu FT100MP and Alpha 86
Yaesu FT920 and Alpha 384
Antennas --- 4 el monobander at 87'
stack of C3s at 85/45.
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