ARRL 10-Meter Contest
Call: K2DRH
Operator(s): K2DRH
Station: K2DRH
Class: SO SSB Unlimited LP
QTH: IL
Operating Time (hrs):
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
CW:
SSB: 606 61
-------------------
Total: 606 61 Total Score = 73,932
Club: Society of Midwest Contesters
Comments:
Good thing I had plenty of time to get ready for this contest as my main
computer gave up the ghost just a few months past it's 3 year warantee. Data is
all intact but the motherboard is toast. Swear I spend more time screwing with
computer and networking issues than I do with actual Ham Radio stuff anymore.
Friday evening was a total dud, few locals and only 5 QSOs in the first hour
with very few metor scatter prospects. Unlike 6m where its easy to get out 300
miles on low power, the lower gain HF yagis just don't reach out. I guess being
a few days before the Geminids peak kept the pings to minumum too. Little did I
know that it would be best hour after dark of the entire contest.
Saturday started late and slow with no DX but kept getting better as weak
sporadic E lit up portions of the eastern seaboard up and down the coast.
South America and the Carribean finally heated up but with fewer entities than
usual and nothing really strong. A lot of them couldn't hear me when I called.
Some good hours ensued in the afternoon culminating in hourly rates that
actually went above 150 from 2000-2200. Had a pipeline into NC and VA off and
on all day and then got a nice opening to 1 and 2 land. K1WHS running QRP was a
solid S9, attesting to what aluminum gain can really do! But when it started
getting dark eveything collapsed again. Went to bed with a surprizing 541 Qs
in the log but the mult total was dismal as there was no 6s, few 5s, 7s, or 0s,
very few VE (two mults to be exact) and no XEs whatsoever.
I was hoping for maybe some western openings Sunday but not only were my hopes
dashed, the eastern ones all but dried up too. Slow was hardly the word for it
and I only put about 65 Qs in the log all day (not counting dupes) but luckily
found a few more mults. Carribean and SA were in and out all day but again
pretty weak. Few called me so I had to work down the bandmap with the second
VFO slice just to put new Qs in the log. I didn't even hear some of the top
scoring stations in SA. A few bursts to NC and such again but I guess I'd
saturated it the day before.
Did manage CR6K on Sunday and heard a few more Eu as well as an EA8 but they
were very weak and did not hear me. V55DX was actually S9 for a short while and
you could have knocked me over with a feather when a ZS6 responded my CQ
(followed by another 4 minutes later and nothing at all for the next 30
minutes!). I tired to call ZL few different times and finally got lucky and
caught ZL1SG in the clear on a peak. Never heard a single XE or new VE. Caught
fellow SMCer WE9V and WI for my last QSO. Goofy to wait all contest for a
neighboring state and I never did work MO, MI or IN. Amazingingly I worked
more QSOs than I did last year, but only about half the mults.
73 de Bob K2DRH
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