ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, SSB - 2020
Call: AE6Y
Operator(s): AE6Y
Station: AE6Y
Class: Single Op HP
QTH: SCV
Operating Time (hrs): 16:30
Radios: SO2R
Summary:
Band QSOs
------------
160:
80: 42
40: 286
20: 520
15: 266
10:
------------
Total: 1114 Sections = 84 Total Score = 187,152
Club: Northern California Contest Club
Comments:
I'm not a great fan of SS, but I had made a club commitment of 150k points. And
then this event turned out to be more fun than usual. There seemed to be more
activity; my first four hours netted 434 contacts, which I think is a record
from my home station. Stu, K6TU, had made propagation charts showing good
propagation to the Midwest on 15, and that's what there was. In fact, in the
first hour, I worked 25 MN stations on that band! Interestingly in the mult
count, MN came in second at 66, behind IL at 75, and ahead of MDC with 47. At
the other extreme, mults with only one Q were NL, PE, NT, and VI.
I always operate unassisted in SS, because the challenge of trying for a Sweep
keeps me motivated. When I went to bed Saturday night, I only needed 3: VI, PE
and QC. Fortunately, VE8NSD had called in early in the contest on 15. On 40 at
about 1300Z I came across VY2WW, but he was trying to cope with a large and
unruly pileup. His signal was good in CA, but he wasn't working anyone but East
Coast and a few Midwest, so after about 15 fruitless minutes I gave up and took
a nap until I figured 20 would start to open.
I had been planning to quit when I reached my commitment rather than devote all
of Sunday to the contest, but the rates weren't bad, so I kept raising the bar,
from 150k points to 1000 Qs then to 1100 Qs. Fortunately four VE2s called in on
Sunday. As I was getting ready to QRT at about 2100Z, semi-resigned to
finishing with 82 mults, I thought I'd do some CQ'ing on 15, and tune around on
the second radio on 20 on the theory that rare mults sometimes hang out at the
high or low ends of the band. Sure enough, VY2NA was near the upper band edge
with no pileup, and NP2X near the lower also with no pileup. After those Qs
made the sweep, I ran out to the shack to joyfully announce the sweep to my
wife, then decided there were other things I really should devote the rest of
the day to.
So this ended up being an enjoyable SS after all. Thanks for all the
participation and the QSOs. At least it's one way to enjoy the end of November
for those of us who have canceled Thanksgiving travel plans.
By the way, hats off to Service Tech Rene and the Elecraft service department.
I brought my broken KPA1500 to them a week ago, and they had it fixed for the
contest, where it performed flawlessly. What a nice piece of equipment.
73, Andy AE6Y
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