ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, CW - 2022
Call: K3KU
Operator(s): K3KU
Station: K3KU
Class: Single Op LP
QTH: MD
Operating Time (hrs): 23:20
Summary:
Band QSOs
------------
160:
80: 325
40: 131
20: 87
15: 66
10: 21
------------
Total: 630 Sections = 84 Total Score = 105,840
Club: Potomac Valley Radio Club
Comments:
Home life has been so busy for a couple of months that I did not get to prep the
station for SS until Thursday evening (and my prep has to be finished by Friday
late afternoon). Back in June I upgraded my rig to a TS-590SG and an MFJ
autotuner (the 590's internal tuner won't quite match my 200-ft all-band
dipole). It worked swell in the RAC Canada Day Contest and in my part-time
August NAQP SSB, but has been otherwise idle. Well, Thursday evening the MFJ
tuner would not match the antenna.
After checking out everything I can -- including lowering the dipole and
checking feedline continuity -- I decide I have to replace the autotuner with my
ancient Millen Transmatch Junior. The Transmatch does the job on 80M through
10M, which is all I need for SS. I cut a piece of cardstock to fit behind the
knobs on the Transmatch, and I mark the settings for each band. All I have to do
to change bands is: with my right hand on the mouse, click the band button in
N1MM+; stretch my right arm a little and switch the Transmatch to the new band;
step on the footswitch for PTT; stretch out my left arm a little and flip the
"HOLD" toggle switch on the K3KU Super Keyer Model One; check the
Transmatch meter to be sure the reflected power is low enough; tweak the tuner
knobs if needed. It reminds me of my soapbox comments from February 2003 CW
Sprint (see page 3): https://ncjweb.com/sprint-scores/cwsprint022003.pdf
With an hour to spare, I check the recorded messages in N1MM+ one more time, and
I'm ready for SS. See you Saturday night.
Saturday night; my usual delayed start at 2345Z. Check the high bands for rare
western mult's (and maybe a tiny bit of volume): 10M is closed; 15M yields
nothing rarer than MT; 20M provides NE, SB, AK, NT (yes!), and EWA (yes!!!), and
another EWA (wow!); and a tiny bit of volume.
At 0130Z it's time to leave 20M (already!). I feel like I should be CQing on
80M (remembering my run of over 100 QSOs on 80M in SS SSB last year), but I
yield to temptation and check 40M for mult's. Twenty QSOs in 32 minutes. The
only exciting mult's were AB (not easy) and W6FB in LA. This excursion to 40M
was probably a strategic error, but it did tune for maximum fun, and it's good
to have Los Angeles in the bag. Wait a minute -- he said "LA", not
"LAX"; just another Louisiana, not Los Angeles. (Cue the ominous
music.)
The strategic error on 40M resolves the question that I should have answered a
week ago: Which will be more fun: going for 700 QSOs, or going for the Sweep?
Answer: Go for the Sweep! So I plan to do lots of turning the big knob,
especially on the high bands where a mid-Atlantic station with 100W and a dipole
can't expect to run.
So, down to 80M to try to generate some volume. A good start: a 79-QSO run in 62
minutes, with calls from DE (should not be a problem, but last year I worked
just one) and from PE (it's happened to me before, when somebody there was doing
an aggressive SO2R effort). But if K6LA is operating from PE, who is there to
hear me in LAX??? Maybe the PE is a guest op, I hope. (Cue additional ominous
music.)
When that initial run slowed a little I jumped up to 40M for a bit. Not much
rate, but into the bag go MB (first of only two), PR (easy -- a big Multi-op
effort; but a unique mult), and SB (one of two, and I'd been chasing this guy on
three bands for over three hours).
And so it goes all night long -- small runs; sort-of good S&P on 80M; check
40M for mult's; check to see if 20M opened somewhere useful (Nope!). 80M seems
pretty quiet, but a little "long". I feel like I'm getting lots of
9-land and MI, but not the hordes of Mid-Atlantic/PVRC and New England needed
for good volume. Maybe they'll show up Sunday evening. (Cue additional ominous
music.)
Smart op's take a sleep break about 3 AM (08Z). Yep -- my rate is really down
then, and I'm REALLY sleepy. But I can't afford a sleep break. I take a couple
of 30 minute breaks.
Sunday morning I have to take an hour off for other obligations, some time
between dawn and mid-morning. I decide to hang in for a while and look for the
NL mult that usually shows up on 40M or 20M a while after sunrise. Works like a
charm -- VO1BQ on 20M around 1300Z. Good to have that one in the bag; now I can
take the planned break.
All day Sunday is typical Little Pistol SS -- climb up and down the bands,
looking for highest band open; turn the big knob, listening for new QSOs and
mult's; call CQ now and then on every open band. Over and over. And over. At
least we have 15M and 10M to look at.
The QSO total keeps climbing modestly, and the mult's keep going into the log,
but, of course, at a dwindling rate. The why-have-I not-worked-this-yet
Sections trickle in. QC at 15Z on 20M; VI on 10M around 18Z (he has over 900
QSOs; how have I not heard him until now???); at last, on 15M at 19Z, a BC CQer
who can hear me; and a few minutes later, VE3CX for ONN on 15M. Eighty-two
Sections. No LAX and no WV. I usually have three or four WV. Maybe on the low
bands tonight...
But how am I going to get LAX??? (Cue music of pending disaster.)
At 00Z N8II shows up on 80M. I think he answered my CQ (a run of one); maybe I
answered his CQ. Either way, WV is in the bag. Now, what do I do about LAX?
Answer: Keep climbing up and down the highest open bands. No new QSOs on 15M,
not much on 20M; activity is mostly on 80M and 40M; I work some volume on 80M
and keep searching 40M for LAX, working a few other QSOs.
Almost despair; I feel exhausted and defeated, with a couple of hours to go, and
I'm tempted to give it up. But I keep trying, and...
There he is! N6AA appears again, now on 40M. I have to wait behind a few loud
stations, but, with a little clever operating (and a good op on the other end,
and a lot of luck) I make the QSO at 0159Z. Yes! My second Sweep in SS CW (I
don't count the one or two where log checking busted the Sweep.)
With the Sweep completed and 40 minutes of op time left, I quit. The four or
five QSOs I might make in those 40 minutes are meaningless.
A coda -- A report on SS has to include stories about nabbing the rare Sections.
Here are some of mine for SS CW 2022.
MB -- About 0315Z Saturday night I QSY to 40M and start searching. Lots of new
stations. I make one QSO, and as I tune away I hear a station ending in
"VT" finish a CQ. I have not worked anybody ending in "VT",
so I call. He answers my, and it's VE4VT.
WY -- I was running on 80M about 0445Z when I had to take a short break (K4FTO
calls them "house tours"). I came back five minutes later, and WY7M
is CQing on the vacated frequency. And into the bag goes WY (on 80M!)!
PAC -- I heard one running on a band where I figured I had a shot, but I
couldn't get through. Much later, I got AH6KO on 40M. Yet later, as I searched
on 15M I heard somebody ask "QRL?" I stopped to see who it was, and
got KH6AQ before the spot hit the computers. Neat! (I also got KH6CJJ -- three
PAC stations.)
LAX -- Some time Sunday afternoon I heard N6AA on a high band. The pileup was
extremely unruly, and after a while he was not making any more QSOs. (I doubt
that he couldn't handle the pileup. Maybe he stopped for breakfast. Or
something.) Later I heard NI6W running on (I think 20M), with, again, an unruly
pileup. I marked the freq and came back every few minutes, but he, too,
disappeared after a brief while. When I did at last work N6AA, I was so tired
that I entered the call s NI6W. (I corrected it BEFORE the Contest ended.)
NL -- Some time after I got VO1BQ Sunday morning, I heard VO1HP, loud, running
continent-wide on 10M, and I later heard him on 15M or 20M
Some Sections that are often rare were plentiful this year: AK (worked four),
EWA (6 !!!), NE (4), WTX (4)
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
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