Had a good time, operated only 30 hours, but still managed to meet my
personal goals. Knew a full effort was out of the question when I was out
in the yard putting up the 80 meter antenna at 2:00 PM on Friday. No
excuses....just did not operate long enough.
For the first time in recent memory...did not have any altercations with
owners of frequencies. Where oh where were the die hard SSTV
policepersons and the "pig farmers?" 20 was a band appreciated by
masochists and people who are into pain and torture......the band has
become unusable to not only non contester types, but is unusable for most
contester too! Even the MM super-stations are having a time of it.
Sure was nice hearing W2PV again....heard someone tune across their
frequency on 20 and pronounce that "He is risen!"....think Fred was the
op...
160 was good from this quasi East Coast location with few Europeans
however.
80 was good, but I can't stand the band (or more accurately, I can't stand
the people who hang out on that band) Did not call CQ once, and it shows.
40 was good, but you had to hit the openings just right to get much
response. Again never called CQ.
20...AAAAAArrrrgggghhhhh. Did catch a good opening into the Far East at
the end of the contest and did have a few nice DX types call me -- that
did save the day.
15 was very strange....not really skew path from this far north, but good
conditions. Propagation was good enough to make me think about working
some long missed JA types on this band, but it never happened for me. Had
excellent conditions into Africa with several nice catches. Europe was
Ok...but no really great runs.
10 was a surprise. Only worked one Eu TM1C, but did hear others that I
could not work. Walked over the map and looked at the path from this QTH
and saw how far north it is (Auroral zones) and decided that Europe will
wait until another position in the cycle.
I did think about soliciting a new "seniors" competition within the ranks,
something analogous to the Senior tour in the PGA. It would be for us old
farts that have said goodbye to 50 and still want to play serious
contesting without ruining our failing bodies even more. It might be fun
to try if enough interest was shown. Of course there would be the
"problem" of Fred K3ZO who seems to be timeless in his ability to operate
for the required 48 hours....We could make an exception for him and send
him to the main tour!
Next year will be my 30th year at this sport and looking back, its been a
blast! Would not have changed a thing.!
W6XR...SOAB ..no packet...dx cluster does not exist for those 3 contesters
who live in the Ithaca area!
160.....28/7/20
80 ......65/13/36
40.....126/22/64
20.....420/30/105
15.....589/25/101
10....73/11/21
totals....1302 Qs, 137 zones, 347 countries. for 1,647,555
W6XR is...
160 Ground plane and dipole at 72'
80 Rotatable dipole at 82'
40 2 el at 75'
20 Stacked C3's by FORCE 12 at 80/40 feet
15 "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" ""
10 "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" ""
and a 4 el monobander at 85'
Radio is one Yaesu FT1000MP
Mr. Alphy is a Alpha 86
CT version 9.27
Dog...Sadie D. Dachschund Dog who never left my side and DID NOT smell..
Op...very tired
Team Contesting....N2AU, AH7G, and W6XR/2....Gimpy Contester of Ithaca and
Maui...
Natan
W6XR/2
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