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[3830] N5LT '97 SSB SS

To: <3830@contesting.com>
Subject: [3830] N5LT '97 SSB SS
From: russ@inetport.com (Russ - N5LT)
Date: Thu, 20 Nov 1997 11:17:56 -0600 (CST)
Callsign: N5LT
Operator: N5LT

Station Used: N3BB
Category: SOHP

BAND   Raw QSOs   Valid QSOs   Points   Mults   
 __________________________________________________

   80SSB      49            49            98       2 
   40SSB     802         801       1602       8 
   20SSB     736         735       1470      21 
   15SSB     414         414          828     48 
 __________________________________________________

 Totals     2001        1999       3998      79 

   Final Score = 315842 points.

This has really become the contest that I wait for all year.

This was my third time out in SSB SS and was a bit of an improvement over
my last 2 entries (AA5RB in '95 and N5KA in '96.  Also the third call
I've used!  All from N3BB).  Still in the high 1900's though as I just
missed the 2000 qso "after dupe" mark.

I have been very busy at work and didn't have any time to think about
this contest .  I was out of town 3 days the week of the contest and I
first started giving it some thought as I was returning home about 9:30pm
Friday night.

I'm pretty much a seat of the pants operator but it would have been nice
to look at last years log (which I did about 2000z Saturday).  Last year
I got off to a slow start with a 120 first hour.  I knew this year I
needed to be in the 150+ range so I wouldn't get left in the dust. 

Last year I tried to stake out a frequency early, but it didn't seem to
pay dividends, so this year I just found a clear spot at 2100z and
started off.  I had a decent first hour at 161.  The rate dropped
substantially in the next hours, but my first 7 hours were over the 100
mark so I was pleased with that.  I started on 15m and left for 20m at
2203z, perhaps I should have hung around a bit longer, but it seemed the
thing to do at the time.

The conditions on 20m were very rough.  Lot's of stations and I just
couldn't seem to get much going.  I was ready to go to 40m and started on
that band at 0100z.  The station (N3BB) really plays on 40m.  There is a
3 el yagi at 120' and a new 2 el Cushcraft at about 60'.  I felt loud on
this band.  I tee connected the 2 yagi's together to give me East/West
coverage, but I seemed to lose my ability to control the frequency.  I
ended up putting them back on their own after about 30 minutes.  Maybe it
was mental, but I felt things went my way again.  My 40m number ended up
being pretty good.

Last year I felt I operated too deep into the morning, but this year I
was there again operating until 0900z before my first break.  About 15
minutes longer than last year.  I was getting ready to take a break and
decided to give 40m a few more minutes when VY1JA called in at 0846z. 
Thanks Ken and J.  (In addition to my  Q with VY1JA, VE8EV called me on
Sunday.  Thanks!)

I listened on 10m only briefly and never deemed it worthy to switch over.
 

The on again - off again RF problems with the "left" station were on
again so my 2 radio flexibility was limited.  The low bands worked, but
10-20 were no go.  I desperately wanted 2 radios, so Jim and I rewired
the station before the contest taking 20m out of the Top Ten boxes and
running it through some 2 position switches to allow me 20-80 on 1 radio
and 10/15/40/80 on the other.  That was not really a problem, just a few
more switches to throw to change bands.

The only problem that was a pain was that I couldn't get the DVP working
with my 2 radio box.  The DVP was working, I just couldn't get the
interface right.  I normally go through a mental block trying to hook it
up, but I always figure it out.  (This is a problem when you only operate
5 times a year!)  This time I had it working on one radio, but then no
audio on radio 2 - not even the mic.  I just bagged it and decided to
play w/o it.  I had a few hours of really intense 2 radio dueling cq's
and that was a challenge.  I could get about 24-30 cq's out per minute
(assuming no response) and I did this for a 2 hour stint on Sunday and
then maybe another hour to 1 1/2 hours later.  That comes out to about
1440 - 1800 cq's per hour.  Of course I had exchanges and qrz's and
stuff, but you get the picture.  It becomes second nature after a bit,
but copying an exchange while rapidly cq'ing on another band is a
challenge.  Lot of fun though.  Needless to say I had alot of people
around the office Monday morning asking me what I did over the weekend as
my voice was quite hoarse.  

My rate using this method was roughly 20% better using this method.  As I
have mentioned before this is a tradeoff.  It can wear you down,
especially w/o a DVP.  It seemed to payoff for me.  A few q's can make a
big difference in this contest.  The loss of that 20 % over the 3 1/2
intense hours would have dropped me at least 2 places in the standings.

Once again lots of fun.  I look forward to this contest, but at times I
almost seem to dread it because I want to do well.  This is the only
contest that affects me this way.  This year I took a pretty laid back
attitude into it.  Maybe because I didn't have alot of time to think
about it, maybe because I knew some things weren't working exactly right
at the station.  Once I got into it the adrenaline started to flow, but
perhaps this mind set helped.

Congrats to all and best of luck in the remaining contests in '97!

**** Rate Report ****

 HOUR   80SSB   40SSB   20SSB   15SSB   TOTAL   ACCUM
  ----  ------  ------  ------  ------   -----   -----
   21       0       0       0     161     161     161
   22       0       0     117       8     125     286
   23       0       0     116       1     117     403

    0       0       2     113       0     115     518
    1       0     114       0       0     114     632
    2       0     104       0       0     104     736
    3       1     116       0       0     117     853
    4       2      85       0       0      87     940
    5       5      66       0       0      71    1011
    6      22      30       0       0      52    1063
    7      12      50       0       0      62    1125
    8       5      56       0       0      61    1186
    9       0       0       0       0       0    1186
   10       0       0       0       0       0    1186
   11       0       0       0       0       0    1186
   12       0       0       0       0       0    1186
   13       0       0       1       0       1    1187
   14       0      33      20       0      53    1240
   15       0       0      32      41      73    1313
   16       0       0      51      29      80    1393
   17       0       0      23      48      71    1464
   18       0       0      56      19      75    1539
   19       0       0      37      37      74    1613
   20       0       0      38      24      62    1675
   21       0       0      12      46      58    1733
   22       0       0      41       0      41    1774
   23       0      28      39       0      67    1841

    0       0      31      36       0      67    1908
    1       0      26       3       0      29    1937
    2       2      60       0       0      62    1999

  TOTAL    49     801     735     414  
 

**** QSO Breakdown ****

   1.           IL  116
   2.           OH  112
   3.           MI  101
   4.           VA   68
   5.          MDC   66
   6.           MN   60
   7.           EP   58
   8.          WNY   55
   9.           NC   48
  10.          NNJ   47
  11.          WWA   47
  12.           EM   45
  13.           EN   46
  14.           GA   45
  15.           WI   42
  16.          SCV   39
  17.           CT   39
  18.           TN   39
  19.          WPA   34
  20.           CO   34
  21.          LAX   34
  22.          NLI   33
  23.           OR   33
  24.          ORG   31
  25.           IN   31
  26.           SV   28
  27.           KY   28
  28.           NH   27
  29.           MO   27
  30.          SFL   26
  31.          STX   26
  32.          SNJ   25
  33.           IA   25
  34.           ON   22
  35.           AZ   21
  36.          NTX   20
  37.          SJV   19
  38.           KS   19
  39.           EB   17
  40.          NFL   16
  41.           NE   15
  42.           ID   14
  43.          WMA   14
  44.           ME   14
  45.           SB   14
  46.           SC   14
  47.           WV   14
  48.           AL   13
  49.           SF   12
  50.           NV   12
  51.           MT   12
  52.           AB   12
  53.           AR   12
  54.           RI   11
  55.          SDG   11
  56.           UT   11
  57.           SK   10
  58.           QC   10
  59.          NNY   10
  60.           BC    9
  61.           EW    9
  62.           NM    9
  63.           OK    9
  64.           VT    8
  65.           MS    8
  66.           WY    7
  67.           ND    7
  68.           MB    6
  69.           SD    6
  70.           LA    6
  71.          MAR    5
  72.          PAC    5
  73.          WTX    5
  74.           AK    4
  75.           DE    3
  76.           VI    3
  77.           NL    2
  78.           PR    2
  79.          NWT    2
  
Russ--

N5LT
russ@inetport.com
"Contesting is a contact sport"



Russ--

N5LT 
russ@inetport.com
"Contesting is a Contact  Sport" 

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