I can't say it's nice to come back... It's 85 and sunny when I get on
the plane and 10 degrees and snowing when I get off the plane.
Chad, WE9V posted my score while I was still down there, but here are
a few particulars.
The first day was absolutely awesome! I started off the contest on
20m with my best hour ever, 206 and followed that up with a 160 and a
164. The first 24 hours ended with 2550 Qs in the log! At that point
I thought 4500 Qs is not out of the question. I never thought the
second 24 hours would be so crappy!
The second day really sucked with one exception, maybe 2. Only 1300
Qs and no real rate to speak of. The only real rate I had the second
day was during 1900z - 2000z hour on 15m when I had a 142 hour... the
first hour of the contest and this hour was just like working ped with
only one station calling at a time... it was great! Then the second
night on 160 was surprising! 22 Qs the first night followed by 133
the second night. Not bad considering I had no 160 antenna! I used
the 80m 1/4 sloper and tuned it with the internal tuner in Lionel's
765. I know I was PW, but I got 40 mults out if it that i wouldn't
have had otherwise! Great ears for those of you who worked me.
80m was the same both nights... I felt pretty loud. Low Q total there,
40 was too good to leave for the most part. Never did spend an
inordinate
amount of time CQing on 80.
All in all, it was a great contest... could be my first win after a few
second place finishes. Thanks to all of those who worked me... and
remember, QSL the ARRL DX Contests only via me... everything else will
be returned to the sender.
We'll write something up on the SSB contest soon, if Chad didn't do it
already. We'll be sure to tell you all about the freq fights with all
kinds of people, including a particular N4 that everyone seems to have a
problem with and a N0/6 that was quite intersting.
73,
Paul WX9E
WX9E@aol.com
or
WX9E@sbbs.net
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