Wimped out and stayed home. To hot, 100+ F for last month. All parks closed
due to fire hazards. Generators probably a fire hazard too! We thought about
a 2D barefoot but tried, for the first time, full power, balls to the wall
1D. Goal was 3000 Q's, gonna get it next year.
1800Z rolled around and pileup never quit for next 6 hours. 20 was great but
rate couldnt go over 3/minute. Found most stns were all equal in signal
strength and tough to pick out calls. Went to CW to rest vocal chords (sp?).
Lots of QRN killed 40 until 2 AM local time. Then it kicked butt. Jumped
back on 20 at about 6 AM local, just before sunrise. K5ZD is right, as
usual. W5 owns 20 at that time of the morning; for stateside contests that
is. 20 SSB turned into dupe city, jumped to 15 and worked a bunch. Finished
on 20 CW rolling along at 3 a minute. Final totals:
CW SSB
10 0 108 5 ele @ 85'
15 63 142 5 ele @ 80' A3 pointed NW
20 343 1317 4 ele @ 70' TH7 pointed NE
40 216 534 4 ele @ 75'
80 0 0
final 622 2101 = 2723 Qso/3345 points
Rig: ICOM 765, Drake L4B
Lots of great ops out there. Dont let 'em tell you this aint a contest.
de Hose KN5H & John K7UP
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