1997 SS PHONE RESULTS
WB1GQR W1SJ -op
SOHP
BAND QSO ANT RIG:
80 984 Dipole @ 50' TS-830s + MLA 2500A (850w)
40 157 Dipole @ 50'
20 702 A4 @ 50'
15 18 A4 @ 50'
10 5 A4 @ 50'
TOT 1866 79 SEC = 294,828
Comments:
I started the weekend with a very gloomy feeling that something
real bad was going to happen - a real BAD way to start off.
Fortunately, I was spared by Murphy this time (Southern New
England got the bad ice storms - we just got a foot of snow.
I did have a plethora of nagging problems - amp blowing fuses
(hence the low power setting), RF cables acting up, etc.
The worst problem was a dry, scratchy throat left over from this
year's rash of colds and viral infections. Attempts to talk
resulted in coughing, which I tried to suppress. The result was
a very wavery and watery sounding voice. It sounded like I was
in an aurora or I was 125 years old - take your pick. It
certainly was not very much fun for 24 hours.
The low bands 80/160 meters were in tremendous form. I learned
of this the night before and it helped me make some correct
decisions early on. I jumped off of 20 meters very early and
capitalized on some great hours on 80 meters. Low atmospheric
noise and great coast to coast propagation set the tone for the
evening. This was a marked improvement over last year, when the
band went very long and was hopeless from the NE for several
hours.
Unfortunately, many could not capitalize on the great conditions.
Finding a calling spot on 80, 40 or 20 meters was just a little
bit harder than finding a parking space in midtown Manhattan.
There was a tremendous about of elbowing and clawing for scarce
space. Weaker signals got lost in the QRM more and more. I
don't know a solution for this, but it is very frustrating for
all of us.
The good news was that the jamming and catcalls and SSTV stuff
seemed to be a lot less. Yes, there were carriers, and some
firefights up the band on 80, but not as widespread as last year.
20 meters was fair, but 15 meters was a no-show up here. I heard
people, but they simply didn't come back to CQ's. 15 was used
for occasional S&P with the second radio.
Biggest disappointment: didn't break 1900 Q's or 300K points -
been trying to do that for years. I had a great chance with very
good rates in the early going, but that slipped away during a
lackluster Sunday.
Most happiest feeling: VY1JA calling me 30 minutes into the
contest. What a relief getting the tough one out of the way
early. Thankyou Thankyou Thankyou! AK was the holdout until
Sunday afternoon, but fortunately, they have a reasonable amount
of activity there and I was able to pick up a bunch.
So why do I use WB1GQR instead of my short call W1SJ?
A lot of people know where I am and go looking for that call.
Why mess with tradition after 20 years. (but look for W1SJ in
the 160m!)
73, Mitch W1SJ / WB1GQR VERMONT!
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