ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, SSB
Call: W4KAZ
Operator(s): W4KAZ
Station: W4KAZ
Class: Single Op LP
QTH: NC
Operating Time (hrs): 19
Summary:
Band QSOs
------------
160: 0
80: 206
40: 221
20: 41
15: 40
10: 0
------------
Total: 508 Sections = 72 Total Score = 73,152
Club: Potomac Valley Radio Club
Comments:
73152 Claimed Score 508 QSOs 72 Sections
Station: FT-920, Writelog. Dipole at 45 feet on 20m, Inverted Vee at 45 ft on
40m, folded dipole at 50 ft on 80m, rectangular loop at 40 ft on 15 and 10m.
Soapbox:
Woo-boy. Now I KNOW why CW remains popular. Can somebody please turn the
sunspots back on?
It was hardly worth trying to work anybody on 15 or 20 meters. Nobody heard at
all on 10 meters. It seemed that nobody could hear my tin-whistle on high bands
this week. I spent time both days trying to work stations on both bands, but
besides a few in the mid-west and Texas, it was really tough. The only LAX I
heard all weekend couldn't hear me. Only one SF heard, but he couldn't hear me
either. I guess I was lucky to get the western states I did manage to find. I
really tried to bolster the log with the expected bumper crop of NCCC, but I
guess they were on early thanksgiving vacation. On the other hand, NH6P was 20
over 9. I was able to work him after the pile up of 6's and 7's he was working
settled down. I could hear NH6P just fine, but his pileup was down in the
noise. Propagation is an interesting phenomena, aina? My cruddy antennas sure
don't help.
The Good:
Best news: My best ever score in Sweeps, and best ever QSO total(508) in any
contest, even if only by 5 Q's. Its not much compared to the Big Dawgs, but
I'm happy with the result, especially since it was mostly done on 40 and 80
meters.
Also good--The bad cough and head cold my oldest son caught and brought home on
Monday did not survive the 'high bleach environment', so no on else has caught
it yet, and I didn't need to operate the contest with a head cold. Yippeeee!
Moral: wash your hands--and everything else too!
The other good news was being able to run for short periods on both 40 and 80
meters. I probably overstayed my welcome on 80 meters Saturday night, and
overslept on Sunday. That made me too late to find a spot on 40 to set up shop
Sunday morning. I was able to find a clear freq in the afternoon, and was able
to sustain a really good run for about 90 minutes, before I got chased off by
am inventive Shepherd of Swine. Thanks to all the folks who checked in to
W4KAZ's log, and the I guess the spots must have helped folks find my tin
whistle in the din. (Does anybody beside me really still use the tuning knob?
How QUAINT! ) I also racked up lots of points for my WAMDC(Worked All
MarylandDC) and WAPVRC(Worked All PVRC). Thanks guys!
The Bad:
I found a new RFI problem that I need to trouble shoot on 20 meters. Feedback
is playing havoc with the laptop computer, causing the external keyboard in the
laptop to shut off, and requiring a re-boot. Interesting. Turns out it was a
moot point, because nobody could hear me on the high bands anyway.....which was
worse news for me. Also--no more oversleeping!
Missed:
LAX SB SF AK NE AB BC NT
The Ugly:
An inventive Shepherd of Swine temporarily left his 80 meter home to joust with
me on my 40 meter run. I'm glad dinner was being served, it gave me an excuse
to depart and collect my wits(all fifty percent of them).
The Plan:
Fix the 20 meter feedback. Fix the 160 antenna before December. Learn CW!
and
Buy a farm where I can grow some REAL ANTENNAS! :)
73,
W4KAZ
dit dit
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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