ARRL 10-Meter Contest
Call: K1TO
Operator(s): K1TO
Station: K1TO
Class: SO CW HP
QTH: FL
Operating Time (hrs): 32
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
CW: 894 62
SSB: 0 0
-------------------
Total: 894 62 Total Score = 222,208
Club: Florida Contest Group
Comments:
Pop Quiz:
10 Meters is primarily a:
A) Daytime band
B) Nighttime band
Anyone would normally answer A), of course. However, my log shows differently
this year! Local sunrise is 1208Z and sunset is 2236Z. Including dupes,
Daytime = 391 and Nighttime = 507 QSOs
HOUR 10 HR TOT CUM TOT
0 69/15 69/15 69/15
1 59/7 59/7 128/22
2 43/6 43/6 171/28
3 64/7 64/7 235/35
4 44/3 44/3 279/38
5 5/0 5/0 284/38
6 . . 284/38
7 . . 284/38
8 ..... ..... 284/38
9 . . 284/38
10 . . 284/38
11 4/0 4/0 288/38
12 12/2 12/2 300/40
13 19/3 19/3 319/43
14 15/1 15/1 334/44
15 26/1 26/1 360/45
16 32/0 32/0 392/45
17 17/0 17/0 409/45
18 3/0 3/0 412/45
19 . . 412/45
20 7/0 7/0 419/45
21 5/0 5/0 424/45
22 36/0 36/0 460/45
23 40/2 40/2 500/47
0 68/0 68/0 568/47
1 46/1 46/1 614/48
2 35/3 35/3 649/51
3 6/0 6/0 655/51
4 1/0 1/0 656/51
5 . . 656/51
6 . . 656/51
7 . . 656/51
8 ..... ..... 656/51
9 . . 656/51
10 . . 656/51
11 . . 656/51
12 3/0 3/0 659/51
13 10/4 10/4 669/55
14 31/0 31/0 700/55
15 47/1 47/1 747/56
16 53/1 53/1 800/57
17 40/3 40/3 840/60
18 26/0 26/0 866/60
19 15/1 15/1 881/61
20 4/0 4/0 885/61
21 3/0 3/0 888/61
22 3/0 3/0 891/61
23 3/1 3/1 894/62
DAY1 500/47 ..... 500/47
DAY2 394/15 . 394/15
TOT 894/62 . 894/62
It was an encouraging start on Friday evening. The band was open to South
America at the start, then around 0045Z, I switched to the high antenna (C3E -
4L on a very short boom - at 170') and worked a flurry of stations to the
southwest US. The bigger 6L that usually dominates was impotent, so this was
clearly a high antenna weekend. On a whim, I tried the beam NNE at 0248Z and
was rewarded with a bunch of W1/2/3, including more VT than I've ever heard. A
slow and steady stream continued until around 0430Z when it was again time to
beam WNW and salivate at the much faster runs the W5s seemed to be having.
N0VD in CO went in the log at 0516Z, but no volume of activity left, so packed
it in for the night with 284 QSOs, perhaps the highest first night total ever
for me.
Saturday turned out to be a real bust, with only 150 QSOs or so all day long
during the daylight hours. The 13Z hour often produces interesting QSOs in
other years, but on Sat, the only DX logged was nearby 6Y1V. Again, the high
C3E was louder all day. From 1522-1619Z, 23 stations were logged and 19 of
them were in TX. Before 18Z, someone turned the lights off and things got so
slow that I took several hours off and returned to find things no better.
Then, magically, as sunset approached at 2225Z, the lights went back on again
and the band was open due north. This was the only stretch during the contest
when the 50' antenna was clearly better than the high antenna. N4WW noted
similar findings. Lots of VE3, MI, NY without a single W1, then a flurry of
VA, then a slow mixture of W2/3/8/9/VA/MN until around 0030Z when the band
narrowed to W8/9, then only to W9. I know Mother Nature doesn't use maps, but
it was neat to work 20 W9s and a lone KY station who is probably right near the
W9 border from 0051-0126Z. Oddly, 2 of the next 4 QSOs were with UT, but
otherwise the W9/KY QSOs continued as the band crept a little further west with
some eastern W0s in MN/IA/MO. A little later, a few other western stations
snuck into the party, including 2nd-VFO pleasant surprises from ID, MT and SD.
Blast-from-the-past K8MN ended the night's log at 0402Z from WV with 229
nighttime QSOs.
Sunday AM started even slower than Saturday AM had, with only 3 QSOs in the 12Z
hour. As mentioned earlier, the 13Z hour has produced fun mults in the past.
Like clockwork, Tor, N4OGW is found at exactly 1300Z for the MS mult, the one
and only time that state was heard here. Only 10 QSOs total in that hour, but
3 more mults (VY2, CE and HC). About 20 minutes later, I heard the HC and he
had logged 49 QSOs since our QSO to my one.
Shortly after 14Z, the Northeast was back. Crawled (not ran, or even walked)
primarily W1s and NY, with a few VE3s (just saw VE3XAT's post reporting 3 total
QSOs and I was one of them). The band inched south and west as PA, then W8/9,
then MN. Finally ND called in at 1621Z and another at 1701Z. Slow stream of
W8/9/0 continued, then without warning, at 1717Z, VA7MM called for a new one.
16 minutes later, the first WA of the weekend called in (my QSO #823 and state
#46). Sure enough, 10 of the next 11 QSOs were with WA/ID. OR called in soon
after right on schedule for state #47, then it returned to bORing. At 1814Z,
the last of the W7s called, although VE6WQ magically appeared on VFO2 at 1937Z
for the last NW new one. 2 more straggler VE7s and a MT, then deadsville.
At 2012Z, a weak WA1DBR in AR called for the last USA non-FL of the contest.
Other than a local FL stn, the rest of the QSOs were 6 LUs, a PY and a CX.
VP5E, who turned out to be QRP gave me #39 at 2325Z for a new one and I guess
it was the last QSO for both of us since he reported 39 QSOs to 3830. I even
got the grass cut on Sunday afternoon.
Mults:
Missed RI and DC in the continental 48, and also HI and AK.
Worked VO1, VY2, VE2/3/6/7.
The 9 DX countries worked: 6Y CE CX HC LU PJ2 PY VP5 XE, all in NA/SA. No
clue that ZS and D2 were active and widely worked in the USA. Many mults in
the Caribbean, Central America and northern South America are too close for us
in FL to hear typically.
K1TO setup: FT-1000MP, Commander HF-2500, CTWin, C3E @ 170', homebrew 6L @ 50'
8079 CQs, per CT. Wore out the 2nd VFO listening in DUAL mode on the MP.
Easily several hundred QSOs and lots of mults found that way.
Seems like the norm is to auto-send the QTH twice, so worked lots of MAMAs and
PAPAs.
Congrats to Richard, K5NA for thoroughly dominating this category this year.
Seemed like every time I heard him, he was sending "TU" and logging another
one! I'm not sure I've ever operated a contest seriously and been beaten by
over 40% before now. But no complaints - almost 900 QSOs on a supposedly dead
band was perversely fun. Thanks to all who made the effort to get on the air
even for a few minutes and help us out!
Happy Holidays to all!
73, Dan, K1TO
President, Florida Contest Group
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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