ARRL January VHF Sweepstakes
Call: K1TOL
Operator(s): K1TOL
Station: K1TOL
Class: SO Unlimited HP
QTH: FN44
Operating Time (hrs): 20
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
6: 195 43
2:
222:
432:
903:
1.2:
2.3:
3.4:
5.7:
10G:
24G:
-------------------
Total: 195 43 Total Score = 8,385
Club:
Comments:
As Dickens wrote: "It was the best of times...it was the worst of
times"! Saturday brought snow flurries and no QRN from power lines was
heard, but, the tropo was horrible with heavy flutter and deep qsb....and the
meteor scatter was non-existent. By midnight, 150 qsos were logged and
expectations ran high for the next day's morning scatter propagation.
Alas, on Sunday, the dawn arose with strong winds of 25-30 mph and cold temps
that made the power poles sing and dance with progressively increasing s-meter
noises from s1 and reaching mind-numbing s3/4 levels by noon.
There were some brief scatter moments and a dozen or so new grids as far away
as AL & FL were worked with another 6-7 grids only partially
"in/out", but no 2-way qsos with these needed stations could be had
on such short 1 second bursts.
As the cliche goes: "If you can't hear 'em, ya can't work 'em"....so
by 4PM, I shut the radio off in frustration and enjoyed a DVD mystery with a
glass of wine.
The January ARRL VHF contest weekend is always a "crap game" as high
winds and low humidity or ice-storms can create total disaster even after weeks
of detailed planning and "strategizing"--DAH!
Also, as the contest weekend continues to be pushed back to the end of January,
the total lack of Es openings becomes the weekend "norm".
Maybe the contest should be brought forward to the 1st week of January or
switched to a "December" contest so that activity will
pick-up.....this January's activity level was the lowest I have seen in perhaps
a decade!
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
______________________________________________
3830 mailing list
3830@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/3830
|