North American QSO Party, SSB - January
Call: N5FO
Operator(s): N5FO
Station: N5FO
Class: Single Op LP
QTH: Tyrone, NM
Operating Time (hrs): 10
Radios: SO2R
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
160:
80: 41 16
40: 402 45
20: 526 54
15: 167 30
10:
-------------------
Total: 1136 145 Total Score = 164,720
Club: Arizona Outlaws Contest Club
Team: Arizona Outlaws - Desperados
Comments:
Another rough one is in the history books! Storms & noise would have to be
the theme. The action on 15 ended early here in New Mexico (1900) and when I
got to 20, the atmospheric noise from all the storms was already peaking 10
over at times! I checked 10 several times but never heard a soul! I looked at
the 40M yagi whipping around in the snow and wind several times throughout the
afternoon, only to notice that the new 30M dipole above it was starting to
move. This morning, it's showing a 45 degree shift (maintenance, ugh!).
Running 20 was made somewhat simpler by the lack of any need to S&P on 15.
In fact N2IC's new Waterfall Bandmap (WFBM) was a constant reminder that I had
left a dead band behind.
20 was a bit less active than I expected, and the WFBM made it easy to find run
frequencies when a change was in order. At 2145 I started picking off a few
mults on 40, and by 0030, I'd milk the last of 20.
Noise was the major opponent on 40, requiring the use of beverages almost
exclusively. Since the action was steady, I just pointed the big yagi north,
and patiently worked the pileups. I remember thinking many times how often I
responded with a partial call. Between the noise and equal-signal-level QRM, it
was very difficult to pick out a complete call on the first response. Many folks
thanked me for New Mexico, and at times I began to wonder if I was the only
station on from this state.
By now, I had realized that my mult count was low (something I've struggled
with the past few contests), and made a conscious effort to keep an eye on 20
early, (and 80 later) with the WFBM, but not many new ones were found.
I worked my first 80M at 0212, but the band was extremely noisy and didn't
really wake here until the last hour. The action running on 40 was steady, and
a mult was worth 6-7 Q's, and my rate on 40 was just high enough to make
spending too much time S&P unattractive. 80 didn't seem worth much effort
until 0340, which left me only 50 minutes (within the 10hrs) to add a few more
mults.
I watched 160 for the last couple of hours, but never heard (or saw, on the
WFBM) any activity at all! With no contacts on 10 or 160, the mult count
remained low.
Thanks first to Steve (N2IC) for his flawless implementation of the WFBM, and
cautiously guiding me through the installation of the PAT Buffer Amp in the
590's. It operated the entire contest without a single glitch, and was a very
useful tool for watching the 2nd radio. (Of course, I already want one for the
run radio, and a 3rd band!)
And thanks to everyone for the Q's, and especially your patience on 40M for
hanging in there during the repeated exchanges due to rough copy.
Sam
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