ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, SSB - 2020
Call: K0EU
Operator(s): K0EU
Station: K0EU
Class: SO Unlimited HP
QTH: CO
Operating Time (hrs): 24
Radios: SO2R
Summary:
Band QSOs
------------
160:
80: 85
40: 871
20: 1069
15: 14
10:
------------
Total: 2039 Sections = 84 Total Score = 342,552
Club: Grand Mesa Contesters of Colorado
Comments:
Glad to finally get in a phone effort after a couple years absence. Missed 2018
because the flu, and the 2019 weekend I was attending a funeral for a family
member in Salt Lake City. In spite of a few equipment issues, I clearly improved
over my 2017 score so I'm pleased with the results.
Although other CO stations took advantage of openings on 15 meters, especially
at the start, it didn't seem like the activity level on 15M warranted starting
out there. Instead, I "claimed" a run frequency on 20 meters and
stayed there for almost four hours. Then I found a 40M run frequency and stayed
there for for almost four hours. My only foray to the second radio was to work
WA0CSL in ND and KP2M in VI. By 0500Z I had just under a thousand Q's, and had
kept the hourly rate above 100 for the first seven hours. From that point, I
kept trying to run on 75M while picking off new ones on 40M, but 75M never
really got going.
Later, after five hours of off time, I found a clear spot on 40M and started
running them again. What I call the run radio (right side) started acting up.
The TX/RX relay wasn't going back to RX some of the time. If I
"tapped" the K-3, it would cure the problem. But, this wasn't a great
solution to say the least. No big deal, I switched to the other radio and ran
there. The N1MM command Alt-F6 makes it easy to swap VFO's between the two
radios. The only difference between them is that the right hand one has a stack
match which allows me to combine signals between my monoband yagi and my XA
stack when I'm on 20, 15, or 10.
A little bit later on Sunday morning, the P-3 pan adapter on the right hand
radio suddenly displayed "P-3 BOOT LOADER CHECKSUM TEST". WTF? I
asked. I tried everything I could think of having to do with plugging and
unplugging power, turning things off and on in a different order, etc. but it
was obvious that the P-3 was no longer available. No big deal, right? Second
radio panadapter out but I am assisted and just navigating the N1MM band map for
the most part. But a while later, the other P-3 did the same thing. At the time,
my already worn down brain was thinking this might be a deal breaker. I took an
unscheduled 30 minute break and got on the internet searching for a solution.
They all involved reloading drivers etc using the Elecraft support program. I
shouldn't admit this, but I haven't done firmware updates to my K-3's in at
least five years. Decided that wasn't a rabbit hole I wanted to go down right
then.
Took a quick shower, had some more breakfast, thought about it and decided no
panadpter wasn't a ball breaker. I could find a run frequency the old fashioned
way :-}. I tuned around untile I found a clear spot. What a concept. Hopped back
on 40M for a while, then ran 20 most of the day,then switched to 40 and ran it
until 0230 when I took my last break. According to the CBSW printout, I only
made 49 QSO's on the second radio. It wasn't from lack of trying, I hardly ever
found any new ones to work.
I was very lucky in the multiplier department. VY1CO chose to call me on 40M
early Sunday. I thanked him profusely of course. Then, while working the East
Coast sunrise opening on 40M, VY2WW called me and gave QSO #3. I told him he was
going to make a lot of people happy. He acted surprised as he had figured VY2ZM
or VY2TT would have already taken care of the PE multiplier needs. Nope, I
hadn't seen any spots. "You should find a clear spot and start
running" I told him. I tuned across his pileups several times, later in the
contest. Sure glad I didn't have to break one of them.
For a while, it looked like VE2 was going to be tough, but I worked ten of them
on Sunday. Didn't work WY until after midnight local time. I worked a station in
UT and asked for a repeat on his section. He said "Utah, I'm your neighbor
the the west." To which I replied, "Great, now if I can only find a
neighbor to the north." Funny, but in the next five minutes I worked
KI6DQH, WY7AA, and N7JT, all in Wyoming. If only it could always be that easy.
There were certainly a lot of newbies on the air for this one. I did as much as
I could to encourage them. Told them "perfect exchange" when they came
back with the briefest of reports, without repeats, without the dreaded
"please copy my", or even more dreaded "I copy your number 1057
uniform check 70 Colorado, please copy my number...". Had a brief chat with
an 8 year old operator (I asked how old they were as I could tell they were
pretty young). Anyone sending a check of 20 got a "welcome to ham
radio." Also spent quite a bit of time guiding non contesters through the
exchange. Hopefully, they will all be back for the next contest.
Congrats to K5TR, W7WA, and K3UA for big "B" scores. Nice job by VE4VT
in "A". Also the crew at N6WIN did outstanding in the "M"
class. Wish I had their antenna farm! That new station is playing well and
operated by the best of the best. Lots of activity by the GMCC guys. I know I
missed quite a few of you, including brother Bill K0UK. He says that he can tell
when I'm doing good in a contest because he never hears me.
I encourage all of you that read this to spend some time and put in comments of
your own (See recent post by VE9AA [CQ-Contest]Re: Proposed rules for all
contests. Also, if someone who is reading this can tell me why my posts to
cq-contest@contesting.com never make it through, please let me know. Is is a
closed list? Do I have the wrong email address? Just curious.
73 Randy (Ken in NA Sprint and NA QP) K0EU
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