ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, CW - 2023
Call: WW2Y
Operator(s): WW2Y
Station: WW2Y
Class: Single Op HP
QTH: NNY
Operating Time (hrs): 23.5
Summary:
Band QSOs
------------
160: 0
80: 196
40: 178
20: 238
15: 341
10: 0
------------
Total: 953 Sections = 85 Total Score = 162,010
Club: Frankford Radio Club
Comments:
FT-991, Acom 1000, three dipoles for 80 thru 20m, and Lazy H array for
20-15-10m.
I’m saddened to hear the passing of VO1MP, who represented Newfoundland in
numerous contests for decades. You’ll be sorely missed, RIP Gus.
I arrived at NNY late Thursday after a 6.5 hour drive from NYC area. It’s a
good thing NYQP occurred two weeks earlier that I've decided to leave the three
dipoles in place for sweepstakes instead of normally taking them down after
every weekend. This allowed extra time on Friday and Saturday to construct and
raise a Lazy H array for the three upper bands in order to fill nulls generated
by the 80m dipole used on those bands. I became aware of the new wire antenna
overlay category after reading discussions on contesting.com just before the
start of SS. I didn’t see it in published rules, but the 50ft height limit
disqualifies me for claiming it anyway.
I spent a fair amount of time troubleshooting a defective replacement LiFePo4
battery for the off grid solar system at the cabin. Apparently, the internal
shunt’s calibration is off by at least 60%, which provided erroneous
charge/discharge current information to the 12KW inverter. The good old reliable
Honda EU-7000 generator came to the rescue.
A quick chat with John, K4BAI on 10m CW few hours before the start confirms that
the Lazy H seems to be functioning as predicted. I noted quite of number of POTA
CW stations activating the bands and a thought crossed my mind, there should be
a portable category added to help SS participation.
As 2100Z approached, 15m seemed to be the place to be and it was very productive
until 0200Z, achieving 66 out of 85 multipliers during that run. The band was
open from short distances all the way to the west coast. The pileups were
immense and fun. The sun decided to wreak havoc for rest of the weekend. I
limped along on the lower bands asking for many exchange repeats until going to
sleep at 0600Z. It was like working DX over the North Pole during a CQWW contest
with an SS exchange twist. K5TA’s post on 3830 coined “VO1HP sounded like
someone walking on gravel." That's quite an accurate description Scott.
Sunday morning was pretty much the same grind and the lack of participation
seemed really apparent. Noted numerous familiar SS callsigns were absent while
tuning the bands trying to find new stations to work. I’ve only found one new
multiplier by doing this, VY2TT. Calling CQ seemed to be the only productive way
to move forward and I was very surprised to have been called by AL4A, VY1CO, and
VY0ERC in these conditions.
By midday, I was missing two multipliers, NNY and NB. I heard VE9HF running
stations on 15m a few times, but he couldn’t hear me through other callers,
since we are too close for decent propagation. Later on, K2WW, Dean calls in for
NNY (I ended up with two more before the end, NM2O and N2MG. Thanks guys.} By
nightfall, I spent rest of the time CQing and tuning in hopes to find NB on the
lower bands. Two hours later on 80m, VE9HF calls me for a sweep! Thank you
Rick.
It has been many years since I've had a full list.
73, Peter
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
______________________________________________
3830 mailing list
3830@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/3830
|