North American QSO Party, CW
Call: W3DCG
Operator(s): W3DCG
Station: W3DCG
Class: Single Op LP
QTH: Atlanta, GA
Operating Time (hrs): 10
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
160: 10 7
80: 57 22
40: 72 33
20: 99 33
15: 34 19
10: 10 6
-------------------
Total: 282 120 Total Score = 33,840
Club: South East Contest Club
Team: SSSC #3
Comments:
My first ever, full-time contest effort.
Spent 3 evenings after work (8pm-dark), casting (7' medium rod + Zebco
closed face, #15 monofilament)... a 160m G5RV into the tallest nearby tree.
Westerly leg repeatedly entangled in #!@%$&!*?^%!@#% [lovely, shade
rendering] branches. Had to finally settle on THAT leg marked for
EAST/WEST, running North/South with a steep declination from apex.
Saturday:
By 4:00pm local, I was INTENSELY wishing that I had incorporated a computer
+ N1MM freeware that my friend and co-worker, Brian Turner- burnt for me
late Friday afternoon. I justified staying with paper because it was down
to the wire, and I have a wonderful PTO rig of a by-gone era.
By 8:00pm I was ACUTELY AWARE, of how it feels to work 3X harder for 1/2 the
pay. The Dupe-Sheet aspect of the entire affair had become an ordeal,
serving to further enhance the intensity of sprinting tediously across the
bands, hoping not to clobber anyone while being clobbered.
Not even the thick sheild provided by a 250 Hz InRad, would thwart the
frenetic onslought nor spare me from the need for a couple Advil gel caps,
which did offer a respite from the rigors of this marathon Dance/Accounting
excersize in futility.
At any rate, it was a circumstance I earned fair and cheap.
Further, and dearly appreciated relief was rendered by my wife, KG4PYN, who
managed me by keeping track of time, prodding and providing moral support
when I thought I'd had enough... " You're 14 ahead of your goal at this
rate..." and "...falling behind, you need 7 before your next break in 10
minutes..." and, "When you come back you need a full sheet to hit your
target, and you're doing great..." she'd say.
I arbitrarily chose 300 contacts as a target.
Seemed reasonable in theory- even with paper logs/dupe sheets. I had hoped
that 10 and 160 would have been kinder, and was very disappointed by 10
meters where I thought I'd find a plethora of contacts from West of the
Mississippi and the Pacific Provinces/States. I mean, my tiny dipole
actually developes slight gain on 10.
It was a lofty goal for a completely manually worked first time effort.
Antennas:
160 & 80:
208' G5RV in a vaguely Inv Vee configuration, one leg E/W, the other N/S,
apex @70'.
40 - 10:
66' OCF G5RV flat-top @ 33'.
Corsair, the first edition. Vibroplex Brass Racer. Idiom Press K3.
HA!
"...sometimes our big splashes, just ripples in the pool..." - RUSH, Power
Windows.
D.Cy Gacuzana, w3dcg,
Atlanta, GA
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at:
http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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