North American QSO Party, SSB
Call: AA4LR
Operator(s): AA4LR
Station: AA4LR
Class: Single Op LP
QTH: GA
Operating Time (hrs): 8.0
Radios: SO2R
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
160: 9 4
80: 70 25
40: 196 39
20: 76 32
15: 14 5
10: 0 0
-------------------
Total: 365 105 Total Score = 38,325
Club: South East Contest Club
Team: SECC #1
Comments:
Equipment:
K2/100 with KAT100 running 100 watts
TS-430s with AT-250 running 100 watts
K1KP-style voice keyer (1 message)
Antennas:
A3S @ 15m (15m, 20m)
1/4 wave sloper @ 12m (40m)
Shunt-fed 15m tower (80m)
125 foot doublet @ 10m (40m,80m, 160m)
R7000 (15-40m)
Comments:
Conditions were really off. 10m was non-existant. I tuned through the
band multiple times, even called some CQs in the first hour --
absolutely nothing. 15m was about as poor as 10m usually is. You'd
think this would just slide everything down one band. However, on the
bottom end, the bands were terribly noisy. 40m was the money band,
which is really tough on a phone contest -- however, SWBC signals
were pretty weak, probably due to poor propagation.
Off-time was a little odd. I worked the first four hours solid, then
took a three hour break. I also took a half hour at 0330z to pick up
my kids from Karate, and missed the last 20 minutes or so. All told,
I got eight hours in.
My voice was a little off, too. Thursday I came down with a sore
throat that was so bad I stayed home from work on Friday. I was
better Saturday, but by 0230z, I was losing my voice.
Rates in the first four hours were pretty mediocre. 15m produced
little. 20m never had the good runs we usually get here in GA. 20m
went long, but 40m was not productive when I left the air at 2200z.
Back at 0100z, 40m was really hot for the first 30 minutes, then
slowed way down. 80m was never really productive, either. It was
really difficult after 0200z. Signals were weak, noise levels high.
At around 0218z, heard a OTH woodpecker signal centered on 7175 kHz.
It took up about 50 kHz of bandwidth with S8-9 signals. That was
certainly unwelcome.
Managed to make a few contacts on 160m with the TS-430S and the
doublet. I had tried to get the shunt feed working with a matching
network for 160m, but that needs some work.
Technically, I was SO2R, but I never made a single SO2R-style
contact. It's hard to get much benefit when only one band is really
open at a time.
Worked W4AN (@ NQ4I) M/2 on four bands. Never heard them on 40m at all.
Good practice this time. I'm totally floored my CW score this summer
is higher than my Phone score.
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/
3830score/
Bill Coleman, AA4LR, PP-ASEL Mail: aa4lr at arrl.net
Quote: "Not within a thousand years will man ever fly!"
-- Wilbur Wright, 1901
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