ARRL SWEEPSTAKES -- 1996
Call: K4HHG Country:
Mode: CW Category: Single Operator Low Power
BAND QSO QSO PTS SECTIONS
160 0 0 -
80 163 326 -
40 370 740 -
20 378 756 -
15 42 84 -
10 0 0 -
-----------------------------------
Totals 953 1906 78
Score: 148,668
Power Output: <150 watts Hours of operation: 23
Equipment Description: TS-950SDX, 40-2CD @ 70', A4S at 60'
Carolina Windom @ 50' Manual HAM V
Club Affiliation: Summit Contest Club
WHAT A CONTEST!!
Sat out last year's contest in Mosocw where I have had my home QTH for
the past 6 years and only heard the sea of angry buzzing in the noise
level.
Carefully planned my travel this year to be in the USA for my favorite
contest. Worked Thursday and Friday putting up my new Glen Martin 9'
tower on the roof of my new home here on Casey Key, an island off the SW
coast of Florida near Venice. Assembled the 40-2CD and A4S, and tested
the HAM V on Friday afternoon to find it non-working out of the box.
Ordered a T2X for UPS Red, Saturday delivery! On Saturday morning
enlisted help from three local hams to put up the beams, and after
waiting until noon for the T2X, we put up the Ham V for a base, and used
a wrench and the old arm- strong system for direction changes.
Fortunately, pointing North from this Florida location with 65-70 degree
beamwidth gets most of the US. Hung the windom from my windsurfer mast
near the tower and discovered too late that the interaction of all those
antennas gave me 2-3 SWR's on all bands. Found out Saturday evening that
pointing the beams westerly actually lowered the SWR's to just under 2:1!
Was running coax and setting up the computer as the contest started.
Not to mention a sore back from all that antenna work, sleepy from the
8:00AM soccer games with the kids Saturday morning, and jet lag from the
trip home from Russia! This was more like a Field Day than a SS
contest!
Had to take unplanned time off thanks to a general power outage in the
whole area Sunday morning after a quick three hour nap early Sunday AM,
so had to work straight through and still missed an hour. Would have
preferred the higher yield morning time than the tail end hunt for new
Q's. Worked WYO for the last section, but thought I was chasing DX when
I found him working the pile up split on 20!
Should be back in the US almost full time next year. It was great
working old friends again, especially N4AR (K4GSU) and K4BAI.
Jon Hamlet, R3/K4HHG
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