ARRL November Sweepstakes
Call: AA4LR Mode: SSB Section: GA Power: 90 watts (Low)
Category: Single Operator
Band Qs Sections
160 0
80 190
40 126
20 51
15 50
10
--------------------
Total 417 74 = 61,716
Time: 16 hours
Equipment:
Venerable Kenwood TS430S
Murch UT2000 Tuner to 125 foot doublet at 15 feet (80m)
Cushcraft R7000 at 8 feet (40-10m)
Comments:
Lots of preparation went into this SS. In less than two weeks, I punched
a hole in the wall for antenna cable feedthrough, dug a hole and mounted
a pole for the R7000. Built mounted and tuned the R7000. Got parts for a
ISD module voice keyer. Most of this work was done after 10pm weekdays. I
planned to build up the voice keyer late Friday night, but ended up
taking my 6 month old daughter to the emergency room (croup) around
midnight.
Saturday morning, had to build the voice keyer. Built it up, but in
testing it sounds horrible, so I never hooked it up to the right. As it
was, I would never need it.
Started off contest slow, trying to CQ 15m was futile, so S & P between
15 and 20. These bands closed down early. I went to 40m in the 2300z
hour, and went to 80m by 0000z. In contrast, my personal best 1993 SS, I
stayed off 80m until nearly 0500z. Spent next 6 hours bouncing back
between 80m and 40m. Bands were too crowded, couldn't find a clear
frequency to CQ and figured it would last for hours. In a moment of
inspiration, I decided to take my sleep break now, and get back on before
sunrise.
Strategy paid off. Back on at 1100z, I had my best rates of the contest,
with a 42 and a 39 hour on 80m. At 1420z, Had to take 40 minutes off to
help my wife with the kids. Although she'd been given notice about the
contest, she insisted I helped out some.
Back on at 1500z, I concentrated on finding mults on 40m and 20m. 20m had
started to open enough for me to make contacts. During these three hours,
I'm interrupted several times for 2 or 3 minutes. I'm beginning to get
really fed up.
At 1750z, I hear the stomping on the floor again. I go upstairs and I'm
REALLY mad, because I'm just starting to work stuff on 20m. I meet my
neighbor at the top of the stairs. He's REALLY mad, too. It appears my
transmitter is getting into his telephone. I spend the next 30 minutes
trying to explain how radio transmitters and telephones work. It is very
hard not to sound apologetic, although it is my transmitter, it isn't my
problem. Neighbor finally lets me go, but I don't think he understands at
all. From his perspective, if something I'm doing interferes with his
phone, I just shouldn't do that ever again.
At this point, I'm completely disgusted. My planned effort has gone down
the tubes, and I'm not doing as well as I had hoped. I spend some time
helping my wife with the kids, then get on again at 2020z to try to pick
off a few missing multiplers. But this time, I won't call CQ, just S & P.
Around 2130z, I get another call from my neighbor, I stick it out trying
to work a mult and then pack it in at 2140z.
Missed sections San Francisco, Wyoming, Pacific, and Alaska. Worked VY1JA
for YU/NWT, though, which was the only one I missed last year from KM9P!
I heard W6BIP in SF, and WS7W in WY, each several times. Never could
break through the pileup, though. Heard a KH6 station once, but he was
weak on 20m late and working the west coast. Never heard Alaska.
Heard KD3GC holding a frequency for several hours on 80m. I believe he
put in a 100k+ score, beating the pants off me. That's ok, he's finished
second to me in the SSB SS LP GA standings at least four times. Congrats!
Lessons Learned:
With low power, good antennas make all the difference. Even if you can't
hold a frequency, being able to punch through while S & Ping is certainly
helpful. Planning off time to avoid some of the crowd was also helpful,
but there's a tradeoff between activity and rate as well.
S & Ping fast is a LOT of work. Sure is more fun to call CQ and work 'em
as fast as possible.
Conditions were really lousy. 40m went very long early, and my low dipole
isn't effective on 80m. 20 and 15 weren't open so much, and I never
bothered to check 10m. This made the effort a real fight on the low
bands, as my breakdown shows.
I felt I could have scored much better with a beam. The R7000 played very
well on 40m, but wasn't as effective on 20 and 15. It think it will make
a pretty good second radio antenna when I can get a beam back up.
I also wonder if I'll ever be able to put in a full contest effort again
until my kids are grown up and moved out. Maybe KM9P has the right idea -
build a station out in the boondocks -- Zero distractions.
Bill Coleman, AA4LR Mail: aa4lr@radio.org
Quote: "Not in a thousand years will man ever fly!"
-- Wilbur Wright, 1901
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