ARRL 10-Meter Contest
Call used: W1SJ Cat: SOHP, Phone ARRL Section: VT
mode qsos points mults
10SSB 1884 3768 136
total: 1884 3768 136 (57 US/CAN, 79DX)
claimed score: 512,448
Mults:
US 48 missed SC & KY - nasty to work from here without Es.
CAN 9
NA 14
SA 9
EU 40
AF 10
AS 1
OC 5
The contest started on a sour note, as I noticed that my
transmitter not working correctly. I got full power on CW, but
1/4 power on SSB! And I wasn't getting through to anyone. Since
the band was pretty much dead (as it often is at 0000 here), I
took the time to rip into the TS830. I found the circuitry of
the speech processor out of whack (probably messed up last year
when I was peaking the receiver!!). A little tweaking and that
did the trick. I wonder how many Q's I lost during the SSB SS
from low audio.
Then, during tune up, the amplifier went "Zorchhhhhhhhhh!",
accompanied by a rather nice blue flame arcing out of the PA
section. As bad as that was, the 200 watts output from the amp
really had me upset. I opened up the amp, took out the tubes and
dusted them off (oh yeah, I did turn off the power), and that
seemed to get things back. The amp was weird all weekend -
tuning changed as the temperature on the tubes changed. I kept
the external blower running the entire time - it made a lot of
noise but kept the amp happy and kept me happy.
I had a whopping 21 contacts for Friday night. The weak scatter
conditions and technical distractions did not help. But Saturday
morning was a blessing. Great conditions into Europe and Africa
right away just before sunrise. It was like old times! After
knocking down a 142 hour, I realized that conditions were better
than I expected. Just as I was starting to enjoy myself again,
the PIA neighbor next door started complaining about
television/telephone/computer/whatever interference. This is an
expected event with him every year, although this year, his
colorful and scatalogical language even made me blush. I checked
my television and telephone and found no intereference and got
back to the task at hand: running Europe. Further calls were
wisely directed to the answering machine (which does get SSB
splatter!).
After a great run on Saturday, I was ready to for more on Sunday.
Some more great hours, followed by a poor hour and then another
great hour. Maybe someone was on MY frequency?? Things peaked
at 1700Z and then I beamed west for the afternoon show. And then
I hit the brakes! Sunday afternoon was terrible. The stations
were there, the signals were strong and everyone told me how
strong was was. Except there was no running. Stations came in
spurts, infrequently. It was the most frustrating afternoon I've
spent. There was no JA run from up here, but I managed to work
one after a long time in the pileups. It would have been nice to
break the big 2k QSO's but it just wasn't in the cards. But hey,
we got to look forward to another 4-5 great years on 10 meters!
73, Mitch W1SJ
Mitch Stern
w1sj@vbimail.champlain.edu
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