California QSO Party
Call: WA7BNM/6
County: LAX
Modes: CW/SSB
Category: Single Op Low Power
Operating Hours: 23.0
Band CW SSB
-------------------------
160 0 0
80 72 74
40 91 40
20 173 166
15 204 199
10 134 411
-------------------------
Total 674 890 => 1564 x 58 = 220,516
Comments:
This was my first serious effort in the CQP. In the past it always seemed
like I was editing/publishing the contest club newsletter on this weekend.
Seems like I've finally found the right height for the crankup tower for
domestic contests -- felt loud on almost every band, even though I was
running low power. For those who wondered why I had a wildly varying signal
strength and eratic operating on 40m - the 40m yagi decided to exhibit an
intermittent problem that one second would be fine and the next would
trigger the high SWR protection of the FT-1000D. At least I discovered this
in advance of CQWW.
This was also the first contest in which it would have been helpful to have
a shorter call sign. A 2x3 is long enough, but having to add the "portable
6" on the end was painful.
Bottom line is I had a lot of fun and came within about 7k of the low power
record. Others have commented on the perception of lower participation by
California stations. One of the reasons may be that the ARRL Southwest
Division Convention (HAMCON 99) was held this weekend in Long Beach and may
have reduced the number of casual California ops who get on and answer the
CQs of the hard core contesters.
73 de Bruce, WA7BNM (bhorn@hornucopia.com)
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