North American QSO Party, CW
Call: W3DCG
Operator(s): W3DCG
Station: W3DCG
Class: Single Op LP
QTH: Atlanta, GA
Operating Time (hrs): 10
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
160: 10 7
80: 57 22
40: 72 33
20: 99 33
15: 34 19
10: 10 6
-------------------
Total: 282 120 Total Score = 33,840
Club: South East Contest Club
Team: SSSC #3
Comments:
My first ever, full-time contest effort.
Spent 3 evenings after work (8pm-dark), casting (7' medium rod + Zebco closed
face, #15 monofilament)... a 160m G5RV into the tallest nearby tree. Westerly
leg repeatedly entangled in #!@%$&!*?^%!@#% [lovely, shade rendering] branches.
Had to finally settle on THAT leg marked for EAST/WEST, running North/South with
a steep declination from apex.
Saturday:
By 4:00pm local, I was INTENSELY wishing that I had incorporated a computer +
N1MM freeware that my friend and co-worker, Brian Turner- burnt for me late
Friday afternoon. I justified staying with paper because it was down to the
wire, and I have a wonderful PTO rig of a by-gone era.
By 8:00pm I was ACUTELY AWARE, of how it feels to work 3X harder for 1/2 the
pay. The Dupe-Sheet aspect of the entire affair had become an ordeal, serving to
further enhance the intensity of sprinting tediously across the bands, hoping
not to clobber anyone while being clobbered.
Not even the thick sheild provided by a 250 Hz InRad, would thwart the frenetic
onslought nor spare me from the need for a couple Advil gel caps, which did
offer a respite from the rigors of this marathon Dance/Accounting excersize in
futility.
At any rate, it was a circumstance I earned fair and cheap.
Further, and dearly appreciated relief was rendered by my wife, KG4PYN, who
managed me by keeping track of time, prodding and providing moral support when I
thought I'd had enough... " You're 14 ahead of your goal at this rate..." and
"...falling behind, you need 7 before your next break in 10 minutes..." and,
"When you come back you need a full sheet to hit your target, and you're doing
great..." she'd say.
I arbitrarily chose 300 contacts as a target.
Seemed reasonable in theory- even with paper logs/dupe sheets. I had hoped that
10 and 160 would have been kinder, and was very disappointed by 10 meters where
I thought I'd find a plethora of contacts from West of the Mississippi and the
Pacific Provinces/States. I mean, my tiny dipole actually developes slight gain
on 10.
It was a lofty goal for a completely manually worked first time effort.
Antennas:
160 & 80:
208' G5RV in a vaguely Inv Vee configuration, one leg E/W, the other N/S, apex
@70'.
40 - 10:
66' OCF G5RV flat-top @ 33'.
Corsair, the first edition. Vibroplex Brass Racer. Idiom Press K3.
HA!
"...sometimes our big splashes, just ripples in the pool..." - RUSH, Power
Windows.
D.Cy Gacuzana, w3dcg,
Atlanta, GA
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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