ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, CW
Call: W6YX
Operator(s): N7MH
Station: W6YX
Class: SO Unlimited HP
QTH: SCV
Operating Time (hrs): 24
Summary:
Band QSOs
------------
160:
80: 195
40: 446
20: 312
15: 187
10:
------------
Total: 1140 Sections = 80 Total Score = 182,400
Club: Northern California Contest Club
Comments:
This was one of 2 SS CW efforts from the W6YX station. I operated single-op in
the Unlimited category while the other station (K6SU) was a multi-single. We
were down to a single working amp and hoped that a second Alpha-78 would be
repaired by Saturday, but it didn't arrive so K6SU was a low-power M/S.
Both of our switchable bandpass filters (ICE 419B's) had a blown 20-meter
position so switching to/from 20 meters involved unscrewing the coax connectors
and swapping in/out a 20-meter single-band filter. If we don't get the 419B's
fixed by SS Phone we'll need to find a dual-position coax switch and some short
jumpers to simplify band-switching.
I started on 15 meters and made 100 Q's in the first hour. Things slowed down
in the second hour so I left 15 meters at 2243 with 154 Q's in the log. Since
the K6SU station was still doing well on 20 and it was a major hassle to switch
to 20 I went directly to 40. I couldn't effectively run on 40 that early so I
S&P'ed until just after 0000Z, logging 72 S&P Q's in the 2300 hour. I spotted
all stations not already in my bandmap to the cluster - I just counted 438
total spots on DX Summit that I made over the course of the contest.
Our two stations switched between 80 and 40 a couple times in the evening. 80
meters was amazingly good. We recently installed a K9AY beverage
switch/pre-amp which made all the difference on 80. Stations that I'd normally
fight to copy through QRN were easy copy on the beverage.
I turned off the radio at 0800Z after a 31 Q hour. In retrospect that was
probably a mistake and I should have stayed up an hour later. My last 2 hours
on Sunday were 22 and 21 so another 30 hour would have netted 10 more Q's. I
went to bed with 699 Q's and 77 mults, needing NT, NL and WTX.
I started up again shortly after 1200Z and had a 32 hour on 80/40, working N5ZC
in WTX shortly followed by N5DO. I took an hour off and then started up again
on 40 and quickly moved to 20. My best hour on Sunday was the 1500 hour with
69 Q's.
I tried 15 meters several times in the morning but couldn't really get anything
going there. The band was wide open to some areas of the country, but the
openings were not widespread. It reminded me of 10 meters in SS in recent
years. This year the only thing I heard on 10 meters was the 2nd harmonic of a
local station.
I saw spots for several VO stations but the pileups were horrendous so I didn't
stay. Then I saw VO1HP spotted and he was specifically asking for 6's and 7's
so he was quickly worked. Later I was called by VO1MP and found and spotted
VO1TA. I worked VY1JA for the sweep at 2111 on 15 meters. J was very loud
here at that time. I heard VY1EI several times but he was struggling with a
pileup and I never ended up working him.
Sunday was slow going. I probably should have spent more time CQing and less
time searching, but I was really bored. Having a second radio would have been
really helpful. I'm guessing I could have made a hundred or more additional
Q's if I'd been SO2R. I took my final off-time in the 0000 hour and then
slogged it out on 40 and 80 for the last 2 hours.
I want to echo other comments on working dupes. As I worked my way up the band
pouncing I distinctly heard a second station respond to my call twice. After
working the station I initially called I moved up another 50 Hz and called the
second station who said I was a dupe, but relented and worked me again with my
next higher QSO number. While running I also sent exchanges to a couple of
stations that were below my frequency by about 50 Hz - in both cases I waited a
couple of seconds and heard another running station acknowledge the QSO so I
didn't log these.
I apparently accidentally failed to log a KB9 station - easy to do with
WriteLog if you're clicking on Bandmap entries and forget to hit Enter. When I
tried to work him again later he said "QSO B4". When I responded "Not in log"
he reiterated "B4". I do remember working him but he is not in my log. Is it
worth all the penalty QSOs to avoid having a dupe in your log?
Thanks to everyone for all the Q's. This was my first 24-hour single-op effort
ever in SS CW. I've always either been part of a multi-op, done a split effort
at two stations, or operated just a few hours single-op.
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
______________________________________________
3830 mailing list
3830@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/3830
|