ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, CW
Call: K3KU
Operator(s): K3KU
Station: K3KU
Class: Single Op LP
QTH: MD
Operating Time (hrs): 24
Summary:
Band QSOs
------------
160:
80: 435
40: 158
20: 108
15: 28
10:
------------
Total: 729 Sections = 80 Total Score = 116,640
Club: Potomac Valley Radio Club
Comments:
First ever Sweep from home. No packet, no Skimmer, no help -- "Just a boy and
his [one, 100W and a lonely dipole] radio." (As per K0HB). Even though I
called CQ a lot more than I used to, only one any-kind-of-rare mult (VO1BZM)
came from a CQ*. All others were S&P.
Things were looking bleak with a few hours to go, still missing five tough
ones, incl this year's surprise, NE. Then I got AK. Then NT (YESSS!!! second
time ever, from home). Then VE5ZX (he always shows up, but sometimes ya'
worry). Then KE0Z/VE4 (whew!). And, like many others in the 'Test, still no
NE.
I had heard a W6 station on 20M thanking somebody "for my first NE", but never
heard that NE station in the 'Test. With about two hours to go I resigned
myself to missing the Sweep because of Nebraska. Sigh.
I did what I could, listening hard for 0-land calls when S&P, and calling CQ on
the bands open to Nebraska; lots of CO, some KS, etc., but it was like somebody
had put an aether shield over Nebraska. Sunday evening, as 20M closed and then
40M "went long", I worked the heck out of 80M, hoping that it would go long
enough to reach Nebraska. The band got long by the last hour (I even worked a
Big Gun W6 who needed a zillion repeats to get my nr), but still no Nebraska.
Then, as I was doing an S&P trip down the band, I tuned past a weak-ish
somebody sending the end of his call, some ck numbers, and ... "NE"!!! Whoa!
Stop and see if he is CQ or S&P; get ready to guess which way he will tune if
S&P. Why is the guy he is working so confused??? OK, he got it. Aha! It's
W0DB, running. Better get him before the packet/Skimmer pileup shuts me out.
If he's weak here, then I'm gonna be weak there; won't be easy. Please,
please, please, 80M -- peak and don't fade! First QSO -- beaten out. Second
QSO -- YES!!!!!!!!!!!
As I wrote last year (or was it the year before?): "Yeah, yeah. The Sweep is
not important -- if you always get one anyhow." Now I've got one, and I did it
the Old Fashioned way, and I feel great, and my family is happy for me, and I am
so ever going to get myself a mug. I feel like a kid again.
Oh, my score? It's a little above my previous home best (2002), which was with
paper logs and 150W from Drake twins. That log had a few more QSOs (it was not
checked) and only 78 Sections. This year's claimed score is about 2K higher,
but will surely drop from LCR.
[* a lot of redundant mult's did answer CQs. In fact, at one point I got
called by ND and SD right in a row.]
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
|