ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, CW
Call: N8II
Operator(s): N8II
Station: N8II
Class: Single Op LP
QTH: WV
Operating Time (hrs): 13
Summary:
Band QSOs
------------
160: 0
80: 192
40: 114
20: 275
15: 27
10: 0
------------
Total: 608 Sections = 79 Total Score = 96,064
Club: Potomac Valley Radio Club
Comments:
It was not exactly a SS to remember. I woke up early and tired with a cold
Saturday morning, so decided my body was trying to tell me not to push it.
The cold symptoms improved, so after piddling around in the UKR DX, I started
some outside chores in the cold (cloudy despite sunny forecast, breezy, and in
the 40's). It was off and on Saturday evening. I did a reasonable job S&P'ing
but the rate was not great. I usually did get thru on the first call; good
timing helps. As I was S&P'ing thru 20 going back and forth between VFO's and
having some trouble working a loud LA station, VY0JA called him. J. was
unreadable with the beam at 250 deg, but S9 as I swung it around north. I moved
up to the first clear spot above them and called CQ, VY0JA answered CQ # 2. I
also found VO1BZM on 40 early, never heard another one, but MAR was at record
participation levels. There was no 80 meter magic, just some short runs that
dried up despite having some choice spots that were pretty clear of QRM. QRN
was near nil after the noisiest October I can ever remember. Signals were loud
with no annoying skip zone to miss the NE population centers.
Sunday AM was a late start around 1315Z and 40 was loaded. I ran well for
about a half hour, then it dired up. Condx were almost ideal with little or no
skip zone and west coast was still pretty loud. Late morning was tough with
very few answers to 20M CQ's, so was forced to S&P. 15 was open to CA around
noon, but not much else. I did run a few around noon on 20 and WA was quite
loud there which seemed better than expected. Conversely , I don't think I ever
worked WA on 15.
Finally, after lunch and an hour to walk the dog, lady luck looked my way.
I still needed 5 sections and found in succession KL2R, KH6MB, and N5CW in MS
on 15 within a 4 minute stretch; that will probably never happen again! CA was
quite weak with N9RV in MT about 25 db over S9 and VY1EI on 21060 was loud. I
moved to 20 and started a good run low in the band; signals were loud. After
the run slowed, I S&P'ed up the band and found KE0Z/VE4 for #79, but never
heard NE. For that matter, I only worked N4ZR who called me in WV and heard
W8ZA. After dinner and the news, I had a surprisingly good 80M run with a real
pile-up calling for about 30 minutes; QRT time was 02Z spending the last 10
minutes S&P'ing in hopes of finding NE. Best rate was a 67 hour running on 20
at 21Z Sunday with a 63 hour at 00Z on 80M.
I found two annoying trends that quite a few SS ops could improve upon. If you
miss just one part of the exchange, please ask for that part rather than
sending "agn". Sending the whole exchange again wastes time. Some of the timing
was pretty bad with stations in their haste to call me doubling with me. Haste
makes waste in this case. If you are having trouble breaking a pile-up on CW,
it's probably because you are not transmitting exactly where the op is
listening; try zero beating the previous caller or calling slightly higher.
Also call a 2nd time if there is a pause and the called station has not yet
picked someone out. The unattended SO2R CQ's are always a pain from the other
end.
For me, SS CW is more like a hard day at the office than lot's of fun; it's far
from relaxing. But it's always nice to work old conest friends, thanks for the
hello's along the way and I was happy to provide the section for some who might
have missed it.
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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