ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, CW
Call: K3FIV
Operator(s): K3FIV
Station: K3FIV
Class: SO Unlimited LP
QTH: SF
Operating Time (hrs): 15
Summary:
Band QSOs
------------
160: 0
80: 35
40: 78
20: 79
15: 62
10: 46
------------
Total: 300 Sections = 83 Total Score = 49,800
Club: Northern California Contest Club
Comments:
A Sweepstakes record may have fallen this year. Lots of people track how long
it takes them to get a sweep. My first SS was in 1963 in EPA. With my
100W-dipole, I never got even close to a sweep from EPA - couldn't even find DE
which was about 10 miles away.
About 5 years ago I got back into HF, and perversely decided to set up a
station similar to my old 60s setup - 100W and a low wire. Of course
technology is better now, or at least most think so. It was hard getting used
to making 100s of CW Qs without now ever touching a J38 or bug.
So I tried again for a sweep, and came close over the last few years. Last
year, I missed by only one. If ON hadn't just fissioned into ONE/ONN/ONS/GTA,
I would have had it. Grmmph.
This year .... SSSS.....WWWW.....EEEE....PPPP....!!!!!!!!!
So, did I set a record for time to get a sweep? Fifty years....anybody done
"better"?
Bands were fun. Plenty of activity but not overly crowded. There was even
room for a few DX pileups on 10M.
Since I was aiming for a sweep, I did all S&P, at the expense of course of
fewer Qs in the log. I also decided to use the spotting network, which I don't
normally do. Pull out all the stops.
My Flex-3000 has a panadapter display which shows about 80KHz of the band, so
it's pretty easy to methodically go hunting. Sure wish I had that in the 60s.
Signals were only a few hundred Hz apart, so there were a lot of them. At each
signal, I would spend enough time to get a callsign and SECtion, to see if I
needed it. Sometimes that required making a Q to get the exchange. Other
times there was a pileup, so I just listened for the section to see if it was
worthwhile trying to break through.
By late Saturday evening, my section count was in the 70s, so I started paying
attention to the spotting information, and Pouncing on the red callsigns
instead of just methodically marching up a band.
That worked, but not as well as I would have liked. I had gotten most of the
traditionally hard sections (for me) earlier, e.g., DE, VI, PR, NLI, etc., many
even more than once. But I still had a handful of holes, and when they appeared
as red callsigns I immediately went to that frequency. So did everyone else,
and my LP/dipole, from about as far west as you can get in the lower 48, just
isn't good in a crowd. I spent quite a bit of time trying to get through to
VO1MP for NL, but there was always someone closer and louder.
So, I decided to go old-school, and I went back to hunting, like you always had
to do back in the 60s. Since my holes were all in the same general region
(NNY, WV, QC, VT, SNJ, NL) I picked the band where signals from that area were
loud, and started marching from the bottom of the band, carefully determining
each signal's SECtion, and working them if there wasn't a pileup.
One by one, the holes filled in. Curiously, they hadn't been delivered as red
callsigns by my spotting feed, and they had no callers at all, so they were
easy - once I found them.
I did a few little experiments. After listening to a semi-rare station CQing
with no callers, I sent a spot out to the network, causing some displays all
over the country to suddenly show a red callsign. Wham! Within 30 seconds
there was a pileup. The spotting network is very very efficient at getting the
word out. So as I continued my hunt, as I found them, I spotted some likely
stations that others might need. No doubt I left a stream of pileups in my
wake.
One hole left - NNY of all places! A red callsign appeared so I quickly
Pounced. But, even NNY was apparently rare, and there was another pileup
already there. After trying for a while, I decided to go back to hunting and
check back periodically.
It was starting to get late, and I knew the East Coast would switch to 40 with
the darkness there, so NNY was a long shot while it was still daylight here.
So I expected to miss a sweep by one again, like last year......
Sunday, 2154Z - I found K3AJ/2 CQing on 15M, and the various magic databases
didn't know where he was. So I worked him and he gave his section - NNY!
Sweeepppp!
The technology is nice, and certainly makes it easier. But old school is still
useful, even in this modern computer/Internet world!
Since I was on a roll, and my CW skills had been rejuvenated, I rounded up to
300Qs for SS, and then went to test my DXing pileup karma - worked K9W through
the 10KHz pileups on 2 bands while SS was still distracting some of the crowd!
Search/Pounce works for DXing too -- but you Search for the station the DX just
worked, and then Pounce on the frequency where the DX will listen next.
I always wanted to get a Sweep with 100W and a dipole! Got that and Wake
Island - an ATNO - too. Fun weekend!
73,
/Jack de K3FIV 63 SF
Rig: Flex-3000, 100W
Ant: 135ft Carolina Windom at 30 feet, all bands
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