ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, SSB
Call: K4OV
Operator(s): K4OV N1BA
Station: K4OV
Class: Multi-Op HP
QTH: NC
Operating Time (hrs): 24
Summary:
Band QSOs
------------
160: 0
80: 274
40: 739
20: 494
15: 198
10: 43
------------
Total: 1748 Sections = 83 Total Score = 290,168
Club: Potomac Valley Radio Club
Comments:
Wow, with the SSN well over 200, this was a crazy SS! 80 meters is usually one
of our best bands, and this year it was slow. There was lots of action on 10
and 15, and our best antenna for those bands was a 15 meter dipole. There
really is such a thing as an antenna being "too high" - our tribander
at 70' was much weaker than low wires on 20 and 15. And it was all we had on
10, which made it tough. Forty rocked for us, though, with Lee N1BA romping
all Saturday night.
After having to pack it in 2 hours early on Saturday night, and then struggling
most of Sunday morning, I was ready to pack it in. We used up all of our
off-time before noon local. But after that, things pick up a little bit. We
had no huge runs all weekend, but things were more-or-less steady.
Was it just us, or were there many fewer telnet spots this year? We did our
best while S&Ping to spot stations. Too many sunspots and too few telnet
spots, go figure.
One highlight was getting run off a beautifully clear run frequency on 40
meters by a G0 station on for some DXing. He ignored our calls to him, and we
finally had to move. Otherwise, far fewer frequency fights than in previous
years. Even the 14.300 guys were "nice." After being run off of
14.301, I moved to 14.298. That wasn't enough for them and I started arguing,
but after I decided to be more cordial and offer to slide down a bit, they
thanked me. 14.2978 turned out to be our best run on 20m all weekend.
In the final countdown to 0300 on Sunday, I was CQing and pleading for Q's.
Finally, at 0259, I said "CQ contest, one minute to go." And an S9+
signal replied "Thank god!" All I could do was laugh for the final
minute.
Station-wise, we are now using a K3. We also worked on or added all new
antennas except the tribander and our trusty 80m dipole (which does need some
work with high SWR). A new (to me) 40-2CD made a huge difference, installed
one week before the contest with some last minute help from Bruce N1LN
(thanks!) A new wire beam on 40 to NE/SW gave us strong signal into New
England. Wire beams on 20 worked well if not great, and much better than the
tribander except when 20 went long Saturday night. We also threw up a 20' high
15 meter dipole on Saturday afternoon, and that too was much better than the
tribander.
Station:
K3/P3, K3/LP-Pan, AL-1500, TL-922
80 Dipole
40-2CD and 40m wire beam
Tribander, 20m wire beams at 35' and 15m dipole at 20'
Thanks for the Q's!
73,
Rob K4OV
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