ARRL DX Contest, SSB
Call: OT6M
Operator(s): PC5A
Station: OT6M
Class: SO Unlimited HP
QTH:
Operating Time (hrs): 12.5
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
160:
80:
40:
20:
15:
10: 1000 49
-------------------
Total: 1000 49 Total Score = 147,000
Club:
Comments:
For many years the ARRL DX contests were one of the highlights of the contest
season at PI4TUE. Since that station was dismantled, part of the equipment is
used to build up a new station at ON9CC's QTH.
Since Frank-ON9CC didn't plan any activity in this years ARRL SSB edition and I
unexpectedly had the weekend to myself (winter-sport holiday was canceled...)
Frank suggested I'd come over and do some SO(SB) operating.
I selected to operate on 10M and use the cluster to point and click my way
through the battle grounds and gain more experience in this way of operating
with N1MM+. The IC7800 recently developed a known problem where one of the RF
boards is causing the second receiver to malfunction. A new board was on the
way but did not arrive in time so entering the contest without the aid of a
spotting assistance would have been difficult in maintaining a run frequency
and searching for mults with just one VFO available.
The first QSO was logged at 12:10Z. The band started to open nicely into the
east coast, as expected. The first hour (eh, 50 minutes) brought 71 stations in
the log, the next 106 (first mid-west worked at 1310Z was IN). Best hour was
between 14 and 15Z with 112 Q's. Somehow the band did not really open well. I
needed to point and click a lot to keep some sort of rate going. Just running
didn't give any rates.
After 4 hours I had worked 44 multipliers and was waiting for those 7-call
areas. Apart from a few stations from AZ nothing else from 7 or 6 call area was
heard... Well, two weeks ago 10M opened much better on the Sunday so I was
hoping for that to happen also for this contest. I stopped with 495 Q's and 45
states/provinces in the log.
The next day was indeed better than day1. For starters the 2nd receiver was
working again on the IC7800 and 514 new QSO's and 4 mults were worked bringing
the total to 1009 / 49 (including dupes). Sadly not one station from 7 call
area was heard, nor BC, AB and SK. Interesting were three stations that were
logged from southern CA, one of which was running 5W in a 3 EL steppIR...!
Some comments/highlights:
- The radio sport headset really blocks the outside world (passively) to a
level where you are fully focused on what goes on in the contest. You can't
even hear people talking when they are standing next to you. Also the headset
is comfortable enough to wear for many hours.
- I ran into Dale-N3BNA who I'd met at IG9Y in 2013.
- Interesting to always hear the same (multi-op or unlimited) stations reacting
to new spots. King this time was 9A1P. Two IN-band stations or dual receive TRX
is the de facto standard.
- Dolce Gusto coffee pads (Vanilla macchiato or Caramel macchiato) taste nice!
- Some stats:
- states with most QSO's: FL (79), NY (71), PA (69), MA (69)
- states/provinces with least QSO's: MB (1), ND (1), NE (2), NF (2), PEI (2)
- missing states/provinces: ID, MT, NV, OR, UT, WA, WY, AB, BC, LB, NU, NWT,
SK, YT
Station setup:
IC7800 + ACOM 2000
OB11-3 @15mtr
N1MM+
Last but not least a thank you to Frank for the hospitality and making the
station available to me.
CU ALL as M/S entry in RDXC
73
-- Aurelio, PC5A
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
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