ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, SSB - 2020
Call: K2DRH
Operator(s): K2DRH
Station: K2DRH
Class: SO Unlimited LP
QTH: IL
Operating Time (hrs): 24
Summary:
Band QSOs
------------
160:
80: 120
40: 783
20: 222
15: 65
10:
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Total: 1190 Sections = 84 Total Score = 199,920
Club: Society of Midwest Contesters
Comments:
Had everything all set to go the night before and spent a leisurely morning and
afternoon without concern when disaster struck about 10 minutes before the
contest started and I was tending a clear spot on 20M. It was only a quick
electric mains switching transient that killed power for maybe a second but
that’s sudden death to SDRs, computers and other microprocessor based devices.
OK quick reboot everything, reopen programs … whew … a couple minutes to
spare and somebody else now in my “spot” but disaster averted. Not quite.
Green Heron controller showing Error counter over count. OK find the parameter
list, go into the menu and reprogram the counter … but no joy .. same error.
Cold boot the box and it resets, but blew its brains out totally. Had to
reprogram everything and recalibrate the tower. Now 4 minutes late and 20M is
PACKED!! 15M not really cranking much so try and fit someplace LP with a
tribander … yeah, right! Struggled for the first three hours mostly low rate
S&P as the long exchange dragged on with folks just getting their
“groove” on and B stations beating me out. Really frustrating! Note to
self … get a UPS!
Never really got much going Saturday for runs at all, and most got squeezed out
quickly by louder stations moving in way too close. My rates were horrible and
my attitude was too. 40M was a nightmare even with my 2El and the dipole was
next to useless. It hit an all-time low as K5TR visited my “pileup” on 80M
with 1318 and I had to gulp hard before giving George 470! My plan was to get
some sleep at 0700Z and I stuck with it despite barely having 500Qs in the log.
Hit it hard in the morning and hope for the best!
Started on 80M again and it fizzled quickly, not much to work S&P and
nonexistent rate. 40 was better but still not really stellar. Off to 20 and
slow going in QRM land so took a planned half hour break for a hot lunch, but it
wasn’t any better when I came back. Not sure why but I always seemed to find
the National Tune Up Frequency and be quickly fenced in by 20 over splatter
monsters that would squeeze me from both sides until my ears bled. No real rate
on 15 either. Finally around 2100Z lucked out and got the bottom spot on 40M
just above 7.125 (kept varying between 128 and 129 as I got splatter from above)
and kept it for 4 hours despite someone trying to get 2 KHz below me (out of
band!) and some South Americans who thought 7.128 was a dandy QRG and ignored my
protests until I turned the beam SE, flipped on the amp and told them “La
frecuencia esta ocupada” in no uncertain terms! That did the trick! (But
made damn sure the KW was off before I called CQ again!) Rate finally dropped
off and I took another short break before going to 80M for the last hour and a
half. I was really closing on 200K in the last few minutes when some California
KW slow drawling GOB’s (good old boys) that had been deliberately splattering
me for 15 minutes decided to end my run by getting right on my frequency and
disrupting my callers with “friendly” suggestions. Y’all come back now,
y’hear.
Got VY1CO NT on 20M the first night and besides VI and PE was only lacking a few
relatively easy ones. Those all went into the log Sunday morning with the
exception of MB, PE, GTA and VI. N1MM seems like it doesn’t recognize KP2M as
a mult (but only in the bandmap) and I had to go directly to the DX clusters to
find him despite already having KP2M on my band maps. It didn’t recognize PE
as a mult in my bandmap either despite VY2WW being clearly identified on the
clusters as PE. That was the only time I had to finesse a pileup with my low
power. Chased VE4VT spots all around the bands but kept missing them until
VE4VT called me during my 40M run (Nice LP score Ed!!! Bet you have an easier
time getting a LP run going than I do with “rare” IL hihi). Allegedly GTAs
are as common as house flies but I still needed one for the sweep. Finally went
the clusters again and found one on 80M while I was still on my 40M run and
worked Lali VE3NE with one call. Once again he was on my bandmap but not
flagged as a mult. 25 VE/VA3’s in my log and only one GTA!
I said I need more antennas for this test back in 2014 when I came in 2nd SOULP.
Been trying, but the fixing the VHF stuff seems to get in my way and this year
was no exception. Same antennas: a high tribander, 2EL 40 and wires. Really
need a low tribander and maybe another 2el 40 to put in the other direction.
Nonetheless happy with the final result.
73 de Bob
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