North American QSO Party, CW - January
Call: N7WA
Operator(s): N7WA
Station: N7WA
Class: Single Op LP
QTH:
Operating Time (hrs): 10
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
160: 0 0
80: 23 7
40: 326 45
20: 323 43
15: 243 33
10: 94 23
-------------------
Total: 1009 152 Total Score = 153,368
Club: Western Washington DX Club
Team: Northwest Corner Pocket
Comments:
That was FUN! I can't remember having that much fun on 10M. (I know it's
happened, but the memories elude me.) This could be a interesting cycle after
all.
It didn't start out fun. I was running like mad, even got the 10 minute Q rate
up to nearly 200 when the K3 turned off. Huh? It powered back up normally and I
went another 5 minutes and the K3 turned off. This is not good. No warning
messages. I even checked the temperature of the PA (which went thru the heat of
last Field Day, 108 degrees, with no issues.) Checked the connections on the
back of the K3. Started again and went 20 minutes before the K3 turned off
again.
OK, I cleaned and rebuilt the shack between Christmas and New Years. Everything
left the shack and came back. I looked at the power supply (Astron VS-35m).
metered voltage looked good - 15V. Then, I just "touched" the voltage
adjust pot and the power dropped and the K3 turned off. Hmmm, the current limit
pot is not fully up either. I rotated both pots and put them back to fully
clockwise. I also tightened up the power posts and though they seemed tight,
they did tighten more. Back to running. Never had another issue through the
test. I expect
that issue cost me a 100Q first hour (I made 94) on 10M.
Other than that, it was a great NAQP. I have never had a 1000q effort and it's
been a goal for years. This was the year! Each band change lower seemed to be
accompanied by the rate window hitting 200+ until I got to 80M. The whole test
was, obviously 100+ an hour. For a rate monkey like me, it can't get any better.
I did have to go 10 hours straight. That was tough on me and tough on my wife,
but it would have been tougher on her to drag it out later in the evening for
80M/160M. Her reward, we were able to watch a movie together by getting it done
early enough.
Is there a new CW trick I am not aware of? I'm an old dog and sometimes it takes
me a while to catch on. Many times, I start a CQ and well into it, someone
starts answering before I finish. (They interrupt the CQ mid-call.) It happened
way too many times for it to just be folks slow at answering. Doesn't work
without the QSK on but I thought it was effective in this high rate
environment.
We need some special Q signals with an implied apology (except for the last
one). Too may times I goofed and the folks on the other side probably wondered
what the heck was going on.
QFF - I FAT FINGERED that one
QSM - SENIOR MOMENT (I know, QSM already exists. Time to use a
software trick and overload it.)
QWO - I just had to WIPE OUT the Q and start all over.
QRR - Huh? Did you call? I am REALLY RUMMY right now.
QGP - For us older folks, I GOTTA (bodily function)
QFO - Too many times, I ask for one specific call and somebody won't shut up.
Over and over. I'll leave the letters up to you to fill in.
Thanks for all the fun!
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