Yes, there were wide signals....
Yes, some people had weird checks....
Yes, there was some intentional interference...
Despite all that, I had a BLAST! I bested my last-years score, and had some
of the most amazing runs! For many years, I've always thought 40 meters was
the "meat and potatoes" production band for the east coast. This year I
truly proved it to myself, making 946 QSOs on the band. More than 6 PACs
called me, and 5 KL7s! Many QRP stations were s9+20. (I exclaimed to one
QRPer that he was a masochist for doing 40m SSB QRP; he explained that 3-ele
at 135' helps!). My fatal flaw this year was not finding a VY1/VE8 on the
second radio. Perhaps it was because the territory stations were not
calling CQ much.
I was using a Tentec Orion as the run radio. I noticed that if signals were
extremely loud (>s9+60), I would sometimes get a very loud screech in the
headphones, as if the A/D converter was overranging or something. Other
than that, the Orion RX was awesome. It seemed to have a three-dimensional
effect to the sound -- the center-frequency station would stand "in front
of" the QRM. Even when the desired station was at the same signal level as
the QRM, it was still copyable. Very impressive radio.
Anyway, I had fun as always. Bad signals, bad ops, cheaters, etc have been
part of contesting since the sport has been around. Deal with it -- more
importantly, have fun!
Now on to CQWW CW this weekend!!
73,
Gerry, W1VE/VE1RM
(I was W1VE@K1IR for SS SSB, VO1WIN@VO1AU for SS CW)
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