ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, SSB
Call: VA7ST
Operator(s): VA7ST
Station: VA7ST
Class: Single Op HP
QTH: BC
Operating Time (hrs): 11
Summary:
Band QSOs
------------
160:
80: 31
40: 58
20: 206
15: 126
10: 0
------------
Total: 421 Sections = 77 Total Score = 64,834
Club:
Comments:
* FT-2000 + SB221
* N1MM Logger 7.10.12
* Tribander at 45'
* 40M half-squares
* 80M delta loop
This was like two different contests here -- day one and day two. Ended Day One
with just 60 Qs in the log and 40M and 80M not playing nicely at all from the
far PNW.
Have CW-band antennas on 80M-20M (yagi sufficiently covers 15M and 10M, but SWR
is high in the 20M SSB segment) so I'm a little SWR-handicapped for SSB on the
lower bands. Tuner helps, but still no hell. Working the high end of 20M just
doesn't play well for me, so my sandbox was 14.150-200 and finding a spot to
run was nigh on impossible at times.
Got off to a great start S&P on 20M working a bunch of the toughie mults from
here -- NWT, RI, VI, PR -- but had to go to 40M pretty early and that band was
tough work.
Decided on Sunday morning to give 15M a whirl. Called and lo! ended up running
110 stations. Propagation on 15M has been pretty tightly focused on W4/W5
lately, but last weekend and this weekend saw some good E-W propagation for a
change.
Went to 20M and spent a long time looking for a spot to run. I'm pretty timid
about elbowing into a slot. Eventually found one and ran 127 stations at 96/hr
-- very neat-o. Spent 10 minutes trying to work a VE2 pileup to no avail, then
moved away and called CQ... another VE2 called in right away. Go figure. VY2ZM
was a beacon on 14.150 or so for hours on end (well done and thanks for MAR!).
Heard a VE6 on 80M but never caught up to him, so missed AB. Also missed CT and
NL. Still, I never expected to find 77 mults in this one without telnet cluster
and am quite happy with how things turned out. Was on for just 11 hours. If I
had spent more time on the air -- and more time on 20M -- I'm sure the sweep
would have been quite possible.
Wonder if I'm the only one in the Pacific Northwest who thought 80M was junk on
Sunday evening? Maybe the delta loop isn't working well. Had a fair amount of
QRN and signals from beyond the Rockies were weak. Even W6 stations were not
their usual loud selves. Figured N6RO would be slam-dunk, but Ken needed a few
fills from me to make it work. W7WHY was one of the big signals on 80M and was
the first of my OR mults -- I know others were begging for OR in the final
hour.
I think I have a lousy CK for SSB -- probably had CK fill requests from 30 per
cent of callers. "82" doesn't punch out very well, I guess.
DVK was set up but didn't use it even once for Qs, though I did throw out a
handful of CQs with it. Was having too much fun just working folks.
Will be back for more phone work next chance I get. Starting to get the hang of
it and likin' it a little more. Thank God for CW, though.
See many of you in CQWW CW. Look northwest for the VE7 mult, and be sure to
listen out for teammates: Paul K1XM at 6V7D (Senegal running QRP!), Ed N1UR at
9M6AAC, Vitor PY2NY, and Greg W1KM. Glad to be on a N6ZZ memorial team and will
give it all I have.
http://lists.contesting.com/archives//cgi-bin/mesg.cgi?a=CQ-Contest&i=47337D14.1040202%40hp.com
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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