ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, CW
Call: K9CT
Operator(s): K9CT
Station: K9CT
Class: SO Unlimited HP
QTH: IL
Operating Time (hrs): 24
Radios: SO2R
Summary:
Band QSOs
------------
160: 0
80: 340
40: 632
20: 173
15: 35
10: 0
------------
Total: 1180 Sections = 83 Total Score = 195,880
Club: Society of Midwest Contesters
Comments:
It was slip and slide at the beginning trying my best to get some traction on
either 20 or 40. My rate was actually decent doing S&P as I looked for a
good spot. I initially started to run but it was obvious after waiting one
minute for my first Q that I had better be doing something different!
Conditions seemed pretty good during the contest. Signal levels would change
from band to band and I just kept watching for the action on two bands at a
time. I did notice some quick QSB that would knock out a number and would ask
for a repeat to confirm. QRM was not that bad and that is also a sign that maybe
we are missing a few competitors. There was a time when you had a lot of 35+ wpm
exchanges but that has diminished. Lots of good cw operators on but mostly 25 to
35 wpm. CWTs are a blessing! I have felt very comfortable during cw contests
with the weekly stimulation of the brain!
We had a weather front move through on Sunday. My lunch break timing could not
have been worse as I should have taken off during the initial rain. I lost at
least 20 minutes due to rain static on the antennas. As close as the scores are,
that might have cost a few Qs!
Speaking of close scores, I thoroughly enjoyed having my score online real time.
I didn't even know I had it on until Ryan, KB9OWD sent me a text asking if I had
made a sweep already. I said how did he know and he told me that I was still
connected to https://contestonlinescore.com/scoreboard/?contest_id=95 . So I
quickly looked and sure enough...then I realized that VE5MX was running away
with SOHP Unlimited but Marko, N5ZO and I were fighting it out for second place.
And a fight it was! We were back and forth the whole contest and it was fun to
do. I recommend everyone to do this...it is the way of the world right now. BTW,
K6LL is sandwiched between us. Congrats to the winners!
So did I get a sweep early? No, N1MM Logger had inadvertently put a check number
in the mult space...how I don't know but anyhow, it counted that as a mult. I
solved that problem but the online scoreboard didn't adjust the mult count and
when I did finally work VI for the last one, I had 84 mults! At least for a
while and then somehow the scoreboard was corrected.
Sunday is a battle to stay focused and in the chair. Like someone said, this
could be fixed with another thousand operators on. Personally, I would like to
see us start SS at 1800Z and be done by 2359Z like most every other big time
contest. We could liven it up by allowing multi band Qs with the same station
and maybe really spicing it up with multi band multipliers. These changes would
make a dramatic difference in Sunday! I must be still in a dream state from
Sunday to write this....
Anyhow, it was fun and it seems like a day with friends on the air. I thoroughly
enjoy the cw weekend. It was great to see many honoring Paul, W0AIH with the
check of 49. He was a great man and you always felt better in his company.
73, Craig K9CT
PS...see you in SS Phone!
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