North American QSO Party, SSB - August
Call: N9OU
Operator(s): N9OU
Station: N9OU
Class: Single Op LP
QTH: FL
Operating Time (hrs): 10
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
160:
80:
40: 88 31
20: 65 28
15:
10:
-------------------
Total: 153 59 Total Score = 9,027
Club: Florida Contest Group
Team: Orange Crush
Comments:
With George (K5KG) on holiday, I couldn't use his station like I did for the
January NAQP SSB, which meant I was going to be limited to my single-band
dipoles and swapping them out as the bands change.
In preparation, I got a second dipole center ready and prepped for the
afternoon, figuring I'd start at 10m, get a couple of dozen, switch to 15m, get
another couple dozen while prepping the elements for 20m on the 10m's center.
Then the rain and thunderstorms started about an hour before start, so once
cleared, I was rushed for 10 minutes right at start to get things going.
At 15 minutes after start, I was ready and fired up the rig, tuning around 10m
listening intently.
Nothing.
My mind starting thinking may I screwed something up. So back out to the dipoles
I head out, dropping the center down and inspecting. Everything looked good, so
I raised it again, checked my coax, and went back to scanning 10m.
Nothing.
OK, I thought, something is up with my 10m dipole, lower it, raise the 15m, swap
the coax (I even had two coax runs ready), change the radio over to 15m, and
start scanning.
Nothing.
OK, now I'm thinking the rig is bad. Double check all connections. Could it be
the coax? But I have two! Maybe both are bad? A thought occurs to me to go ahead
and switch the rig to 20m and listen; sure it's a 15m dipole, but I should hear
something.
So I did, and I hear stations.
Well, glad I started at 10m and 15m!
So, remove the 10m wires from the center, connect the 20m, lower the 15m dipole,
raise the 20m, swap the coax, and tune around.
Finally, I hear voices! At 21 minutes after start (I was rushing!) I finally
have an entry in my log (KD9GY).
And then it got slow.
With the storms off in the distance, the noise and static/lightning crashes made
all but the strongest signals nearly impossible to decode for a long while. QSB?
Strong. QRN? Even stronger.
My goals of beating my January score were gone. Toast. No chance.
I was sure I was going to turn in the lowest score, especially since I have my
antenna restriction and only dipoles through 40m.
But fun was had (I think). And many a patient op was kind out there repeating
when I asked, and asking me to repeat way too many times.
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
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