ARRL 10-Meter Contest - 2022
Call: K2DRH
Operator(s): K2DRH
Station: K2DRH
Class: SO SSB Unlimited LP
QTH: IL
Operating Time (hrs):
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
CW:
SSB: 992 123
-------------------
Total: 992 123 Total Score = 244,032
Club: Society of Midwest Contesters
Comments:
Well if anything is going to motivate me to put up more 10M antennas so I have
more diversity it would be this contest! We had come home Weds from our southern
travels to a broken refrigerator with stinky gray sludge all over. More
restaurant meals! More time went into cleanup and getting a new one ASAP than
preparing for the test, forget about resting up from all the driving LOL.
Luckily the local store had one in stock that fit my “hole” (and N2KMA
liked) and it arrived Friday just before noon. Quick trip to the supermarket
(closest is 30 mins away) for some basics for the weekend and back home barely
in time for the contest start.
I was not mentally prepared for a full band and working 80 Qs in the first half
hour! I was almost glad the band died way off domestically after 2 hours as I
was dog tired by the day’s (week’s) events. A few JAs popped up but they
never came back to me. Story of the test. Lots of weak DX all weekend that I
used to be able to finesse with 200W when there was a lull in the pileup that
couldn’t hear me at all with 100W. 3db definitely matters! I took a break
when I ran out of stations but came back to find more to work until 0500 or so
when it closed up. An amazing start considering the past few years.
I woke up late at 8AM - the power blinked overnight and messed up my alarm –
luckily the UPS saved the station and it was ready to go. EU and SA were in so
I ran up the band on S&P and found a hole after a while. CQing is not the
best option the first day for a low power station but I managed to keep a
frequency at the bottom of the band right above 300 for most of the day. Es was
definitely on the agenda to the E and South with a sprinkle of West and SW. It
wasn’t any great rate but running the second slice up the band and picking off
all the spots produced low but steady rates all day until about 2300 when it all
went to sleep domestically. VK ZL was easy. JA was louder but still could not
hear my 100W. Definitely spent more time in pileups.
Sunday’s Eu opening was much shorter and weaker and SA was about the same or a
little better. Caribbean was definitely better. I kept chasing WY spots and
never heard a one. Also missed ND and SD and of all things OK! MO, NE and KY
were actually easy this time. Highlights were working 3B8/F6HMQ with one call
and having D44PM call me on my CQ frequency after unsuccessfully trying to break
his pileup three times! It was slow but steady all day with a lot of west coast
and even some HI, VK and ZL. It almost looked like I would crack 1000 Qs when
the band collapsed around 2230 and all that was left were some weak west coast
stragglers, VKs I’d already worked, JAs (I never worked so hard to NOT work a
JA) and the odd KL7. A crazy ride with a decent result.
73 de Bob K2DRH
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