MARAC County Hunter Contest, CW
Call: AD1C
Operator(s): AD1C
Station: AD1C
Class: Fixed LP
QTH: Middlesex, MA
Operating Time (hrs): 24
Summary:
Band QSOs
------------
80: 8
40: 110
20: 473
15: 156
10: 9
------------
Total: 756 Counties = 509 Total Score = 4,134,098
Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club
Comments:
8122 QSO Points
Rig: IC756 pro (100W)
Ant: G5RV @ 35', Hygain AV-640 vertical, 1-el Delta loop (15m)
MARAC CW 2002 Soapbox
---------------------
In short, what a blast!
This is about the 7th contest this year where I put in a serious (or
almost serious) effort (2xARRL DX at KC1XX, RTTY Round-Up, RTTY WPX,
NC and MI QSO parties), but really the only one I remember looking
forward to for so long. It was everything I had hoped for and more.
I didn't have any real goals except to make a lot of QSOs, work a lot
of counties (maybe some new ones) and HAVE FUN. I saw the scores from
the past two MARAC CW contests, and figured I might have a shot to do
well, especially after I passed WC5D's score from last year some time
Saturday afternoon! In all, I picked up 30 new counties towards my
remaining 250 for WBOW (mixed band/mode), and over 200 new counties on
CW! I was up when the mobiles were running, and went to sleep when
they stopped for the night. Imagine, qualifying the for the basic
USCA award in a single weekend (assuming you could confirm them all)!
Saturday afternoon was a ZOO as the MARAC CW, Indiana and New England
QSO parties were all in full force. Every station I worked in IN
during that time counted counted for each of those three different
contests! I resisted the urge to go to the "New England" part of the
band and call CQ, not wanting to explain to every station that called
me that I needed their county, which was NOT part of the exchange
(unless they were in W1). However, a few guys found me around the
MARAC frequencies, and I managed to extract the county from all of
them (some were harder than others, but the W1s were easiest of
course). I made a few QSOs on SSB in the INQP and worked at least one
new county there that was not on CW (Marshall, IN - thanks AE9YL for
going back there). Also picked up a couple new ones in IL on the SSB
net thanks to Bob W0DFK (thanks also to Bob N4CD for alerting me on CW
that Bob had been calling me from one of them).
My heartfelt appreciation goes out to all the mobiles who plan and
practice for the year leading up to the contest, especially the "big
four" this year: Norm W3DYA, Ed KN4Y, Jeff W9MSE and Jerry W0GXQ (see
below). I could not believe some of the pileups on Jeff and Jerry
late Sunday afternoon - it sounded like the Sunday afternoon pileups
in a DX contest when a new country gets on for the first time to hand
out a few points. Norm, W3DYA changes bands so fast, he was sometimes
calling me before my ICOM radio had switched! He was the only mobile
I worked on 10 meters. I worked Elwood KA3MMM in just two counties, he
was just too close for propagation on 20 meters. Thanks especially to
K0ZT for my last county in UT (Beaver) and VE2EM for my last CW county
in MI (Wexford).
I also appreciate the fixed stations who came on, maybe only briefly,
to hand out a few QSOs. NH7Y in Kauai, HI was a nice catch Sunday
morning. Thanks also to K5XK who called me from Craighead, AR for a
new one.
FUNNY MOMENT: on Saturday, working W9MSE in Lincoln, SD immediately
followed by KN4Y in Lincoln, LA. I also worked W0GXQ in Lincoln, KS,
W9HB in Lincoln, MO and K1JB in Lincoln, ME!
DUMB MOMENT: missing Worcester, MA. I know Randy K5ZD was active
(among others), but I only heard him once (calling someone) and could
not find him again, though I searched a lot.
LOW POINTS: the pileup of Europeans calling K1B (Baker I.) between
14.050 and 14.055 on Sunday afternoon starting around 17z and lasting
almost 3 hours! You mobiles and guys out west probably couldn't hear
it, but they completely buried W9MSE, I missed Jeff in several
counties because I just could not hear him through the QRM.
STRANGE MOMENT #1: when WT9U called me and I could not copy his
exchange the first two times. He was at the junction of FOUR counties
in Indiana (De Kalb, Steuben, Noble and Lagrange) and was sending ALL
of them. He also operated from a couple other tri-county lines.
STRANGE MOMENT #2: Did anyone else hear (or work) N5VT/M on Sunday? I
heard him in the morning in Plaquemines, LA and later that afternoon
on the Plaquemines/St. Bernard line. He seemed to be working
stations, but I never heard callsigns or the stations he was allegedly
working. The CW in the morning was erratic but normal in the
afternoon.
Here is a count of all mobile contacts I made (and the number of
different counties worked):
Call QSO (counties)
------------------------
W0GXQ/M 93 (66)
W9MSE/M 83 (64)
W3DYA/M 80 (40)
KN4Y/M 61 (46)
W7BD/M 21 (21)
KJ9C/M 20 (20)
KF9D/M 19 (16)
VE2EM/M 17 (16)
W9HB/M 12 (10)
K0NDX/M 11 (11)
NG0T/M 11 (11)
K0CO/M 10 (8)
N5RZ/M 9 (9)
WT9U/M 9 (17) ** more counties than QSOs!
KU8E/M 8 (7)
AB4YZ/M 6 (5)
W1NN/M 6 (4)
K1KI/M 5 (5)
K0ZT/M 4 (4)
N1RL/M 4 (4)
W1TEE/M 4 (4)
W9OP/M 4 (4)
W9LDX/M 3 (3)
K0ARS/M 2 (2)
K1DG/M 2 (2)
K4UK/M 2 (2)
KA3MMM/M 2 (2)
N1RR/M 2 (2)
W8LVN/M 2 (2)
AA1LL/M 1 (1)
K1EP/M 1 (1)
K2HVN/M 1 (1)
K8MR/M 1 (1)
KK7X/M 1 (1)
WA2VYA/M 1 (1)
Most Popular counties (unique stations). It's no surprise that so
many are in New England (NEQP):
MA Middlesex 6 (my home county)
IL Cook 4
CT New London 3
MA Essex 3
ME Penobscot 3
ME Washington 3
MI Kent 3
NH Cheshire 3
NH Hillsborough 3
NH Rockingham 3
I worked 42/50 states but missed these: AK, DE, ID, KY, MT, ND, SC and TN.
Finally, my special thanks to my supportive wife, and my brother from
NY who dropped in unexpectedly Friday night, but wouldn't hear of me
giving up the contest.
73 - Jim AD1C
p.s. anyone want to help me fill out MRCs?
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
|