Hey all,ARRL DX CW was something else up here. Of our original 6 ops, 3
canceled at the last minute. Given that, I decided the three of us would do a
M/2, since in this contest, we are mostly competing against ourselves, and the
Alaska M/2 record had held for 23 years, was fairly close to theM/M record, and
seemed out of reach, so might as well avoid the limits of M/S and just have
fun.Great plan, which as always, lasted about 5 minutes into the contest. Hour
after hour of 400-450 rates. Learned that one of my ops, Kent, KL5T is an
absolute beast. Always knew he was good, didn't know that he was 220+/hour
good. Our small crew of intrepid, aging, idea of a workout is getting
something to drink from the refrigerator, ops decided to just take it as far as
we could. I think we all set personal records for BIC time, and had 2
positions on for the vast majority of the contest.Anyway about those records,
yes we did break that old M/2 record. Additionally, assuming error check
doesn't go too badly, we also set a new overall KL7 record.After a day of
recovery after a contest, I do a post mortem. For this specific contest, about
the only thing was, we should have spent a bit more time on 160, self spotting
every 10 minutes, and tried to drag out a few more mults.At the same time, I
realized that I had run out of time, doing things the way we always have. The
pattern of last minute cancellations, difficulties getting people to fly up,
airfares getting insane, and remote technology advancing, is making the current
model (a strictly in person, Multi Multi station) untenable. There is also the
fact that, overall we're a aging demographic and the younger contesters are
continually pushing the boundaries of IT and RF.I've been talking about this
for quite awhile, while not doing much about it, because I was trying to, as
much as possible keep things as Rich had. I also believe that nothing can ever
quite take the place of a bunch of ops, hanging out before, during, and after
the contest in person.In the meantime, thanks to some generous help from Dave
N7NR with equipment, and the arrival of Starlink, we've finally been able to
get remoting up and running with good performance. Axel, KI6RRN, now spends a
bunch of his time in Alaska and has done extensive testing, in and outside of
contests, and it works quite well.Going forward, I believe that a hybrid in
person/remote approach is the only way we can get a critical mass of ops. I'll
be the first to tell y'all that nobody has ever regretted coming up to operate.
We try to feed people well, provide good accommodations within the limits of
space within a single house, (though we also get a crazy cheap rate at a
local b&b, should one want more space/privacy) and, if I may brag a bit, a
location and view that defies description if you haven't been there. Still,
Alaska is a ancient native word meaning "Cold place, far away from everywhere,
where moose will stomp your beverages every single **×^×!!^÷^÷^&! year."
We're never going to be W3LPL/K3LR with half of the U.S. population within a
half day drive.Now the much less fun part..money. I've been blessed with the
income and relative youth to be able to afford to carry this mostly on my own,
but, as time goes on, the age is slowly rising and the income is not so slowly
dropping. Unless someone is either a mad genius engineer like Rich, who was a
maestro with duct tape, or has eff yew money, it's just too much for one
person. Electricity is super expensive (average about 600-700 per month) ,
there is the "Alaska tax" where the cost of shipping is double-quadruple more
than the lower 48, either paid directly, or if you buy local, reflected in the
price. Every year we have to fly in tower climbers from the lower 48. Put
all the above together and it is clear that it is not a sustainable model.
After taking care of my family, my highest priority is to keep the station on
the air. If it ever does end, not likely that someone would be crazy enough to
try again. Obviously we do this because it's fun, and a great outlet for OCD,
but I also think we do provide a service to the contest community, by making
Zone 1/AK reliably available on all bands, and outside of contests, giving
opportunities for modest stations with limited power/antennas. Heck, we'll
even use FT8 if necessary. Going forward, it's going to require outside help.
I would like to see us have a higher profile in the local community, I mean,
most locals don't know about Nikiski's #1 tourist attraction! There may be
opportunities to work with STEM students or do research, and we will be seeking
grants. I'm also open to investors and eventually, perhaps setting up an exit
path. I'd be happy to discuss further, privately.If you would like to help,
here is a link to the gofundme ...https://gofund.me/f93770d5We'll be working on
adding more remotecapacity, getting antenna repair work done, once it is warm
enough, and figuring out how we might more efficiently use our tower
space.Thank you for your consideration and see youin ARRL DX SSB.73Steve KL7SB
Sent via the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra 5G, an AT&T 5G smartphone
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