North American Sprint,
CW<fontfamily><param>Times</param>
</fontfamily>Call: WA7BNM<fontfamily><param>Times</param>
</fontfamily>Power: (see below)<fontfamily><param>Times</param>
</fontfamily>QTH: S.Cal<fontfamily><param>Times</param>
</fontfamily>Op Time: 2 hours<fontfamily><param>Times</param>
</fontfamily>Band QSOs Power
Antenna<fontfamily><param>Times</param>
</fontfamily>-----------------------------------<fontfamily><param>Times</param>
</fontfamily> 80 1 10W 20m
dipole<fontfamily><param>Times</param>
</fontfamily> 40 3 10W 20m
dipole<fontfamily><param>Times</param>
</fontfamily> 20 21 50W 20m
dipole<fontfamily><param>Times</param>
</fontfamily>-----------------------------------<fontfamily><param>Times</param>
</fontfamily> 25 x 14 = 350<fontfamily><param>Times</param>
</fontfamily>The story, such as it is:<fontfamily><param>Times</param>
</fontfamily>Since I was going to be on vacation during the CW Sprint,
I decided I would also take a vacation from trying to break the "magic"
100 QSO barrier in this contest. But, at the last minute, I threw the
box full of wire, cable and my ICOM 706 into the car to take with
me.<fontfamily><param>Times</param>
</fontfamily>Arrived at the rented beach house about 15 minutes before
the start of the contest. After getting the car unpacked, I hauled out
my trusty 20m wire dipole and mounted it as high as I could reach --
about 8 feet. Got everything set up and found I was missing the AC
power cord for the 706's supply. So it's off to town (Dana Point) to
find a store that carries computer power cords. My XYL also thought
this would be a good opportunity to buy batteries for her camera, stock
up on a few items for the week, etc. After several stops (grocery
stores should really consider carrying a proper assortment of power
cords), I found a computer store that was still open after 6
PM.<fontfamily><param>Times</param>
</fontfamily>Finally got on the air about 2 hours into the contest and
found a lot of loud signals on 20m. Wow! They could actually hear me.
SWR on the antenna caused the transceiver to cut back on output power,
but some actually answered my CQs. When there wasn't anyone new to work
on 20m, I tuned 40m to see what was going on. Figuring what the heck, I
gave 40m a shot. Transceiver is now really unhappy with the SWR --
about 10W out, but I managed to work a few contesters in S.Cal. Then it
was on to 80m. Hey, a 20m dipole at 8 feet should be real effective on
80m. Right? Congrats to K6LA -- my only 80m QSO. I called a number of
the big guns in S.Cal on 80, but Ken was the only one who could hear
me.<fontfamily><param>Times</param>
</fontfamily>So, I'm posting my score so everyone else can say they at
least beat someone. See ya in the phone version from my normal QTH and
using a language I understand much better than
cw.<fontfamily><param>Times</param>
</fontfamily>73 de Bruce, WA7BNM (bhorn@hornucopia.com)
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