W5WMU (N6TR opr) - 1998 SS CW
QSOs - 1514 (with a couple of dupes) - 79 sections = 238,896 points
80 74
40 724
20 517
15 147
10 52 (all on the first day)
Many thanks to Pat Sonnier, W5WMU, for hosting me and to Stephanie
Moore, N5SYF, who kept me fed and watered.
Pat and Steph had worked very hard on making some antenna improvements
during the last year. Here is the antenna system as used during the
contest. In each case, three antennas are listed and are routed to a
stack match so I can select any combination of them. Typically, all
three were on unless I had tough copy with a specific station:
80 meters: 3 element parasitic vertical array to the northeast
high dipole facing north
3 element parasitic vertical array to the northwest
40 meters: 3 element full sized 40 pointing northeast
4 element KLM pointing north (around 140 feet)
4 element KLM pointing northwest (around 80 feet)
20 meters: 4 over 4 pointing to the northeast
5 by 5 pointing to the north (horizontal stack)
6 over 6 pointing to the northwest
With 30 active elements - I finally felt loud on this band!
15 meters: 4 over 4 to the northeast
??? to the north
6 over 6 to the northwest
10 meters: 4 over 4 to the northeast
??? to the north
4 over 4 to the northwest
There are a lot of antennas at this QTH that were not used. I
counted 39 HF beams on 19 different towers during one of my
walks outside.
Moments I remember:
1. Starting on 10 - very weird to get answers.
2. QSYing to 40 around 2350 UTC and wondering if the magic would
happen again. Average rate for the next five hours would be 86/hour.
However, W0SD was a little ahead of me when I worked him at 0719Z
(871 versus 878). Todd must have had a very tough Sunday. I admire
him for sticking with it.
3. Actually sleeping for a couple of hours.
4. Finding VO1MP on 20 while CQing on 40 for mult #78 at 1428 UTC.
5. Being called 3 times on 40 by VY1A before I could hear him well
enough to get his check (thanks for the persistance Steve) at 1435Z.
This was the earliest I remember having a sweep on CW. This allowed
me to focus on the rate for the rest of the contest.
6. During a break at 1515Z, discovering that the 15 meter amp had a
problem and would end up being "stuck" on 20 for awhile. I used
the rig barefoot for a number of second radio QSOs on 15.
7. Realizing after six hours on 20 meters that the rate was actually
pretty good. From 1545Z to 2145Z, I averaged 48.7 QSOS/hour CQing
on 20 meters. Heard others struggling on 15. My code speed was down
to 24 WPM at times, and typically was around 27 WPM. I felt like
WA5LES back in the mid 70's.
Congrats to Dan, K1TO, for a great score. I told Pat before the contest
that this guy would be trouble, and he sure proved that. Also, congrats
to Rich, KE3Q, for winning this thing. It looks like most of the difference
in my score and his was made in the first two hours where he must have
had back to back 125 hours on 10 meters!
Thanks for all the QSOs! Still hard to believe N0SS and I didn't work.
73 Tree N6TR
tree@contesting.com
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