A great big thanks to Jay Allen, VY1JA and his family for their most gracious
hospitality over the weekend. J. is a great host who spoiled me with hot
breakfasts delivered from house to shack and other amenities that made my stay
very enjoyable.
Thanks to everyone for the contacts.
73 de Steve KN5H
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BAND Raw QSOs Valid QSOs Points Mults
__________________________________________________
80CW 5 5 10 0
40CW 66 64 128 4
20CW 650 648 1296 20
15CW 82 82 164 23
10CW 125 125 250 32
__________________________________________________
Totals 928 924 1848 79
Final Score = 145992 points
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A timeline of sorts:
Nov. 4-5 time frame: Solar flux going up, A is low, about 4, K is 0. Will it
last?
Nov. 6: Hop the plane out of Phoenix at 7AM. By 4 PM I am in the Whitehorse
airport, getting my rental car and scanning the crowd for J. Having never met
each other, he knew to wear one of his callsign badges. It worked and we were
on our way. WX was chilly for me, about 25 F, warm for J and the locals. A
short stop at the store for junk food and we are in the shack. I check WWV
again and things are still great, low A and K. Will it last? A few QSOs on
20 and 40 get me really fired up as K5GA, K7RAT, N5KO, K6LL and K7UP tell me I
am well
over S9 on 20 meters. K7UP helps with a one-way phone patch to my wife.
Cant wait till tomorrow.
Nov. 7 - Early morning: Awake at 8AM local. It is still pitch black outside.
The bands are quiet. I guess I can sleep some more. Sunrise is around 9AM
and I start making mental notes on which band to be on this time tomorrow. I
start to tune around and something seems wrong. Maybe it is still too early
in the morning but the signals just aren't there.
Nov. 7 - 2000Z: One hour till the beginning and I realize conditions didn't
hold up. The A and K are increasing and the signals on 20 and 15 prove
it. J says to look at 10. I didn't even go up there thinking it a waste of
time. J says if the aurora is far enough south, 10 meters may still be open.
He of course is correct and I start to get warmed up with QSOs on 10. Signals
are good and my momentary depression disappears.
Nov. 7 - 2100Z: I start with a good freq. K4LT is QSO #1 and I am confident I
have mastered TR log. I am wrong and I spend time trying to get used to the
unfamiliar software. Conditions are good and the pileup is big. I manage a 66
first hour.
Nov. 7 - 2200Z: Still on 10 with a good rate but by 2240, I am trying 15.
Trying to pry into a crowded band is tough, especially since it seems both
coasts are beaming each other. Rate drops to 58 for second hour.
Nov. 7 - 2300Z: Go to 20 at top of the hour. I realize Friday night's fun on 20
wont be here tonight. Bounce back to 15, then 10. VY1AC, Frank calls in for my
only YT. Rate down to 42 for third hour.
Nov. 8 - 0000-0200Z: 15 is still good, 20 poor. Stay mostly on 15 till it dies
at 0150Z. Manage a 26 hour from 00-01Z and a 49 hour from 01-02Z.
Nov. 8 - 0200-0400Z: 20 is still pretty poor. I manage a 40 hour followed by a
25 hour. My total at 0400Z is 306. Time for fun on 40.
Nov. 8 - 0400Z: I now realize the meaning of what J calls '1-way propagation'.
Signals on 40 are OK, very loud from W6. I find that no one can hear me.
I call NI6T for 10 minutes and finally work him. He thinks my
call is VY1JA. I call VE7AGJ for 10 minutes and finally work him too. I run to
the house and ask J what to do. He points to the sky and asks me if I can see
the illumination behind the clouds to the north. He says if not for the clouds,
we would probably see a pretty nice aurora. All I can say is 'great'. I never
thought I would be asleep on CW Sweepstakes' Saturday night at 9PM but I was.
Nov. 8 - 1330Z: 8 hours of sleep. Unheard of. 40 is open but auroral flutter
even on this low freq. W5WMU is loud but he cant hear me. WX0B is loud and he
does copy my NR 313, he has 949. 20 is open to SFLA and WNY. Find K5GN, my bud
Dave. He replies 'UY1A 5NN CQ SS'. I call again and this time its 'KY1A NR...'.
Then he fades into the noise. I S&P on 20 and 40 for 4 hours, never able to get
anything going. I work the CQers, picking up needed mults like K2NNY, N7NG,
K7BG, VE5AAD and K4VX. Only need VO1, SD and KP2 for a sweep. I find Gus, VO1MP
with a big pile. My fluttery signal helps bust the pileup and Gus is in the
log. Stations I call on 20 are loudest with antenna pointed northeast. J says
beaming into the aurora does work. Others don't realize this and when they
start their exchange and I can tell they are moving their antennas to VY1.
Their signals drop into the noise making for lots of fills. I find K5GN again.
He still thinks I am KY1A until he copies it correctly. Got you Dave.
Nov. 8 - 1700Z: WWV says flux is 149, A=18, K=4. Better than last night. I go
down to 14001 and find a clear spot. The band is opening and I can finally
start to run stations. I work 40 stns in 30 minutes.
Nov. 8 - 1800-0000Z: All 20. 15 and 10 never really open. 20 is great, finally
having big runs with big rates. KE0Z calls in with a 599 QRP signal giving me
SD. KP2A completes the sweep at 2120Z. 1800 hour has 82 QSOs, 1900 hour has 73
QSOs, 2000 has 70, 2100 hour has 85, 2200 hour has 70 and 2300 hour has 70
QSOs. A great run. A 1000 QSOs becomes my goal but wonder if 20 will hold up
for 3 more hours.
Nov. 9 - 0100Z: 20 is fading fast. I don't have much faith in 40 after last
night. Pull out a 35 hour and have 898 QSOs. Need 2 50 hours to bust 1000.
Nov. 9 - 0200Z: Off to 40. Signals are booming. I check 80 and signals are
booming. Last night the band was dead! Call CQ and get a few answers but no
rate. S&P and scratch out a 20 hour.
Nov 9. - 0300Z: Last hour. Realize wont make it to 1000. Jump to 80. Signals
again are still booming. No answers to CQ, 1-way propagation again. Last hours
S&P finds K5MR, W7WA, W0SD, N4ZR and others. K1ZZ is my last QSO, I give him
#928.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A little summary:
1) W6 to VY1 is a pipeline, the loudest signals on the band.
2) SFLA/KP4 is also a pipeline, even with disturbed condx.
3) VY1AC, Frank is trying to dabble in CW contesting. Please go easy on him!
4) J. is recruiting new hams in Whitehorse. He has several promising CW
candidates. He is a licensed examiner and teaches theory to future hams. When
these new guys get on in a contest, I hope we can go easy on them too.
5) We all need to thank J. for activating the Yukon. If it were not for
contesting J. would not have invested a lot of time and money in his station.
He now has a TS850, an Alpha 76, a 4 element quad at 116', a delta loop on 40
and a 4 element sloper system on 80. His 160 antennas are also formidable
but I do not recall what they are.
6) I took a lot of photos and when they are ready I will try to put them on a
web page. QRX for info.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Breakdown by section:
ILL 44
Scv 39
Oh 35
STx 32
WWa 30
Epa 24
Mdc 24
Va 24
Mn 23
NTx 23
Co 22
Wi 22
WNy 21
Mi 20
Sv 20
Az 19
Em 18
Ct 17
Lax 17
Nh 17
WPa 17
NNj 16
Org 16
Sdg 16
Tn 16
Eb 15
SFl 15
In 14
Ky 14
Nc 14
ENy 13
Or 13
NLi 11
Sjv 11
Ia 10
NFl 10
Ok 10
Ak 9
On 9
WMa 9
Al 8
Bc 8
Ne 8
Nm 8
Ut 8
Ab 7
Ar 7
Nv 7
Sf 7
Ks 6
Sb 6
SNj 6
De 5
Ga 5
Id 5
La 5
Mo 5
Mt 5
Pr 5
Ri 5
Sc 5
Sk 5
Wv 5
Vt 4
Ew 3
Mb 3
Pac 3
Sd 3
Vi 3
WTx 3
Wy 3
Mar 2
Me 1
Ms 1
Nd 1
Nl 1
NNy 1
Qc 1
Yt 1
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