Not pretty, but a 23 1/2 hour effort and a SWEEEEEEP! Talk about getting
discouraged, worked K1TO, W5WMU, and W4AN all within minutes of each other
and all had twice as many Q's as I. Did get a sweep late Sunday after
giving up all hope of finding a MAR.
W$ZW SWEEPSTAKES SUMMARY SHEET
Contest Dates : 06-Nov-99, 07-Nov-99, 08-Nov-99
Callsign Used : W4ZW
Operator : W4ZW
Category : A SOLP
Hours of Operation: 23
Default Exchange : NR#A W4ZW 55 SFL
Name : Jon Hamlet
Team/Club : Florida Contest Group
BAND Raw QSOs Valid QSOs Points Mults
__________________________________________________
160CW 0 0 0 0
80CW 9 9 18 0
40CW 386 381 762 16
20CW 272 269 538 13
15CW 271 271 542 17
10CW 89 89 178 33
__________________________________________________
Totals 1027 1019 2038 79
Final Score = 161,002 points.
Soapbox Comments:
I had an unexpected guest operator show up Saturday morning just itching to
help. Fellow by the name of Murphy, perhaps you heard of him? As a Dad
with a 9 yr old son and a 10 yr old daughter, I don't have much contest
capital to spend during the year, so I save it up for Sweepstakes and Field
Day (my kids like to help on Field Day.) Put up two new antennas, a DX-77
and a delta full wave 80M loop, only to find that I had so much RF in my 3rd
floor shack that the computer kept passing out from the RF overload. So,
decided to scrap the HP ideas and moved all the radios around to use the
FT-1000D as primary and the TS-950SDX as the 2d radio since this combo had
less intra-station interference. Prior to SS, I had been watching for
almost two weeks for a day when the sea breeze was still to fix the 40M beam
since a recent microburst had blown the tip out of one side of the
reflector. No such luck. Finally Saturday morning and the wind is less
than 15 so I start working on the 402CD and find that one tip is also blown
out of the tribander's reflector. I quickly gave up on all antenna ideas
when I climbed up and watched the elements whipping around in the air. (My
antennas are a single-handed install, maintenance, etc arrangement.) Then
noticed the SWR on my trusty 80M Bobtail Wire Beam was over 3:1. Took it
down and found water sloshing sounds in the balun. Got out my drill to
drill a hole and the coax connector fell out in my hand. This ocean eats
stuff alive! It's OK, still 7 hours until the contest starts. Tried it
straight, high SWR. Quickly moved the full wave loop around to horizontal
by the ocean and hung it from two coconut palms and got a reasonably good
SWR on 80. Back to the shack to find that this new arrangement had RF
floating in the shack even at low power. Toroids everywhere. Oops, the two
radio mixer isn't working! Rush to Radio Shack to pick up a new one. None
in stock. Rush across town and get a substitute. cables are different. As
a condition of my stealing the weekend for radioing, I have to attend my
daughter's ballet recital at 3:30, but it's only 15 minutes long and it's
only 10 minutes from the house. Rush to the recital. It's late of course
and finally gets started about the same time as the kick off gun for SS! By
now, I'm so tired and cranky, knowing that I still have to get the two radio
switching setup when I finally do get home, I'm ready to pull the plug. But
hey, I only get two weekends a year so what the heck. Start an hour late,
but having fun on 10 until I notice that the section lights aren't going out
in the TR display. Take a half hour break to find that I somehow set up the
contest wrong. Too late to fix it with over a 100 Q's in the log. The
exchange window was no longer smart and I had to carefully enter everything
in the correct order and with spaces and all.
Never could seem to get a run going until I got to 40M and there I feel
loud! From past experience, I know that all this ocean in the yard really
helps me out on the low bands and I can really run 40 even with my 150W.
Everyone's loud, even the QRPers are S9. Had a lot of DX stations call in
as well. By 5 AM, know I'm doing poorly and things are slow so take a nap
break which was supposed to only last an hour but turns into a 3 1/2 hour
snoozer. Really ready to throw in the towel now because I know from past
SS's if I'm not closing in on a 1000 Q's by Sunday afternoon, the rest of
the contest is littered with the monotony of Sunday afternoons searching for
a new one and I don't have a 2nd radio to do my S&Ping. Now if I could just
get the SWEEP! Only need VI and MAR. Found the dogfight after poor KP2N
and just couldn't bust the pileup with LP. Heard one MAR station but he was
S&Ping and I could never catch up to him. Lo and KP2N calls me late Sunday!
Now the rate seems to pick up late Sunday and on a S&P up 20M I find VE9SF.
Wow, a SWEEP! And I was ready to quit. This is the hardest 1000 Q's I've
ever made in a SS but I'm proud of them! Wait until next year!
I have observed all competition rules as well as all regulations
established
for amateur radio in my country. My report is correct and true to the best
of my knowledge. I agree to be bound by the decisions of the Awards
Committee.
Date 8 Nov 99 Signed Jon Hamlet Call W4ZW
Jon Hamlet, W4ZW
Casey Key Island, FL
"A little bit of paradise in the Gulf of Mexico"
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