ARRL Sweepstakes - CW
Call: N4GN
Operator(s): N4GN
Station: N4GN
Class: SO HP
Section: KY
Operating Time (hrs): 24
Radios: SO2R
Summary:
Band QSOs
-------------------------------
160:
80:
40:
20:
15:
10:
-------------------------------
Total: 1210 x 80 = 193,600
Club: Kentucky Contest Group
Comments:
Took off from work Wed-Fri and spent more than 40 hours working on the station
in the three days before the contest. Added two sidemounted C-3 tribanders
under the existng C-4XL. So now I have three stacked tribanders at 90/65/40
ft. Top and bottom are rotating. Middle one is fixed on EU/W2/W3. All three
are fed into a WX0B StackMatch (GREAT product!--same one I used at EA8BH in WW
RTTY).
A BIG thanks to Dad, K4EFD, for his tireless assistance with all the antenna
work!
Other station upgrades this week:
- Added WX0B 6-band Band Pass Filters to both radios, automatically switched
with DX Solutions SAS-6s. Amazing result! I could even CQ with 1500 W on the
40-meter part of the C-4XL and listen to 20 meters on the second radio with the
same antenna! The BPFs might seem expensive, but they're worth every penny.
- Got the ACOM-2000A (another great product!) humming on radio 1 (Omni VI Plus)
and the 500-Watt Hercules II on radio 2 (IC-746). Never did get the auto band
switching interface done between the 746 and the Herc, but plan to do so before
WW CW.
- Finally got all the "little" things like TR Log's LOGCFG.DAT, the rig
control, the homebrew 2-radio switch box, the WX0B Six Pack, etc. tweaked the
way I've always been meaning to do.
Bottom line: the station upgrades seemed to pay off. The only problem was
that I was so exhausted from three days spent mostly on the tower that I was
already tired well before the contest started. It didn't help that I only got
4 hours of sleep Friday night. Next year, I'm getting up at 2000Z, turning
everything on, and doing this contest fully rested.
Now that I've finally gotten my station to a moderately competitive level, the
seriously limiting factor is the operator's ability to drive it! I'm gonna
work on improving that too . . .
A few comments on the contest itself:
- Had 78 mults within the first 5 or 6 hours. Still needed VY1 and ND. I had
heard WB0O earlier on 10-meter backscatter, so knew he was on, but decided not
to waste the time then to break the pileup. VY1JA called me on 40 (!) with a
FB signal, and I knew I'd have the sweep when I eventually caught WB0O.
Shortly thereafter, Bill actually "caught" me on the second radio, and I had
the earliest sweep ever. All 80 mults actually called me.
- Lots of interesting sporadic-E on the high bands the first night. Guys like
K5ZD were punishingly loud here on 15 very late. It really made for difficult
strategy decisions regarding which band to CQ and which to S&P. I'm still not
sure where I really SHOULD have been spending my time. I figured if I could
run the East Coast on 15 a la K6LL, that's where I should be, but somehow I
think I lost a lot of W8/W9/W4 QSOs on the lower bands.
- Next year, I'm going to figure a way to get another 100 QSOs and maybe break
into the top ten!
Thanks for all the QSOs!
73,
Tim Totten, N4GN
n4gn@n4gn.com
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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