ARRL DX Contest, SSB
Call: W6UE
Operator(s): W4EF
Station: W6UE
Class: SOAB HP
QTH: CA
Operating Time (hrs): 40
Radios: SO2R
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
----------------------
160: 5 5
80: 37 21
40: 139 48
20: 230 72
15: 522 99
10: 604 92
----------------------
Total: 1537 337 = 1,542,786
Club: Southern California Contest Club
Comments:
Soapbox Comments:
Decided to go full time in this one at the last minute. Turns out that
this was my first serious Single-Op All-Band effort in a DX contest since
becoming a ham almost 22 years ago. All previous efforts were either as
part of a multi-operator team or single band. The station worked well,
but kinda wish I had a real SO2R setup for phone. I ended up using
KA6SAR's SO2R switcher for receive audio, and a combination headset/boom
mic and a Kenwood desk mic as I didn't have the right adapters with me
to wire the transmit audio into the SO2R box. For the run radio, I would
use the footswitch and the heil element on the boom mic, and for the mult
rig, I would push the boom mic out of the way and talk into the Kenwood
desk mic using the PTT switch on the mic base to key the transmitter.
Not having a parrot was a little bit cumbersome, as I found it difficult
to call CQ on the run radio while simultaneously concentrating on the
receive audio from the multiplier radio (I can't walk and chew gum at the
same time). A couple of times, I found myself talking into the wrong mic
or depressing the footswitch when I should have been pressing the PTT
switch on the desk mic. Sorry to anybody I may have inadvertently stepped
on with my Rube Goldberg setup. Had a little trouble with the remote VFO
cable on the TS-830 as I had to jiggle it every now and then to bring the
rig back to life. This created a very tense moment when I broke the 5H3RK
pileup and the rig died just as he turned it over to me. Fortunately, my
fast jiggling brought the rig back in time to complete the QSO :).
With lots of help from the Coca Cola company, I managed to stay awake
(at least partially) about 40 of the 48 hours. Its amazing how good a
cold linoleum floor feels at 5 AM on Saturday morning. The most
interesting opening I experienced during the contest was Sunday morning
(UTC) around 0400Z on 20 meters. I found a very quite frequency low in
the band around 14165 KHz, and was able to run a bunch of weak and
watery Eastern European and Central Asian Russian/former USSR stations
(RZ9's, UN8's, etc). That was a big thrill and made all the sleep
deprivation worth while. The most frustrating propagation I experienced
was during the hour or so on Sunday morning that I spent going back and
forth to RU1A's 10 meter run frequency and having them CQ in my face.
Fortunately, I did finally get through.
Cu all next time.
73 de Mike W4EF......................
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