ARRL Sweepstakes, CW
Call: K3KU
Operator(s): K3KU
Station: K3KU
Class: SO LP
QTH: MD
Operating Time (hrs): 21
Summary:
Band QSOs
-------------------------------
160: 0
80: 29
40: 139
20: 379
15: 44
10: 0
-------------------------------
Total: 580 x 78 = 90,480
Club: PVRC
Comments:
The "Total" QSOs is an estimate to account for the dupes in the paper log and
check sheet.
I improved the antenna system this year. I raised the end of the long side of
the asymmetric dipole up to 20 feet. The low end is still at four feet. This
antenna is more like a vertex-fed flat-top -- the short end is near vertical.
It wouldn't be so bad if this were not my only antenna.
The old Drake T4X and R4B worked pretty good, except for the T4X frying a
cathode resistor and a screen resistor about 0600. Over two hours to fix it,
then somebody turned off the ionosphere when I got back on. And I still did
not get the transceive off the RX VFO working.
Getting on only one month during the year, and having changed the antenna, I
didn't know what performance to expect from the station. 80 was a disaster.
For my 15 meter QSO's I should get double credit. I was so weak I had to send
everything twice (thank you, KS7T in MT, for spending 3 or 4 minutes pulling me
out). 40 -- which should be a big band from here -- was so-so (but thank you
VO1GO for taking five minutes to pull me through; by the end I was copying your
fill requests by ESP). The one time I listened to 10 meters Sunday afternoon,
all I heard was K6LA and another big gun W6 weakly calling CQ, and not doing
much business. I spent a lot of time on 20 meters, because that's where the
station played. From about 1500Z on Sunday I called CQ on 14060 for two or
three hours, running a little over 40/hour. It seemed like a good idea at the
time, and it did attract a few sections like ME, AL, and SC.
I heard one KL7 a few times S&P'ing on 20 Saturday evening (I think he was in
the VY1JA pile-up with me), but I was not loud enough to poach him, and I did
not realize that I might have been loud enough to attract him with a CQ toward
the edge of the fray. The closest I came to hearing MAR was hearing a K9 call
"CQ SS MAR".
I need to do some serious study to improve my operating strategy. Some of the
QRP and LP scores are fantastic, although they didn't do that with just one
wire antenna. But K3AN, about 30 miles away, almost matched my score QRP with
a maybe worse antenna!! I gotta talk to that boy; he can teach me something.
And, what Sunday doldrums? I was scraping out 20/hr right through the end.
Good to hear old friends again (N6XI, K3IU especially), but the dupe sheet
looks like last year's -- same calls.
I'll be out of town Saturday of SS 'Phone. With any luck, I won't get back
until it's over.
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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