ARRL 10-Meter Contest
Call: NX5M
Operator(s): NX5M, N5XJ, N5JA, NX5N, K8EP, K1OJ
Station: NX5M
Class: M/S HP
QTH: TX
Operating Time (hrs): 30
Summary:
Mode QSOs Mults
----------------------
CW: 1219 147
SSB: 1967 152
----------------------
Total: 3185 299 = 2,638,376
Club: CTDXCC
Comments:
N5YA said it....storms!
Saturday we had to shut down while a storm passed. Most passed a few miles
west of us so we were somewhat lucky. Had the doppler radar running on the
internet so that we could monitor the activity.
Sunday morning I was awakened to another severe storm at 1100z. I rushed out
to the shack to disconnect everything but decided to stay out of harms way and
NOT go out to the towers and disconnect the electronics. The storm lasted for
over 2 hours and at 1230z it happened......lightning hit one of the towers.
Lost the rotor control box for the top 10m yagi. It wasted one of the
feedlines. One of the phasing boxes turned dumb. And last, we have no
television reception anymore. As far as I know these were the only damages.
Did notice that the rotator for one of the extra antennas is hesitating at
times so maybe it sustained some damage as well. No telling what else I will
discover over the next few days.
One of the ops here, NX5N (no relation), was sleeping in the house on the
livingroom floor (I had a bed for him too) when the tower was hit. He
commented that it raised him 6 inches off the floor from a dead sleep.
Finally got things going and got back on the air at 1415z.
We had hoped that it was over.....never hurts to have hope.
After dodging a few bullets for the rest of the day our luck again ran out.
With a couple of hours left in the contest we were forced off the air again
with severe lightning. I was totally frustrated but knew that sometimes the wx
just does not cooperate. I guess over the past 4 years we have done this thing
it has never been a problem except 2 years ago when we were kept off the air
for about an hour at the start of the band opening on Sunday morning. With a
little over a half-hour remaining we connected back up and went at it.
Interesting that out of the whole weekend we had not worked IA on cw. The
first station I heard after turning things back on was in IA and quickly worked
him.
Band closed quickly both nights. Almost like someone turning off a water
faucet. We did not hang in there until midnight Saturday as we had planned but
instead headed to a local pub for a few drinks. I think this was a good move
and I am still considering myself lucky that I woke up at 1100z to the storm
and got the majority of the equipment disconnected before the ultimate spark
hit the tower....could have been really bad.
Despite all of the above it was an enjoyable weekend. Was nice to have some of
the old friends that I had not seen in 1 to 3 years over for a change.
Score was up a little over 200k from last year. QSOs were up by 130 even with
the lost operating time. Missed about 7 very workable multipliers that we just
never got an opportunity to try for.
Happy Holidays all!
Bob NX5M
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
--
FAQ on WWW: http://www.contesting.com/FAQ/3830
Submissions: 3830@contesting.com
Administrative requests: 3830-REQUEST@contesting.com
Problems: owner-3830@contesting.com
|