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[3830] ARRL10 NX5M M/S HP

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Subject: [3830] ARRL10 NX5M M/S HP
From: nx5m@arrl.net (nx5m@arrl.net)
Date: Sun, 16 Dec 2001 21:36:24 -0500 (EST)
                     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


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