ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, CW
Call: K4RO
Operator(s): K4RO
Station: K4RO
Class: Single Op QRP
QTH: TN
Operating Time (hrs): 24
Summary:
Band QSOs
------------
160: 0
80: 86
40: 322
20: 222
15: 86
10: 9
------------
Total: 725 Sections = 79 Total Score = 114,550
Club: Tennessee Contest Group
Comments:
Another Cw Sweepstakes has come and gone.
This was my tenth year operating CW SS, and
all but one of those years have been full-time
efforts. 2005 marks my fourth year competing
in the QRP category, which I started doing at
the urging of W4PA. After placing 8th in 2002
and 4th in 2003, I finally won the contest last
year. Scott said now I had to repeat the performance
in order to prove that last year's win wasn't just a
fluke. Well Scott (and Mike NZ) I tried my best.
We'll see how the numbers fall out.
I feel that QRP CW SS is the one major contest that I
can actually win from my station, so it gets more of my
attention. This is something that the major DX contests
lack in my opinion. Unlike SS, the vast majority of
participants in a DX contest simply don't have a prayer
of competing for the top awards. It's less appealing to
the average station owner-operator who wants to compete.
I guess that's why we have the NAQP, Sprint and Sweepstakes
contests. I love operating all contests, but having a shot
at winning from my own station makes the CW SS contest even
more interesting to me.
It felt like I worked much harder this year for a lower
score. The station played great and the operator was on
his game, but the conditions were tough, especially at QRP.
The deadly tornadoes and associated storms in KY and IN meant
that our domestic low band advantage here in TN was pretty much
gone. The myriad of SMC and W9'ers were all under tremendous
QRN static crashes. Eighty meters was pretty useless at QRP,
unlike last year when Alaska answered my 5 watt CQ calls.
I heard VY1JA Saturday night on 20m, but could not break the
pileup despite 15 minutes of focused trying (and no other QSOs.)
Never heard J again the entire contest, despite very agressive
searching and beaming CQ's Northwest. No sweep this year.
Thanks for being there again J! Maybe catch you next year.
Saturday night was so tough that I was almost 150 QSO's down from
last year's score at 0800z. I thought of quitting, but that's not
what CW SS is about to me. Conditions improved enough on Sunday
that it felt like less of a grind than usual. Forty improved a
lot as the contest went on, and I felt loud on that band. The
rotatable omega-matched boom dipole and wire yagi NE really play
well with five watts of power. The last 90 minutes brought the
best run of the contest, including a few TCGers who got on at
the last minute to hand out some points. It was a great way to end.
Thanks again to everyone for toughing it out and hanging in
there with me for each QSO. I know how tough it is to be on
the receiving end of a QRP QSO. Thanks to all of the great
operators and competitors. It's a great little game we have here.
73
-Kirk K4RO http://www.k4ro.net
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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