ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, CW
Call: K7GK
Operator(s): K7GK
Station: K7ZSD
Class: Single Op HP
QTH: OR
Operating Time (hrs): 24
Radios: SO2R
Summary:
Band QSOs
------------
160:
80: 122
40: 441
20: 403
15: 238
10:
------------
Total: 1204 Sections = 80 Total Score = 192,640
Club: Willamette Valley DX Club
Comments:
I was back at the Smoke Ranch a week after a fun M/2 in WW SSB and a year after
my first SS attempt from K7ZSD's. Surprisingly, going from low to high power
didn't make me feel much louder. 15 wasn't nearly as good this year from up here
and 10 didn't seem worth it at all after a quick check Sunday around noon. In
fact the rates were frightfully close for a few hours in the beginning:
'04 Low Power
HOUR 80CW 40CW 20CW 15CW 10CW TOTAL ACCUM
---- ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ----- -----
21 0 0 0 64 17 81 81
22 0 0 0 80 1 81 162
23 0 0 15 41 0 56 218
0 0 11 47 3 0 61 279
1 0 72 0 0 0 72 351
'05 High Power
HOUR 80CW 40CW 20CW 15CW TOTAL ACCUM
---- ------ ------ ------ ------ ----- -----
21 0 0 22 60 82 82
22 0 0 38 44 82 164
23 0 1 54 6 61 225
0 0 20 43 0 63 288
1 0 77 0 0 77 365
If 15 times more power just made up for propagation decline in one year, what am
I to do in 2006??
Before the contest I had a feeling that the NL is going to be the toughest
section to get. I just didn't realize exactly how hard. The only station heard
was VO1HP (I'm really surprised to find out that there were several NL stations
around). He was really light and the pile-up was out of control - people calling
non-stop without listening, carriers, the works. I wrote down the frequency on
the piece of paper and was fortunate to come back later. He was up to about S6
and I got through after a few tries. After that I haven't heard another VO
station. All this meant that my run radio had to be on a band other than 20 for
a while, which resulted in a loss of rate since 15 wasn't producing.
All in all it was great fun. Power outage due to bad weather made it a little
exciting. Thankfully, Brad's place has a back-up generator and the contest went
on pretty much uninterrupted. The down side was that one of the rotator boxes
didn't like the power surge and for a while the 40M and the upper 20M beams were
not pointing where they should have been.
And what's up with those who spot you with a wrong section? I know, it's mostly
my fault for using my own call from a QTH in a different state. But would it be
an issue if QRZ.com and other on-line callbooks weren't around? I wonder how
many fills could have been avoided. And I'm generally in favor of packet and
certainly appreciate the spots.
Once again, many thanks to Brad and Ruth for great hospitality.
Denis - K7GK
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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