ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, SSB
Call: K1EP
Operator(s): K1EP
Station: K1IR
Class: Single Op LP
QTH: EMA
Operating Time (hrs): 22
Summary:
Band QSOs
------------
160:
80: 270
40: 264
20: 111
15: 64
10: 0
------------
Total: 709 Sections = 79 Total Score = 112,022
Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club
Comments:
This contest started out poorly due to precontest setup. I tried to set up the
station for SO2R using a commercially available SO2R box with the two radios
that were available, a 7800 and K3. I brought another computer to use so as to
not disturb the normal contesting computer at the station, and that also
introduced some unexpected problems. In addition, I had to fit my K3 into the
station setup which meant interfacing to an automatic band switching device.
That was the first problem to solve. After debugging the commercial band
decoder, I found that the wipers of the rotary band switch were not making
contact and therefore the box was not powered. After fixing that and finding
the band decoder cable I had built for the K3 for Field Day, that issue was put
to rest. On Friday, I spent a few hours trying to get the SO2R box to operate
in some sort of usable way. The problem ended up to be two problems. First
the LPT port on the new computer was not configured properly (needed to be
ECP), and the PTT output driver on the SO2R box was not properly keying the K3.
That was a strange problem, in that it would key the radio, but then when it
went to unkey the radio it would not release the SO2R box. The radio would
unkey, but the audio in the SO2R box would remain on the alternate radio. I
wired up a buffer relay to go between the SO2R box and K3 and all was well.
Only 5 minutes left before the start of the contest!! No time for a needed nap
or to practice using the SO2R setup. Needless to say, the contest started off
on a bad foot. The first couple of hours my rate was lousy, as I tried to get
used to the new setup. I didn't really do much SO2R at that time anyway, but I
had to get into the proper mental state after dealing with all the problems
(there were others too). On the bright side, I thought my multiplier luck was
doing well, at least at the beginning. In the first hour, I worked VE4, SD,
KL7, and VY1. I had thought that VY1 was going to be the usual tough one, but
VY1EI was found running on 20M (Thanks!!) and I worked him in the first call or
two. With that out of the way, I thought everything else would be easy. I was
wrong on that. I moved to 40M in the second hour and worked some semi rare
sections, like SC (four in less than 10 minutes) and then two VI stations in a
row. I moved down to 75M in the third hour and found some good runs after a
while, both on 75M and 40M. At one point I had a good run going, when I
received some intentional QRM. That killed the run and I apologize to the
station who I was trying to exchange info with, as we never did complete that
QSO. By early morning, I was ahead of my goals for rate and about even or
slightly behind on mults. Some mults started to stand out as being elusive.
Like RI, VE7, VE5, and KP4. As usual, when you finally find that mult, you
end up working multiple ones after the first one. For example, I worked four
more VE7s right after the first one. Then I was down to the last two, VE5 and
KP4. I had heard both doing S&P during the contest and tried to snag them with
no luck. I chased Sam around a little but couldn't get him. I spent way too
much time Sunday afternoon trying to find those two mults. Finally I found
VE5ZX. Now to find KP4. There was a KP4 high in the band on 20 Sunday
afternoon who apparently got on after someone called him. I don't think I
heard him identify with his call, but he was handing out low serial numbers and
was a bit unsure of his check. He let you guess that, not committing to one
particular year. The pileup sounded like white noise. After a short time, he
went away, probably a bit shaken with trying to deal with the unruly pileup.
Apparently there were other KP4s on at times, but since I didn't realize that
it was going to be a problem, I didn't seek it out earlier in the contest. So,
I was left without a sweep. I got very discouraged late Sunday afternoon
because of this. I made about 10Qs in the last two hours of operating and left
another two hours on the table. Realistically, if I took those four hours and
had even a modest rate of say 30 or 40 an hour, I would have made more points
than the last two mults would have given me. Why do we chase those silly
coffee mugs? I don't even drink coffee!!
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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