ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, SSB
Call: N6BV
Operator(s): N6BV
Station: N6RO
Class: Single Op HP
QTH: EB
Operating Time (hrs): 24
Radios: SO2R
Summary:
Band QSOs
------------
160:
80: 131
40: 675
20: 797
15: 295
10:
------------
Total: 1898 Sections = 80 Total Score = 303,680
Club: Northern California Contest Club
Comments:
ARRL SWEEPSTAKES -- 2008
Call: N6BV
Category: Single Operator
Power: High Power
Band: All Band
Mode: SSB
Section: EB
BAND QSO QSO PTS SECTIONS
160 0 0 -
80 131 262 -
40 675 1350 -
20 797 1594 -
15 295 590 -
10 0 0 -
-----------------------------------
Totals 1898 3796 80
Score: 303,680
N6RO antennas:
2-element 80-meter wire quads at 115 feet; 80-meter four square
4L40/4L40 on 40 meters, at 135/70 feet
5L20/5L20/5L20 on 20 meters, at 130/90/45 feet
6L15/6L15/6L15 on 15 meters, at 130/85/50 feet
5L10/5L10/6L10 on 10 meters: doesnâ??t matter now!
BREAKDOWN QSO/mults N6BV 2008 ARRL PHONE SWEEPSTAKES Single Operator
HOUR 160 80 40 20 15 10 HR TOT CUM TOT
21 ..... ..... ..... ..... 151/37 ..... 151/37 151/37
22 . . . 43/10 67/6 . 110/16 261/53
23 . . . 77/7 . . 77/7 338/60
0 . . 49/7 32/2 . . 81/9 419/69
1 . . 96/0 . . . 96/0 515/69
2 . . 106/3 . . . 106/3 621/72
3 . 1/0 49/2 . . . 50/2 671/74
4 . 3/0 67/0 . . . 70/0 741/74
5 ..... 2/0 95/1 ..... ..... ..... 97/1 838/75
6 . 60/1 26/0 . . . 86/1 924/76
7 . 41/0 22/1 . . . 63/1 987/77
8 . . . . . . . 987/77
9 . . . . . . . 987/77
10 . . . . . . . 987/77
11 . . . . . . . 987/77
12 . . . . . . . 987/77
13 ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... 987/77
14 . . 2/0 62/0 . . 64/0 1051/77
15 . . . 103/1 7/0 . 110/1 1161/78
16 . . . 5/0 67/0 . 72/0 1233/78
17 . . . 79/0 1/0 . 80/0 1313/78
18 . . . 65/0 . . 65/0 1378/78
19 . . . 101/0 1/1 . 102/1 1480/79
20 . . . 72/0 . . 72/0 1552/79
21 ..... ..... ..... 68/1 1/0 ..... 69/1 1621/80
22 . . 1/0 51/0 . . 52/0 1673/80
23 . . 2/0 39/0 . . 41/0 1714/80
0 . . 73/0 . . . 73/0 1787/80
1 . . 81/0 . . . 81/0 1868/80
2 . 24/0 6/0 . . . 30/0 1898/80
DAY1 . 107/1 512/14 639/20 294/44 . . 1552/79
DAY2 . 24/0 163/0 158/1 1/0 . . 346/1
TOT ..... 131/1 675/14 797/21 295/44 ..... ..... 1898/80
I started the contest rather bummed out. About 15 minutes before the starting
gun I noticed that the RF output from the second radio was way down. There was
no HV showing on my ancient homemade amplifier. The N6RO crew calls this
amplifier â??Beastie,â?? a term of endearment. (It actually uses an original
prototype 8877 Eimac tube.) Beastie is homely but it has always been very
reliable, with a single minor failure (a wire broke, due to fan vibration) in
more than 25 years of contest operation. What could be ailing my ancient
amplifier?
I checked the fuses inside the amplifier and even tried to substitute another
amplifier in its place, but with no luck. Something had to be wrong with the ac
power at that operating position. Unfortunately, Ken Keeler, N6RO, the owner of
the station, had just left for a music gig, so I ran out of time to do any
troubleshooting.
Things started out hot on 15 meters, so I really didnâ??t miss full SO2R for a
couple of hours until it was time to get down to 20. Then, I found a relatively
clear frequency on 20 meters using the second radio and then interchanged the
main radio (with its AL-1200 amplifier) with the second radio. The lockouts in
the automatic SO2R bandswitching system made this a bit of a juggling act.
Naturally, by the time I finally got the main radio set up on 20, the frequency
had become occupied. Sigh.
20 meters was wall-to-wall, as usual. I finally managed to wedge myself in
between two loud stations and established a run frequency. I figured that 5
over 5 over 5-element Yagis were going to be loud, and a number of stations
commented that I was indeed loud. However, it kept every measure of persistence
to keep holding onto that frequency. The slow QSB would leave some received
signals starting out strong when they first called, but then they would fade
into the background at some point during the long Sweepstake exchange. Or else
a loud â??Is this frequency in useâ?? would blast over the weak signals,
followed by a semi-panicked â??Yes, it is!â?? from me. Thank you to the patient
operators who had to repeat things three or four or five times until I got a
full exchange!
When Ken came back from his music gig about 7 hours into the contest, he
quickly found the problem circuit breaker and restored full SO2R operation. I
felt a lot better then but I was already behind my local competition.
Kenâ??s station is setup mainly for multi/multi contesting, with separate
towers for 40/20/15/10 meters and wires suspended from the towers for the other
bands. Since both Ken and I do Sweepstakes phone mainly to contribute to the
NCCC club competition (itâ??s not because we enjoy phone), he allows me to the
primary station in phone SS while he operates on a secondary basis. That way we
can generate two decent scores from the same 10 acres of land. As primary
station, I usually get the choice of which band to be operating on for any
particular time in the contest, but we try to maximize the overall score by
letting Ken have a hot band when I had pretty much worked it out.
While the sunspots remain low, there are generally only two bands open at any
time: 20 meters during the day (with occasional openings on 15 meters) and both
40 and 80 meters during the night. Ken has music obligations in the afternoon
and evening, so I get full use of the station until I retire for my six-hour
break after local midnight. Then Ken takes over during the wee hours until I
come back about 1400 UTC, 6 am local time. Then Ken goes to sleep and comes
back to secondary operation in the late afternoon. If Iâ??m on 20 meters at
that time, Ken will take 15 and vice-versa if Iâ??m on 15.
Sometime during the late afternoon, as I pressed F1 for my millionth plaintive
CQ on 20, I realized that Ken and I never actually work each other because we
donâ??t have an antenna on the band the other guy is using. So I found Kenâ??s
frequency on 15 meters (hint: he was loud!) and called him on a dummy load.
There was a brief pause while he figured out what was going on, followed by a
guffaw of amusement as we finally worked each other in SS phone for the first
time in the ten years weâ??ve been doing this dual operation from one QTH.
My thanks go to Ken and Jean for allowing me to use the magnificent facilities
at â??Radio Oakley,â?? aka N6RO in Oakley, CA.
Oh, yes. Go NCCC!
I sure heard a lot of Maryland and Virginia stations in PVRC land on the air,
and a whole lot of guys in SMC territory too.
73, Dean, N6BV
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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