ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, SSB
Call: VO1MP
Operator(s): VO1MP
Station: VO1MP
Class: Single Op HP
QTH: NL
Operating Time (hrs): 15
Summary:
Band QSOs
------------
160:
80: 33
40:
20: 483
15: 584
10:
------------
Total: 1100 Sections = 80 Total Score = 175,840
Club: East Coast Canada Contest Club
Comments:
Great conditions , hope it continues for CQWWCW ...lots of
activity,..Initially had planned to do all band , however persistently windy
weather here has delayed the work. At a general meeting of the Contest team
consisting of Project EngIneer - VO1MP and the Installation team - VO1MP and
the Operating Team VO1MP it was unanimously decided that in as much as the
inclement weather might only serve to jeopardize the well being of the operator
and success of the operation , all work would cease ..... following an
unsuccessful attempt to drag my 10 meter beam up a tower on saturday afternoon
during 60 to 70 mph gales with temps and wind chill about minus 10 C !! .. so
a modified approach to Sweeps would subsequently ensue.... meaning I would
recover from the aborted attempt lick my wounds and actually get some sleep and
do most of my operating on Sunday , in retrospect that might have been the best
plan ....and as promised to myself and others .........sitting and CQ'in would
be the rigueur du jour....for the most part the contest all went fairly
smooth apart from the fact that once again the high winds had managed to spin
my 20 meter antenna around on it's mast and it no longer indicated where it
actually pointed even after the recent re-orientation.. The strong winds had
once again realligned the positionning according to the wind direction... of
course Murphy is always lurking and turning the 15 meter beam in the high
winds had apparently taken it's toll on the old Tailtwister on that tower and
the indicator control packed it in !! fortunately beam headings are fairly
consistently west and WSW from here ...apart from beaming to KL7 , NP4 and
KH6.. of course in the process of attempting the 10 meter installation I had to
remove my 40 meter antenna..so that was another issue... soldier on ......of
course we are quite out of sync with North American Time zones here ... so
CQin on 15 and 20 only provided a couple of hours before the 15 Meter band
would close ...of course after dark it was still possible to work quite a few
close in Sections on 80 meters ...so 4 1/2 hours yielded about 400 Qs.. not
too bad I guess..CQin for the most part went fairly well with only a few
unruly pileups... the first 79 sections came fairly fast... however NP4 was
no where to be had from here .......many tuning excursions up and down 15 and
20 meters failed to produce any cq'in .......so I had resigned my self to
having no sweep even after a good start... so I then figured I would do mainly
S & P and concentrate on locating stations who might need NL.. there were
quite a few thankful ops who needed NL for THEIR sweep..so that is always a
feel good for me .....so then decided that I would quit at 1100 QSOs.....
sweep or no sweep hi ! In the process as I tuned down toward the bottom of
20 meters with 1097 QSOs in the log I stumbled across NP4Z CQin.. FORTUNATELY
I had not met my newly established quota of 1100 before finding my final
station for the sweep....nedless to say there was quite a pileup and after
many attempts at being heard ... I was beginning to wonder if I would break the
masses....needless to say the adrenalin was pumping and could not understand not
being able to break the pileup... ok so now let's rewind the tape and go back
to my rotator issue... I was beginnng think that either 1: it was a little too
late here or 2: my antenna was not pointed in the right direction .......
because it is now dark here I cannot see the 20 meter antenna from the
shack ...... so now it a becomes a bit of a comedy here ... I decide to
improve my abilty to confirm or determine exactly where the beam is pointed by
going outside to view the antenna positioning and tower .. kind of like , up
close and personal hi ! In my haste to get there I was totally absorbed
and focused on trying to see the antenna in the dark ...forgetting about any
on ground obstacles there might be in the path ... not the least of
which is my old shallow well between the house and the tower .... yep.. I
tripped over the well fell head first into it ..... skinned out my right
leg in the process .. fortunately the well is covered and the cover almost
reaches the inside top so while loss of life might not have been a
consequence loss of a sweep might have been ... a quick return to the shack
to realign the antenna and render myself some quick first aid and by that time
NP4Z is ready to go into my log for the sweep QSO number 1098 of my newly
established 1100 Q quota .... who says contesting is not a dangerous activity
..... !!
Thanks for all the QSOs
C'Y'ALL NEXT ONE
GLWCDR
73 Gus VO1MP
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