ARRL 10-Meter Contest
Call: K1TO
Operator(s): K1TO
Station: K1TO
Class: SO CW HP
QTH: FL
Operating Time (hrs): 35
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
CW: 2656 155
SSB:
-------------------
Total: 2656 155 Total Score = 1,646,720
Club: Florida Contest Group
Comments:
A weekend of ups and downs, but the ups won out and I had a lot of fun, so
mission accomplished.
I've been whining for years about the man-made QRN, so shame on me for not
being able to get it nailed down yet. It took just 30 minutes for the noise to
appear on Friday evening. Even with both NBs engaged, it was S8 to the entire
eastern half of the rotator. But I discovered that by pointing the 6L at
exactly 330 deg, I could null out the noise and improve the signal-to-noise
ratio enough to work stations in other directions (which was mainly NNE Friday
evening). Heard others with better Es on Friday evening, but not a terrible
start with 182 Qs in the log.
Saturday AM, the noise was still there, but the NBs were now effective against
it, so for the first 2 hours of working EU, the NBs were engaged. On the
FT1000MP, that has the effect of distorting signals and allowing QRM in from
the sides, but it was better than not working anything at all. By mid morning,
I discovered that the NBs weren't needed any longer, so the rest of Saturday
went normally. First IL was QSO #681. Had WAS by 2008Z.
But the Asian opening was really poor Saturday afternoon/evening. A review of
the solar indices shows the K was up to 5 at times on Saturday. We didn't feel
it to EU, but apparently the auroral zone dipped just low enough to affect the
NW path. Others further west reported no such degradation.
Adding insult to injury, the noise was back with a vengeance and the band died
much earlier than the first night. After an hour of off time, then a few
minutes of tuning a dead band, I was ready to pack it in. Moments before
taking off the headphones, the band suddenly came alive a bit with VE3DZ 599.
With the beam again in its fixed NNW position to beat the noise, over 100 Qs
trickled into the log from all over the eastern half of the USA. Haven't made
QSOs after 0600Z in any recent year, but made 10 QSOs in that hour before going
to sleep with 1573.
Sunday morning, the noise was gone again and signals perked up from EU right on
time. Sunday ended up being very solid, with over 1000 QSOs added to the total.
The most fun was the last two hours when the Asians arrived. Thanks to the
many JAs who went to work late on Monday AM to work us. In a 3-minute stretch,
HL, YB and BY called in. (BG2AUE had CQed on my freq on Saturday night, but was
barely audible.) Almost 200 QSOs in the 22/23Z hours combined (vs. 100 day
one). And all of the XE2 mults that I had heard earlier in the contest were
worked as well.
The only mult heard and not worked was TK5MH who was heard calling others. Did
miss a number of fairly common mults, but reasonably happy overall. Only used
the 2nd VFO this time and no 2nd rig.
Other comments:
- With WRTC-2014 just 5 months ago, it's great to say hello again to so many
attendees on the air and visualize their smiling faces instead of the otherwise
homogenous stream of CW.
- Noticed quite a few crummy signals this time, leaking in through the filters
(yes, during non-NB usage). Combination of clicks, poorly-tuned amps and other
oddities
- Good amount of W4s and eastern W5s logged, but never real loud, so not likely
Es
- 8 XE states logged
- How about 4 DCs?! Worked at least 3 of every US.
- Great to work Jay, VY1JA late Sunday after missing VY1 in SS CW
- No UA9s (did work two 4Ks and two VUs, along with some UA0s for the mult)
- HC2AO was counted incorrectly as an HC8 mult, so this claimed score is
slightly inflated
- I always keep a little notepad of calls heard but not worked during ARRL 10.
That list was shorter than in other years, but still interesting to see dozens
of calls missed. Unfortunately, W1WMU (my CQ WW CW host from 2 weeks ago) is
on that list.
- Peak 60-minute rate was 182 to EU.
- With K1TN now living in the same county, I'm getting "Hi Jim"
comments again. That had stopped for years. Coincidence?
Thanks to everyone for taking time out of the busy holiday season to get on the
air and enjoy another FB 10-M test.
Wishing everyone a Merry Xmas (or happy holiday) and a very happy 2015!
vy 73, Dan
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