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[3830] SS SSB K2DRH SO Unlimited LP

To: 3830@contesting.com, k2drh@arrl.net
Subject: [3830] SS SSB K2DRH SO Unlimited LP
From: webform@b4h.net
Reply-to: k2drh@arrl.net
Date: Wed, 23 Nov 2016 23:59:55 +0000
List-post: <3830@contesting.com">mailto:3830@contesting.com>
ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, SSB

Call: K2DRH
Operator(s): K2DRH
Station: K2DRH

Class: SO Unlimited LP
QTH: IL
Operating Time (hrs): 

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
  160:     
   80:  190
   40:  656
   20:  268
   15:   64
   10:     
------------
Total: 1178  Sections = 83  Total Score = 195,548

Club: Society of Midwest Contesters

Comments:

Note to self: never plan on doing a serious contest effort 2 days back from a 2
month vacation especially when have to drive 1000 miles to get there.  Came
back to a mess with one wire antenna down and most of the RX antennas rendered
useless by squirrels. Better than last year when all my wires were down, coaxes
damaged by squirrels and I could not play at all! WX was nice for one day anyway
and got most things patched up as well as my yard cut (ridiculous that it would
need it in November!), my gutters cleaned out and dealt with some other
pressing issues (like N2KMA’s broken tooth and a screw in the car tire)
before the late Friday forecast rain.  In the station nothing wanted to
cooperate including myself when I was awoken too early on Saturday ,tired and
congested from a cold, by the guy who finally got my internet working again
(sort of ... it’s still intermittent but at least it held up during the
test).  My first real HF test with the new Flex 6700 and it was a bit of a
learning curve to get it all set up. In retrospect I’ll do it a lot
differently next time.    

By the time the test started I already felt beat up and like I needed a nap.
Working 15 and 20 meters with low power was like wading through cold oatmeal.
Having had no chance to listen to the bands beforehand was another big
disadvantage and I slogged around on 15 meters more than I should have. 20M was
tough to get any traction or any good rates going but 40 felt a lot better even
though my hourly rates never got much above 100.  Never seemed to have more
than one or two calling at any given time.  Had to take frequent short breaks
to keep myself together and then later realized one of my “10 minute”
breaks was over 25 minutes ... but not quite 30 … screwed the pooch on that
one!  One time the 6700 went offline and it was hell getting it back requiring
a reboot of both the rig and the computer (shoulda used the Maestro).  Went to
bed with a little over 500 Qs in the log, 3 short of a sweep and feeling pretty
crappy.

Usually I wake before the alarm but not this time. Five hours of sleep was more
than I usually allow and I still felt like I was underwater, but hit it as hard
as I could.  No real rate, it was slugfest for me all day and I had to take off
more time off than I really wanted to. I was able to make up some ground but it
was pretty painful for the most part and I often would get really hoarse
despite the voice keyer.  Had another sudden Flex crash in the middle of a QSO,
no clue why but it just required a radio reboot.  Was really surprised that all
day Sunday I was still getting fairly low serial numbers (mostly double digits)
and only got high numbers when I would tune around for a while on the other
VFO/slice. While my original goal was to better my 2014 score, I had to set a
much modified goal by Sunday morning to at least better last year’s top score
in my category and just barely squeaked that out in the last hour.  And while
that’s nowhere near good enough this year, at least it was a reasonable
effort to help fatten the SMC club totals.  I slept 14 hours on Monday. 

73 de Bob K2DRH


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