Stew Perry Topband Challenge
Call: VE3VN
Operator(s): VE3VN
Station: VE3VN
Class: Single Op QRP
QTH: FN24
Operating Time (hrs):
Summary:
Total: QSOs = 179 Total Score = 1,461
Club: Contest Club Ontario
Comments:
Well, that was interesting. I've never operated the Stew Perry contest before
and the rules intrigued me. I saw an opportunity to see what my new antenna
could do while giving a few "lucky" people a QRP bonus. So I blew the
dust
off my KX3 and hooked it up a little before the start of the RAC contest.
When 00Z rolled around I moved a few cables and was up and running on 160m
with 5 watts.
QRP on 160 is tough. Both for me & those trying to copy me. There are only
so many ways one can try to make copy easier for those making the effort.
Some never did hear me despite being very strong here. Yet I worked many
with quite weak signals. I made every attempt to work the furthest stations
to earn distance points, for me and for them. Sometimes it worked, though
most often it did not.
The toughest area to work was the west coast. I worked no CN or CM grids.
There seemed to be a brick wall running from west border of Arizona up
through Idaho. Working south and east was at least possible although
still difficult. I would keep returning to stations that couldn't copy
me hoping I'd eventually get lucky.
Going south I had only a little difficulty working NP2X and NP2J. It took
four tries until PJ2T could pull me through. I then turned my attention
to Europe. All evening the band was full of good strong signals from
Europe tempting me, though to no avail. I was patient. By around midnight
signals seems to rise an S-unit and I had my chance.
First in the log was TM6M. From there I worked across the continent. By
the points my furthest contact was SN7Q, with S59A and HG8DX almost as
far. I even got a partial copy by a Russian station. That I consider
an accomplishment despite not logging a QSO.
Then I'd had enough of the struggle and shut down for the night. Perhaps
I missed out on more DX. I got up a little before dawn to see if I could
have more luck to W6/7. But the same stations I'd called the previous
evening still couldn't copy me.
After working another QRPer who was running I decided to try that, too.
My one attempt in the evening netted nothing. This time I had quite a
nice run, drawing in stations from as far as DN (Colorado).
Overall it was a lot of fun. Better to be indoors contesting than
dealing with the frigid outdoors. See you in CQ 160. But not with QRP!
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
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