Bob, K3MQ, wrote:
> I thought I had done fairly well. Several times near
> the end I swept the band and was hard pressed to find
> someone not in the log. Afterwards I saw the claimed
> scores. A ham abt 300 miles south of me just cleaned
> my clock (1017 q's vs 651).
Bob,
I really enjoyed reading your post. It reminded me of back when I got
hooked on contesting. I had the best time in the 1972 Sweepstakes. I
worked my butt off and made, I think it was, 71 QSOs.
Like you, I remember the exact thing you describe - that of tuning up and
down the band late in the contest and being convinced there was nobody left
to work.
I'm still not sure exactly what it was that I didn't understand, but I can
tell you absolutely for sure that I had such a great time that I couldn't
wait until the next year. Next year I did better, etc. I got on the "local
serious contest guy radar," and a couple years later (1975) the Southern
California Contest Club was founded. I was invited.
In 1976 I came in 2nd in LAX with nearly 1000 QSOs. I was guest-operating
the (quite nice) home station of the guy (W6RTT) who was guest opping a
really big LAX station (W6RR), hoping to win it. Guest operating is a good
way to get louder than you are at home.
I really can't tell you what happened between 1972 and 1976, except to say
that I was hooked and more hooked, and when I look back, it's obvious I
didn't work everyone in the contest to a whopping total of 71 QSOs like I
had thought. There are a lot of reasons you can tune the band and not find
anyone new to work - in your case, the other guy's KT36XA at 70 feet is only
the tip of the iceberg, trust me.
Welcome to the game, Bob. Just love it, keep getting into the fray, join a
contest club (if you haven't already), and the rest will take care of
itself. Congrats on your 651 QSOs. It takes a serious and dedicated
operator to make 651 QSOs in ANY contest. Keep it up!
Mark, N5OT
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