WA2STM CW SS SOLP

[John Lash]

                      Subject:                              Time:  15:25
  OFFICE MEMO         WA2STM CW SS SOLP                     Date:  11/4/96

1996 ARRL November Sweepstakes, CW, WA2STM, Single Op, Low Power

Operator:  WA2STM


Band    QSOs
==============
80      x
40      xx
20      xx
15      67

Total:  822 x 74 ====> 121,656

Club:  YCCC

Comments:  This marks my 19th consecutive CW SS, and I'll only be turning 31 on
my birthday this month.  With a precedent (pun intented) like that established,
I can't stop now.  I think by the time I'm 65 or 70 I should have some kind of a
record, right Randy?

This year's effort started out as the contest from hell.   I live in Fairfield,
CT and after a hectic week of long hours at work I finally set out for my
station at the folks' house in ENY on Friday at 10pm.  Got as far as Danbury and
fell asleep at the wheel, so I spent the night at a friends' place.  After an
unacceptably little 5 hours sleep, hit the road again, stopping at the diner and
then the hardware store for some nylon string to put up my 20 meter secret
weapon -- a 4 ele wire yagi on a 48' (imaginary) boom, which I planned to have
strung up no later than 1900z, allowing me some time for a nap and to get the
station ready.  Alas, two of the four existing antenna supports had grown into
the tree and couldn't be used, so they had to be re-shot.  I shoot an arrow over
the tree with fishing line tied to the arrow, lower the arrow to the ground, tie
the nylon to the end of the monofilament, and up goes the support line.   Got
one up and the fishing reel bought the farm.  Somehow managed to get the other
one up, and raised the antenna (no small feat, since it is over the house and
tower).  It's only 2010z!  I have almost an hour to collect my thoughts and get
the station ready.  It could be worse...  

Woops! (actual expletive deleted to protect the young) -- It is.  Something
doesn't seem right... The antenna is fixed southeast instead of southwest!  Back
down she comes, this time just onto the roof of the house.  I play musical
chairs with the support lines and my dad hoists it back up while I guide it
around the 15 beam.  There, now I'm on target for NTX and AZ.

It's now 2055z.  Contest starts in 5 min, and I still have to bring the coax
into the house, turn on the PC, answer all those questions CT has to ask me,
figure out what band I'm going to start on, clear off some space at the
operating position so I can find the radio and paddle, etc.  Not to mention get
a little CW practice, because the last time I heard any CW was last November. 
(See how lucky you are just by having a station at your own house?)

Thanks to watching all those Indy-500's, managed to connect all the right wires
(and locate a set of headphones!) and log the first qso at 2107.  Chose 15m
because I remembered someone saying they worked a VE8 there at the start last
year.    Bad idea - never did find the VE8.  Had a pitiful running rate, and
seemed to be having a hard time cutting through when doing S&P.  After a couple
hours I knew I was just tired and mad, and took a 30 min nap to rejuvenate.  It
didn't help, and at 0315z I threw in the towel and went to sleep without setting
an alarm.  At 0600z I awoke spontaneously and said to myself, "What the hell am
I doing?  The SS is happening!! I gotta get in there and show 'em what I got!" 
(If you can believe that, I have a bridge to sell ya...) 

At any rate (no pun intended that time), I had a bowl of cereal (which turned
out to be my last meal for the contest), and got back on the air.  I just ran 80
until it wouldn't run no mo', then did the same on 40.  Even through the
horrendous QRN (my next qth will allow for beverages), I managed to do quite
well all night just staying on 80.  Having just one radio made band changes real
easy - I just didn't do too many.  I decided to forget about mults and just go
for maximum Q's, trusting god to send me the mults.   To some extent it worked,
as PQ, AB, and SK all called me.  But I never did get calls from VE8, KL7, KH6
or WY.  Bet I'm not the only one.  If I had thought I was going to make a more
serious effort and have a competitive score, I would have searched for the
mults, but psychologically I had already sort of given up on doing well, so I
was just going for the qso number since it was easier.  

I made it a goal to reach 700, which I've always thought was pretty respectable
from the Northeast with Low Power.  As I started to see that 700 was attainable,
I made my goal 800 instead, and CQ'd my butt off to keep the rate at what I
needed to get there.  The result was a score that I am pretty proud of - a
personal best and hopefully perhaps even strong enough to win my first division
plaque on CW.  


Main reasons I did better than previous years: 

1) Activity level was up.  Way up.  What a pleasure!  Some good ops among those
95'ers too!
2) First time since getting the new radio that I tried using just one radio. 
Avoided the confusion and switching problems and brain fade that I had in
previous 2-rig years.  (I know a TS-830S may not be new to you, but it is to me.
 I used to use Heathkit twins.)
3) The 20 meter beam, though not rotatable, made me feel real loud and allowed
me to actually CQ on 20 meters.
4) Once I decided I was going to buckle down and work hard, I didn't eat. 
Eating makes you drowsy.  It also makes you have to stop for bathroom breaks.  
5) I think I was able to successfully channel the negative energy and anger of
only being allowed (by my parents) to put up 28 feet of tower into positive
energy calling CQ and pulling out the weak ones through the Texas muck.
 
Station:  TS-830S + VFO-230S,  386sx clone w/CT ver. 8.

Antennas:  80- dipole at 50' (just right),  40- inv vee at 50' (too high), 20- 4
ele wire yagi fixed 240 degrees at 50' (played real well),  15- 4el yagi
(15-4CD) at 35' (always a winner).
 
73, John WA2STM




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