WB0O SSB SS

[Bill Straw]

WB0O SO HP

458 X 64 = 58624

Two days of hoarfrost and freezing rain has made my qth
look like those pictures from the top of Mt. Washington.
The beams,verts, and inv-v's all have 5:1 SWR's in the
phone bands.

Started on 20, where a tuner managed to get the 3-yagi
array (SE,S,SW) to load up. I was limited to 600W, any
more caused RF to get into the voice keyer and computer.
I ran a separate ground outside for the tuner but it did
not help.

I had a good start, 380 Q's at 0000Z, but felt like the
signal was weak, people were moving in right on top of me.
Either the beams were iced into a single electrical blob
with no actual resonant frequency, or my meager 600W was
split too much, or the logistics of 1500 contesters all
starting on the same 200 khz made for a crowd. Probably
all the above.

When I made the move to 40M I was shocked to find an S9
continuous QRN on 40M and also on 80M! I ran to the window
and saw a total white out blizzard. 4-squares made of
Rohn 25 don't handle snow static very well. I made a few
Q's, but the anticipation of 8 hours of S9 QRN made me
give it up and go watch TV with the family.

We only got 4 inches of snow, but the 20 MPH NW winds made
for a ground blizzard up until 2100Z this afternoon. The
temp is only 2 F now, I hope the ice somehow melts off
before CQWWCW.

I think I'm a bit overdosed right now. I'm not sure why
the 4 biggest contests of the year are all crammed into a
30 day period in November, but after a 40 hour effort in
CQWWSSB, a full 24 hours in SSCW, I mainly gave up on
this test so I wouldn't use up any enthusiasm for a 40+
hour effort in CQWWCW.

73 BILL WB0O in the tundra land of North Dakota


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