[3830] KK1L SOHP UNAssisted ARRL SSB Contest

[Ronald D Rossi]

SOHP UNAssisted
KK1L    25     117504     295     136

   BAND   Raw QSOs   Valid QSOs   Points   Countries
 _____________________________________________________

   80SSB      45          43        120        26 
   40SSB      70          69        207        36 
   20SSB     148         147        432        54 
   15SSB      37          35        105        20 
   10SSB       1           1          0         0 
 ______________________________________________________

 Totals      301         295        864       136 

 25.25 hours operating time

    Final Score = 117504 points.

 Ten-Tec Omni-D
 Collins 30L-1
 Butternut HF-6V


Soapbox:

Well this is my first time running with an amplifier in a contest. My 30L-1 
was running on pretty much three tubes for 600W output. The PA was working 
well until I turned it on after my Sunday morning sleep...lost the only 
remaining original electrolytic. I'll tell you nearly screaming in frustration 
with 100W PEP is NOTHING like 600W! With the PA I found that under contest 
conditions my output at least met my hearing capability. I thought that with 
so few responses to my CQs that I was being quite the alligator...all the 
reports of poor conditions have convinced me otherwise.

The contest was at it's worst VERY frustrating. I quit Sunday afternoon after 
I noticed that I hadn't made a Q in an hour (well there was one dupe in 
there)! 21 Qs in 2.5 hours...not for lack of trying mind you! I might have 
just roughed it out until the end if I hadn't gotten so little sleep the week 
prior (5 hours was my best night all week)...I just could not keep my eyes
open. ENOUGH EXCUSES. Real contesting is not for sissies who complain about
sleep deprivation! Whip me with a rg174-o-nine tails! Actually I should rig
up some sort of something in my chair to shock me awake when the rate falls
too low. :-)

Nearly the most exciting moment of the contest came when my wife came running 
into the shack Saturday morning at 13:15Z telling my that my ambulance crew 
was calling from the bay wondering if I was going to be responding to the call 
we just got! What...huh...on duty!?!?!? Am I dreaming!?! Holy sh#@! So much 
for the EU off to a different kind of run and PRONTO...unresponsive male...not 
a good thing to miss being the crew chief and only advanced tech on the crew! 
IV ringers lactate with 50mg D50 bolus and a quick ride to the hospital later
and I'm back on the air. Diabetics are just about our most dramatic calls.
No more calls until early Sunday morning which actually woke me out of bed
early. It was a milk run (frequent flyer) and resulted in a pair of KH8's 
I would not have gotten otherwise.

-- 
73 de KK1L ex N1PBT...ron (rrossi at btv.ibm.com) <><
Ron Rossi H/P SRAM Engineering -- IBM Microelectronics









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