[3830] N6MU CQWW CW SOAB QRP - The Iceman Cometh!!

[N6MU1 at aol.com]

                          1998 CQ WW CW SUMMARY SHEET


    Callsign Used : N6MU (@N6NB)
         Operator : N6MU

         Category : Single Operator, All Band, QRP

 Default Exchange : 599 3

        Team/Club : SCCC


   BAND   Raw QSOs   Valid QSOs   Points   Countries   Zones
 ___________________________________________________________

   80CW       52          52        133        17        16
   40CW      110         110        302        46        22
   20CW      185         185        533        68        29
   15CW      204         204        578        70        28
   10CW      249         249        705        65        25
 ___________________________________________________________

 Totals      800         800       2251       266       120


    Final Score = 868886 points.

What a weekend! My original plan was to operate 10 meters only as
Wayne(N6NB) and I were going to spend Friday taking down the 40, 20
and 15 meter monobanders before the first big winter storm which was
supposed to arrive Saturday. We were leaving the new 10 meter
monobander for the upcoming Ten Meter Contest. Unfortunately the
winds were too high Friday to do any tower climbing so I switched
gears and decided to do an all band QRP effort like I did for the SSB
version. Conditions were great and all was going well through
midnight Saturday when I took a sleep break. It snowed most of the
day Saturday and the high winds never stopped all weekend. When I got
back on about 4 AM Sunday 40 meters sounded strange and I was only
able to make about 10 Qs the first hour and each was a struggle. That
should have been a clue that something was amiss but I struggled on
until dawn when I went out to gas up the generator. I couldn't
believe what I saw. There had obviously been a severe ice storm
during the night. The 2 el 40 meter beam looked like a pretzel. One
end of the boom was bent down at a 90 degree angle and one of the
element ends had broken off. All that was left of the 15 meter beam
was the boom as all four elements had broken off and were somewhere
in the bushes. The 20 meter beam was still intact but all four
elements were no longer horizontal. One was almost vertical and no
two were alike. The 10 meter beam wasn't damaged but was so iced up
it wouldn't load. The whole gamma match area was completely
encapsulated in ice. The 80 meter inverted vee had it's entire length
encapsulated in a quarter inch of ice. Why it didn't break under all
that weight and wind I'll never know. My first thought was that the
contest was over for me as I had no antennas. Then I remembered the
A4 tribander which had previously been heavily reinforced as this
wasn't the first ice storm. It survived and I used it all day Sunday
even though the SWR was fluctuating wildly in the wind. If the 10
meter beam survives for two more weeks and I can get up the mountain
I plan to operate the Ten Meter Contest. After that we are QRT until
spring with a mountain of antenna repair work to do. And you thought
you had antenna problems? 73...

High Point: Working 6V6U on 80 when I thought I had no chance.

Low Point: Not working a loud VU2 on 20 who called many CQs with no
           answers and just couldn't hear me. 

John, N6MU 

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