[3830] '98 NAQP SSB KQ2M

[Robert L. Shohet]

KQ2M S/O 6:49 Operating Time

Exchange: Bob CT

10    7      5
15   77     26 
20  205     45  
40  131     40
80   60     27
160  55     24

    535    167    89,345

Preparation for this contest was a bit different than usual.  It
consisted of:

1) Prayer
2) Strenuous physical activity
3) Hard Hat

I know this sounds a bit unusual for pre-contest preparation, and NO I
was not doing tower work either!

In Southwestern CT we had our THIRD major ice storm.  It is only fitting
that the first one (in November) was the day before SS Phone.  This one
came the day before NAQP SSB and coated everything with an inch of ice.
(In fact the ice persisted for 8 days until another snow/ice storm 
melted most of what was left this morning).

The prayer was for the sun and below freezing temps to melt the ice on
my wires (this did not help) and when this did not work I spent about an
hour wiggling, pulling, twisting etc. the antennas from the ground
trying to shake the ice off.  This really did not help either but
fortunately the hard hat came in handy as the little bit of ice that did
come off had quite a lot of force when falling from 50+ feet up!

Aside from the antennas resonating 500 Khz too low, I was down about 20
db from normal due to the icing and without the amp. it was almost
futile on 10 - 20.

40 was okay but went long too soon.  160 was relatively better than 80
(a bad sign!) because I made a major mistake by not changing the 80
meter 4-square wire lengths and phasing lines.  I tried to use the
cw-optimized 4-square on SSB as is instead of shortening the wires. This
DID NOT work and probably cost me more than 20 db.  If that wasn't bad
enough, the ice caused an S9+20 buzzing in all directions (the TS-940
noise blankers did not help) making it almost impossible to hear
stations calling on 80.

The last straw was being harassed by some tuners on 80 and 160 and
realizing that I was 30 - 40 db weaker than they were because of the
icing, detuned antennas and being barefoot.  Quite a humbling
experience!

Was quite impressed to hear all states except KL7, and most canadian
provinces.  Heard a total of 61 potential multipliers!

In the August '97 SSB NAQP three separate lines of of thunderstorms
forced me off the air. With the continuing weather problems in this NAQP
SSB, I am beginning to wonder if this is just a coincidence or if I am
being sent some sort of message?

It's really nice to see the activity level of the contest growing so
rapidly.  Look forward to seeing all of you in the next one
(weather permitting!).

73
Bob KQ2M

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