[3830] KK7GW SS CW SOLP

Mon Nov 9 09:24:38 EST 1998

                            SWEEPSTAKES SUMMARY SHEET

    Contest Dates : 07-Nov-98, 08-Nov-98, 09-Nov-98

    Callsign Used : KK7GW
         Operator : KK7GW

         Category : Single Operator/Low Power

 Default Exchange : # A KK7GW 95 WWA

        Team/Club : Western Washington DX Club

   BAND   Raw QSOs   Valid QSOs   Points   Mults   
 __________________________________________________

   80CW       29          29         58       3 
   40CW      159         156        312      12 
   20CW      225         224        448      44 
   15CW       10          10         20       4 
   10CW       18          18         36       7 
 __________________________________________________

 Totals      441         437        874      70 

    Final Score = 61180 points.

    Hours of operation: 21.1
    Power out: 100 watts

Equipment: Kenwood TS-530 + VFO-240, Timewave DSP-9, TR-log 6.32

Antennas: 20m dipole at 25 feet, 40m dipole at 13 feet.

Soapbox:  All in all, a strange contest.  Personal best for me, tripled 
last year's 190X50 score.  Saturday was great, and Sunday was poor, like 
everyone's said.

Missed NNy, Ms, Me, Pr, Nl, Mar, Sk, Yt, Que.  Of those heard only Me, 
Nny (K2NNY S&P'ing on 10, but never came back to me) and Pr (KP2A CQ'ing 
his brains out the last 10 minutes on 40 but never heard me).

Also heard VE5MX and VY1A...but AFTER the contest, on 3830.

Being the doom and gloom predection guy, I decided to start on 20.  Had 
been listening to 10/15 in the morning, KH6/W1WEF was 599 +10 on 20, and 
only 559 on 15, and K4BAI was 449 on 15 as opposed to 589 on 20, so that 
helped with my decision.

Got back from errands with my parents at 2000z, gee 20 sounds all nice 
and clear.   Started CQ'ing on 14036.5, got quite a few answers, then 
around 2015z I get a call from NH6D/KH4 on Midway!  That woke me up!  
First KH4 on CW, so that was fun.  WL7KY and N0SS called in with 10 
minutes to go, 'KY had pretty bad flutter but was loud, so I figured I 
could work AK easily.  N0SS had just come from 15 and said things were 
pretty bad, which again affirmed my decision to start on 20.

2 minutes to go, I finish a CQ, and what do I hear?  That's right, a B 
power 5 station CQ'ing under me (or rather, on top of me).  Tried to 
stick with it, but 15 seconds before it was evident that with a fairly 
low dipole and 100 watts I wasn't gonna cut it with another station with 
me.

Oh well, back to the old stand-by, S&P, while looking for a clear spot.  
Picked up 9 Q's in the first 10 minutes, all S&P.  I then realized how 
chaotic 20 was, and popped up to 15 to peek, picking off a few stations 
and having a couple call me.  Up to 10 briefly at 21:29z, pick up a few.  
10 isn't good, neither is 15.  Okay, back to 20.

S&P my way up the band, finally found a clear spot on 14065.8.  Boom, 
the run starts.
And it quickly dies.  End the first hour with only 30, half of what I 
wanted.

Started to do a little 2 VFO work...CQ way up the band on VFO 1, find a 
guy to call lower in the band on VFO 2, pop back to VFO 1 to send SS 
KK7GW, back to #2 and dump in my call, work the guy, back to #1 and CQ, 
etc.

Back up to 15 and 10 for brief excursions, get a few people to call, but 
nothing quite like 20.
End of 2 hours only 62, while I'd wanted 100.  Finally I got a run freq 
on 20 at 23:30z, and boy did they come.  23z hour was the best of the 
contest with 42, with 70% of those in the last half hour.  Kept the run 
going at 30-35/hr until 00:21z when I got squeezed off.

Finally went to 40 at 01:24 after a brief look earlier, my strategy was 
to stay on 20 as long as possible.  S&P'd up the band, finally got a run 
going wayyy up at 7081.6, with RTTY QRM every once in a while.  Stuck 
with it, with 01z 02z and 03z bringing in 24, 25, and 32.  04z took a 
brief trip to 80, then ran on 7076 for a bit until it dried up.  Decided 
to take a 1/2 hr break 
and came back refreshed at 05:11z.  Interesting to note, at that point I 
was at 235 Q's, already past last year.

Bounced between 40 and 80 CQ'ing and S&P'ing until I decided to pack it 
in at 08:21z.  Was at 282 at that point.  My goal before the flares was 
500 Q's, at the start I reset to 450.  I figured I still had a good 
chance of it when I went to bed.

Tactical mistake of the contest: sleeping too long.  I'd had trouble 
sleeping Friday night, only got 4 hours, and in my slumber managed to 
reset the alarm a couple times until I'd slept 5 hours instead of the 3 
I wanted.  Uh oh, and now it's time to do my paper route too.  Worked a 
couple guys before going out to deliver, finally got back at 15:56z, 
what do you know...TR says I've been off 8:05, so I'd better rock and 
roll now.

Dismal, dismal, dismal Sunday.  Actually went back to 40 at 16:09z, 
something I'd told myself beforehand I would not do.  Back to 20 at 
16:25, eventually found a run freq wayyyy up there, around 14085, and 
just sat there with the auto-cq'er.  Had 18 in the 16z hour, 16 for 17z.  
Things started to pick up at 1800z, maybe 20 was really going to open.  
Picked up 15 in 45 minutes, only to be told by my parents that I had to 
go to church this weekend after all.

Nice of them to tell me after I'd already blown the off-time management.  
Finally back at 2032z with the thought that this would just be an 
extended Sprint.

Wow, 20 is PACKED!!!!  I S&P'd up the band, finally got to 14095.7, and 
started to run.  I actually got answers!  They didn't come fast, but I 
got them.  Slowly slid down to 14090, trying to get as far down as I can 
but still having a clear freq.  Gave it up at 0013z hoping to still hit 
450 QSO's.  Down to 14000, boom, there's WP3R for a mult.

Then down to 40, S&P through the band there, a quick 5 minute run for 2 
Q's way up the band, down to 80 at 0140z.  Last hour and 20 minutes was 
spent with the cq-er and looking for any new people.  Only had 9 the 
last hour to finsh just short of my 450 goal.

I guess I made this really long!  Thanks for reading, whoever does, and 
see you all in Phone SS, don't know where, and I don't know under what 
call, but I'm gonna do it, from home if it comes to that.  That'll be 
interesting...phone tests are tough from home.

Then the fun one, CQ WW CW from the M/M at W7RM!

Thanks for the Q's...73

David Jones, KK7GW   
kk7gw at hotmail.com

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