[3830] N5RZ NAQP CW SO

[Ralph Bowen]

                      1999 JANUARY CW NA QSO SUMMARY SHEET


    Contest Dates : 09-Jan-99, 10-Jan-99


    Callsign Used : N5RZ
         Operator : N5RZ

         Category : SINGLE OPERATOR

 Default Exchange : GATOR TX

 Team Affiliation : Team Handkey

             Name : Ralph E. Bowen
          Address : P O Box 10465
   City/State/Zip : Midland, TX 79702
          Country : United States



   BAND   Raw QSOs   Valid QSOs   Points   Mults           Antenna
 __________________________________________________

  160CW       33          33         33      17         80M Dipole @ 70'

   80CW      107         107        107      40         80M Dipole @ 70'

   40CW      109         109        109      38         40M Hamstick on
Garage (MagMount)
   20CW      194         193        193      49         20M Hamstick on
Garage (MagMount)
   15CW       88          88         88      35         80M Dipole @ 70'

   10CW       53          53         53      25         80M Dipole @ 70'

 __________________________________________________

 Totals      584         583        583     204


    Final Score = 118,932 points.

Rig: Yaesu FT920  90-100W    486 Laptop  TR Version 6.31


This has always been one of my favorite contests, but other commitments
and lack of station have kept me away from a serious effort for several
years now.  In fact, I was only planning a part time effort so I could
watch some football.

Right now, my house is on the market, so all the feedlines & control
cables have been taken down.  Although the antennas are up, there are no
working rotators thanks to a lightning hit in '96.  Since we are going
to sell the house I have no desire to make repairs.  The antennas &
towers are only up because it is the most convenient storage place for
them!!

I recently made room in my home office for a one radio setup to get on
the air.  There is only one feedline going outside.  My main antenna is
the 80M dipole.  I also have a mobile magmount on the metal roof of my
garage in which to insert the Hamsticks (8' mobile antennas).

The dipole works fair on 10M & worse on 15M - I use the internal tuner
and have some RF problems on 15M.  I started the contest going back &
forth between those two bands and ended up with 141/60 after about 3
hours of hard work.  I took an hour off, went out to swap the feedline
to the 20M hamstick, which actually works pretty well on that band.  I
could actually run stations here and achieved the 20M score in just over
3 hours. Then another trip outside to swap to the 40M Hamstick which
acts pretty much like a dummy load as I'm sure many of you will attest
to after staining to copy me.  Luckily I was in plenty of logs by the
time I got to 40M, and once I could get my call through, ya'll had the
info!!  Thanks logging software!!  I made the 109 QSO's on 40M in about
2 hours - all S&P.  I got not one answer to a CQ on that band.

With about 1.75 hours left, I made the last trek outside to put the coax
back on the 80M dipole.  With a "real" antenna, I could finally get some
rate and had the 80M score achieved in just over an hour despite 20 over
9 power line noise. I had broken my goal of 100K!!  On to 160 for the
last 30 minutes or so. Persistance on the part of some good ops got
another 33/17 in the log on that.  K3MM gets the great ears award on
160M.  Ran out of time at 0456Z.

Even with crappy antennas, this is a great contest.  I could tell condx
were great, and a second radio would have been a great help. I can't
believe the comments about lack of activity - it was probably the best
I've ever heard in this one.   Just think  - I came close to matching my
winning score in the first running of this contest back in 1986 - and
that was with 3 radios running amplifiers (we could do that back then)
and the N5AU antenna farm!!

I really got into it and ended up with a full 10 hour effort  -  and had
lots of fun.

Can't wait to do it again from a real station.  Thanks to the many great
ops who dug out my puny signal.

73,  Gator


 I have observed all competition rules as well as all regulations
established
 for amateur radio in my country.  My report is correct and true to the
best
 of my knowledge.  I agree to be bound by the decisions of the Awards
Committee.



 Date ______________   Signed _____________________________  Call
___________



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