[3830] ARRLDX SSB W6UE(W4EF) SOAB HP

[W4EF at dellroy.com]

                     ARRL DX Contest, SSB
                    
Call: W6UE
Operator(s): W4EF
Station: W6UE

Class: SOAB HP
QTH: CA
Operating Time (hrs): 40
Radios: SO2R

Summary:
 Band     QSOs  Mults
----------------------
  160:      5      5
   80:     37     21
   40:    139     48
   20:    230     72
   15:    522     99
   10:    604     92
----------------------
Total:   1537    337  =  1,542,786

Club: Southern California Contest Club

Comments:

Soapbox Comments:

Decided to go full time in this one at the last minute. Turns out that 
this was my first serious Single-Op All-Band effort in a DX contest since
becoming a ham almost 22 years ago. All previous efforts were either as 
part of a multi-operator team or single band. The station worked well, 
but kinda wish I had a real SO2R setup for phone. I ended up using 
KA6SAR's SO2R switcher for receive audio, and a combination headset/boom 
mic and a Kenwood desk mic as I didn't have the right adapters with me 
to wire the transmit audio into the SO2R box. For the run radio, I would 
use the footswitch and the heil element on the boom mic, and for the mult 
rig, I would push the boom mic out of the way and talk into the Kenwood 
desk mic using the PTT switch on the mic base to key the transmitter. 

Not having a parrot was a little bit cumbersome, as I found it difficult 
to call CQ on the run radio while simultaneously concentrating on the 
receive audio from the multiplier radio (I can't walk and chew gum at the 
same time). A couple of times, I found myself talking into the wrong mic 
or depressing the footswitch when I should have been pressing the PTT 
switch on the desk mic. Sorry to anybody I may have inadvertently stepped 
on with my Rube Goldberg setup. Had a little trouble with the remote VFO 
cable on the TS-830 as I had to jiggle it every now and then to bring the
rig back to life. This created a very tense moment when I broke the 5H3RK
pileup and the rig died just as he turned it over to me. Fortunately, my 
fast jiggling brought the rig back in time to complete the QSO :). 

With lots of help from the Coca Cola company, I managed to stay awake 
(at least partially) about 40 of the 48 hours. Its amazing how good a 
cold linoleum floor feels at 5 AM on Saturday morning. The most 
interesting opening I experienced during the contest was Sunday morning 
(UTC) around 0400Z on 20 meters. I found a very quite frequency low in
the band around 14165 KHz, and was able to run a bunch of weak and 
watery Eastern European and Central Asian Russian/former USSR stations 
(RZ9's, UN8's, etc). That was a big thrill and made all the sleep 
deprivation worth while. The most frustrating propagation I experienced
was during the hour or so on Sunday morning that I spent going back and 
forth to RU1A's 10 meter run frequency and having them CQ in my face.
Fortunately, I did finally get through.

Cu all next time. 

73 de Mike W4EF......................

 


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