[3830] SS SSB KB0VVT School Club HP

[webform@b4h.net]

                    ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, SSB

Call: KB0VVT
Operator(s): KB0VVT, KC0UNB
Station: KB0VVT

Class: School Club HP
QTH: MO
Operating Time (hrs): 24

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
  160:     
   80:  406
   40:  306
   20:  700
   15:   35
   10:    2
------------
Total: 1449  Sections = 80  Total Score = 231,840

Club: Raytown South High School ARC

Comments:

SS Phone 2005

As I have stated in my SS CW 2005 write-up, much has happened since last year’s
Sweepstakes when the KBØVVT 2004 SS CW Multi-op team placed 5th in the Nation. 
However, in that write-up, I did not mention that the KBØVVT 2004 SS Phone
Multi-op team placed 8th in the Nation.  Please see the following link to see
photographs, to find out what I have been doing in the past year, and to find
out about our new High School Radio Club competing in SS CW:

http://www.arrl.org/contests/soapbox/index.html?con_id=96&call=kb0vvt

http://lists.contesting.com/_3830/2005-11/msg01415.html

http://www.arrl.org/contests/soapbox/index.html?con_id=97&call=kb0vvt

Note: The photographs will open to a larger size if you click on them with your
mouse.

At first, during the week before the contest, it appeared that it would be
difficult for me to put in a serious effort heading into the SS Phone weekend. 
The week after SS Phone would be a short school week with Thanksgiving. 
Initially, I had an Advanced Placement (AP) Biology and AP American History test
scheduled for the Monday and Tuesday after the contest.  Melody Gilbert, one of
my best friends, attended our last Raytown South High School ARC meetings.  She
seemed interested in helping Joe Watts, KC0UNB, and me during the SS Phone
Contest.  However, there was one obstacle that would keep Melody from helping
during the SS Phone weekend and inadvertently open up the weekend for me. 
Melody and several other students are members of the Raytown South High School
Cardinal Chorale.  Well, this year the Cardinal Chorale was one of the school
choirs selected to sing at Carnegie Hall in New York City the Tuesday after SS
Phone weekend.  When do you think they decided to travel to New York City?  Of
course, it would be during the SS Phone weekend.  It started looking bad with
two upcoming tests and the loss of Melody.  Amazingly, things began to change as
the SS Phone weekend drew nearer.  Many of my teachers became aware that many of
the students in my classes participated in the Cardinal Choral and that they
would be absent from classes for the entire Thanksgiving week.  Lucky for me, my
teachers postponed the tests and major assignments until after Thanksgiving
week.  As it turned out, the same event that was to prevent Melody from
participating in SS phone would be the same event that would give me the extra
time I needed for the contest weekend.

As expected, I made the majority of the contacts, operating for the full 24
hours.  Joe Watts, KC0UNB, indicated that he would be putting in a big effort
for SS Phone after the SS CW contest but as it turned out other activities would
take precedence.  He operated for a few hours on Saturday evening and for a
couple of hours on Sunday morning.  I wish that he could have operated during
the last hours of the contest when the rate slows down.  However, Joe’s help was
still appreciated and he was still able to squeeze in over three times more
contacts using the 2nd radio than he did during SS CW.  Joe used the IC-756
PROII for the SS CW because we thought it would be easier for him if he had the
spectrum scope.  We decided it would be best for him to use the IC-775 DSP for
the phone portion since this radio is awesome and has 200 Watts output.  

I kept the same basic schedule as was used during SS CW.  I operated from 3:00
PM CST Saturday afternoon until 2:00 AM CST Sunday morning.  I then started up
again at 6:00 AM CST on Sunday morning and ran straight through until 7:00 PM
CST.  I tried some pseudo SO2R on Sunday afternoon with the 2nd radio.  I do not
have any of the fancy SO2R boxes so I pulled the headphones out of the 2nd radio
and let it play through the speaker while I ran a frequency on the main radio
using headphones.  If you heard operating in the background on Sunday afternoon,
it was probably someone I was listening to on the 2nd radio while I was waiting
for my opportunity to work them when the time was right. 

I would have liked to have taken a break during Sunday afternoon but I did not
want to interfere with a Kansas City Chief’s game scheduled for Sunday evening. 
My decision turned out to be good because one of our neighbors came over
complaining of interference in their telephone and computer speakers.  It was a
neighbor that had never complained before.  My parents offered them a free
telephone filter from Radio Shack and filters for their computer speakers but
they did not think they should have to use filters and we should not be allowed
to invade their privacy.  Whatever!  I still finished the contest and everything
seems to be back to normal in the neighborhood.  Since I am a senior in high
school, this may have been the last Sweepstakes that I operate from this house. 
Thanks to everyone for all the support and contacts over the years!

For those of you that like the statistics, I have copied our number of QSOs made
and section obtained for the first 3 hours of both the CW and Phone contests. 
Also listed are the last five sections in the order they were obtained.

Hour 1, CW, 73 Qs, 31 Sections.
Hour 2, CW, 123Qs, 42 Sections.
Hour 3, CW, 186 Qs, 59 Sections.
Last 5 Sections CW: PR, OK, IA, MB, and finally NL.

Hour 1, Phone, 115 Qs, 39 Sections.
Hour 2, Phone, 223 Qs, 51 Sections.
Hour 3, Phone, 280 Qs, 60 Sections.
Last 5 Sections Phone: NE, OK, LAX, PAC, and finally NWT.

There is a chance that Joe and I may have broken the all time School Club
records for both CW and Phone.  The present records were both set in 2001. 

The all time School Club CW record presently belongs to WG4PDS (The guys who set
this record are older than my dad) with a 3830 posted score of 1114 Qs, 80
sections, for a score of  178240 points.  After ARRL log checking, the score was
1073 Qs, 80 sections, for 171680 points.  Our 3830 posting is 1147 Qs, 80
sections, for a score of 183520 points.  We will cross our fingers!  Hopefully,
the log checker is not harsher than it was in 2001.  Who knows, there may have
been a school club out there that beat us this year.

The all time School Club Phone record presently belongs to W1YK with a log
checked score of  1388 Qs, 80 Sections, for a score of  222080 points.  Our
pre-log checked score is 1449 Qs, 80 sections, for a total of 231840 points. 
Again, we will have to wait to see the outcome of log checking or if another
school club beat us this year.

It was so nice to hear other young people operating during the contest. 
Michael, N3CA, was one young contester that I worked during the contest.  I hung
out with Michael, along with other friends, during the Dayton Hamvention weekend
this year.  Andrea Hartlage, KG4IUM, and I planned a youth dinner that turned
out to be great fun.  Later, Michael and Andrea joined me at the Crowne Plaza
Hotel for the KCDX Club CW Pile-Up contest as well as the nightly midnight pizza
provided by various contest groups and equipment distributors.  I think Michael
may be hooked on contesting after hanging out at the Crowne Plaza with the other
contesters.  He did a great job this year operating in SS Phone.

I also worked Kristin, KC0INX.  I first saw Kristin wearing a scarf several
years ago at the Dayton Hamvention while she was performing a “14er Event” skit
for the Youth Forum audience.  I also remember her photograph in last year’s
Sweepstakes Phone article.  Kristin, I read your soapbox and saw your comment on
straining your voice during the contest.  I would recommend that you try using a
contest logging program with computer sound card support in order to save your
voice during the contest.  I have used Writelog for years but N1MM is free and
it is supposed to be pretty good.  For sweepstakes, I at least record the CQ
message, and the exchange starting at the precedence.  The key to all of this is
to get everything recorded and checked out well before the contest so that there
are no last minute surprises.

One young person Michael did not mention in his soapbox that I worked was Ashley
Kopacki, NJ2YL.  I think you can find her photograph in this year’s Field Day
Article.  Field Day along with both CW and Phone Sweepstakes are my absolute
favorite amateur radio events.

To all my middle school and high school amateur radio friends out there,
consider starting an amateur radio club at your school.  If you are home
schooled, perhaps something can be worked out with Dan Henderson.  If you start
a school club then you can operate in the School category during Sweepstakes
where you can be much more competitive.  Wouldn’t it be better to compete
against people your own age?  Some Sweepstakes operators have been doing this
contest two or three times longer than we have been alive!  I was able to
convince my principal to sponsor our school club.  My mother has been the
moderator for the last couple of meetings.  If you start a club, you will most
likely not have a club station immediately setup at the school.  That is OK! 
The Sweepstakes rules state that, “A club may operate from a member's station
only if no on-campus station exists.”  It should be okay that your dad or mom
actually setup your home station as long as it is just students operating during
the contest.  There are many top contesters that go and operate from turn-key
locations without helping to setup the equipment.

Look at some of the all-time school records at the following links:

http://www.arrl.org/contests/results/ss-alltime-cw.html
http://www.arrl.org/contests/results/ss-alltime-phone.html

Some of the Sweepstakes School category records have been barely touched! 
Kristin’s score would have been a new Rocky Mountain Division record in the
school category even if she took out the 20 Qs made by her Dad.  Michael’s score
would have been most likely a new Atlantic Division record.

Lastly, please give CW a try.  I know it is difficult to imagine operating CW
during a contest at 30 words per minute.  It just takes time and practice.  When
I was younger, I used the RUFZ computer program to increase my copying speed
along with the Writelog CW decoder and the super check partial callsign
database.  At first, you may only be able to do search and pounce, but
eventually you will get it if you stick with it.  Some operators will slow down
for you.  As a beginner, it may be best to start out in contests using a less
lengthy exchange.

The main thing is for us to get on the air and have fun!!!  We are the future of
amateur radio, so get on the air and score some QSL cards and some points!

Well, that is another Sweep!!!

It was nice to hear you all on Sweepstakes SSB… I hope to see you at Dayton. 
Until next year …

You can find my e-mail address at the following link:

http://www.qrz.com/kb0vvt

73,

Rebecca Rich, KBØVVT


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