[3830] ARRLDX CW W5KFT M/S HP

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                    ARRL DX Contest, CW

Call: W5KFT
Operator(s): K5PI, K5OT
Station: W5KFT

Class: M/S HP
QTH: Texas
Operating Time (hrs): 45

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
  160:   29    25
   80:  150    61
   40:  509    87
   20:  395    85
   15:  906   100
   10:   75    40
-------------------
Total: 2064   398  Total Score = 2,464,416

Club: Central Texas DX and Contest Club

Comments:

There are times when great contest efforts for ARRL-CW are planned months in
advance and seriously orchestrated for maximum performance. And there are other
times when you show up, do what you can, and have a great time.  This year, we
were definitely in the second category.  Robert had other commitments that took
a portion of his contest weekend, and I have needed more rest than normal since
recovering from a severe case of the flu/crud/whatever a couple of weeks ago.
Multi-2 class was out of the question this year - so that left M/S as the
logical choice. 

Since we would be spending a good bit of the time with just one op at the
station, we decided to set up equipment and antenna access for the primary SO2R
position.  When we both were on-site and awake, the second seat was used mostly
for mapping and evaluation of other bands. To me, this contest felt like a
Single-Op (Assisted) effort, but without the critical ability to move freely due
to the band change limitation. The amplifier situation was a challenge - the
main AL-1500 worked flawlessly on the run radio, but the other radios had to put
up with back-up amps that were hastily installed before the test.  Not very
effective - we'll have this fixed before the next time. 

Venerable 15M was our strongest band.  40M played well too, thanks in part to
H.H. Beverage's earlier work.  It is great to have the Beverages in the 
receiving arsenal for 40M.  Sometimes they help on 40 and sometimes they don't
... but they DID make the difference this year.  Nice to hear so many QRPers
that would have been impossible to copy through the QRN with the beams.  

Great signals from 9V1YC on multiple bands - and the YB stations seemed
particularly strong here in central TX this year.  Another observation worth
noting was the operating choice of S9SS to  repeat the station worked (QRQ) as
part of their TU/QRZ exchange.  Many will argue that it was an unnecessary waste
of valuable air time ... but it was comforting to know that you had a solid QSO
during their raging pileup of relentless callers.  

Robert summarized the contest: "Not too hard core, but we had fun!"  I couldn't
agree more.

Larry K5OT
with Robert K5PI


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