[3830] SS CW N8II Single Op HP

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                    ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, CW

Call: N8II
Operator(s): N8II
Station: N8II

Class: Single Op HP
QTH: WV
Operating Time (hrs): 7

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
  160:    0
   80:  180
   40:   18
   20:  203
   15:   68
   10:    1
------------
Total:  470  Sections = 77  Total Score = 72,380

Club: Potomac Valley Radio Club

Comments:

I had to work Sunday which put me off the air 1200Z-2130Z which made for
 a convenient excuse to not work SS CW full time. Considering that
 handicap, I did pretty well except the first 2 hours when there is little
 that can be done to work a decent rate; CQ'ing is slow and S&P difficult
 because the stations you're calling have a flood of callers with a long
 exchange.
   I started out on 20 managing 98 Q's between 2130 and 2330Z with breaks
 to shuttle daughter and dinner. At about 0010Z I went down to 80 which
 was noisy, but with enough loud sigs calling that it wasn't too much of
 a problem til VO1HE called at whisper level; I think I pulled all the 
info thru, but just in case VO1MP called 2 Q's later who was just a bit
stronger, but I still needed repeats (this kind of luck would never happen
if I was serious). I'd run a few stations without need for CQ, then it
would dry up for a minute or so, then several callers again. Best rate
meter was 96. I quit at 03Z with about 250 Q's and all sections east of
the Mississippi worked except SFl and KP2/4, most all calling me on 80.
   Being relatively fresh meat for the western USA resulted in some great
 runs on 15/20 from 2130-2400Z working 49 Q's in first 35 min. The rate
 meter hit 114 several times. This was actually fun! To add to my good
 fortune KH6 called and I found KL7WV and VY1JA back to back less than
 2 kHz apart with good sigs during a brief S&P on 15. Unfortunately for
 PVRC, many NCCC'ers went into the log, but I worked most all the 
 serious PVRC competitors, mostly on 80 M. I nearly missed Rich at WP3R
 finding him at 0015 on 40M. I hit the wall at 01Z Monday; that was it
 for too busy of a weekend.
   HP was 400 to 500W this time out; I did notice that working anyone I
could copy on backscatter was much easier than running LP. I was
able to copy most all the decent sigs without repeats and pull out calls
from pile-ups pretty easily, still improving a bit after many years of
practice. Conversely, from QSO 1 to 9 B I had to repeat many numbers.
Sending as slow as a caller is not nearly always necessary. I seldom
found it necessary to slow down and the ops calling did pretty well
copying without repeats. Never heard from VE4, VE6, or ND in my limited
time, surprised to get 77 sections so easily. Activity did seem to be up
from PVRC ops; many thanks for the Q's and glad to supply the WV section
to a few who needed it, though I worked about 5 or 6 from WV.


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