[3830] NA Sprint CW AA4LR HP

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                    NA Sprint CW Contest

Call: AA4LR
Operator(s): AA4LR
Station: AA4LR

Class: Single Op HP
QTH: GA
Operating Time (hrs): 4

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Op Time
---------------------
   80:   31    0:55
   40:   40    1:36
   20:   34    1:28
---------------------
Total:  144    Mults = 38  Total Score = 5,472

Club: South East Contest Club

Team: SSC - Southern Sprint Coalition

Comments:

Antennas:
A3S at 15m (20m)
1/4 wave sloper at 12m (40m)
80m doublet at 10m (80m)
Shunt feed 15m tower (80m)

Equipment:
K2/100 w/ KAT100
Ameritron AL-80A
Murch UT-2000A
CQPWin v10.0

Comments:

My first sprint using high power. Managed to attain a new personal best,
although the event wasn't without a few surprises. 

Bands seemed to be mediocre. 20m was open pretty long at the start, but I still
managed a few close-in mults. Thought I'd drop out early and go to 40m, but
things picked up at the end of the first hour, so I hung in until the rate
dropped. This pattern also repeated itself on 40m.

First surprise came about 20 minutes into the contest. Every time I transmit, I
would faintly hear a rumble from upstairs. Discovered that my 600 watts on 20m
was causing the garage door opener to go up and down. I wonder what the
neighbors thought of that. So, the amp goes off for the rest of my stay on
20m.

Things went better on 40m, and the amp played nicely, even into the slight
mis-match of the sloper (about 1.7:1 VSWR). Rate was good on 40m. Had my best
rate in the 3rd hour, with a big 44 Qs.

Went to 80m in the last hour. Amplifier was more difficult to tune, even though
I had a good match through the tuner. Could only get about 300 watts hour
without running excessive grid current. After a few minutes, I noticed a
"spitting" sound from the amp intermittantly when keyed. May have been some
arcing, hard to tell if it was in the amp, or in the tuner. In any case, I
turned the amp off for 80m.

Had to remove one QSO from a contester who jumped the gun after answering my CQ
-- I come back and ask for a fill, and he's gone on to the next caller. Guys,
you gotta wait until the QSO is complete. Your reward is a Not-In-Log.

Every QSO in the sprint is hard-won. By the forth hour, some of the CW just
seemed like a blur. I wonder what the sprint would sound like if we had a speed
limit of 20 wpm. I'm sure some might fall asleep, although there certainly would
be time to hit that second radio.

Still need more practice in this one, and some time to work out the station
issues with high-power. Good news is that I recieved a Cushcraft A743 kit, so
I'll soon have a better antenna for 40m.


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