[3830] ARRL Sep VHF K3EAR(K9PW) Single Op HP

Thu Sep 15 09:05:43 EDT 2005

                    ARRL September VHF QSO Party

Call: K3EAR
Operator(s): K9PW
Station: K3EAR

Class: Single Op HP
QTH: FM19
Operating Time (hrs): 31

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
    6:  394   105
    2:  325    62
  222:  137    42
  432:  197    43
  903:   55    27
  1.2:   56    21
  2.3:   36    15
  3.4:   29    11
  5.7:   13     8
  10G:   20     7
  24G:    5     4
-------------------
Total: 1269   347  Total Score = 742,580

Club: 

Comments:

When I arrived in Pennsylvania at K3EAR the weekend before the contest, I found
the station ready to go.  Walt & Russ had already reconfigured the station from
a multi-op to a single-op setup.  Upgrades to the microwave bands had also been
finished.  I was anxious to get a chance to play.  Tuesday morning had tropo
back to my home state of Illinois.  Contacts included K9HMB, K2DRH, WB9Z &
W9ZIH.  This included a 600+ mile contact on 1296 with W9ZIH.  The tropo weather
was also perfect for biking, my other hobby.  Unfortunately, a lingering cold
prevented me from doing a single of several planned 50-70 mile rides through the
hilly state forests.

When the contest started conditions had return to normal.  After a quick start,
I then fell behind last years pace.  By late in the evening, the totals were at
least 2 hours behind last year’s.  In addition, many easy multipliers were
missing including several in W8 & FN22 (which I never worked on any band).

At 0600Z, my 6m WSJT sked with Bill K0AWU began like none before.  I heard what
sounded like distorted WSJT during the entire 30 second period.  It was hard to
believe another sked was on this out of the way frequency.  Stranger yet,
nothing would decode.  Fortunately, Bill realized what was happening.  He
changed to SSB and then I recognized it: AURORA. 

In the Midwest, an aurora opening is a huge opportunity.  Expecting the same to
be true from the east coast I quick tried to take advantage.  VE4QZ, VE5PM &
K0HA on Au-E were quickly in the log.  But it was impossible to get a run going
on either 6 or 2m.  At 0745Z, with only a handful of new mults in the log my
body said it was time for sleep.  The aurora was still going but the activity
wasn’t there.  Frustrated, I went to sleep.  90 minutes later, just 5 minutes
before the alarm rang, I was wide awake.  It was time to get back to work.

At 0920Z, the aurora was still going.  But again rates just weren’t there.  It
was interesting to observe how the majority of the local stations were busy
working each other, completely ignoring the aurora.  Is it there’s so much east
coast activity that the aurora goes unnoticed out east?  Going against my 9-land
experience, I did like the locals and primarily ignored the remainder of the Au
opening.  By the end of the contest, the aurora contributed 17 new grids on 6m,
only 7 on 2m and a single 222 Au contact (K9NS).  

Sunday had some slight tropo to the southern Appalachian’s & to VE2/VE3.  This
included a 400 mile 903 contact with VA3KA in FN15.

There were many rovers out this weekend.  But my timing was off, as I missed
many of them from too many of their stops.  For example, I only found W1RT/R on
their 1st stop and last of their scheduled nine stops.  Just like last year, the
log included over 250 QSOs with rovers.  That number should be over 400 QSOs. 
Thanks to all 24 rovers that made it into the log.

At 2220Z, a nice Es opening to Florida provide yet another opportunity.  It
quickly became obvious that the opening from Florida to the Midwest was more
favorable.  After 5 minutes of attempting to work several stations, no new QSOs
were in the log.  That’s very frustrating knowing that there’s 9 elements & kW
on 6 meters.  Determined to not waste this opening like the earlier aurora,
something had to be done.  A similar experience while operating QRP-portable
years earlier, taught me to stop tuning & go high in the band to call CQ.  It
worked again.  The opening then extended west to TX, AR, OK, LA & MS.  Short
skip to TN also occurred.  Interesting that at the same time K9NS worked a
single 2m Es contact into Florida.  By the end of the opening at 0100Z, I had
added over 100 6m contacts & 40+ new grids.

With the underutilized aurora opening & hundreds of missed rover contacts, this
should have been a 1,000,000 point score.  I learned a lot this weekend.  And
there’s clearly at lot more to learn.  That’s just one of the reason I’ve kept
coming back.

73,
pw

Hour     RATE    TOTAL
D1-1800Z 69/40   69/40
D1-1900Z 44/10  113/50
D1-2000Z 58/13  171/63
D1-2100Z 43/25  214/88
D1-2200Z 37/11  251/99
D1-2300Z 75/16  326/115
D2-0000Z 38/13  364/128
D2-0100Z 51/7   415/135
D2-0200Z 36/7   451/142
D2-0300Z 44/11  495/153
D2-0400Z 37/7   532/160
D2-0500Z 33/17  565/177
D2-0600Z 34/18  599/195
D2-0700Z 16/5   615/200
D2-0800Z  0/0   615/200
D2-0900Z 19/13  634/213
D2-1000Z 21/11  655/224
D2-1100Z 28/10  683/234
D2-1200Z 37/6   720/240
D2-1300Z 47/10  767/250
D2-1400Z 50/5   817/255
D2-1500Z 36/11  853/266
D2-1600Z 30/5   883/271
D2-1700Z 39/4   922/275
D2-1800Z 25/4   947/279
D2-1900Z 24/3   971/282
D2-2000Z 26/2   997/284
D2-2100Z 27/9  1024/293
D2-2200Z 46/15 1070/308
D2-2300Z 59/19 1129/327
D3-0000Z 51/13 1180/340
D3-0100Z 39/1  1219/341
D3-0200Z 50/6  1269/347

Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/