[3830] NAQP SSB N3CA(@N3HBX) Single Op LP

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                    North American QSO Party, SSB

Call: N3CA
Operator(s): N3CA
Station: N3HBX

Class: Single Op LP
QTH: MD
Operating Time (hrs): 9.9
Radios: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
  160:   80    29
   80:  396    52
   40:  173    35
   20:  227    35
   15:  115    21
   10:    4     3
-------------------
Total:  995   174  Total Score = 174,125

Club: Potomac Valley Radio Club

Team: Young Hotshots #1

Comments:

Wow, what a contest! 

First I'd like to thank John N3HBX for the use of his awesome new station in
Poolesville, MD. I'm extremey grateful to be able to operate in such a
well-designed station.

My head is still spinning a little after my first experience with SO2R. At the
start of the contest I didn't even use it because the rates were so high on 20m.
When it started to slow and I moved to 15, I got my feet wet by s/p'ing on 20
while waiting for CQ answers. When rates slowed I started to dual cq. Getting in
the rhythm of dueling CQs was the reason you might have heard chopped off parts
of "CQ Contest" occasionally as I keyed the wrong radio. I'm glad the so2r setup
was available, as it definitely helped my score compared to the August NAQP
(100k vs 174k). It was also my first time using CT, as I usually use Writelog.
Thanks to help from John N3HBX and Mark KD4D I used it flawlessly throughout the
contest.

Not everything went flawlessly - thirty minutes into the contest as I switched
to 15m, I noticed something was wrong. The audio sounded like my home station's
80m dipole does on other bands. When I transmitted, the SWR was unnormally high.
I proceeded to use the multiplier tower's 15m antennas for all 15m qsos. I'm not
sure what exactly is wrong with the 15m stack. On 40 I used stacked beams and on
80 I used an beam at 180ft. 160m I switched between vertical dipoles at 180 and
240 degrees, and I also had receive antennas available.

This is the third NCJ contest where I formed teams of young hams to compete.
This time we had two teams (Young Hotshots #1 and #2), made up of young hams
from ages 14-19. I'll be speaking at the Dayton Hamvention's Youth Forum this
year about these teams. I worked all of my teammates with the exception of
Rebecca KB0VVT (heard people calling her but I couldn't hear her with the skip)
and W4UAF(op KG4USK). I loved all the Broncos on the air - confused me at first
but it became normal routine after working groups of them in a row.

Thanks for the fun, will see you all in NA Sprint SSB and ARRL DX SSB.

73
Mike N3CA
Age 17


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