[3830] CQ160 SSB VE3MGY Single Op LP

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                    CQ 160-Meter Contest, SSB

Call: VE3MGY
Operator(s): VE3MGY
Station: VE3MGY

Class: Single Op LP
QTH: ONTARIO
Operating Time (hrs): 12.5

Summary:
Total:  QSOs = 282  State/Prov = 36  Countries = 3  Total Score = 50,427

Club: Contest Club Ontario

Comments:

What a weekend in a couple of ways.  

First the QRN was amazing. It was 15 and 20 over 9 on the vertical here all
weekend. Even on the beverages it was S8 to 5 over 9 at times. Simply amazing.
I kept switching antennas trying to find the best antenna that had the best SNR
for the station calling. The problem all weekend was that just about every
station seemed to favor a different antenna. So while I was always TX on the
Inverted L, I was listening on either one of six beverages, an 80M Inverted L,
a 40M delta Loop or one of two 80M delta loops that were 90 degrees out of
phase. 10 RX choices every QSO - after all my time on 160M I was still
surprised how the best RX antenna would be a 80M Inverted L or a 40M delta loop
over all of the beverages at times.... But then the next QSO would be loudest on
the right beverage for that station's direction - 180 for Georgia say, and then
a station in Florida would only be copyable on the 270 beverage 10 minutes
later.... Go figure that one out...

I knew right away Friday night that it was not going to be a record breaking
weekend. The luck of the draw as they say. And the forecast was for high winds
so I didn't put up a balloon vertical. Even now as I write this on Monday
morning the QRN is 20 over 9 on the Inverted L and S9+ on the beverages. I
really felt like I was running QRP all weekend and I have even had bigger
scores when I was QRP!! Its all about conditions. Those brave souls who
actually ran QRP this last weekend deserve a special award in my opinion. 

I spent about 8 hours each night in the contest but lost about 1.5 hours each
night with minor problems in the shack [ including keeping the wood stove
burning to keep the house warm hi hi ] so I wasn't on the air more than 12.5
hours total.

Now the rest of the story:

As if that QRN fest wasn't enough we were curling all day on Saturday in a
friendly competiton with our Church that we had signed up for so I was somewhat
tired out on the ice all day Saturday. Got home and fired up the gear and back
into the fray Saturday night. 

Now we had attempted a dive two weeks ago when it was -35C and I had freeflowed
on every reg I had [ 3 ] as soon as I hit the water. [ For the non divers it was
an aborted dive after 2 minutes under water ] So we had planned for this
Sunday's dive over a week ago. Same thing for the curling. So I wanted to test
myself to see how far I could go with little or no sleep. I did four higher
than normal intensity workouts [ to my max heart rate ] through the week and
slept for 10 hours on Thursday night. I did not work out on Friday. Grabbed 2.5
hrs of sleep Saturday morning. Was feeling much better than I thought I would
all day and all evening on Saturday. Managed a couple of hours early Sunday
morning and had an awesome 28 minute dive in Lake Ontario. [ For the divers
reading this I was somewhat narced up, as I knew I would be with the sleep
deprivation, so the dive profile called for an  MOD of 20' Max and the narcosis
was moderate and therefore managable. I had initially planned on breathing EAN40
but decided to save the Nitrox for next time and just used air ]. 

Got home Sunday around lunchtime and was awake until 1830 local when I hit the
wall so I went to bed and slept for 11 hours. So now I am thinking that maybe I
could do a full 48 hrs in the chair?? Probably but I haven't tried that one yet.


Oh yeah one more thing. Its true what they say about sleep deprivation - its 90
per cent motivation. I don't know if the intense workouts helped at all
honestly, probably not, because I work out all the time anyway, BUT I did have
two weeks to think about this weekend and mentally plan and prepare for it,
which is probably why I was able to keep going and not give up. So while I am
somewhat disappointed with conditions this last weekend, I am still pleased
with my overall results. 

73 
Brian
VE3MGY [ Still feeling jet lagged today... ]


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