[3830] SS SSB NN5K(AA5B) Single Op LP

[webform at b4h.net]

                    ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, SSB

Call: NN5K
Operator(s): AA5B
Station: NN5K

Class: Single Op LP
QTH: NM
Operating Time (hrs): 24

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
  160:     
   80:  173
   40:  536
   20:  652
   15:  130
   10:     
------------
Total: 1491  Sections = 79  Total Score = 235,578

Club: NM Big River

Comments:

This was my first single-op phone SS in about 15 years. Wasn’t really planning
to operate the whole thing, but our club needed the points. Credit K5TA with the
pep talk eMail that pulled me into the fray. And thanks to Dave, NN5K, for
letting me use his station for the weekend. 

This would be a lot more fun with the two high bands. Slugging it out on 80 and
40 with low power is not much fun, and 20 meters was just brutal with
wall-to-wall big signals from dawn till dusk. I had 130 Qs Sunday morning on 15
meters; signals were great from W1/2/3/4/8, but there just weren’t enough
people on the band.

Had a few 15-minute dead times while I tried to figure out why the radio
wasn’t working right (only about 70 Watts on 20 meters most of Sunday), fixed
the footswitch, or tried to tune the 80-meter vertical (SWR >5 above 3700), but
pretty much kept my nose to the grindstone the rest of the time. Glad my time
ran out about a half hour before the end of the contest, cuz it sure didn’t
seem like I was going to work much else. Forty had gone very long already, and
I was having no luck on 80.

The good runs (there were a few) reminded me of how much fun this contest can
be, but the bad times (many) made me wonder what I’d gotten myself into.
That’s the usual psychology of these things. It’s easier to stick it out,
though, when you’re operating away from home.

Thanks for the Qs! It was good to hear so many familiar callsigns and voices,
and encouraging to work so many checks of 06 and 07. 

  -Bruce AA5B @ NN5K
      Tijeras, NM


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