[3830] ARRLDX CW N6BV(@N6RO) SOAB HP

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                    ARRL DX Contest, CW

Call: N6BV
Operator(s): N6BV
Station: N6RO

Class: SOAB HP
QTH: Oakley, CA
Operating Time (hrs): 37.6
Radios: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
  160:   30    16
   80:  117    30
   40:  536    74
   20:  678    94
   15:  101    36
   10:   10     3
-------------------
Total: 1472   253  Total Score = 1,116,489

Club: Northern California Contest Club

Comments:

I just couldn't get psyched up for this contest. I suppose it didn't help that I
had to climb the 15-meter tower to fix the middle antenna just before the
contest. I'm getting too old for that before a 48-hour long contest. 

The week before we had some high winds, a "20-year storm." Not only did the
antennas get blown around, but the power-pole insulators must have been blown
around too. The powerline noise was bad for the early part of the contest.
Thankfully, things got better later on Saturday when the wind pretty much
stopped.

Anyhow, I started the contest with high hopes for a couple of hours running JAs
on 15 meters. Nada... so I moved down to 20 meters after working one South
American station on 15. My attitude didn't get appreciably better after that.
We sure need some more sunspots, particularly for us propagationally challenged
West Coast guys. Yeah: Whine, whine.

I got way more sleep than I usually get in a DX contest, with CT saying that I
was on for 37.6 hours. As I said, it was difficult to get motivated when the
bands were as poor as they were out here in W6 and when the weak stations were
blotted out by powerline noise. 

Ken, N6RO, was kind enough to let me use his magnificent station. (Thanks, Ken,
really!) He said it best, as he was walking out the door to do a music gig on
Saturday afternoon. He saw me, looking very bedraggled and bored after sending
my millionth CQ, and said: "Boy, the way you look is why I no longer do 48-hour
contests." Words of wisdom, indeed. 

But the human organism has a wonderful ability to forget pain, especially if we
get some sunspots next year! Hope springs eternal.

73, Dean, N6BV


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