[3830] NAQP CW K0DXC Single Op LP

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                    North American QSO Party, CW

Call: K0DXC
Operator(s): K0DXC
Station: K0DXC

Class: Single Op LP
QTH: Jackson, OH
Operating Time (hrs): 6.25

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
  160:   33    23
   80:  143    38
   40:  220    45
   20:  106    37
   15:    0     0
   10:    0     0
-------------------
Total:  502   143  Total Score = 71,643

Club: Society of Midwest Contesters

Team: SMC #2

Comments:

RIG: PROIII
Antennas: 10-40: 6BTV vertical (about 5 radials), 80-160: DX-B sloper (no
ground!)
Software: Win-Test

I just screwed up my antennas before this contest...

Earlier this month I had plans for a FT, SO2R effort. I was even going to
record the entire contest.

Everything was going well until yesterday (Friday). I went to put a new rope in
for my dipole's support and then when it was halfway up the tree it untied
itself! This meant that unless I got a new rope up in the tree (I cast with a
fishing pole) the dipole wasn't going back up.

Easy, eh? I thought so too. Only a few problems... 1: There is a power line
about 5 feet to the right of the tree so I can't play the wind at all. 2: There
is another tree with overhanging branches directly in front of the tree I am
aiming at. I can't stand more than 5 feet away from the tree I'm aiming for or
else the line will get caught in the other tree and won't go anywhere. 3: There
are 5 other trees grouped in with the tree I'm aiming at so the line normally
gets snagged somewhere and I can never find it... OR it doesn't make it down
far enough so I can grab it OR it gets caught on a branch and snaps.

I still thought it would be easy. I used to go fishing every day when I lived
in Minnesota - all I had to do was whip out some precision casting skills!

Sure enough - 3rd try (the wind took the first 2 attempts and pushed them off
to the left)I had the line up in the trees. I attached the rope and began
*carefully* pulling it up. (I was only using 8lb test line)! 5 minutes later I
had the rope coming out the other side of the tree and was ready to tie it off
to the dipole. Then when I walked back to pull the dipole up I saw that I had
pulled TO MUCH rope through and the other end was now hanging 15 feet above my
head! I went to get a pole to try to somehow get the rope back down but when I
came back the wind had put tension on the rope and pulled it up even HIGHER!

I didn't have a 35 foot pole laying around so I had to give up on that one. I
pulled the rope completely out and started over.

I got about 7 more casts up through the tree... but EVERY TIME I *ALMOST* had
the rope through the tree the line would SNAP! I spent more than 6 HOURS (maybe
more) yesterday just trying to get the stinkin' rope through! 

I finally ended up loosing the last of my sinkers in the tree and after already
haven taken me to the store 3 times that day (to buy more sinkers!) my mom said
enough was enough. Plus, it was getting dark outside. I gave up and decided to
try again in the morning (Saturday morning). I woke up early so I could go to
the store to get more sinkers *and* some STRONG fishing line. Unfortunately I
made the mistake of thinking, "The BIGGER the BETTER" so I bought the strongest
fishing line they had - 50lb test line. I figured the stuff would never break.

I got home and rigged up the stuff on my reel - then I noticed a *new* problem.
The line was TOO big - Like I could barely fit 50 feet of the stuff on my reel!
I looked at the package and saw it said "0.29 Inch Diameter!"

I put 3 1oz sinkers on and tried to cast - the line was so stiff and rolled up
that it just didn't work right. I could cast it up high enough - but then it
didn't have enough momentum coming back down to break through the branches! I
was right though - no matter how many branches I got it caught on the line
never did break!

So, instead of wasting the rest of the sinkers I had just bought on a "lost"
cause. I forced myself to forget about my big plans for NAQP CW. I was hoping
to put up a big score (as big as possible from my station) and maybe even give
Hal, W1NN and a few of the other OH stations a run for their money! I even
exchanged a few emails with Hal (friendly, of course) earlier this week about
the contest! 

Oh well... Now, who cares about my problems with getting dipoles in the air?!
On to the contest stuff!

I got on an hour and a half after the contest. I decided to mow the lawn right
before it started. I wasn't planning on operating full time anyways, it
wouldn't have been much fun using only a 6BTV vertical with 5 radials (the rest
were chopped up in the lawn mower) and a DX-B sloper that I haven't finished the
new ground yet. If everything had gone according to plan I would have gotten all
my antenna work (including 20 more 40M radials for the vertical and finishing
the DX-B's ground) done early this week. Unfortunately, the weather was
terrible every day except for Friday!

I checked 10 and 15 right away. Nothing heard on 10, and I only heard a few
weak CA stations on 15 that I decided not to chase with the vertical. I went to
20 - not many signals there either. I worked a few S&P then got off the air.

I got on a few hours later and managed an OK run on 20 which surprised me.
First time I've ever run anything with the vertical on 20 meters. It made me
wonder what I could have done with the dipole!

I got off again to go outside and enjoy the beautiful day. Then I got on again
after dinner and went straight to 40. I had two back to back 100 hours then
lost my freq. After about 20 S&P QSOs I went to 80. 80 was OK... I just ran -
only about 10 S&P Q's there. After about an hour on 80 I went to 160. 160
didn't have much QSB but there didn't seem to be a ton of activity. I could
work most of the Midwest and east coast but I couldn't get anything out west.
Tried called N7VM in UT for about 5 minutes but couldn't get his attention.

Then I quit about 45 minutes before the end of the contest. I'll need some rest
if I'm going to beat that tree and get my dipole back up! I'll need it for the
last week of NSL! I don't think I'd have a chance at pulling off another 70QSO
week without it!

Sorry to SMC #2 for volunteering as a FULL TIME team member then only doing
part time. I lost all enthusiasm for this contest when my dipole (best antenna)
went down. I did duke it out and come up with 500 Q's / 70,000.

Hope to CU in NAQP SSB coming up. Thanks for the QSO(s)!

73,
Cal (KID), K0DXC
http://k0dxc.com


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