[3830] NAQP SSB W7RN(N7MH) Single Op LP

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                    North American QSO Party, SSB

Call: W7RN
Operator(s): N7MH
Station: K5RC

Class: Single Op LP
QTH: NV
Operating Time (hrs): 10
Radios: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
  160:   20     4
   80:  102    17
   40:  136    41
   20:  439    56
   15:   13     8
   10:    1     1
-------------------
Total:  711   127  Total Score = 90,297

Club: Northern California Contest Club

Team: NCCC Team #1

Comments:

Thanks to Tom, K5RC, for giving me the opportunity to operate NAQP SSB from his
station in Nevada and to both Tom and Midge, K7AFO, for their generous
hospitality while I was at their home.

I struggled a bit with WinTest, which I'd never used before.  There were a
couple of interactions between WinTest and the MK2R box that would often result
in my responding to callers either on the wrong radio or with my microphone
audio not working.  I would have to hit a function key to start sending a
message, quickly abort it with ESC, and only then would the microphone start
working again.  I think I lost between 5 and 10 Q's because callers left before
I figured out that I wasn't transmitting or was transmitting on the wrong radio.


Just before the contest started I worked K5TR on 15 and we tried to see if 10
was open.  I could hear them weakly, but they never heard me.  After that I
never heard anyone else on 10 and moved an NV local for my only Q there.

I spent a long time on 15 meters but don't have much to show for it.  It was
frustrating to have W5WMU respond to W7R several times but never get the final
letter of the call.  I also heard KT4ZB in GA who had an S7 signal but couldn't
hear me.

Part of the reason that I was on 15 meters so much was that a local ragchewer
was splattering across most of 20 meters for a few hours and I was forced to
the fringes of the band and still struggled to copy anyone weak through the
splatter.  I had a tough time working any CA stations but finally found W1RH
and pointed an antenna his direction and struggled to complete the Q.  Since I
couldn't hear the CA stations and they couldn't hear me we frequently ended up
on or near the same frequency which meant that their callers were QRMing mine
and vice versa.  20 meters only started working well for me after 0100.

40, 80 and 160 were all noisy and it was hard to work anyone beyond the west
coast.  W9RE tried to move me to 80.  I heard him fine, but he couldn't hear
me.  I moved VE5MX from 40 to 20, then he suggested going to 3625.  That's when
I learned that some configuration (I'm assuming the WinTest band plan) wouldn't
allow me to transmit on 3625, so I missed Todd there.

Tom discovered that critters had eaten through the control cables for the 160
meter receive array so I listened on the transmit antenna (a full-sized
vertical).  I don't think it would have made much difference to have the
receive array since I moved W0ETT to 160 and heard him clearly but Ken couldn't
hear me.

The highlight of the contest was when a bobcat ran through my field of view,
just a few feet from the window of the shack.

73,
-Mike, N7MH


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