[3830] NA Sprint SSB N5DO LP

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                    NA Sprint SSB Contest

Call: N5DO
Operator(s): N5DO
Station: N5DO

Class: Single Op LP
QTH: TX
Operating Time (hrs): 4

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Op Time
---------------------
   80:   43        
   40:   72        
   20:   33        
---------------------
Total:  148    Mults = 37  Total Score = 5,476

Club: Central Texas DX and Contest Club

Team: 

Comments:

For the past 21 years the Big Bend (TX) Amateur Radio Club has provided
communications for a mountain bike race in the Terlingua / Lajitas area outside
of Big Bend National Park.  In the early years the race was called the
Chihuahuan Desert Challenge, and now it's called the Mas o Menos 100K.  (I
think.)  It always occurs on President's Day weekend.  I helped with it for
years, but it often conflicted with the ARRL DX CW contest, so three years ago
I decided they had enough help and I skipped it for the past several years. 
This year it came the week before ARRL DX and we were short people to assist
with the event so I volunteered again.  

When I saw that the bike race would conflict with the SSB Sprint I decided to
operate from the bike race site.  Our club's emergency communication van was
there for the 2-meter net control, so I set up in the van after the race was
over.  It was located at the site of the (world?) famous Terlingua Chili
Cookoff, the CASI (Chili Appreciation Society, International) headquarters
where the cookoff takes place each fall.

I brought my relatively new K-3 (light -- travels well!).  The last time I used
it the 100W power amp module suddenly went out.  After messing around with it in
between business-related travel, Elecraft sent me a new module which I installed
on Friday afternoon.  It worked fine Saturday night, with no problems.  For an
antenna I used the club's G5RV, which was mounted on a 30 foot push up pole
attached to the side of the van.  It was a beautiful day, with the temperature
reaching 96 degrees, causing several sunburns.  The van was parked on a high
spot next to an outdoor covered dance floor.  I got to operate listening to old
60's rock and roll played by a loud band with a lot of tipsy mountain bike
riders trying to dance.  A neat location for sure -- I was glad there was no
rfi into the band's amps!   

While I was afraid the antenna system would leave a lot to be desired, I was
pleasantly surprised.  Especially on 20M I seemed to be able to hold my own. 
By the time I went to 80M, however it seemed to be much harder to make
contacts.  There other thing that happened was my voice began to give out.  I
had been recovering from a cold all week -- Monday and Tuesday my voice was so
bad that I could not talk above a whisper.  During the week I was able to talk
again, but during the Sprint my voice got worse and worse.  I thought I heard
someone on 80M complaining about contesters and making a comment about how
terrible my audio was.  I felt like telling him that the audio was fine, the
voice was just shot!  

I see that I had two more QSOs than AC0W, but I could well lose those in the
log checking.  I had 4 contacts in particular that I agonized about -- two of
them I just deleted, but two I left in the log.  In each case I called the
other station, sent my info, and did not hear an acknowledgment that my info
was copied.  The first two times I just deleted the contact and went on, the
last two were with people I have worked many times over the years and I felt
certain that if they had not copied my exchange they would have let me know. 
I'll learn if that was a bad assumption!

I also think it is time for contest organizers to pick another frequency for
the recommend frequency on 80M SSB.  3850 is right in the middle of
established, nightly get-togethers which do not cohabit well with contests.  I
read that many people have antennas cut for around 3850, but no one is going to
change their antennas until the contests start moving down in the band.  We
really need to bite the bullet and announce some suggested frequencies lower in
the band that will cause less QRM!

As always, thanks for the QSOs -- and really, more people should try the phone
sprints.  They are a lot of fun, but would be more fun with more activity.

73,

Dave, N5DO


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