[3830] SS CW VA7ST Single Op LP

Sun Nov 8 23:28:19 PST 2009

                    ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, CW

Call: VA7ST
Operator(s): VA7ST
Station: VA7ST

Class: Single Op LP
QTH: BC
Operating Time (hrs): 20

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
  160:    1
   80:  157
   40:  152
   20:  389
   15:   76
   10:     
------------
Total:  775  Sections = 78  Total Score = 120,900

Club: British Columbia DX Club

Comments:

2009 -- Flux: 71  | Ap: 0  | Kp: 0
2008 -- Flux: 68  | Ap: 1  | Kp: 0

* FT-2000 and N1MM Logger, SO1R unassisted
* tribander at 27'
* 40M Steppir dipole at 27' Saturday, 47' Sunday evening
* 80M 2 x verticals (6 raised radials ea.)
* 270' Beverage E-W

No sweep. Never heard NL, and AB couldn't hear me. Heard the VE6EX guys on 20M
but nowhere else. When I did locate them, they were working the opposite
direction and I couldn't get through. Invested about 30 minutes of heartache
plaintively calling in many visits to their frequency -- best I got was "VA?" a
few times then on to the W8s :) Without NL there was no hope anyway.

VE8EV was loud here when I worked him on Saturday. Great to get one of the
tough ones away early. EMA was hard to get, then worked about six of them. ME
was the next, then the last mult found was EWA and that wasn't until dark
Sunday near the end.

After two years running high power, thought I'd give low power a shot again. By
the end I was very pleased, but there were long stretches in which I fully
believed I'd made a poor choice.

80M -- Band was so-so early Saturday evening and built to become as strong as
it has been in a long time. I spent most of Saturday morning before the 1 p.m.
start replacing the old plastic box/relay system and upgrading the feedlines
for the phased verticals. 

This was a big deal here, the result of several evenings getting things ready,
and three hours out in the cold getting the verticals happy. Part of the
project was a rejigging of the 160M inverted-L. Alas, its slightly changed
location was too close to one of the verticals, causing havoc. Moved the L 20
feet away, and suddenly SWR was back to normal on the 80M array. The new
phasing box is much more reliable, with hefty relays for endfire and broadside
patterns. 

Had no chance to test the new setup in action until the contest pushed me down
from 40M in the evening. At first, I figured it wasn't really working as I had
trouble being heard outside Zone 3, but that proved to be the band's one-way
propagation. By 0700z the band was boiling and the array played beautifully. 

I pushed well beyond my previous best LP outing on 80M so I'm happy.

  2009 = 157 with LP to phased 67' wire verticals
  2008 = 207 with HP to the same phased verticals
  2007 =  43 with HP to a full delta loop
  2006 =  99 with LP to an inverted-V, 
  2005 =   6 with LP to a single delta loop
  2004 = 104 with LP to a phased pair of huge delta loops (90 feet on a side).

40M  -- While 80M was fantastic, 40M was horrible for me on Saturday night --
ended the evening with only 42 Qs there. Actually said a swear-word to the
dipole. Then reminded myself that the dipole was a) at just 27' due to wind and
b) just a dipole, so it really wasn't to blame. 

Different story on Sunday though. Just before 0000z I cranked up an extra 20'
and went to work. Felt like I was QRO, conditions were so good. Bumped up the
band total to 152 in the final three hours, with a couple of forays to 80M in
the mix.

20M  -- Not a lot to say. It was packed to the rafters with activity, but
managed to eke out a spot and ran 170 or so from 1630z to 1930z Sunday morning.
All high-band work was with the Steppir 3-element at 27'. 

I now use the 160M inverted-L as a noise sense antenna for the MFJ-1029 noise
canceler and it works quite well on the high-band power line problem here --
much better than just the rig's noiseblanker without the box. Can get the noise
down to S0 or S1 at times. Without this, I have to pray for rain (which I also
got for a while).

15M -- Bam! 54 Qs and 22 sections right out of the gate at 2100z Saturday. Band
was actually very hot for the first couple of hours. Went there on Sunday for
more, but fewer stations were up there hunting.

Watched livescores.org the whole time. It was great fun and helped me stay in
the chair when I otherwise might have wandered off. Can be demoralizing at
times to see someone you've been horseracing with take a rocket ride when a new
band opens up out east, but it also teaches just how sticking with it even
through the doldrums can build, build, build the score. You can climb back, but
only if you're in there trying.

Went in with no real expectations, given I haven't run low power in SSCW since
2006. Eventually settled on a goal of 103,000 points (previous high LP) and was
very happy to hit 120,000 claimed. The only disappointment this weekend was
missing out on the sweep. It hurts to be so close but so far away.

Year-over-year looks like this:

Year   QSOs   Pts  Sec    Score
-------------------------------
2009   775   1550   78  120,900    LP 20 hrs
2008   902   1804   80  144,320 <- HP 19 hrs
2007   837   1674   78  130,572 <- HP 21 hrs
2006   648   1296   79  102,384
2005   527   1054   73   76,942
2004   580   1160   80   92,800
2003   182     --   52   18,928
2002   370    740   72   53,280

73 Bud VA7ST
http://www3.telus.net/va7st/

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