[3830] SS CW VE7XF SO Unlimited HP

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                    ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, CW

Call: VE7XF
Operator(s): VE7XF
Station: VE7XF

Class: SO Unlimited HP
QTH: Near Vancouver
Operating Time (hrs): 20

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
  160:    0
   80:   94
   40:  134
   20:  469
   15:  175
   10:    0
------------
Total:  872  Sections = 80  Total Score = 139,520

Club: British Columbia DX Club

Comments:

Would Murphy's "help" make me a multi-op?
Everything was rolling along nicely - I was in the middle of a run on 20m when
suddenly at 0002z Saturday afternoon my trusty 'mp-V quit in the middle of a Q
(my apologies to the K1 I was working). Dead. Nothing. No lights. P/S light
OK.
By the time I'd switched all the cables to the Pro III and re-configured the
software, I'd lost over half an hour and 20 was on the way out. It was dark in
most of the continent anyway.

40m was a slog - the local mystery noise was S-8, so it was S&P the loud ones.
The Pro III wasn't handling the strong stns at 250hz, and at 0200z I took the
K3 out of the box, switched all the cables again and re-reconfigured the
software, losing another 1/2 hour. Took a few Qs to remember how the K3 works.

At 0345z, the mystery noise stopped suddenly, revealing a whole bunch of
activity previously unheard, so 40 and 80 were once again run-able.
I'm also keeping a lookout for needed mults (the main point is to get the
mug).
After an hour or so, a junior version of the noise returned, so when things
tapered off (0645z), I had a snack and went to bed, needing only OK and NL.

Back on the air before sunrise, 20m was starting to open around 1430z (you guys
on the other side of the Rockies have NO IDEA what it's like here). I poked
around for a while and had OK call me before going to 15m at 1700z. A good band
- quiet, good sigs, and room between them for some nice runs, including a call
from VO1MP for #80.

Took a quick lunch break at 1940, and returned to the shack to find that the
computers had re-booted (!!!) so went through the startup routines again. Must
be a UPS (not the delivery guys) problem, not the mains, as the digital clock
was still running.

By then, 15 was fading, so back to 20. Ran as long as I could, then to 40/80,
battling the mystery noise again, until it suddenly switched off at 0245z (from
S-8 to S-0), not leaving a lot of time left.

So - better than last year, score wise.
Pretty good excuses for not beating VA2WDQ, eh?

Ralph, VE7XF, ve7xf at rac.ca


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