[3830] SS CW K2PO/7 Single Op LP

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                    ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, CW

Call: K2PO/7
Operator(s): K2PO
Station: K2PO/7

Class: Single Op LP
QTH: Newberg, OR
Operating Time (hrs): 24

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
  160:     
   80:  151
   40:  129
   20:  431
   15:   11
   10:     
------------
Total:  722  Sections = 79  Total Score = 114,076

Club: Willamette Valley DX Club

Comments:

Great contest - as always.  One of the reasons I like SS is that stations with
dipoles and a hundred watts can turn in respectable scores.  (I’ll join the
CQ WW fray in a few weeks, but I have no ambitions of respectability in that
crowd.) 

Amazing QSO counts - and some signals - from the bumper crop of QRP
participants this year!

Thanks to all those who pitched-in to make a few dozen QSOs.  ‘Particularly
enjoyed hearing a few folks using straight keys.  And there was the fellow with
a nostalgic tube rig whose frequency drifted up about 500 Hz while sending his
exchange.  Apart from a few club stations (W6YX, K4PJ) the earliest checks I
worked were 1927 (maybe mis-copied?) and 1937 (QRZ.com shows K4PW was born in
1920 and W2GFF was born in 1919).

Missed NL.  My strategy was perverse – “If you call CQ, the tough sections
will come.”  It worked for RI, DE, ND, VE4, EWA, WV, etc., but not for number
80.  Maybe next year.  (The miss is particular ironic as I now learn that many
of the NL QSOs were handed out by N6TR operating remotely from his Oregon QTH
– nearly line of sight from here.)

I expected EWA to be tough, but EMA?  Yet it took 491 QSOs before I logged K1EP
for section #78 (ND was #79).  Then - natch - I logged 5 more EMAs in the next
175 Qs.

'Woke Saturday morning before the contest to find half of my 80/40/20 dipole on
the ground.  Fixed it in a record-setting rain, pelted by hail and flinching
with the - rare for Oregon - lightning.  (The crazy things we do for our
hobby… )

Dusted off my ca. 1960 Collins 75S-1 to monitor other bands (powered up with
variac, after 30 years of dormancy.)  I was reminded how superior our current
technology is (and by “current” I mean ca. 1990, i.e., TS-850).

A random musing while waiting for someone to answer my CQs:  A single dit error
- plus or minus - can corrupt MI into ME, MS or WI.  Likewise, a single dit loss
can relocate EWA to EMA, WWA to WMA, ID to IN, AL to AR, MN to MT, NL to ND, DE
to NE, and OR to ON.  (Did I miss any?)

‘Couldn’t get any rate going in the initial hours of the contest (88 Qs in
the first 3 hours) - unable to establish a run frequency, and often beat out by
bigger signals doing S&P.  Next year I hope to join the ranks of those with
tri-banders, and get off to a better start...

73,

/Bill


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