[3830] ARRL 10 N3UM SO CW HP

[webform at b41h.net]

                    ARRL 10-Meter Contest

Call: N3UM
Operator(s): N3UM
Station: N3UM

Class: SO CW HP
QTH: MD
Operating Time (hrs): 23.3

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
   CW: 1235   135
  SSB:           
-------------------
Total: 1235   135  Total Score = 666,900

Club: Potomac Valley Radio Club

Comments:

I've done ARRL 10 m. eleven times since 2000, always SOHP 
CW Only, with comparable effort and equipment.  This year 
my claimed score was only 5% behind my best ever score,
in 2002, and 28% ahead of my former second-best, in 2001.
It's exciting to be past the sunspot drought years of 2004 thru 
2010 and my pitiful scores then of 7% to 25% of my 2011 claim.
I worked one more country this year than in 2002, and one 
more mult in US + VE.  (I missed just one US state this year, 
MS, none in 2002, but got 2 more VE provinces this year.) 
If I scale my 2011 score to 2002 rules by eliminating my 7  
XE state mults, it's still only 9% behind my 2002 number.  
Fri. evening there was no E or F skip, just VHF-style LOS 
QSOs in MD and adjacent states plus a few via meteor trails.
Beaming east Sat. AM at 12 Z, there was good backscatter to
the US east coast, and a few EUs via skew path.  Then, very 
good run to EU beginning 13 Z: I averaged 84/hr for 3 hrs, 
13-16 Z, and 68/hr for the whole morning, 12-1715 Z.  After 
lunch, 1830 - 23 Z, I beamed west and found 28 mults and 
174 QSOs, mixing run and S&P.  In hindsight, I shoulda run 
more, like I did in 2002, when I got 23 mults and 303 QSOs in 
the same time period.  Sat. after dark was DEAD: only 4 QSOs.
Sun. AM I started earlier, 1135 Z, found a freq and just ran. 
Slow at first, ~35/hr., but rate really took off just before 
12 Z: 316 QSOs in 4 hr. 12-16 Z, an average of 79/hr. I worked 
4 new states on backscatter: IL, ND, SD, and KS.
Sun. PM I ran pointing west and found 3 more states: MO, NE,
and OK.  At 2048, VY1EI called me for YT!  Not loud, and I had 
to quick swing my beam N, but no problem.  Then, S&P, I found  
some DX mults and then finally AR with 43 min. to spare, but 
never MS, despite lots of TX and LA QSOs.  I found plenty of JA, 
VK, ZL, and ZS, but my only semi-rare mults were V5, KH2, and 
ZL5, at the Kiwi base in Antarctica.  Dec. 2012 on 10 should be fun!


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