[3830] ARRLDX CW K9YC M/S HP

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                    ARRL DX Contest, CW

Call: K9YC
Operator(s): N6GQ, K9YC
Station: K9YC

Class: M/S HP
QTH: CA
Operating Time (hrs): 39.5

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
  160:   91    21
   80:  208    63
   40:  514    91
   20:  397    86
   15:  344    80
   10:  109    27
-------------------
Total: 1663   368  Total Score = 1,835,952

Club: Northern California Contest Club

Comments:

I've invited Jeff, N6GQ, to operate up here when the opportunity arose, 
so when he got snowed out of a multi-op at W7RN, he took me up on the 
invitation.  Jeff got us off to a great start Friday afternoon and 
overnight, then went home for a break, planning to relieve me in time 
for a late lunch.  Little did we suspect that he would get snowed out 
again, but by 9 am, it was snowing pretty heavily, and by noon the roads 
accessing my QTH were closed.  This was not a rash decision by the local 
authorities -- these mountain roads are quite dangerous when they get 
icy, and by mid-afternoon, there was freezing on the walks and steps 
between my house and ham shack. To put this in perspective, my QTH is at 
2,000 ft, but only 5 miles from the Pacific, 10 miles NNW of Santa Cruz, 
which is on the coast a few feet above sea level. Jeff lives in Santa 
Cruz. W7RN is K5RC's excellent contest station, on a mountain plateau 
at about 6,000 ft, and about 15 miles SE of Reno. Jeff and N6TV were all
set to make the 6-8 hour drive, but an earlier storm dumped too much snow
on I80 for them to make the trip.  

Jeff made a great start for us, with 10 hours out of the first 16, and I 
took over around 8am with well over 800 Qs in the log!  Plus I got a 
good night's sleep and dinner with the XYL. After Jeff left,  I took 
breaks for dinner and sleep during slow times, and we ended up with 39,5 
hours on the air.  And we had fun in the limited time we had together.

Minor mishaps -- the SteppIR rotor froze, limiting its rotation to about 
90 degrees, but thanks to the SteppIR's reversibility function, I was 
able to aim it to the major destinations.  The snow also detuned the 
Yagis a bit.

Band conditions were generally very good, especially on 40M and 
80M, and 21 on 160M, yielding several new ones on several bands 
(including D4 on 160M). Interesting statistic -- of our 1,663 Qs, 735 
(44%) were in Zone 25 (JA).  I worked 60 JAs on 160 in about 2 hours 
Sunday morning (plus some Koreans, and 54 JAs on 10M Saturday afternoon.

If you haven't done a multi-op, it's well worth considering. My station 
is modest, but we managed to have a lot of fun, we got to know each 
other a bit better, and we put some points on the board for NCCC. Win, 
win, win!

73, Jim K9YC


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