[3830] ARRLDX SSB VP9/W6PH(@VP9GE) SOAB LP

[webform at b41h.net]

                    ARRL DX Contest, SSB

Call: VP9/W6PH
Operator(s): W6PH
Station: VP9GE

Class: SOAB LP
QTH: Bermuda
Operating Time (hrs): 40.5

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
  160:  220    35
   80:  504    49
   40: 1097    58
   20: 1627    58
   15:  867    46
   10:  222    25
-------------------
Total: 4537   271  Total Score = 3,688,581

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club

Comments:

Equipment:  IC-7000  CT-WIN

Antennas:
 160m - Inverted L (50 feet vertical)
  80m - Dipole at 20 feet
  40m - Dipole at 20 feet
  20-10m:  A4S at 21 feet (repaired from an A2S)

My QSO count was 1100 more than last year but my multipliers were down quite a
bit because of low band conditions.  Friday night was a struggle and I thought
that Saturday night would be the same.  So I got some sleep at 11 pm only to
find out that the low bands got real good after that. 

Fifteen and ten meters were not near as good for me as the folks in the
Caribbean.  On Saturday I had a total of 8 contacts in 2 states on 10 meters
even though I checked often.  There was nobody there except some weak SA
stations.  Sunday was much better but I still have a big RF shadow to
everything east of the Mississippi River and my QSO total shows it.  I spent
about four hours trying to get something going there.  Fifteen was slightly
better with the RF shadow starting at K3LR on the OH/PA border south to
Florida.  I didn't work any W1, W2, W3, W4 (VA) or W8 (WV).

On 20 meters, I never ran out of people to work and the band was open to every
state at the same time giving me a great footprint.

For me the internet cluster is a love-hate relationship.  On one hand  it
enhances my QSO count.  On the other hand people don't find me until I'm 
spotted. I am of the opinion that there are many contesters who have never 
been in a contest without the internet and don't know how to S&P without it. 
They blindly call anything new that pops up on their screens without 
evaluating the call sign for validity.  I had an issue with a busted call sign
late on Sunday afternoon.  I am reluctant to put duplicate contacts in my log
(old  school).  I started getting a bunch of dupes and told each one that I 
wasn't logging them and reemphasized my call sign slowly.  One guy told me, 
"You were spotted as VP9/W3PH"  and he said that he would correct it.   I still
got a few more calls that were dupes.  My gripe is, what is between the ears of
these guys?  An intelligent person would realize that there are only a finite
number of VP9's and the odds of finding two guys with such close calls in the
same contest were probably less than finding OJ Simpson's DNA in  someone
else.

My IC-7000 still works perfectly since I purchased it for the 2006 ARRL's.  It
is the perfect contest expedition radio.

Always great to make contacts with people I have met in Visalia and Dayton. 
This is my eleventh year operating as VP9/W6PH and I plan to do many more.  I
really appreciate the hospitality of Ed, VP9GE.  He is a super guy.

                     73, Kurt, W6PH


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