[3830] SS CW K1LT Single Op HP

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                    ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, CW

Call: K1LT
Operator(s): K1LT
Station: K1LT

Class: Single Op HP
QTH: Ohio EM89ps
Operating Time (hrs): 23
Radios: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
  160: 0 !!!
   80:   339
   40:   358
   20:   123
   15:    89
   10:   197
------------
Total:  1106  Sections = 80  Total Score = 179,960

Club: Mad River Radio Club

Comments:

Before the contest I was browsing the list of Sweepstakes winning
scores and records and decided that I would shoot for the Ohio High
Power Single-Op record, which is 193,700 points at K8AZ in 2006.
200,000 points (1250 QSOs and 80 mults) seemed like a nice round score
to try for.

Needless to say, I didn't achieve that goal.  I didn't even spend 24
hours on the radio.  I did beat my previous best by a small margin.  I
slept too long by an hour.  I also had to retrieve my child, which
cost 25 minutes.  Along with feeding myself and the cats and doing
other mandatory housework I probably lost an hour consisting of short
interruptions that are not long enough to count as off-time.  By
extrapolation, maybe I could have made 1200 QSOs, assuming the extra 2
hours wouldn't decrease my average rate (I suffer from optimism).

I also tried SO2R again.  Since I don't have one of those fancy SO2R
switches, I used 2 computers each with an instance of Writelog running
networked.  On Saturday, Writelog behaved very strangely and the
networking wouldn't work, but Sunday it worked fine.  I also used a
homebrew audio switch to put the 40 meters only S&P radio audio in one
ear and the run radio audio in the other, or not.  There was lots of
hum and noise from my own RF, but it worked well enough to make an
extra 20 or so contacts.  Now that I know what SO2R is like, I'll try
to optimize the setup.  Better antenna switching is absolutely
mandatory.

I started the contest CQing on 10 meters, and got called by all of the
hard-to-work sections except NL within the first two hours.  I watched
to see how long WAS would take, but by 8.5 hours, I had worked
everything except ND.  ND called the next morning with 30 minutes of
starting, so maybe I can claim WAS in 9 hours of operating and 16
hours of elapsed time.

KG6DX was a fun way to get a PAC section.  I managed to go 20 hours
without working any dupes, and then they all suddenly found me.  One
guy worked me twice in 3 minutes with only 1 intervening QSO for each
of us.

Some weird statistics:

Year    QSOs  Mults  Points  Hours  Av rate  Comments
2007     924    80   147840   23.5   39.32   Division champ
2008    1060    79   167480   23     46.09
2009     967    80   154720   22.5   42.98
2010    1038    80   166080   22     47.18
2011    1106    80   179960   22     50.27

In 2007, my worst year, I accidentally won the division.  Apparently,
the real winners didn't send in logs.  My rate is generally
increasing, although at a decreasing rate.  I'll have to go back and
figure out what went wrong in 2009.

Equipment: K3, IC765, ETO 91B (thanks, Jeff)
160/80: 65' "T" and 80 cage with 80 radials 
40: full sized ground mounted vertical with 32 radials
20-10: Cushcraft X7 @ 60'


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