[3830] SS CW K8BL SO Unlimited LP

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                    ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, CW

Call: K8BL
Operator(s): K8BL
Station: K8BL

Class: SO Unlimited LP
QTH: OHIO
Operating Time (hrs): 23.0

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
  160:    0
   80:  325
   40:  224
   20:  248
   15:  111
   10:   98
------------
Total: 1006  Sections = 80  Total Score = 160,960

Club: North Coast Contesters

Comments:

It was great to have condx so good on the higher Bands. Seems so long
since I was able to get more than a handful of Q's on 10, if any.

However, I think activity was somewhat lower on 40. My suspicion is
that lots of folks were taking advantage of the much better condx on
10/15 and they spent much more time there than in past years. Many
of the newer Contesters probably never experienced the ability to
make so many Q's on those Bands and were cashing in!

My goal is always to reach the 1K Q level. I still had 50 to go with
almost 2 hours left to operate and was really starting to sweat! This
was my first experience in SS as Unlimited and even with a BandMap
staring me in the face it was very difficult to find new stations still
on the air to work on ANY Band. I must have changed Bands 10 times in
the last couple hours and calling CQ repeatedly to finally hit 1K with
less than 15 minutes before I went QRT. I'm starting to wonder if it's
worth it to stay on to the bitter end versus using the time up much
earlier in the Contest.

My recent construction/installation of Double Bazooka Inverted Vees for
80 & 40 to replace my old ones seemed to be well worth the effort. They
are totally insulated and at DC Ground and it makes them quieter than
antennas with exposed metal. I credit this aspect for allowing me to
pull out so many of those Q Class stations.

Speaking of Q Class... Doesn't there seem to be quite a lot of them
lately? And, they often are putting in really good signals! And, why
does it seem like almost all of them are in either CO or MN???

I'm not entirely sold on being Unlimited is much of an advantage in
this Contest. It didn't improve my score at all versus previous years,
but it was nice having a BandMap to see where unworked stations were
at. However, unless the station's Call explicitly indicates their
Section, you can't really use the Map to show the ones you still need.
Often, stations would be gone by the time you got around to them. I feel
nothing beats a good frequency to CQ on and getting a good run going
regardless of Limited/Unlimited. Maybe when I'm an Old Timer (many years
from now!), it'll be easy to just sit back and point-n-shoot the
BandMap versus the effort of turning the dial to find stations - HIHI.

As usual in SS, I'm DRIVEN to do a Clean Sweep! If I don't get one, my
XYL says I sulk for at least a week and mutter unkind things about Yukon,
Newfoundland, Wyoming or Northern New York. This year, the pressure was
off before I even took my sleep break. I got my 80th Section (ME!) at
8 1/2 hours and my 427th Q. And, where were all the WV stations? I
finally worked one as my 72nd Section!

Finally, working NT was a nice and easy stroke of luck this year versus
endless searching and a massive pileup. I had just worked a MN station
on 15M and looked at the BandMap to where to go next when I heard VY1EI
call the same MN guy. On a fingers-crossed hope and prayer, I waited
'til they were done and bumped the VFO up 1/2 a KHz and called the VY1.
HE CAME RIGHT BACK TO ME!!! I nearly fell out of my chair since I NEVER
worked that Section so easily! I'm sure THAT will never happen again!!


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