[3830] SS CW NN7SS(K6UFO) Single Op QRP

[webform at b41h.net]

                    ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, CW

Call: NN7SS
Operator(s): K6UFO
Station: NN7SS

Class: Single Op QRP
QTH: WWA
Operating Time (hrs): 22
Radios: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
  160:     
   80:   31
   40:  142
   20:  194
   15:  227
   10:   59
------------
Total:  653  Sections = 83  Total Score = 108,398

Club: Western Washington DX Club

Comments:

The Good:

Sweep! My last two were ND and DE (Delaware?!). All the 
VE3 sections seemed well represented. Having a second radio 
sure helped find Mults. I could tune all the open bands at 
least every other hour, and when I heard a pileup it was 
time to see who it was. Many other "rare" Mults answered my 
CQing radio. 

My score is down 8% from my personal best last year. This 
is listed in "Good" because I'm sure conditions were down 
far more than 8%, so I managed to "improve."

No lids! In over 600 QSOs I only ran into two guys who 
seemed clueless. Fantastic! 

The antennas, radios and equipment worked great (except 
the headphones - see "Ugly"). The two new Kenwood TS-590s 
radios are "keepers!" Quiet and selective, with good DSP
filtering against the CLICKS (see "Ugly"). The Writelog 
software and the Microham controller worked great for 
SO2R, although my old computer is getting a little slow 
at keeping up with my rapid clicking and typing. 

The Bad:

Band conditions were poor, with 10m barely providing 
QSOs. I had less than half the 10m QSOs of last year, 
even though I spent a lot of time there on the second 
radio. Just a week ago CQ WW had 10m in great shape, 
so it was discouraging. Also, after sunset about 03:30Z, 
the low bands were weak and noisy - not good for QRP! 
I started taking 30 minute breaks to fix headphones, 
eat, and wait for better band conditions. In the end 
I operated too little, ending up 2 hours short. That 
might have added 20 to 40 QSOs if I had gotten back on 
earlier than 5AM, although 5AM seemed really early 
enough to me!

The Ugly:

Headphones: The "noise reduction" circuitry in my 
Heil "Pro Set Quiet Phone" headphones started producing 
extra "noise" in my left ear. I was so busy with two 
radios that at first I thought it was just band noise. 
By evening on the low bands it was a real problem, and 
at my first long break at 04Z I scrambled to find a 
good set of normal stereo headphones and the right size
 adapters. 

Key clicks: Now that I have an SDR radio and panadapter 
tracking my right radio, I can see that some folks have 
terrible key clicks! I decided not to waste time taking 
names, and just stayed away (maybe that's their plan?) 
I didn't stop to take a picture, but its as bad as shown 
in this image by GM0ELP on the internet. <bit.ly/Pys4r3>  
Most signals are perfectly clean, and a few signals are 
as wide as barn doors! 

So no records were challenged, and I'll be lucky to 
stay in the Top Ten, but it was a good CW contest.

NN7SS (op K6UFO)

10,15,20m: C-31XR at 71ft, 3el Steppir at 40 ft.
40m: Force 12 Delta 240 at 78ft, 40-2CD at 48 ft.
80m: Delta loop from 70 ft, Half-sloper from 60ft.
Two Kenwood TS-590s turned down to 5 watts.
Array Solutions Power Master digital wattmeter.
Writelog software and microHAM micro2r controller.
SDR-IQ receiver and SDR-Radio software.

QSO by hour and band.
     80    40    20    15    10    Total  Cumm   Off
21Z   .     .     .    32    19     51     51
22Z   .     .     .    25    20     45     96
23Z   .     .    19    16     .     35    131
00Z... .   12    31     5  ... .    48    179
01Z   .    23    11     .     .     34    213
02Z   3    25     1     .     .     29    242
03Z   3    17     .     .     .     20    262
04Z   2     5     .     .     .      7    269    45
05Z   4     5     .     .     .      9    278    22
06Z   3     .     .     .     .      3    281    56
07Z   3     7     .     .     .     10    291    37
08Z... . ... .  .. .  .. . ... .     0    291    60
09Z   .     .     .     .     .      0    291    60
10Z   .     .     .     .     .      0    291    60
11Z   .     .     .     .     .      0    291    60
12Z   .     .     .     .     .      0    291    60
13Z  12    11     .     .     .     23    314    14
14Z   .     6    22     .     .     28    342
15Z   .     4    18     5     .     27    369
16Z... . ... .    9    26  ... .    35    404
17Z   .     .     8    12     .     20    424
18Z   .     .    10    36     .     46    470
19Z   .     .    11    18     3     32    502
20Z   .     .     2    22     2     26    528
21Z   .     .     .    15    12     27    555
22Z   .     .     9     7     3     19    574
23Z   .     .    18     8     .     26    600
00Z... .    6    16   .. . ... .    22    622
01Z   .    10     9     .     .     19    641
02Z   1    11     .     .     .     12    653
Tot: 31   142   194   227    59


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