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

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                    ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, SSB

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

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

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
  160:     
   80:   25
   40:   42
   20:  143
   15:  181
   10:  203
------------
Total:  594  Sections = 83  Total Score = 98,604

Club: Western Washington DX Club

Comments:

Equipment:
The station had proven ready in Sweepstakes CW, and sure 
enough, it did great. The new Kenwood TS-590s received well 
despite the splatter. Windows decided to change the sound 
mixer settings at the contest start, so I lost six minutes 
trying to figure it out and restarting. I had changed from 
the Heil Headset to the Yamaha CM-500 headset after 
carefully comparing recordings of my weak SSB signals. 
Worked out fine, no complaints about my audio.

Operator:
I got some rest, and prepared a few meals, so I was ready. 
The two 12 hour operating days are hard - not as much fun 
as the 30 minute NCCC Sprints!

Propagation: 
Solar flux was booming before the weekend, but so were the 
disturbances. My best guess was for 10m to be open, and for 
80m to be lousy for QRP. That proved accurate. I also had 
an 80m problem with interference from the six AM Broadcast 
stations within four miles of me.

Multipliers:
I managed a sweep, with lots of tuning the bands. Thank you 
to VE3HED for ONE, W6XU for SF, KC0W for ND, VE8GER for NT. 
My last one was KI6LZ for SB.

Rate:
I never got an hour rate above 51, and when I had to to go 
to the low bands around 0230Z the rate plummeted to single 
digits! I took 90 minutes off to let the bands improve for 
QRP (Ha!). Hard work until 06z. I got up really early (5AM) 
but wasted two hours until sunrise at 14:20Z. Then I played 
"find an open spot and CQ until my open spot is lost..." 
My second radio just tuned and tuned looking for Mults and 
new stations.

The Crowd:
Now that I have a panadapter on one radio, I can see how 
bad the splatter is! Early evening on 40m is already too 
crowded - but then some signals are way too wide!

Bottom Line:
I couldn't keep up with my rate from last year, and KD0S 
was always a hundred QSOs ahead of me. Congrats to Todd!

NN7SS (op K6UFO)

10,15,20m: C-31XR at 71ft, C-3 at 53ft, 3el Steppir at 40ft.
40m: Force 12 Delta 240 at 78ft, 40-2CD at 48ft.
80m: Delta loop from 70ft, 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      Rate   Cumm   Off
21Z       -       -       -       9      33       42     42
22Z       -       -       -      20      17       37     79
23Z       -       -       -      15      24       39    118
00Z    ---+-   ---+-     20      31    ---+-      51    169
01Z       -       -      13       3       -       16    185
02Z       -       4      13       -       -       17    202     8
03Z       -       -       -       -       -        0    202    60
04Z       1       3       -       -       -        4    206    33
05Z       7       1       -       -       -        8    214
06Z       9       4       -       -       -       13    227
07Z       3       8       -       -       -       11    238
08Z       3       1    ---+-   ---+-   ---+-       4    242    51
09Z       -       -       -       -       -        0    242    60
10Z       -       -       -       -       -        0    242    60
11Z       -       -       -       -       -        0    242    60
12Z       -       -       -       -       -        0    242    60
13Z       2       3       -       -       -        5    247    43
14Z       -       -      12       5       -       17    264    22
15Z       -       -      12       8       3       23    287
16Z    ---+-   ---+-   ---+-     14      18       32    319
17Z       -       -       -      15      15       30    349
18Z       -       -       6       -      26       32    381
19Z       -       -       1       7      15       23    404
20Z       -       -       -      10      17       27    431
21Z       -       -       -      11      27       38    469
22Z       -       -       2      14       8       24    493
23Z       -       -      14      19       -       33    526
00Z    ---+-   ---+-     17    ---+-   ---+-      17    543
01Z       -       8      19       -       -       27    570
02Z       -      10      14       -       -       24    594
Total:   25      42     143     181     203


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