[3830] SS SSB W4NF SO Unlimited HP

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                    ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, SSB

Call: W4NF
Operator(s): W4NF
Station: W4NF

Class: SO Unlimited HP
QTH: VA
Operating Time (hrs): 22.5
Radios: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
  160:     
   80:  518
   40:  340
   20:  448
   15:   97
   10:     
------------
Total: 1403  Sections = 83  Total Score = 232,898

Club: Potomac Valley Radio Club

Comments:

That was fun, but tiring.  I made several improvements to the station since last
year and put up some temporary antennas for the contest and some worked and some
didn't.  The Full Wave Horizonal Loop for 80 Mtrs at about 45 feet worked
excellent in the short haul range and was used to compliment the 80 meter
dipole at 100'.  The combination of the two antennas proved to be a winner. 
The temporary 360' West Beverage that I installed the morning of the contest
only really helped with completing about 5 contacts and was not needed the
majority of the time.  Band conditions on the low bands were very quite so the
beverage might have helped out more if the bands had been noisy.

The two new 650 foot runs of 7/8 hardline to the 8 Pak antenna swicth at the
tower worked great and there were no intermitment feedline problems that I had
experienced in the past.  One thing I need to work on in the station is the rig
layout to make the use of the second radio much easier.  I have the rigs sitting
too far in front of me and the constant reaching to scan the band on the second
radio was tiring so I didn't use it near as much as I should have.  Everything
else seemed to work great.

One other thing I need to work on is my sleep scheduling.  I was on for the
first 11.5 hours and then went to sleep at 3:30.  I woke up at 6:30 to get
ready for church at 7:30, went to church and was back on the radio at 8:30.  I
then operated straight through until 6:30PM and then took about a 45 minute
break for dinner.  I got back on the radio then to finish up the contest and
really ran out of gas.  I also had to get up at 5:15 on Monday morning for a
one day business trip to Philadelphia.  So I pulled the plug with still an hour
and a half to go so I could be functional for the trip the next day.  My wife
mentioned that she had never see me quit before the end of the contest.  Next
year I think I'll work the first 12 hour, sleep for 5 hours, then operate and
then take my last hour off at Noon on Sunday to attend church as I think the
longer sleep time will help.

The contest started out great and by the time I stopped after 11.5 hours I had
over 900 Qs and was only missing PR.   I picked up PR on Sunday morning on 15
meters for the Sweep.  Sunday was a struggle to figure out which band to be on
and numerous CQs went unanswered.  This is were I needed to use the second
radio more.  As I said it was fun and with a few adjustments I'll make it more
fun next year.  

Thanks for the Qs and 73, Jack W4NF


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