[3830] 1010WinSSB N5XZ HP

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                    10-10 Int. Winter Contest, SSB

Call: N5XZ
Operator(s): N5XZ
Station: N5XZ

Class: Single Op HP
QTH: Richmond, TX
Operating Time (hrs): 26

Summary:
Total:  QSOs = 838  Total Score = 1,274

Club: Houston SHOT

Comments:

Thanks to all who joined in and worked this contest, with less than optimum
conditions (is it ever gonna get good again?).

My final score:
Total Contacts w/ 10-10#:  437
Total Contacts w/o 10-10#: 401
Total Contacts:            838
CLAIMED-SCORE:            1274
Total Hours Worked:         26 


Rig: Elecraft K3/P3
Amp: Alpha 78
Ant: 4 el SteppIR @ 75 ft
S/W: N1MM Logger v13.1.2
UDC: Tentenrtty

As mentioned before, conditions for the most part were far from excellent, but
there were some periods of really good propagation and I did manage to get some
good runs in on Saturday, with one 85 QSO hour. (Yeah, I know that isn’t much
compared to the BIG contests, but it isn’t bad for a 10-10 contest.) All
weekend long, I suffered from severe line noise from three different
directions, some as loud as S6. The noise blanker in the K3 worked well, but
loud signals caused distortion and in some cases the distortion was louder than
the noise. It’s amazing, sometimes the noise out here is almost
non-existent…other times…well you know. It’s just a constant struggle. At
times propagation was really good, and I even worked 10 KL7 stations, including
a lot of old friends from when I used to work in Anchorage. Contrary to
expectations, we were able to work Europe, Asia and Pacific both days and a
number of African stations to boot. Best DX was Z81D. Biggest surprise was
being called by a 4X.

This was my first time for to use N1MM for 10-10 contest logging (I use it for
all other contests though, so I am familiar with it). While the callsign
database was not as up to date as Win1010, I found the other features more
useful, including the band map and being able to operate the K3 voice memories
from the keyboard in ESM mode, and all the other great N1MM features. All
hardware performed flawlessly, as usual. The main glitch was the operator
hitting the wrong keys, not being used to such automation. I added a larger
blower to the back of my Alpha 78 some time ago, and this time I even added
another smaller 12 VDC computer fan on top. The Alpha ran cool as a cucumber at
full 1500 watts out, even with long periods of extended CQing and big pile-ups.
Another nice feature I used for the first time was the K3 noise gate. That way
the background noise level from the fans wouldn’t send out 300 watts of fan
noise, and only my speech went out. Every time I learn new feature of the K3, I
am more and more impressed with it. The P3 is great to be able to look for other
activity on the band and use the pointer or VFO B to check it out, between
CQ’s. 

I want to thank all those who made a special effort to get on ten meters to
work the contest, especially those who I bothered with unsolicited emails. The
local 10-10 chapter (Houston SHOT) put forth a great effort as well and several
of us worked very hard all weekend, through good and bad conditions, pulling
contacts out of thin air. 

And I really want to thank my beautiful wife Connie KC5VHH, who kept me fed all
weekend with nutritious and healthy foods to keep my energy levels up. I
didn’t have to even get out of my chair to get fed, although by Sunday
afternoon, it was hard to even sit any more. I made quite a few QSO’s
standing up! As some of you might know, I have been working out lately in the
gym, for my health but also partly to increase my contesting stamina and
y’know I think it’s working! I only found myself dozing once [that I can
remember anyway] while the auto CQer was running. It was only for a few
minutes, though. Luckily, it wasn’t for an extended period of time like what
happened to me one contest in the past late at night, when there were stations
answering my CQ's, but I was out like a light! I don't know how long that went
on! At least, some other local stations were able to use me as a beacon and
move those stations off to another frequency so they could make their own
contacts! And guess what?…I didn’t hit the 5-Hour Energy drink once! (But
it was within arm’s reach…just in case!)

Some other statistics:

DXCC worked:      41
Zones worked:     24
US States worked: 49
Can. Prov worked: 10

All in all, I think it was another great weekend on the radio, even though we
had to compete with some football game(?) on Sunday. I don’t know why they
had to move that game to the same weekend as this contest, it didn’t used to
be that way. Some people just have their priorities screwed up, I guess.

Allen R. Brier N5XZ #4530/ KL5DX #74961
1515 Windloch Lane
Richmond, TX 77406-2553
281-342-1882 (Home)
713-705-4801 (Cell)
n5xz at earthlink.net
n5xz at arrl.net


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