[3830] ARRLDX SSB KT8K SOAB QRP

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                    ARRL DX Contest, SSB

Call: KT8K
Operator(s): KT8K
Station: KT8K

Class: SOAB QRP
QTH: EN82cg SE Michigan
Operating Time (hrs): 19:29

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
  160:    0     0
   80:   13    13
   40:   20    18
   20:   87    41
   15:  127    59
   10:   85    39
-------------------
Total:  332   170  Total Score = 169,320

Club: Mad River Radio Club

Comments:

Wow!  That was tough, but snagging XT2TT just a few Q's before the end had me
hopping up and down, hooting and grinning like a fool.
Thanks to all who asked for repeats and listened hard for me beneath the din.

Equipment here:
- Tentec Orion dialed down to 5 W w. WGA stereo headset & noise cancelling mic
- A 20/40/80m inverted vee, apex at about 50', the wires separated by pieces of
lawn chair plastic, fed w. RG8x
- An old Cushcraft A3 tribander driven element hanging vertically, w. center
about 50' up in a tree and fed w. RG8x.
- A 500+ foot horizontal loop. zigzagging up and down from 15' to 60' in the
trees, fed with TV twin lead by an old Z-11 autotuner  (It had sagged in last
week's ice and snow storm and was frozen into a drift on the roof -
surprisingly not as lossy as I would have thought, though that might have been
somewhat band-dependent.)

Friday evening was a disaster.  Operating QRP in a phone contest is crazy
enough, but 40m was so packed it sounded like cats fighting in a burlap bag
combined with a lot of people's fingernails on a blackboard.  I could only take
so much at one sitting.  All the DX stations on 80m had continuous pileups.  I
couldn't hear anything on 160m and by 200Z 20m was acting like 10m when the
band is only about 5% open - quirky at best.  

Besides that (and worse), the propagation was generally not good here at all. 
I could hear everyone, but nobody was very strong, and, since I was qrp, nobody
could hear me.  I tried for about 5 hours of the first 12 and made 3 QSO's (my
4th hit the log at 11:58Z Sat. AM).  I don't know how I kept going, but
Saturday AM after 1300Z things got a little better.  In fact, by 1600Z or so
things got pretty good, especially on 15m, but also on 10m (as you can see by
my scores).  20m was just too full of stations for me to be able to "get much
rate going", so I stuck mostly to 15m with occasional forays to 10m. A couple
of hours when things were more quiet around 700-900Z netted 30 or so QSO's that
added nicely to the multipliers.  Sunday I put more work into 20m.  

Along the way I got 5 bands with HK1NA and heard them (him?) on 160m, but he
couldn't hear me.  6-banders are rarities for small-lot QRP'er, or for me at
least.

At one point Sunday afternoon on 20m I heard someone ask "Is this frequency in
use?".  About six stations simultaneously said "Yes!", and I'm pretty sure none
of them were contacting each other.  THAT's how crowded 20 and 40 meters were.

It was great to hear all of 15m full, sounding almost like the 20m of recent
years.  10m sounded like 15m used to, too - nice.  The flux may not be very
high, but this may be the peak we all were waiting for.  If so, I guess I'd be
satisfied after the past could of contests.

I hope everyone had half as much fun as I did, and thanks again for listening
for my weak signal.  I try to communicate as intelligibly as possible, so
please drop me a line if anything about my signal or the way I pass information
is anything but top notch.  (I know sometimes I repeat when I don't need to -
I'm so used to not being heard well.)  Operating QRP is a challenge I took on
myself purposefully, and I work hard to communicate as effectively as possible.
 

I recommend this evidence of my commiseration to all who, like me, have no
tower:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNWZjzrzgwA

Thanks for all the QSO's, and the youtube hits.  I look forward to putting you
in the log next time, for sure, and ideally so you won't suspect I was QRP.  73
& best rx de kt8k - Tim


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