[3830] ARRL 10 N5FO SO CW Unlimited HP

[webform at b4h.net]

                    ARRL 10-Meter Contest

Call: N5FO
Operator(s): N5FO
Station: N5FO

Class: SO CW Unlimited HP
QTH: Silver City, NM
Operating Time (hrs): 26

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
   CW: 2026   159
  SSB:           
-------------------
Total: 2026   159  Total Score = 1,288,536

Club: Arizona Outlaws Contest Club

Comments:

Woke up now at 2:30am Monday morning couldn't sleep so am working on
submittals.

OK, I'm still "wired" from contest mode!

I decided to try ASSISTED his contest for the first time ever. That was a
mistake, because I had forgotten that the XYL would need the modem over the
weekend for her craft show. So, I did get to use it for about an hour Saturday
morning and then again the last few hours on Sunday (which I found helpful on a
few mults!). 

When using it to populate the Bandmap on N1MM+, I learned a good lesson - to be
careful of the right-click on the mouse, as I accidently erased the populated
map a couple of times! (so, N1MM should ask "are you sure?".

At 0000z the band exploded! For the first time I really experienced the
overload condition that N2IC had mentioned regarding the lack of a 500hz
roofing filter for 10M CW on the 590. The action from JA's W1,2,3,9 & 0's
was so fierce at times I found myself running at speeds of 35wpm and up, just
trying to get to everyone! The run continued strong until the band petered out
by 0300.

Saturday morning @ 1245z I could barely hear KP4EJ with lots of flutter, but
couldn't hear the East Coast or EU's he was working. 1312 and I also hear
CO8ZZ, but despite repeated calls can't work either. By 1400 I was starting to
get results S&P EU's and was able to run a bit later.

By 1900 I was working the beam due north, capturing the last few EU's and
mostly VE's and all of USA. My 1st JA came at 2127, a little later started a
strong run that lasted until almost 0300. At 0020, I heard a large increase in
atmospheric noise and crashes. Within minutes the sky was rumbling, heard even
with headset on. I looked out the window to the northwest to see low black huge
clouds and rain. I made a decision to run outside and disconnect everything
except the Optibeam. The heavy static noise continued.  BUT, I was amazed at
how the JA's and northern USA stations just kept coming! In spite of less than
stellar conditions for EU, this sure made up for it!

Unlike Saturday, Sunday morning at 1245 the band was dead. At 1300 it was so
quiet I checked 40M to see if the receiver had been damaged the night before.
Radio OK, and like magic,at 1327 IQ9UI appears out of nowhere, booming in! That
started what later turned out to be a good day. Saturday night I had about 1300
Q's, and set a goal of 2000. During the day Sunday I began to have a few
doubts, but by 1800 things were so strong I knew I could push and make it. AT
1945 I was running down around 28.004 and the competition was fierce!
K3UA 2khz above me was killing me with abnormally strong key clacks!

In fact, many times during the contest, I was challenged for the run freq. Most
annoying was when a "taker" would attack while I was trying to get #'s
from a weak EU or JA. I lost a few Q's to this attack for sure.

I wanted to try SO2R for this contest, using my KX3 and the 590 down for QRP.
But I had to ditch this plan because I couldn't get my SO2R Box running in
time. So, I made the decision Friday afternoon to go all out UNL. In
retrospect, I'm glad I did.  It was a fun contest, and I found myself really
enjoying the fast pace!


Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/