[3830] SS CW K9CT SO Unlimited HP

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Mon Nov 3 10:20:28 EST 2014


                    ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, CW

Call: K9CT
Operator(s): K9CT
Station: K9CT

Class: SO Unlimited HP
QTH: IL
Operating Time (hrs): 24
Radios: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
  160:    0
   80:   85
   40:  841
   20:  175
   15:   84
   10:   74
------------
Total: 1259  Sections = 83  Total Score = 208,994

Club: Society of Midwest Contesters

Comments:

I was looking for some fun and chose to use "assisted" Unlimited and
try to beat the Central Division record. Several things are immediately
different than B class. You are looking for the rare multipliers when they pop
and also you can do two radios and have a pretty good idea who you are
listening to on the "other" band. 

You still need to run as much as possible and just let the mults come to you.
However, I did take my second radio and listen for VY1EI or VE8EV on two
occasions that they were spotted to see that this was going to be hopeless.
Despite all the activity on 20, 15 and 10, I chose to start on 40m and keep the
second radio on the higher bands. The first two hours were slower but it was
better than being frustrated at not being able to run on those bands. From the
third hour on, it was very good. I held 7028 until almost 0600Z Sunday before
moving to 80m to run. 

I had worked 82 mults before taking a break at 0215Z for 5.5 hours. Somebody
must have blown the whistle at 0200Z because my clock changed and it was like
standing at the exit of a factory at quiting time. My band scopes just went
flat! Solid sleep and it was time to see what the remaing 14 hours were going
to be like. Well, other than the first couple of hours of 60/hour it was
obvious people had better things to do than SS. I wonder if we checked logs
stopping at 0800Z if the finish would be any different? 

So the long slog of Sunday presented itself. No flares or noises or
Murphy....just not many people to work. Maybe we need a Sunday contest for
those that are busy on Saturday?  Are we getting too old to do more than 10
hours? I was hopeful that many ops would show up to be raw meat but it was only
a handful. Sunday was for dupes...had several show up to get in the log again. I
guess they wanted a new band. Seven dupes are already uploaded to LOTW. Oh well,
made my number sound bigger. 

I thought propagation was good. Signals were strong on most bands. 80m was just
a bit noisy but still worked a few CA stations. We had some short skip on 20m
that helped on several occasions. Backscatter was pretty good on 15 and 10.
There was some long echo on 15m that made copy difficult most of Sunday. Many
commented on that. Thanks for taking the time to get the copy correct under
those conditions. 

Anyhow, I did make my goal and was pretty happy to get a clean sweep. I spent a
few minutes calling CQ on 15m with one antenna pointed at VY1EI's house. He took
the hint and surprised me with his #63 QRP signal. Can't wait to get a 2014
Sweep Mug! I worked another VE8 on 10m but he wanted to exchange signal reports
or something......

So now I will rest up for Phone SS....although I really prefer CW. 

BTW, I am using the new N1MMPlus and used a networked computer that provided
the spots, time and backup log. Other than some very minor things that are
already ironed out, it did a great job. I really like the quick edit in the log
with a double click. 

See you in two weeks....

73, Craig K9CT


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