[3830] SS SSB VE6SV(VE4GV) SO Unlimited HP
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Sat Nov 22 15:08:19 EST 2014
ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, SSB
Call: VE6SV
Operator(s): VE4GV
Station: VE6SV
Class: SO Unlimited HP
QTH: AB
Operating Time (hrs): 24
Radios: SO2R
Summary:
Band QSOs
------------
160:
80: 61
40: 295
20: 574
15: 887
10: 36
------------
Total: 1853 Sections = 83 Total Score = 307,598
Club: Radiosport Manitoba
Comments:
Station:
FTdx5000 - FT-1000MP V SO2R
Alpha 9500 QRO 2500
20M 5el Yagi 135/80/50
15M 6el Yagi 100
10M 7el Yagi 100
40M 3el Yagi 120/90
80M 4Q Array
During the couple of years, some intrepid VE4s have availed themselves of the
gracious hospitality of VE6SV in Edmonton Ab. Flying West and north (yes there
IS life north of VE4 (Winnipeg)) to Edmonton Alberta, Gord VE6SV has assembled
a very fine, well equipped, comfortable station that has hosted us for the
last two CQ WW and WPX phone tests. It has everything you could possibly want
or need. (Look him up on QRZ.com database �" nice pictures)
For the past 27 years, I had worked SS as VE4GV (both modes as LP), simply
because of an old Industry Canada restriction on my license. In 1986 (when I
arrived home from Grad School)I found a nice character home 5 minutes from
where I practice that had 80 ft. Elm trees around it. I proceeded to put up a
Trylon 64 ft. A200 tower that eventually held a KT34XA and 2 el 40-2CD and
squeezed into a 150 x 50 city lot. That was back in the days where permits were
not required. Although some of the neighbors were less than pleased with the
tribander @ 66 ft. ( with the 2 el 40@ 74 ft. added a couple of years later)I
tried to limit my operating at first and then slowly incorporated an old SB220
that I had built in my previous station, which I used to chase DX. Eventually I
got "the call" from Industry Canada who came out to my QTH, inspected
the station and announced that my signal was clean. But running legal limit was
causing too many RFI problems. ( I lived in an area with overhead power, cable
and telephone drops). They said if I limited myself to exciter output, they
would tell my neighbors that THEY would be responsible for any RFI problems
they had. Just as the inspector was about to leave, he said that if I wanted to
run power, I should move "out in the country". So I was stuck in LP at
this QTH in perpetuity. It says so right on my station license.
SS scores initially were decent but it wasn't until I put up the 40 M bean that
things really took off. The 80 m line noise made that band practically unusable
so the Inv Vee I had was pretty much cosmetic, used mainly to hunt for that
elusive ND mult that seemed the bane of every VE4 SS contester.
In 2000 it all came together in the perfect storm. Condx were great, Derrick
VE4VV (sk....who we really miss around here)graciously worked QRP (I think!)
and left me as pretty much the only run station in MB section. If you wanted a
sweep, you had to work me in LP. That resulted in an all-time SS LP record that
remains today 308,160. Since we have incorporated 3 more sections since that
time, I'm surprised it has held up so long. I'm sure it will be broken in the
near future.
We are very much at the mercy of old Sol up here. It’s all about latitude and
proximity to the aurora zone. If the sun farts, it stinks up here. The ironic
thing is that while VE4/VE5 S U C K S when it comes to DX contest (perhaps the
only worse place with major population centers are north VE6 or deep
Asia/Russia) VE4 is a GREAT location for N.Am contests when condx are good. I
had been fortunate enough to win several SS plaques over the years ( mostly for
Phone) but always in the LP category. I had never run with the "big
dogs".
After visiting Gord's station a few times and not blowing anything up, I think
we both became comfortable with the idea of me doing a single op contest like SS
where we could just point the antennas SE and SW, leave em there (one less thing
to worry about) and then concentrate on running with an occasional S&P on
eth 2nd radio. (During CQ WW phone I had the pleasure of running( I think it
was on 10 m) for about 90 minutes just before the end of the contest. Using HP
and those antennas produced rates that I had never seen before in all my 42
years of contesting... for short periods the last 10 rate went over 500/hr. It
was insane. An incredible rush.
Much to the delight of VE4EA and VE4VT, I vacated VE4 land and left it to them
to hand out the Mb mult. Now the only decision was B or U HP. I didn’t
think I had the 2 radio experience (especially with me using Gord’s rigs
�" unfamiliar) to compete in B class. And I saw that K4XS won U HP last
year, so I thought I’d try to give Bill some competition. ( I never did work
him or see him listed in the spots.)
I flew to Edmonton on Sat morning, made the usual grocery stop during the 1
hour drive to VE6SV. (Whenever I contemplate SS in the grocery store run I'm
always tempted to get a set of "Depends" just so I won't have to get
up from the chair and break the rate....but no....I draw the line there.
Perhaps it was the trauma from the Coffee Can episode that happened many years
ago at the old VE4UM University club station. You see there was this coffee can
that someone used to relieve himself in mid contest....cuz the bathroom was too
far down the hall of the student union bldg. It wasn't found until a few years
later, tucked away on a shelf and opened by mistake....but I digress.))
The big decision in SS is always where to start…hitting the propagation sweet
spot from this far north. Start too high and your rate suffers. Start too low
and you not only fight the 20 m QRM unnecessarily but you miss the more casual
10 M ops that keep the rates high in the lulls. Slugging it out on 20
(especially in LP) isn’t usually a great strategy because its easy to get
pushed around. The VE4 mult does provide some protection from this by virtue of
the pileup it often generates early. But you have to know how to use the pile up
to hold the freq. It is easier to start on 15 where there is more room, monitor
10 on the 2nd rig to see how long Condx are late on Sat aft and catch the Pac,
VI and PR mults as the band goes long on its way out. We started on 15 and
rates were good. VE6SV has a MASSIVE domestic signal on pretty much all
bands…that helped a LOT.
Around 0300 we started noticing signals getting very watery and affected by
aurora. VE6s watching the K index very closely and when it reaches 4 VE6
propagation really gets poor. It seemed like someone turned off a switch and
40 just shut down.. We tried to move to 80 but that didn’t help and the loss
of rate at 0400 really hurt. There was nothing we could do but wait it out.
Rate returned to 77 and 62 the following 2 hours but we never recovered from
that event. It seems that we neglected one very important thing….the
Infamous 40 below Barenaked Tower Dance. The omission of this famous VE4
precontest ritual is guaranteed to displease the propagation Gods and this was
the result.
Last mult was EWA. I kept looking but every station seemed to be from Az! K7IR
finally called us on 1800 UTC Sunday for the sweep.
Best moments: We had a better qso number than anyone else we worked until 03:34
UTC - Optimism!!
Worst Moment: We give W7WA Q number of 807 ( after running pretty steady
rates of over 120 Qs/hr for the first 4 hours and 100+ for the first 6 hrs)
�" they give us a 944 B WWA at 03:34 . I’m stunned. I can’t believe
that they are 140 qs ahead. How is that possible? That equates to a full hour
of prime time running. I don’t know how they do it but Kudos to the gang at
W7WA. I thought I was pretty good, but that was some performance! Nice job!
Its clear I have some 2nd radio learnin’ to do.
I understand the need for different categories and incorporation of packet into
SS, but with only 83 sections I’ve always found being “assisted” took
away from the challenge of finding the sections. I still prefer unassisted.
Then again, as a VE4 or VE6, it’s a lot easier, people NEED you for the
sweep.
Thanks to the multitude for making this year’s SS one to remember. Special
congrats to VE4s EA and VT for holding down the fort and for giving out the
Manitoba Mult. Next stop CQ WW CW ( Lp �" ugh) but maybe old sol will
hold up one more time for us for the 10 M contest next month.
73 es CU in SS
Rob VE4GV ( @ VE6SV)
QSO/Sec by hour and band
Hour 80 40 20 15 10 Total Cumm OffTime
D1-2100Z - - - 151/57 - 151/57 151/57
D1-2200Z - - - 136/8 - 136/8 287/65
D1-2300Z - - - 134/2 - 134/2 421/67
D2-0000Z --+-- --+-- 12/0 111/6 --+-- 123/6 544/73
D2-0100Z - - 107/3 - - 107/3 651/76
D2-0200Z - 10/0 94/0 - - 104/0 755/76
D2-0300Z 4/0 63/4 - - - 67/4 822/80 <-
Solar event starts �" approx. 1 hour
D2-0400Z 22/1 2/0 - - - 24/1 846/81
D2-0500Z - 77/0 - - - 77/0 923/81 34
D2-0600Z - 62/0 - - - 62/0 985/81
D2-0700Z 35/0 31/0 - - - 66/0 1051/81
D2-0800Z --+-- 15/0 --+-- --+-- --+-- 15/0 1066/81 36
D2-0900Z - - - - - 0/0 1066/81 60
D2-1000Z - - - - - 0/0 1066/81 60
D2-1100Z - - - - - 0/0 1066/81 60
D2-1200Z - - - - - 0/0 1066/81 60
D2-1300Z - 3/0 7/0 - - 10/0 1076/81 38
D2-1400Z - 2/0 35/0 - - 37/0 1113/81
D2-1500Z - - 23/0 28/1 - 51/1 1164/82
D2-1600Z --+-- --+-- --+-- 29/0 12/0 41/0 1205/82
D2-1700Z - - - 5/0 24/0 29/0 1234/82
D2-1800Z - - - 85/1 - 85/1 1319/83
D2-1900Z - - - 91/0 - 91/0 1410/83
D2-2000Z - - - 97/0 - 97/0 1507/83
D2-2100Z - - 52/0 19/0 - 71/0 1578/83
D2-2200Z - - 88/0 - - 88/0 1666/83
D2-2300Z - - 81/0 - - 81/0 1747/83
D3-0000Z --+-- 4/0 56/0 1/0 --+-- 61/0 1808/83
D3-0100Z - 2/0 19/0 - - 21/0 1829/83 31
D3-0200Z - 24/0 - - - 24/0 1853/83
Total: 61/1 295/4 574/3 887/75 36/0
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