[3830] ARRL Jan VHF K1TEO Single Op HP

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                    ARRL January VHF Sweepstakes

Call: K1TEO
Operator(s): K1TEO
Station: K1TEO

Class: Single Op HP
QTH: CT
Operating Time (hrs): 24

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
    6:  216    38
    2:  248    39
  222:   99    31
  432:  141    33
  903:   31    14
  1.2:   46    16
  2.3:   23    11
  3.4:   12     6
  5.7:    7     5
  10G:    4     3
  24G:           
-------------------
Total:  827   196  Total Score = 317,520

Club: North East Weak Signal Group

Comments:

My pre-contest experience was similar to Mike, WB2RVX's. Snow Saturday morning
turned to freezing rain, coating the antennas and sending the SWR soaring on
all bands. The forecast was for it to be 34 degs mid-day which provided some
hope. Around 1:15 pm the ice melted and within minutes all antennas went from
unusable to normal. Phew!

The contest started out well with a nice run on 6 - over 60 QSO's in the first
30 minutes. The rest of the contest was basically slogging it out with low
rates, especially the last 5 or 6 hours on Sunday. That was exacerbated by a
terrible noise problem I have been experiencing on 2M since last May. There is
something causing s9 +20 noise in the WNW direction that basically wipes out
all but the strongest stations from about 240 degrees to 330 degrees (and with
the Atlantic Ocean to my SE that is 90 out of 240 usable degrees at my QTH). It
seems to be there all the time on weekdays but goes away once in awhile on
weekends for a few hours. I am working on identifying where it comes from but
so far I haven't been able to identify the source. 

The noise was there as the contest started but Sunday morning it was gone and
stayed away for over 6 hours. Those hours were by far the most fun as I could
work the bands normally - my usual pattern is to stay mostly on 2M, find
stations and then run the bands. While I missed several grids in that 90 degree
arc because of the noise, keeping the grid totals lower than normal, that 6
hours allowed me to fill in many that were missing to that point. Once the
noise returned Sunday afternoon the contest was a lot less fun - CQ's on other
bands were ineffective and many times I could hear stations calling but was
unable to pull them out. Most stations I did work were far easier to copy on
222, 432 and even the microwaves than they were on 2M.

While microwave activity has dropped considerably the last few years in my neck
of the woods, condx on those bands were probably among the best I have
experienced in the January contest. Also, QSB is usually very noticeable on
those bands during the winter, but most stations worked were surprisingly
steady this time which made the copy relatively easier. Helping that was
repairs since the Sept contest of my 903 and 2304 (Tnx N1JEZ and KT1J!!)
systems returned my station to normal capability. Unfortunately my continuing
efforts to get 3456 working normally were not successful, so results were very
poor on that band. 

There were not too many rovers to work this time around. K8GP/R did a great job
and was fun to work as always, and N2SLN/R and N2ZBH/R helped out with QSO's on
their 4 bands. Otherwise rover QSO's were probably at an all time low for any
contest. Also, thank goodness for the Packrats. Of my 827 QSO's I count 198
with the group. Great job guys and tnx!

Jeff K1TEO


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