[3830] WPX CW W9RE SOAB HP

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                    CQWW WPX Contest, CW

Call: W9RE
Operator(s): W9RE
Station: W9RE

Class: SOAB HP
QTH: IN
Operating Time (hrs): 36
Radios: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
  160:    3
   80:   34
   40:  827
   20: 1109
   15: 1191
   10:   67
------------
Total: 3231  Prefixes = 1078  Total Score = 10,108,406

Club: Society of Midwest Contesters

Comments:

Thunderstorms took me off the air twice on Saturday afternoon and then Saturday
night the rain and and high winds produced about 6 power dips.  My logging
computer was on a UPS (advice from N9RV) and my Astron P/S had enough reserve
to have the K3's ride out OK through the dips but no so for the Alphas.  It is
sure a pain to wait for the time out on them after they are already warm in a
case like this .  I was able to keep my run frequency on 40 and work a few
during the wait.  Of course this happened a lot over about 2 hours and I was
never sure whether to shut down or not but the lightning was not visible so I
keep operating.  We had some tree damage and one antenna turned in the wind but
no antenna damage.  An EF-1 tornado hit about 3 miles away I now find out. 

Not sure if this was related to the power problem but on Sunday morning I
noticed the LEDs on my Stack Matches were very dim and then eventually  noticed
the Stack Master was off and the 2nd radio had infinite SWR among other things
(P3 shutting down, etc.).  I had no idea which antenna I was on (15M) but the
run continued so I kept operating and trying to figure out what was wrong.  I
use one 12V P/S for station accessories and another for the K3s and I surmised
the station accessory one was damaged.  While I continued running I gathered
tools and meters and measured 6 volts on the supply which was enough to keep
one side of the 6 pack energized but not the other side (thus the infinite SWR
on radio 2).  I changed out the supply and was back in business in 5 minutes (I
didn' want to take an hour off at that time).

Apologizes for all the repeats required but the QRN here was very bad during
certain periods that I needed to be on the air.  Pretty good band conditions
and excellent participation.

Thanks for all the Q's and the great fun.


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