[3830] SS CW KP2M(W2GD) Single Op LP
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Tue Nov 10 04:25:42 EST 2015
ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, CW
Call: KP2M
Operator(s): W2GD
Station: KP2M
Class: Single Op LP
QTH: VI
Operating Time (hrs): 24
Summary:
Band QSOs
------------
160: 0
80: 32
40: 388
20: 305
15: 396
10: 211
------------
Total: 1332 Sections = 83 Total Score = 221,112
Club: Frankford Radio Club
Comments:
K3 SO1R 100w + Win-Test Software
Station Description: Check out the www.RadioReef.com website for complete
information on the station's three antenna laden towers and other rental
property amenities. This QTH is very XYL friendly.
Wow! What a great contest and fabulous station!
SS CW has been one of those 'must do' contests for me ovr the past fifty years,
but it's been a few decades since I've had an opportunity to do a serious single
op entry. Had to do some data gathering and log analysis to understand the
'modern' day SS nuances. Thanks to N0AX (WP4DX) and N2NC for sharing their log
data (I wish the ARRL would get with the program and adopt a public log policy
like CQ has had for many years).
It was nice to arrive on St. Croix Tuesday afternoon and have virtually no
station prep to do, unlike my many Aruba trips. Sat down in the clean and well
air condiioned shack, hooked up my K3 and laptop, and I was on the air in no
time. The view out the station window from this hillside QTH toward the US and
EU is nothing short of spectacular. During the few days preceding SS I listened
at various times of day and evening and made about 200 pre-contest
contacts.....generating a pileup is never a problem from any Carib land.
Elaine and I had plenty of time before the contest to do our island exploring,
sample the local cuisine, go snorkeling and enjoy some lazy beach time
together.....a real vacation. Had dinner with NP2X and friends Friday
evening....Fred has built himself a world class station on St. Croix!
But one must always remember potential disaster can be just around the corner.
Saturday morning listening to the bands drinkng my first cup of coffee you would
have thought the world was ending. A severe CME event had all but wiped out 15
and 10, the signals on 20 were weak and had the aurora flutter, plus a new
local power line noise was buzzing away at S-9. Fortunately by noon things
turned around completely. A particularly heavy gully washer of a rain storm
come through that silenced the line noise, and propagation had thankfully
recovered to near normal levels. But I could see from the predicted aurora oval
that catching KL7 and VY1 could be challenging.
Was in the chair ready to rock and roll just before 2100 UTC. With ten meters
showing signs of life that seemed the place to start. WOW....was that ever the
right choice ..... had 111 and 93 hours back to back, a very fast start HP or
LP. Unfortunately that would turn out to be it for ten meters the rest of the
weekend, although the band was wide open to the USA here most of Sunday.
Transitioned to 15 meters with a 97 hour, so after three hours the average rate
was right at 100/hour. Low power operating doesn't get much better than this!
But as time passes there are simply fewer and fewer SS stations to work so the
rate naturally drops off. When I took my first off time after ten hours of
operating the rate was a very healthy 77/hour, well above my 58/hour goal for
the weekend.
Missed the sunrise opening on 80 but had a nice 30 minute run of early risers
on 40 meters during the 1100 hour. Ultimately I took most of my off time
during the 0800 to 1600 period, a time when traditionally from the Carib it is
difficult to get any strong rate when running LP. True at P40W, true here too.
Without SO2R, success during the rest of the contest was dependent upon
choosing the band that yielded the best CQ/response ratio (doing S&P is for
the most part not a productive strategy). It turned out 15 meters was the
'money' band for much of Sunday. But knowing 10 meters was wide open, I'd
occasionally call CQ there for a few minutes ... sadly there were few
responses.
The first 80 mults came quickly. My holdouts were WY, VE6, and NT.
Fortunately W7SE called in from WY, and very shortly thereafter I found QRPer
VE6EX on the K3 subrx. For many hours Sunday I thought a sweep was simply not
in the cards, particularly with the solar storm 'residue' but I knew VY1AAA
would to be out there somewhere. I kept periodically tuning the K3 sub
receiver below 14025 and above 14060....hoping Hal would be true to his
traditional operating pattern. Finally, about 2230Z I heard a small pileup on
14069....and there VY1AAA...all weak and watery. Took me four calls but the
sweep was completed.....very cool!
Concentrated on rate through the end, hoping to match the huge Low Power record
(1388q in 77s, 210K) set by Chip, K7JA operating from NP4A in 1993....23 years
ago. With just over two hours of operating time left, at 0024z, QSO number
1270. the magical 210,518 number was surpassed (with six more multipliers
available today, 100 fewer contacts are needed). Put another 52 calls in the
log before my time ran out, padding the score another 5%. It's up to the log
checkers.
Many thanks to Phil, KT3Y, for urging me to use his station on St. Croix to do
the contest.....a lifetime dream of operating the SS CW from the Caribbean is
now reality! And I also thank my XYL Elaine, KB2ERI, for coming along on this
last minute adventure and supporting my contest efforts.
Next up - back to P40W for CQWW CW.....
73,
John, W2GD
CALLSIGN: KP2M
CATEGORY: SINGLE-OP ALL LOW
OPERATORS: W2GD
-------------- Q S O R a t e S u m m a r y ---------------------
Hour 160 80 40 20 15 10 Rate Total Pct
--------------------------------------------------------------------
2100 0 0 0 0 0 111 111 111 8.3
2200 0 0 0 0 0 93 93 204 15.3
2300 0 0 0 0 97 0 97 301 22.6
0000 0 0 0 75 5 0 80 381 28.6
0100 0 0 40 34 0 0 74 455 34.2
0200 0 0 72 0 0 0 72 527 39.6
0300 0 0 57 0 0 0 57 584 43.8
0400 0 16 28 0 0 0 44 628 47.1
0500 0 0 63 0 0 0 63 691 51.9
0600 0 5 40 0 0 0 45 736 55.3
0700 0 8 24 0 0 0 32 768 57.7
0800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 768 57.7
0900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 768 57.7
1000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 768 57.7
1100 0 0 30 0 0 0 30 798 59.9
1200 0 0 0 3 0 0 3 801 60.1
1300 0 0 0 45 0 0 45 846 63.5
1400 0 0 0 28 0 0 28 874 65.6
1500 0 0 0 19 0 0 19 893 67.0
1600 0 0 0 8 61 0 69 962 72.2
1700 0 0 0 0 52 0 52 1014 76.1
1800 0 0 0 1 36 5 42 1056 79.3
1900 0 0 0 0 55 0 55 1111 83.4
2000 0 0 0 0 43 0 43 1154 86.6
2100 0 0 0 0 27 2 29 1183 88.8
2200 0 0 0 13 20 0 33 1216 91.3
2300 0 0 7 22 0 0 29 1245 93.5
0000 0 3 0 24 0 0 27 1272 95.5
0100 0 0 7 33 0 0 40 1312 98.5
0200 0 0 20 0 0 0 20 1332 100.0
------------------------------------------------------
Total 0 32 388 305 396 211 1332
Gross QSOs=1337 Dupes=5 Net QSOs=1332
The best 60 minute rate was 113/hour from 2102 to 2201
The best 30 minute rate was 116/hour from 2101 to 2130
The best 10 minute rate was 126/hour from 2103 to 2112
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