[3830] SS CW WT2P SO Unlimited LP

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                    ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, CW

Call: WT2P
Operator(s): WT2P
Station: WT2P

Class: SO Unlimited LP
QTH: IL
Operating Time (hrs): 19

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
  160:     
   80:  196
   40:  184
   20:  144
   15:   46
   10:    1
------------
Total:  571  Sections = 81  Total Score = 92,502

Club: Society of Midwest Contesters

Comments:

Was surprised at how well the station performed in this contest. On Saturday
morning I put up a temporary 80/15 dipole in the backyard with a 30' Jackite
pole and made a quick run to the hardware store to get wire to add 20M to the
same dipole. Finished getting the antenna assembled, tuned and up in the air
about 30 minutes before the contest. 

Got back down to the shack and for the first time ever, turned off ATU on
80-40-20-15M (I've always like a lid used an ATU). Noticed something strange on
15CW with the SWR above 4:1. Didn't have enough time to fix that so decided to
start out on 20M. Had to also re-solder the cable from my Winkeyer to the KX3,
which got me on the air about 10 minutes late from the start.

Starting out on 20M for me was pretty profitable and it was mostly a S&P
effort. Once I kept tuning across 20 and the stations I could hear were all
dupes I decided to at least try 15. Weird thing was the 2nd antenna (80/20/15)
*still* had 4:1 SWR on 15. When I switched to ant1 (40M only) dipole, the SWR
on that antenna was 2:1. Weird. 15 was slow, so I decided to go to 40 where I
was able to have a nice couple runs calling CQ.

80 really surprised me, I had some decent runs there and even when not calling
CQ, my S&P rate kept me quite busy (same could be said for 40).
Historically, I'd never imagine operating 80 from this QTH but with the
temporary antenna it proved to be my best band in terms of Q's.

Sunday was a good day for me, started out on 80 and 40 and then focused my
efforts on 20M well after sunrise. I decided around early afternoon to figure
out why 15M on ANT2 was not working, so I took some time off to lower the
antenna and tune the 15M sections. Got the antenna back up, ran back to the
shack and it was STILL > 3:1. Silly me had the eastern wires too close to
the 20M wire. I gave it a bit more spacing and finally 15M was ~ 2:1.

By this time, I was near 80 sections which was a personal best for me from this
QTH ever and I saw the last 3 needed sections spotted on 15M. After getting the
15M wire fixed, I tried calling VO1MP again and FINALLY got him in the log,
bringing my total to 81. I saw the last 2 sections I needed spotted on 20 as
the contest went on, but when I was there I could not hear them (but heard the
pileups).

Spent the last 2-3 hours CQ'ing and S&P'ing on 80 and 40. Last Q was KA9FOX
in WI at 0257.

Lessons learned was to maximize my time by keeping my butt in the chair and
having properly tuned antennas :)

Looking forward to SS SSB, although I doubt I will have as good of a score on
phone. I'll definitely try to get 400 though. This is the closest I've ever
come to a sweep in SS ever and the most number of Q's made from this QTH in a
single contest session ever and I beat my self imposed goal of 300Q's. I'm
happy.

73,
WT2P

Radio: Elecraft KX3 + KXPA100
Ant 1: 40M Dipole @ 25'
Ant 2: 80/20/15M Dipole at 30'


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