[3830] SS CW W4AAA(KK9A) Single Op LP

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                    ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, CW

Call: W4AAA
Operator(s): KK9A
Station: W4AAA

Class: Single Op LP
QTH: North Carolina
Operating Time (hrs): 24

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
  160:     
   80:  239
   40:  505
   20:  240
   15:   85
   10:    1
------------
Total: 1070  Sections = 83  Total Score = 177,620

Club: 

Comments:

I have ever operated the Sweepstakes CW contest before. Usually it closely
follows the CQWW Phone contest, but this year there was a weekend off in
between and at the last moment I decided to give this contest a try. Preceding
the contest I had a horrible pain in my mouth from a recent tooth extraction.
Luckily an emergency trip to the dentist on Saturday morning really helped
minimized the discomfort. I hooked up the station that I had not used since
September and also set up the computer on Saturday afternoon. When the contest
started it took about ten minutes to get used to receiving the long exchanges
on CW and I had to make a few CW macro changes to my software but then I fell
into a comfortable rhythm that lasted well into the night. Conditions seemed
very good and even with my local rain the bands were reasonably quiet. That was
a good thing as my temporary Beverages were not working well. Apparently my new
RX protector was causing this problem and unfortunately I did not figure this
out until after afterwards or I would have just removed it. The first day rates
were reasonably good with many multipliers calling me. I recently purchased a
new Elecraft K3S transceiver and this was my first time using automatic antenna
switching with it. This arrangement worked flawlessly however I had only one
radio set up. Occasionally I would look for multipliers with the sub-receiver
and early Saturday night I found VY1AAA on the low end of 40m with very few
callers. I worked him for my 74th multiplier and never heard him again all
weekend. Typically NT is the hardest section to work so getting a sweep looked
promising. Rates really started to slow down mid Sunday morning and I was
getting tired. I had worked all sections except AK. I tuned the bands with the
beams pointing at Alaska and could not find this missing section. Fortunately
on Sunday afternoon KL7RA answered my CQ and I had the sweep! It is always a
thrill to work every section. Illinois was the most common section that I
worked �" Go SMC! Rates became brutally slow late on Sunday afternoon but
I was committed to finishing. I had not operated a CW contest in a while so this
was good practice. Hopefully I copied most of the exchanges correctly. Thanks
for the QSOs!  Please QSL via WD9DZV.

73,
John KK9A �" W4AAA
http://www.w4aaa.com


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