[3830] SS SSB N8II Single Op HP

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                    ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, SSB

Call: N8II
Operator(s): N8II
Station: N8II

Class: Single Op HP
QTH: wv
Operating Time (hrs): 18

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
  160:    0
   80:  507
   40:  244
   20:  333
   15:  118
   10:   17
------------
Total: 1219  Sections = 83  Total Score = 202,354

Club: Potomac Valley Radio Club

Comments:

Thanks to a back order, it took 3-1/2 weeks for my replacement rotator motor to
arrive late Friday. Saturday, I was up the tower in 50 degree sunny weather
with a wind gusting up to 20 MPH thankfully at my back. The motor swap went
very easily about 45 minutes from terra firma to back again. I was really not
cold or fatigued.

As others in the PVRC have mentioned, my start was painfully slow, mostly
running on 15 the first 18 minutes, then down to 20 until 0010Z. I did find NT
in that first stint on 15 with a big pile up.

75M was wonderful for quite a while settling in above 3800 on a mostly QRM free
frequency. The biggest rate limit for quite a while was slow exchanges from the
callers. My first 3 hours starting at the 00Z hour were 115, 135, and 113 with
a best 10 minute rate of 162. One clock minute, I did squeeze in 4 Q's. Around
0230Z, the pig f...ers arrived in earnest with some very inventive QRM! First
there was bell ringing, then a recorded overmodulated transmission complete
with loud background noise. I gave up the spot at 0310Z. After a quick snack, I
ran some more until 0430 when the callers dried up, so despite having plenty of
gas in the tank, I called it a night.

Sunday was slower than I had hoped for. Best hours were on 40 at 13Z with 84
Q's and surprisingly 21Z with 74. I only had about 20 minutes all day with a
good run rate on 20. The casual ops tend to shy away from 20 I suppose, because
they think they need a big signal to be heard. So, 20 was a disappointment
compared to CW SS. Also, we seemed to never have a moment of Es, so the skip
zones were relatively long compared to CW, but backscatter was still workable
on 20/15. Skip zones on 20 and 40 went long quickly after dark. Most of the
S&P I did, the scatter guys were already logged on 75/40. 15 had plenty of
activity, a virtual run fest for those west of the Mississippi. 10 M activity
was disappointing, despite some loud mid day signals. I quit at 01Z because new
Q's were just too slow coming with long stretches of no answers to CQ's. I did
tune across 75 and found about a dozen new stations among the other 40-50 I had
already worked. Overall, I would have to say activity was decreased from the
last time I made over 1K Q's about 3 years ago. Some added incentives from ARRL
might help.

The sweep was pretty stress free. I was missing 5 sections at 1540Z when I
found SK and VI on 15, then KH6 called on 20, then NP4G on 10 (can't understand
why all of the hundreds of hams in PR are not interested in SS!), then found ONN
on 20 at 1850Z. 

Most common sections were VA with 77 Q's, MDC 69 (Go PVRC!), OH 54,
MI 52 (aided by the snow storm!), IL-51 (SMC), AZ 31, and ENY 30. Surprisingly
common were DE with 12, ME 11, and ND with a record 11 Q's thanks to their
economic boom.

I appreciate each and every QSO, but would have to say that operating skills
are on a declining slope. I would have S&P'ed more if it were not for guys
having big problems with inputting exchange info. At least 6 times, an op would
be QRX over 10 seconds. Repeats when I knew I was louder than the QEM abounded.
And please, do not spell out your section, then speak it out too! Virtually
every station in NLI sent "N L I, New York Long Island" instead of a
much faster "Norway Lima India". Also, many stations repeated info
when they were extremely easy copy and also spoke slowly or hesitantly. When I
was running on 75, I could have spoken much faster, but was afraid of too many
repeat requests. Luckily during the really busy times, having to repeat was
minimal. My signal on 40 was even worse than usual due to a SWR fault probably
in the 4:1 balun which forced me to transmit on a south sloping dipole, work
will be done. I would guess a threepeat will come for PVRC in the club
competition, congrats to all!

73, Jeff


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