[3830] SS SSB AE0EE Single Op LP

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ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, SSB

Call: AE0EE
Operator(s): AE0EE
Station: AE0EE

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

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
  160:     
   80:  127
   40:   64
   20:   99
   15:   48
   10:     
------------
Total:  338  Sections = 73  Total Score = 49,348

Club: Minnesota Wireless Assn

Comments:

100 W, dipoles up 20-30'.

Another Sweepstakes is in the log, and I feel disappointment is more of a theme
than I'd like this year---but at least my microphone worked! [See AE0EE's
summary for 2014 Sweepstakes SSB for backstory]

On Saturday, there were pretty high noise levels on 20 m and down, and my
little station struggled to break most pileups.  I had high hopes for 15 m,
where there's a bit more room to spread out and propagation is often more
forgiving to those running low power or QRP.  Despite my wishes---and despite
my enjoyment of what seemed a repeat of the California QSO Party---15 meters
generally stayed a bit too long to work stations closer than the West Coast. 
At least the California stations were loud, and perhaps more importantly, could
hear me well!

My station has never performed very well under crowded conditions on 20 m, and
that was borne out again this weekend. [Note for the future: improve 20 m
system.]  With the high bands out, most of the action stayed on 20 m during the
day, and I was surprised by the activity level and distance on 40 m.

I hoped that I would find a successful run frequency on 80 meters Saturday
night, but it was not to be.  Whoever designed my 80 meter antenna gave it a
>6:1 SWR above 3800 KHz, so although it would work with a tuner, it wasn't
going to deliver the performance boost I'd need to hit 500 QSOs.  Between that
and the noise levels, I had a tough time making progress and called it a night
fairly early with only 122 contacts in the log.

The disappointments of Sweepstakes were not limited to just my own
dissatisfaction with my antennas and propagation.  For the last two years, I
have gone to South Dakota for Sweepstakes.  Due to some uncertainties involving
work scheduling and some late-breaking inclement weather, I had to stay closer
to home this year.  A few stations sounded pretty heartbroken when they
contacted me (possibly from a cluster spot) only to find another Minnesota
station rather than their anticipated SD multiplier.  Sorry!

Sunday was the better of the two days for me.  Knowing my station won't handle
well in the thick of things, I headed up to 20 meters early, establishing a run
frequency before 7:00 AM local.  Again I hoped for shorter skip on 15, but went
without.  I tried running on 15 a few times.  My receiver's selectivity isn't
great, and with the California stations blasting in at S9 +20-40 dB even with
the attenuator, it was difficult to operate within 10 kHz of them.  At least I
reliably got through on the first call when operating search-and-pounce!

There were a few highlights to the contest---it wasn't entirely a downer.  One
of the better moments was finding VY1AAA on 40 meters and getting through on
the first call.  I also managed to get some traction on 80 meters Sunday
evening around sunset below 3800 kHz.  Thanks to everyone who went down toward
3650, where I had a much more functional antenna!

Sunday night also finished with relief at having reached 73 multipliers, only
missing out on 10.  Unlike previous years where the ones I missed were
generally ones I hadn't heard, this year I heard almost all of the sections. 
Missed multipliers were: SK, NL, PR, VI, PAC, AK, DE, ND, SD, and SC.

One of these years I'm going to work VI in SS SSB!


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