[3830] ARRL 10 KF6NCX SO CW LP

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ARRL 10-Meter Contest

Call: KF6NCX
Operator(s): KF6NCX
Station: KF6NCX

Class: SO CW LP
QTH: Chico, CA
Operating Time (hrs): 12

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
   CW:   1     1
  SSB:          
-------------------
Total:   1     1  Total Score = 4

Club: Northern California Contest Club

Comments:

Participating in the ARRL 10 Meter contest was a good learning experience.

First I learned that the sit and pounce method (parking on one frequency and
waiting for something to happen) has it’s pluses and minuses. On the up side,
it frees you up to roam the house, tending to normal chores and activities
(other than radio), keeping an ear on the hum of static from the radio. On the
down side, it doesn’t seem to be very productive.

The last half hour of the contest, I tried the search and pounce method,
searching up and down the band. I heard two stations calling CQ. One was WU6X,
an NCCC member in Auburn. The other was in Loomis. Both had weak signals at my
station. WU6X didn’t seem able to hear me at all. The Loomis station
responded once with a “QRZ?” That was it.

Next year, I’ll put in more effort with the search and pounce method. If
I’d spent more time doing that, I’m sure I would have heard some stations
strong enough to work. I’d imagined that since I couldn’t hear anything at
the frequency I was sitting on, and nothing during an occasional foray up and
down the band, there was nothing I could hear most of the time. That was
probably wrong.

Also, I’m guessing that my dipole cut for 40 meters, tuned up for 10 meters
with my electronic antenna tuner, isn’t the best antenna for 10 meters.


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