[3830] SS CW K8BKM Single Op QRP

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                    ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, CW

Call: K8BKM
Operator(s): K8BKM
Station: K8BKM

Class: Single Op QRP
QTH: MI
Operating Time (hrs): 24

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
  160:     
   80:  239
   40:  190
   20:  125
   15:   19
   10:     
------------
Total:  573  Sections = 80  Total Score = 91,680

Club: Mad River Radio Club

Comments:

I went into this contest thinking that it would be a part-time effort because we
celebrated my Mom's 80th birthday with a Saturday family lunch. I wasn't sure
how long that event would last and thought I would miss the start of contest.
Given my expectation of being late to the show, yet still wanting to be
competitive, I decided to try something different. Every time I've run this
contest I've entered in the SOULP (single-op unlimited low-power) category and
I've won the GL division the past two years. I wasn't sure I could 3-peat in
that category so I looked for alternatives. 

I've never operated QRP anything. I've always believed in the saying that
"life is too short for QRP". So how did I choose to compete in the
SOQRP category? I charted the results for the GL Division going back to the
bottom of the last solar cycle and beyond. Wow, KT8K won four times, K8MM won
three times (and set a record!), and the remainder of the winners are familiar
calls, too; K9TM, N5EE, K8DD, N8BB,and W8TM. I particularly focused on the 2007
results - the bottom of the last cycle, where Hank, K8DD, won the division with
507 Q's and 77 Mults for a score of 78,386. Hank provided the inspiration I
needed and I found great motivation in competing with Hank's legacy. I set my
goal for 508 Q's, or to best his score on a year with similar conditions. 

As luck would have it, the birthday party disbursed early - octogenarians like
to get home early - go figure. That put me home within an hour of start time. I
even had time to lie down and close my eyes for 15 minutes. I was on the air at
5pm local ready to go. Well, not really. I should have heeded W8CAR's suggestion
to test my macros because they were all screwed up. I was in a panic now, and I
couldn't remember the macro character to send my serial number. I blew the first
10-15 minutes farting around with the programming. Total rookie move!

So much to comment on about the contest...

Conditions:
As others have noted, the impending doom of the geomagnetic storm let loose by a
coronal hole never really materialized - well more on that later. However, the
forecast of the storm did alter my strategy a bit. I started out on 40 because I
wanted to work the regional and local stuff before the band went long. After
beating that horse I went to 20 where I collected many western mults before the
band died. I went also went to 80 early because in the days prior to the
contest, 80 was going long early in the evening to the point that I often
couldn't copy most of the folks checking into QMN. I was pleasantly surprised
that 40 and 80 were both great well into the night. I stayed up a bit later than
past years milking 80 because I thought Sunday might be a bust from the solar
storm. Like many "forecasters", they got this one wrong and the flare
didn't hit until very late Sunday. Conditions were great on Sunday as well -
even 15 opened up for a bit We all benefited from great conditions this
weekend.

Stategy
I've never operated QRP so my expectation was that this was going to be a very
frustrating weekend with nobody hearing me or having to provide fills for every
Q. I was so wrong. Hank, N8XX, said it - and I'm paraphrasing, but something
like "you'll be amazed at what you can do with 5w or less". How true,
Hank, how true. Given a clear frequency and no pileup, I got through on the
first call most times and didn't get many fill requests. I also thought that the
contest would be 100% S&P. However, I found a good deal of success at
picking away at the band edges. I found if I ran in the Extra portion (lower
25Kc) or at the high end of the band, I could run and keep a frequency... for a
while anyway. I couldn't "defend" my run frequency, but I had numerous
good runs. Running is also a great way for a QRP guy to get mults, because
there's little chance of breaking a pileup on a rare one. Now having said all
that, it's no peaches and cream. Yes, many call CQ in your face. Yes, many send
"AGN" or only get parts of your call, or ask you to step through each
element of the exchange. Conclusion: QRP is not about the rate. All the fills
really slow you down. However, with good techniques, QRP wasn't as bad as I
expected. I'd even go as far as so say I was AMAZED at how well I did with 5W.

Competition
I knew N8XX was going to run QRP, but to be fair Hank, you normally turn in a
"just for fun" log. I didn't know the plans of any other members for
QRP and I never worked any other club member in the QRP category. So, I was
really competing with Hank's 2007 score - 500 Q's basically. BUT, I did register
for the online contest scoring web site and there I was competing against N5EE
who fortunately lives in AR now (he won the GL div QRP in 2011). We were running
neck and neck the entire contest with the lead changing many times, until late
Sunday evening, when Ken kicked it into gear and left me in his dust. He bested
me by 50 Q's I think. I don't know where he found them. I was thinking that I
might actually be able to WIN this thing outright until I finally worked a
couple of other "Q's" (QRP) with a higher serial number than me. One
of the highlights of the weekend was to work Jerry, WB9Z, (also running QRP)
late Sunday and I had 25 more Q's than him, and he's got an antenna farm! Once I
got past my goal of 500 Q's, I wanted to make sure that log checking wouldn't
negate that so I kept going. Then I looked at the other results for the last 15
years and I set my sights at beating all but the top entries made by K9TM and
K8MM (in the 700-900 Q range). I ended up with a higher score than the last four
years division winners, and many prior years. 

Assistance
I've always used internet spotting for this and most contests. I like using N1MM
with the band map and spotting and being able to use the tools to find mults and
Q's. In the QRP category that was off limits. It was a bit "old
school" to manually tune up and down the band looking for Q's. I did a lot
of typing to check dupes. I did find a good way to use the bandmap even without
"assistance". As I tuned and found a new station or mult, I entered
the call in the logging window and then if the pileup was too hard to crack, I
tuned off frequency which put my own "spot" on the band map,
essentially putting that call in "memory" so I could come back to it
later. I'd scan up and down the band and occasionally click back to that freq to
see how the pileup was doing, then pounced when the time was right. I was lucky
that many of my mults called me on runs and that I didn't have to battle it out
very much. The exception was NP4Z. It took me a long time to break that pileup.


I missed VI (like most), EWA, and NT. The last two I worked were UT and QC. I
heard both EWA and NT but they were working a running station. I tried CQing off
frequency but you never know if a guy is going up the band or down the band, or
maybe just clicking randomly! 

I wonder where N8BB and KT8K were this year. Never heard them. Thanks to both
for providing another source of motivation to stick it out and compete against
past results. 

Had another great Sweepstakes. My favorite contest on the calendar, not because
of the rate or the excitement, but for the way it is. Don't change it. This
contest combines two of my interests; contesting and traffic. 

In honor of Hank, K8DD, I submit my entry to the Mad River Radio Club. RIP Hank.


K3 turned down to 5W
TA-33 at 50'
204' G5RV inverted V at 45' for 40/80

73, Tom
K8BKM


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