[3830] SS CW K1LT SO Unlimited HP

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                    ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, CW

Call: K1LT
Operator(s): K1LT
Station: K1LT

Class: SO Unlimited HP
QTH: Ohio EM89ps
Operating Time (hrs): 24
Radios: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
  160:    1
   80:  409
   40:  419
   20:  160
   15:   11
   10:    0
------------
Total: 1000  Sections = 83  Total Score = 166,000

Club: Mad River Radio Club

Comments:

This year I am president (big fish) of the Mad River Radio Club.
Since MRRC was formed to enter into the ARRL November Sweepstakes club
competition, I was required to demonstrate proper leadership to help
"Make MRRC Great Again".  Hopefully I have set a decent example.

Normally I operate class "B" or unassisted.  I made the assumption
that operating unlimited (assisted) would maximize my score because I
could find multipliers more easily.  That was a very incorrect
assumption as I will explain later.

Because of the Mom issues documented in prior blog posts (I mean 3830
posts), I had disassembled my station over the Labor Day weekend.
Since the Mom issue went away, I have been reassembling my station
piecemeal as time permits and need dictates.  Sweepstakes forced me to
complete my SO2R connections, which are somewhat more complex that the
SO2V connections required for the Pre-Stew (now called Topband Jack
after VE1ZZ).

I reconnected all the cables but simplified where I should not have.
My audio routing stuff routes stereo channels until the audio gets to
the SO2R box which then picks one channel or the other as appropriate.
But the audio from the second K3 is "mono" and the left channel is
empty.  I had previously used a pair of mini-phone to RCA cables with
couplers to invert the channels so that the audio from the second K3
would appear on the left channel.  The SO2R box switches channels but
cannot "flip" channels.  When I reconnected everything, I simplified
the cable and couplers to a straight through mini-phone to mini-phone
cable.  It took a while to discover that my simplification had
consequences.  Perhaps I should write things down, especially on paper
with diagrams.  Blog posts are not enough.  My memory is just not what
it used to be.

Friday evening found me with an empty evening: no high-school football
game!  I found and fixed the broken Beverage switcher for the second
receiver which is also fed to the RX input of the second K3.  That
along with the RF cable routing issue fixed a few weeks ago makes my
SO2R fully operational, even while the back end is still being
constructed (wimpy Star Wars reference intended as humorous).  I also
got the new-and-improved beam steering stuff out of the storage box,
in anticipation of future contests.

Saturday morning the station seemed to be working so I installed
version 12 of Writelog.  The motivation for upgrading was to enable
updates to the online scoreboard and to break the 'never upgrade
software just before you need it' rule.

I first installed Writelog on a different computer than the station
logging computer, just in case.  The new version installed without
issue and didn't look hard to use.  The newer window docking scheme is
a vast improvement.  Then on the station logging computer I moved the
old Writelog version 11 configuration out of the way and installed
version 12 as a fresh install.  It took about an hour to rediscover
all of the customizations I needed to apply to make the new version
function like the old version.  One nuance remains: when using my
homebrew WinKeyer-2 clone in the SO2R configuration, at startup
Writelog via the keyer keys the radio and sends 2 question marks, and
then a number 2 a few seconds later.  This keying also occurs whenever
the "setup ports" dialog is visited and saved.

Since the station equipment was working and the logging software was
working and the online score reporting seemed to be awake, I was ready
to operate.  A good CW SS has one or more of these properties: a clean
sweep; more than 1000 QSOs; and a low level of boredom.  Lets see how
this one goes.

During the first night of the contest, assistance didn't add much
value.  The second radio band map is a better indicator of activity so
band change decisions are slightly faster.  But I didn't go multiplier
hunting the first day nor did I try to find QSOs on the second radio
except that I noticed NP4Z making QSOs on 40 which prompted me to swap
radios to call him with the high powered radio.

At 0600Z I had the usual 500 QSOs and 80 multipliers, missing KP2,
VE2, and W2 (NLI to be specific), an amusing collection.  I allocated
all 6 off-hours to sleeping so I would be reasonably rested for
slog-Sunday.

The 1200Z hour was good, 1300 was better, 1400 and 1500 were not so
good.  1600 and 1700Z were pretty good, and then rates very very low
after that, with 1800Z and 0100Z being the worst.  NLI and QC found
their way into my log fairly quickly on Sunday and I worked several of
each.  Around 1600Z I started SO2Ring in earnest, CQing at high power
on 40 and pouncing with low power on 20.

Although I was looking at spots via the band maps for the elusive VI
multiplier, I noticed there were stations not yet worked.  At first I
could hop from spot to spot looking for a station that was not sending
CK? CK? and try to land on the one sending CQ.  After a while, new
stations became rare enough that waiting was reasonable.  When CQ
results were slow enough, I could complete a QSO on the second radio
while the first one CQed endlessly.  I had a collision only a couple
of times this way.  One caller left before I could respond.

As the run rate got slower I cast my second radio net wider.  15 was
open Sunday afternoon and there were a few loud W7s and VE6s among
others.  On the other hand, the Hardrock 50 amplifier that puts out 70
watts for my K3/10 doesn't work on 15 (or 12) meters.  Turns out I can
work the loud guys with the nominal 12 watts the K3/10 makes, as long
I am willing to wait.  N8XX would be proud.

At 2029Z NP2J called me on 40 meters from the elusive VI section,
giving me his #2.  Woo-hoo!  There were 163 QSOs and a little less
more 6 hours left to get to a 1000 QSOs.  Quick mental arithmetic said
about 25-30 QSOs per hour for the rest of the contest would net 1000
QSOs.

As the evening progressed I rotated through the bands chasing unworked
station spots.  CQs would only occasionally result in a contact.
After a while, the unworked spots came to be dominated by "fresh
meat"
teasers, each with an annoying pileup.  Cracking the pileup would
usually work on 80 and often fail on 40, especially for nearby
stations.

As the tedious long hours ticked away, the required QSO rate to reach
a thousand QSOs by the end remained around 25-30 per hour.  So while I
got more and more tense about meeting my self-imposed goal, I was
actually on track, except for my fear that something would go wrong in
the last hour or half hour or whatever.  So each fresh meat station
was an exercise in frustration whenever I couldn't make the contact on
the first or second attempt.  Now I understand how some other hams
seem to become so aggressive and impolite during contests.  Is this
the contest equivalent of road rage?  On the other hand, I thought it
might be amusing to make 999 QSOs and have to explain to everyone why
I didn't make one more.  Eventually I told myself to calm down, no one
cares if I make 900 versus 1000 QSOs.

The last QSO started and finished in the last minute.  I had been
calling a loud W6 on 40 who kept thoughtlessly working other stations.
So I tried a different much less loud W6 who came right back.  2 fills
later I was able to log #1000.  Then I went back to the first W6 and
called just as the computer clock ticked over to 10pm.  He said 73 and
I breathed deeply and shouted at my kid that I was now safe to visit.

So clean sweep and exactly 1000 QSOs: not more than 1000 QSOs, but
close enough.  However, there was boredom interspersed with terror.
So 3 out of 3!

The post mortem realization is this: assisted operating in SS is about
having a very slow but continuous stream of stations you might be able
to work whereas unassisted is constant CQing and tuning looking and
hoping for another QSO.  Nevertheless, my score came out about the
same as always.  The other realization is that high power probably
does not help nearly as much as it does for a DX contest.  One of
these years I'll have to try low power.  Another discovery: the online
logging was motivational when there are reasonable competitors.

Equipment: K3, P3 8410 at half power for quiet blowers, homebrew SO2R
stuff.  100-foot X7 tribander, 60-foot X7, full sized 40 and 80
verticals, 65-foot 160 "tee", Beverages, and semi-automated antenna
switching.


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