[3830] SS CW WX0B(AD5Q) Single Op HP

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                    ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, CW

Call: WX0B
Operator(s): AD5Q
Station: WX0B

Class: Single Op HP
QTH: Dallas
Operating Time (hrs): 24
Radios: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
  160:    0
   80:  185
   40:  597
   20:  371
   15:   46
   10:    0
------------
Total: 1199  Sections = 81  Total Score = 194,238

Club: DFW Contest Group

Comments:

Got a good start in the beginning - better than last year, not great. I truly
don't have a strategy for keeping the rate up in the first 6 hours. Need more
experience. NR5M does 3 times as many band changes and I would totally lose
focus if I tried that. Am still looking forward to the ARRL posting all the
other logs, like they promised over a year ago. YES, I will data mine ALL your
Cabrillos.

At about 0145z the rate started dropping. Still plenty of callers but the bands
were getting noisy and I needed a LOT of fills, including the dreaded prec fill.
When the noise got really bad Jay comes in the shack waving his phone. A fast
moving line of T-Storms was almost on top of us, and on the map I quickly
noticed that it extended north into Oklahoma, but not south to central/south
Texas (the competition). Jay pulled the cables at 0250z for a 32 minute time out
as the storm passed over us. By 0500z I was hearing Ukrainians and east EU's
CQing on 80. I used the SAL for receive on 40 for the rest of the night. Very
nice.

Devastating setback? Not so fast. I just needed someone else to compete against,
like my own score from last year. The software popup I use to update score
breakdowns from 2 prior contests is based on elapsed op time when off times are
required, so their differences are adjusted. It showed that I was still about
even with last year, so the race was on to beat THAT score. Yes, some of the
locals had a big lead.

All was proceeding nicely until mid-afternoon Sunday, and I had even passed
NR5M's score from last year (also displayed and updated every minute). But I was
short the two Caribbean mults and decided to sweep 20, which was still running
nicely. What was I thinking? There was no rate anywhere else, or for the rest of
the contest - and there was PLENTY of time for desperate pouncing. Rate tanked,
I never found those mults, and my score finished below last year.

Will try next year with a different attitude toward missing mults, and different
off times (I've been trying to copy NR5M's Sunday off times, which are based on
football half times and church). There are things you cannot teach an Aspie.

Roy -- AD5Q


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