[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: SD
Operating Time (hrs): 20

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
  160:     
   80:   21
   40:  189
   20:   90
   15:    1
   10:    0
------------
Total:  301  Sections = 76  Total Score = 45,752

Club: Minnesota Wireless Assn

Comments:

100 W, 40/15 m dipole up 15', 80 m OCF dipole up 10-20'.

Although I spent the last few Sweepstakes weekends in Minnesota, travel plans
worked out fortuitously and I once again headed to snowy South Dakota for
Sweepstakes.

Even before the contest started, it was a saga.  A public service radio
communication class had been scheduled for Sweepstakes SSB weekend, and having
deferred taking this class a few times already (usually due to contest
conflicts), I signed up.  The class ended up not making its minimum attendance,
so with flexibility from my day job, my weekend was cleared for travel.

I hadn't anticipated going to South Dakota this weekend, so most of my station
was in place in south-central Minnesota where I usually operate HF in the
winter.  When I found out I would be able to go to SD I made plans to drive the
~90 minutes to go get my antennas, feedlines, and other paraphernalia during the
bye week between Sweepstakes CW and Sweepstakes SSB.  Upon returning, I realized
that I had brought back the feedlines and paraphernalia that had been on the
list, but in my haste to depart had forgotten to take down the antennas that I
would need.

I borrowed an 80 m OCF dipole from K0BBC, which can nominally do 80, 40, 20, and
10 m.  I also had a spare 40/15 m dipole and a 10 m dipole.  Transportation was
arranged, provisions were acquired, and logistically things came into place.

Most of my operations are CW or digital, so I haven't ever invested in the
proper cabling to connect my footswitch up to my K3 (the "new rig"). 
As I was running around town during the week, I went past my local electronics
surplus store, and stopped in to pick up adapters or at least enough parts to
build my own (solder-free, because the soldering iron is in south-central MN
with the antennas).  On checking things out in the morning, I realized the
alligator clips weren't big enough to munch on the 1/4" mono footswitch
plug, so I had to return the next day and get larger alligator clips.  Spoiler:
they worked wonderfully.

Friday morning I had an important meeting at work, but was able to leave
mid-day.  Unfortunately the snow started earlier in the west, and I encountered
the first flakes around Litchfield (about 1/3 of the way to SD).  By Willmar
(1/2 way), the driving conditions were deteriorating significantly.  Speeds were
slower, roads were very slippery (but generally straight, wide, and flat), and I
was in a race against the sunset: it is much easier to hang wire antennas in
trees in the daytime than at night.  Early sunsets in the winter mean that once
I arrive at the cabin, I will have plenty of time to play on the low bands
before bedtime, if I can get an antenna up.

Slow roads won out over the sunset.  I arrived after dark with 3-4" (7-10
cm) of snow on the ground, and after navigating a tough back-up into my parking
spot, I sat down to dinner and contemplated the wisdom of putting up an antenna
in the dark.  Pros: temperatures just below freezing, forecast to be much colder
in the morning; can operate through the evening, in the early morning, and
possibly overnight if I wake up and want to get on the air.  Cons: darkness
makes working with wire antennas in trees a big challenge.

After a meal and some relaxation after the drive, I chose to put the 40 m dipole
up in the dark.  The antenna is a feedline dipole, which uses a 1/4 wave segment
of coax as a radiating element, with an RF choke to keep the RF from traveling
further back down the coax.  One big advantage of this design is that the
feedline comes off one end, rather than the center.  Another advantage is that
it can be fairly easily wound onto a cord reel, including the lines needed to
hang the antenna, making it pretty amenable to deployment in adverse conditions
like a dark and snowy night.  With a few throws of the arborist's throw bag, I
had the lines in the trees high enough that I felt it would work.  Had it been
sunny and 50 F with dry ground, I would have worked harder to get them up high,
but in the cold and dark I just wanted the antenna in the air without much more
delay.

Saturday morning, as predicted, was cold and sunny.  I got the 80 m OCF dipole
snaked through some trees, again allowing compromises to reduce the time needed
to do knot work with no gloves on.  The analyzer showed a good match on 80, 20,
17, and 10 m, so I hopped on 17 m FT8 to pass some time until the contest
started.

At the start I managed a few contacts search-and-pouncing on 20 m, then moved to
40 m to find a run frequency.  I was fairly successful, and after the first 90
minutes had something around 50 contacts in the log---a good rate for my 100 W
and wires station.  As everyone else moved down to 40 m, though, I wasn't able
to hold a run frequency.  I tried moving to 80 m, but was not getting much
success.  Eventually I even did some 80 m FT8, and upon getting some poor
reports on that decided to go back to 40 m where I was having more luck.  When I
called it a night at 0500z, I had 100 contacts in the log.

Sunday morning I started early, and again couldn't get anything going on 80 m. 
With 40 m wall-to-wall and 20 m not yet short enough to catch the US, I took the
opportunity to work a meteor scatter sked with W0VTT who needed my grid on 6 m. 
I'm pretty sure that hour didn't hurt my rate much.

Sunday was mostly search-and-pounce, interrupted occasionally by an attempted
(rarely successful) run.  There were too many BUMs (Bravo, Unlimited, and
Multi-op stations, generally running high power) around for me to hold a
frequency for very long.  I made good use of the N1MM+ local bandmap, and
several times was able to come back to one of my spots and work them on the
first call.

In the end I had >300 contacts, 76 sections (missing NE, DE, AL, AK, MB, NL,
and ONS), and >45k points.  NE and ONS both had good signals in the last 30
minutes but were CQing in my face, even on 40 m where I usually had good luck
getting out.  80 m was a weak point,and I think the antenna wasn't full-sized
and was perhaps still too low.  It certainly didn't play as well as I remember
the standard center-fed dipoles performing in previous trips.

For next time, I should bring a full-size center-fed dipole for 80 m, and a
separate antenna for 20 m.  It's more work to put up, but I felt the setup I
used in previous years had performed better.

Station tear-down was rather simple (so much as disentangling wires from trees
at 18 F is simple), and the drive home was on clear dry roads.

Many thanks for the contacts!


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