[3830] ARRL 10 N8II SO Mixed LP

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                    ARRL 10-Meter Contest - 2019

Call: N8II
Operator(s): N8II
Station: N8II

Class: SO Mixed LP
QTH: WV
Operating Time (hrs): 12.8

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
   CW:  235    42
  SSB:   62    17
-------------------
Total:  297    59  Total Score = 62,776

Club: Potomac Valley Radio Club

Comments:

With conditions expected to be very poor, I throttled back on this one and spent
Saturday afternoon until 2127Z off the radio which cost me at least 5-8 mults.
The F2 opening to the south was much better Saturday. The Geminid meteor shower
did coincide with the contest year which saved the day especially for the big
guns.
Friday, Saturday morning and evening, and Sunday morning I was able to work 
meteor scatter on CW in all directions and there was some activity from most of
the states/provinces within the approximate 1500 mile MS range. For example, I
worked all W1 except RI and all of eastern Canada except NL, PE and NU. I worked
4 NB stations, about 1-2 via brief sporadic E. 

Activity on SSB was pretty dreadful with over half of my 62 Q's with local range
stations. There was a good Es opening to AL, the western panhandle of FL,MS,LA,
TX(weak),AR,eastern KS,MO,IL,IA,MN, and WI on Saturday morning and still it was
unproductive to CQ. I missed FL on phone for first time ever in my many years of
participation, worked 11 on CW. I checked into a 10-X net in Baton Rouge, LA for
about 5 easy Q's.

I would say it is time to rethink the scoring of 2 times the SSB point value for
CW Q's. There is plenty of CW activity and CW Q's are easier to make under poor
conditions. Suggest 4 points for both CW and SSB Q's. 

There was a short sporadic E opening late Sunday around 2127-2205Z to TX,AR,IA
but again activity was low. Sunday was a real grinder with most stations already
worked. The meteor scatter died out around 16Z Sunday. F2 was limited to Brazil
and Chile here from 2016-2057Z. It was difficult to work PY even when above S5
here; I guess many locations in PY have high noise levels.

I have to give hearty thanks to my fellow PVRC'ers for many Q's. There were many
very persistent local CQ'ers and new locals kept showing up until late afternoon
Sunday. I was very pleasantly surprised by the PVRC turnout for a
"slow" contest.
Both mode totals for top states were MD 50 Q's, VA 49, PA 26, LA 14, MN 12, and

AL 12. In some cases more S&P might have yielded higher score, but I am not
complaining. My run Q's were about 30-35% of my total.

Surprisingly about 90-95% of the stations I heard on CW heard me calling and we
completed a Q. Not bad for LP and poor conditions. It pays to be very fast on MS
Q's which most ops were. Thanks for the Q's and digging me out of the noise.
Next year should be better; I hope to see you them.

Happy Holidays and 73, Jeff


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