[3830] SS CW W6YX(N7MH) Single Op QRP

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                    ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, CW - 2019

Call: W6YX
Operator(s): N7MH
Station: W6YX

Class: Single Op QRP
QTH: Stanford
Operating Time (hrs): 16:25
Radios: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
  160:     
   80:   65
   40:   63
   20:  295
   15:   82
   10:     
------------
Total:  505  Sections = 79  Total Score = 79,790

Club: Northern California Contest Club

Comments:

With our 40m Yagi still stuck beaming due south and conflicting family events
preventing a full-time effort, I thought it would be a good year to try QRP
again.

I missed the first half hour of the contest due to a failed power supply in my
usual shack computer. Our club IT guys happened to be at the station preparing
for the EME contest (same weekend as SS SSB) and quickly swapped out the power
supply with a good one from another non-working computer. Saved me from having
to swap computers with a different operating position and either swapping disks
or having to reconstruct my logging configuration.

Not many answers to CQs so did quite a bit of 2-radio S&P at the beginning.
Rates on 20 were in the mid-40s. The rate dropped into the 20's when I moved to
40. I'd already worked most of those with strong signals on the higher bands,
skip was too long to easily work west coast stations, and the inverted vee with
QRP seemed to have a pipeline to AZ and parts of the midwest but nothing further
east was worked until later in the evening.

80 ended up being more productive than 40 as I could finally work most of the
6's and 7's. I finally worked all of the CA mults except SJV. After unsuccessful
earlier attempts to call WC6H and W6SX on both 20 and 40 they both came back to
me on 80, only to not be able to copy my exchange. I finally worked my only SJV
when N6GEO called me in the early morning on 80.

When rates dipped below the teens in the mid-0500 hour I decided to head home
and try to get an early start in the morning. Early was still more than 7 hours
of off-time, just before 5 AM local. Very few could hear me on 40... CQing on 80
worked best, picking up 6's and 7's I'd missed in the evening.

When 20 opened I had my best rate of the contest, a 63 hour running which
included a peak 10-minute rate of 90. Rates progressively dropped to 40's, 30's,
20's until I finally had to QRT at 2115.

I'd like to have put in more time but the lack of the 40m Yagi exposed how
poorly the inverted vee works and when rates approach single digits it's hard to
keep BIC. Having 4 32-foot booms of a 2m EME array below, and almost touching,
the inverted vee legs probably doesn't help.

Mults missed were ME, RI, NL and MB. Never heard a RI. Tried calling KX1E in ME
on 20 on several passes through the band but he was too weak and just continued
CQing. Never heard NL calling CQ but heard VO1AW with a nice signal calling
others. Had much the same experience with MB that other QRP and LP ops have
reported - couldn't break the VE4VT pileups but tried many times; also tried
VE4GV the one time I heard him but no luck there either. At one point my S&P
sync'ed up with VE4VT who I heard calling others but my attempt to snare him by
CQing in advance of his knob-turning didn't succeed.

Thanks for all the QSOs and for bearing with me on all the repeats.

73,
-Mike, N7MH


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