[3830] SS SSB K9ZO Single Op HP

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                    ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, SSB - 2020

Call: K9ZO
Operator(s): K9ZO
Station: K9ZO

Class: Single Op HP
QTH: 1
Operating Time (hrs): 24

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
  160:    0
   80:  347
   40: 1062
   20:  268
   15:   27
   10:    0
------------
Total: 1704  Sections = 82  Total Score = 279,456

Club: Society of Midwest Contesters

Comments:

I was using a vertical wire hanging down from a tree for 80, and an inverted vee
for 40.  The SteppIR never worked on 40, but is OK on 20 and 15.  It is at the
wrong height for USA, but I have not located a tower crew yet.  (still have 12
yagis to put up) When I went QRP on 20 I seem to get pushed around, so know I am
not really competitive there.  During CWT I always stumble on 20 and my rate
jumps when I go to 40 or 80.  On occasion, at sunset, the guys out west say I am
strong, but I don’t have a big footprint like you would with stacks.  So I
started on 40 right in the middle of the band.  I had 503 QSOs in the first 3
hours which was amazing since I never run stations during SS. No W6 or W7, but
pretty good coverage of the USA.  I was signed up for the online contesting.com
and looked at it afterwards and did well, but I really suffered during the
darkness transitions.  CWTs get me into contesting after about 2 minutes, so I
am ready to run, regardless of the mode.  

I never have run stations in SS at the beginning.  Now I see the benefit of
picking up the uncommon multipliers so that I can make good band selections
based on rate rather than trying to be available when the uncommon multipliers
are coming through.  I always felt I was pushed around and had to find new
frequencies all the time (except about 20 years ago when I had 3 phased sloping
dipoles and had 900 QSOs on one frequency on 80 meters).

In the morning I was exhausted.   Starting to feel side effects for the cancer
drugs.  Maybe my motivation was that it might be my last SSB contest.  The
daylight really killed my rate.  I could really use SO2R, but with a SteppIR and
single tower I am limited until I find a tower crew for another tower.  We
always thought that once you were behind (both QSOs and mult) that it was really
hard to catch up, but I kept close to the leaders until Sunday mid day.  I lost
placement at the end because the guys ahead of me had found the mults.  I needed
 MS, AK and NT so spent time searching 20/15 for them and my rate dropped to
about 25 an hour on Sunday while I S&P  and looked.  Boy, SO2R would help,
but I have the same antenna for 20/15. I knew I needed the mults to beat them,
but kept slipping in QSOs when I went looking and never found AK or NT.  AK was
frustrating because VE6 and VE7 were on, but the band did not seem to extend far
enough.  Some non-ham called and said she was in Nome, Alaska, but not a ham! 
Towards the end I could not find a clear spot on 80 and as I tuned I had already
worked everyone, so my decision to use my last time off at the end was good.  20
was dead, so no hope of Alaska.  I could have quit 2 hours early without
impacting the score much.  I will have to work on another set of antennas that
works during different conditions.

Last week I got the 4 vertical bases poured for the 80 meter 4 square.  Slopers
would be better, but I need a tower.  I also put in two additional tilt bases
for Titanex verticals (backup for my 80 meter vertical wire which should become
an inverted L on 160, but need a climber to put a pulley on the tower, perhaps a
60 meter vertical, perhaps the 102 foot 160 vertical will go up)  The only thing
I am looking for is 500+ feet of hardline to reach the 4 square, and some to
reach what might be a 4 square on 40.  I left a lot of inside work.   Early in
the summer I put in 5 clothesline poles to bring the hardlines from the tower to
the shack garage.  They had been going into the shack window for 2 years.  I
completed the grounding by adding more ground rods, tying the electrical ground
and entrance panel to it all. It was a productive summer, but I am still working
on the infrastructure.  I had new insulated garage doors installed, so the shack
will be warmer too! The bandpass filters, switching, and surge protectors are
installed on the wall so this winter I will add more things to get closer to
SO2R.  I have to find a tower crew to do a 130 ft rotating tower, some tower for
SE antennas, and perhaps an EME antenna.  I still am working on DXCC Challenge. 
 So  SO2R is waiting for more antennas that are farther away.  

I have never made so many contacts and appreciate all the activity and new guys.
I spent a lot of time explaining the exchange, but felt it was worth the extra
time.  I hope I am around next year to try to improve on this effort.  There are
lots of things I can do to improve.


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