[3830] SS SSB W6YX Multi-Op HP

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                    ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, SSB - 2021

Call: W6YX
Operator(s): KE6YLH KM6WCC KN6DOC WD6T N7MH
Station: W6YX

Class: Multi-Op HP
QTH: Stanford
Operating Time (hrs): 24
Radios: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
  160:     
   80:   54
   40:  452
   20:  678
   15:  272
   10:     
------------
Total: 1456  Sections = 84  Total Score = 244,608

Club: 

Comments:

We have one very active student member this year but he expressed his regrets
that he would be in New York on SS SSB weekend for an early Thanksgiving
holiday. Another student said he might drop by but he would be taking photos of
the "Big Game" between Cal and Stanford for the campus newspaper and
was doubtful. So, despite wanting to compete with the S-precedence crowd we
ended up signing M. It was encouraging to work 13 S-class schools.

Despite my good intentions to get the station ready by Friday evening I instead
needed to be home to help prepare a room for and then socialize with my wife's
sister and her husband who made an impromptu trip to attend a memorial service.

At contest start I had one radio set up and had separated a second radio from
the SO2R Box and interfaced it to another computer but ran out of time to get it
fully set up. Jevon, KE6YLH, had arrived and the plan was that he and Juan,
KM6WCC, would listen for the first one to two hours while I operated to get
familiar with the exchange, the jargon, and hopefully be able to pull callsigns
out of QRM or a pileup.

Juan arrived a few minutes after the start and I operated for the first 1:40
then turned it over to Juan. Juan and Jevon alternated operating every other
hour with me taking a short shift just before David, WD6T, arrived. While Jevon
operated David and I tried to get the second radio working but finally gave up.

When we got to 40 and 80 we were impacted by our EME contesters operating in the
ARRL EME contest. When their positioners were active only the strongest signals
on 80 could be copied.

David took over from Jevon and operated the remainder of the evening shift. When
I returned in the early morning the EME crew had left. I spent a few minutes
getting the second radio working. The main problem had been a faulty footswitch
compounded by the need for a higher Mic Gain setting for a different headset.

I saw that David had worked some missing mults so we only had SDG and NL
remaining. I saw a spots for VO2AC on 40 and later on 20 but couldn't hear him
on either band. An SDG called me on 20. Finally VO2AC was spotted on 15 and I
worked him right away to complete the sweep.

Zac, KN6DOC, showed up in the early afternoon and took over the run radio on 15
while I tried to interleave some Qs on 20. When 15 faded we moved to the
clearest spot we could find on 20, at 14293. After a while someone asked us to
move up slightly as we were interfering with them just below us, so we moved.
Shortly after moving, and again asking if the frequency was in use, we got hit
with DQRM - several recorded loops of music and profanity-laced tirades. Zac
made a few Qs through it but the rate had dropped so we QSYed.

Zac operated for a couple of hours total and then I finished out our final 2
hours, ending just before 0200.

Mult-wise there was no surprise that we only worked one NL. I tried calling
VO1KVT a couple times for an insurance NL but didn't want to waste time in a
pileup. What was surprising is that the two other mults with one Q were SB and
SJV. We came close to a second SJV but W6SX couldn't copy our exchange on 40
late Sunday. Also surprising is that MN was our most common mult. Here are our
top 5 and bottom few mults.

MN 75
OH 67
IL 59
MI 55
VA 54
...
SF  2
PAC 2
VI  2
PE  2
SB  1
SJV 1
NL  1

We only made 20 Qs in our own section, SCV, which ranked 26th. Also, 6-land
stations were our lowest US call area with only 62 worked. W3 was next lowest
with 96 worked. Low bands going long must be responsible as K5TR also was
notably lower in his own 5th call area. We had the added handicap of the EME QRM
on 80.

We had 3 NTs call us. As 20 was dying on Sunday I saw AL1G spotted so I rotated
and called her. Then, since the band was fairly dead, I decided to CQ in that
direction and had 3 more AKs call within 4 minutes.

We all had a great time and it was a good learning experience for our 3
faculty/staff who participated.

73,
-Mike, N7MH


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