[3830] SS SSB N8II Single Op LP

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                    ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, SSB - 2022

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

Class: Single Op LP
QTH: WV
Operating Time (hrs): 15:33

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
  160:    0
   80:  292
   40:  216
   20:  415
   15:   66
   10:   19
------------
Total: 1008  Sections = 83  Total Score = 167,328

Club: Potomac Valley Radio Club

Comments:

First licensed in 1970, first SS was in 73 or 74, beat the "stiff"
competition in 75(?) for a WV LP CW win. I have not missed many Sweeps since
then, and phone is my favorite SS mode because there are not enough old fart CW
ops left to keep it interesting after the the first 7 hours or so. It was nice
to hear all of the 20, 21, and 22 checks this time. I started saying
"Congrats on your first Sweepstakes" to the check 22 ops. 

The increased solar activity overall is a very good thing, but range is limited
on 75M at night. 75 finally opened west of the MS River fairly well around
0230Z. 40M skip zones were much shorter this year with almost no skip zone
during daylight hours, but daytime range was mostly within about 500 miles for
me. Reaching the west coast on 20 is a struggle for much of the daytime hours on
20, but I was able to work as close as VT and ME to the NE, and TN, KY, AL, GA,
IN, and WI to the W and S. My best hours on 20 were around sunset in the 22-23Z
hours when the western 5's and 0's and Rockies plus west coast were loudest. 15M
was disappointing as was 10M, but I did as well as most HP locals on those
bands. K9WZB/QRP in AZ was S9+20db on 10M at 18Z Sunday. The best 15M conditions
seemed to be in the 16-17Z hours with some loud signals from LA, NTX, KS, SD,
MN, WI and farther west. I only heard PAC and NT on 15M.

75M produced very well for my first 100 Q's running below 3800 as the rag 
chewers outnumbered SS ops above 3800. My best clock hour rate was 103 Q's/hr at
01Z, 2nd best 90 on 20M at 22Z. Four hours Sunday were over 60/hr at 14,16,21,
and 23Z. My overall average was 65/hr inflated by only operating at fairly
productive times. 

A lot of rare sections called me, notably working 6 NNY ops after missing the
section on CW. When I reached 79 worked, PE, MAR, and NL were all needed, so I
tried to scare them up on 20 calling some CQ's to the NE and sweeping the band
beaming NE once. Only VE9XX answered a CQ. At 20Z, I was still short NT, PE, and
NL. I checked 15M after the dog walk break (Brrr!) and heard VY2TT peaking about
S5-6 on backscatter; he could not hear me (at least I knew he was active). Then
about 25 KHz down the band was VY1AAA worked on 2nd call. Shortly after I found
VY1CO whose pile up was too big to break (no problem, and to boot he called me
on 20 later). Sure enough VY2TT moved down to 20 where I heard him for only the
2nd time and I worked him for section 83 (his NR was over 1400). I never heard
NL and more or less just gave up on searching for one after sunset.

Most ops did pretty well on their operating. The most annoying issues were many
who can't type and talk at the same time (silence with keyboard clicks),
repeating info when signals are loud!, sending the whole exchange when a single
fill was needed, both spelling and saying the section (got a "Echo November
Yankee, E-N-Y, Eastern New York" once from a station S9+), and the infamous
"Please copy number ...".Any sustained running on 40 at night is
impossible with my dipole. I also have enough line noise on 75 and 15M to take
out weaker signals.

Thanks for all of the calls and QSO's and hope not too many gave up during the
times when I had a deep pile up (never lasted that long). Signal levels are now
so much better in general than at the bottom of the cycle. I could have done
another 90 minutes at the end but the stress was causing neck and back pain and
my rate was getting very low.

73, Jeff

Section, 3.5, 7, 14, 21, 28, Tot, Accum
AB, , 1, 3, 3, 1, 8, 8
AK, , , 3, 2, , 5, 13
AL, 4, 2, 2, , , 8, 21
AR, , , 10, 1, , 11, 32
AZ, , 1, 14, 3, 6, 24, 56
BC, , 1, 3, , , 4, 60
CO, , , 11, 7, , 18, 78
CT, 8, 9, , , , 17, 95
DE, 1, 1, , , , 2, 97
EB, , , 5, 1, , 6, 103
EMA, 3, 4, , , , 7, 110
ENY, 14, 11, 2, , , 27, 137
EPA, 13, 7, , , , 20, 157
EWA, , , 7, , 1, 8, 165
GA, 2, 5, 10, , , 17, 182
GTA, 3, 4, , , , 7, 189
IA, 1, , 4, , , 5, 194
ID, , , 8, 2, 1, 11, 205
IL, 8, 8, 27, , , 43, 248
IN, 7, 7, 3, , , 17, 265
KS, 1, 3, 17, 2, , 23, 288
KY, 9, 1, 3, , , 13, 301
LA, 1, 1, 6, , , 8, 309
LAX, , , 7, 3, , 10, 319
MAR, , , 2, , , 2, 321
MB, , , 4, 1, , 5, 326
MDC, 24, 7, 6, 1, , 38, 364
ME, 4, 7, 1, , , 12, 376
MI, 15, 9, 2, , , 26, 402
MN, 6, 2, 31, 1, , 40, 442
MO, 3, 2, 9, , , 14, 456
MS, 1, 1, 3, , , 5, 461
MT, , 1, 4, 1, 1, 7, 468
NC, 15, 8, , , , 23, 491
ND, , , 1, 1, , 2, 493
NE, 1, 2, 7, , , 10, 503
NFL, 1, 3, 7, , , 11, 514
NH, 10, 9, , , , 19, 533
NLI, 5, 5, , , , 10, 543
NM, , , 5, 1, , 6, 549
NNJ, 5, 4, 1, , , 10, 559
NNY, 3, 3, , , , 6, 565
NT, , , 1, 1, , 2, 567
NTX, , 2, 19, 3, , 24, 591
NV, , , 5, 2, 2, 9, 600
OH, 21, 9, , , , 30, 630
OK, , , 9, 1, , 10, 640
ONE, 3, 2, , , , 5, 645
ONN, , , 1, , , 1, 646
ONS, 3, 5, , , , 8, 654
OR, , , 17, 3, 3, 23, 677
ORG, , , 8, , , 8, 685
PAC, , , , 2, , 2, 687
PE, , 1, 1, , , 2, 689
PR, , , 1, , , 1, 690
QC, , 3, 1, , , 4, 694
RI, 7, 1, , , , 8, 702
SB, , , 4, , , 4, 706
SC, 6, 1, , , , 7, 713
SCV, 1, , 8, 2, 1, 12, 725
SD, , 1, 7, 1, , 9, 734
SDG, , , 6, 1, , 7, 741
SF, , , 4, 2, , 6, 747
SFL, 2, 1, 3, , , 6, 753
SJV, , , 4, 1, 1, 6, 759
SK, , 1, 1, 1, , 3, 762
SNJ, 7, 3, 1, , , 11, 773
STX, 1, 2, 11, 3, , 17, 790
SV, , , 13, 3, , 16, 806
TN, 7, 3, 10, , , 20, 826
UT, , , 9, , 2, 11, 837
VA, 29, 17, 4, , , 50, 887
VI, , , , 1, , 1, 888
VT, 4, 3, , , , 7, 895
WCF, 1, 1, 1, , , 3, 898
WI, 5, 4, 16, , , 25, 923
WMA, 3, 3, 1, , , 7, 930
WNY, 10, 13, , , , 23, 953
WPA, 9, 8, , , , 17, 970
WTX, 1, , 1, 1, , 3, 973
WV, 3, 2, 2, 1, , 8, 981
WWA, , 1, 16, 5, , 22, 1003
WY, 1, , 2, 2, , 5, 1008
Total, 292, 216, 415, 66, 19, 1008


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