[3830] SS SSB VA7RR(@VE7SZ) Single Op HP

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                    ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, SSB - 2023

Call: VA7RR
Operator(s): VA7RR
Station: VE7SZ

Class: Single Op HP
QTH: BC
Operating Time (hrs): 24
OpMode: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
  160:    0
   80:   21
   40:  407
   20:  550
   15:  328
   10:  312
------------
Total: 1618  Sections = 85  Total Score = 275,060

Club: Orca DX and Contest Club

Comments:

First and foremost, many thanks to Allan, VE7SZ, for hosting me for another SS
competition.  I've done many contests from SZ since moving to BC in 1989, and
Allan's station is top notch and always a pleasure to operate.

Although 10 and 15 were open and there were QSOs to be made, conditions from
here were depressed and challenging. Many of the QSOs were with very weak
signals, and I dealt throughout the weekend with slow fade QSB which resulted in
the need for lots of fills to complete the exchanges.

For me, this was not a "typical" Phone SS. My comments:

. . . Normally the first hour or two is filled with lots of loud signals
calling, which allows for less repeats of exchange info, and results in some
very good hours to get things going. I started on 10, and this time the loud
signals dried up after about 15 minutes.  I felt lucky to finish with a 150
hour, as it could have been much worse based on the signal strengths of those
calling.

. . . 40 meter conditions were actually quite good.  Typically here in VE7,
around 03Z or 04Z, the band will go long and to the south.  This means that you
can easily work California and W5s, but you lose propagation to many other
locations  unless the stations there are big guns.  This time was different - I
was able hold a CQ frequency and get callers from all over the US and Canada
during all hours on Saturday night.

. . . It is normal to be able to call CQ from VE7 successfully on 20M during the
13Z hour, sometimes for a full hour before sunrise.  This time it was not there,
and didn't get rolling  until around 1410Z as the sun was coming up.  I worked
just two stations in 11 minutes during the 13Z hour and both were on 40M.

. . . It is also normal from here to average one QSO a minute all day Sunday. 
Not so this year - I could not get it above 40/hour the entire day.  I'm not
sure if the cause was conditions, reduced activity, me, or a combination of the
three.

. . . The second radio did not seem to be as much of a factor as in previous
efforts.  I  tuned across very few stations that I hadn't already worked. 
However, mult 85 was an S&P contact with KP3Z on the second radio, and
without the SO2R I would have missed the sweep.

Congrats to K6JO at ND7K.  He really pulled away from all of us on Sunday.   

Thanks to all for the QSOs.

73,
Gary
VA7RR


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