VE4GV SS PH LP

rkaufman at magic.mb.ca rkaufman at magic.mb.ca
Mon Nov 20 22:44:00 EST 1995


                        ARRL SWEEPSTAKES -- 1995


      Call: VE4GV                    Country:  
      Mode: SSB                      Category: Single Operator 
Low Power
      Sent: # A VE4GV 72 MB

      BAND     QSO    QSO PTS   SECTIONS


      160        0        0        -
       80       31       62        -
       40      521     1042        -
       20      927     1854        -
       15      137      274        -
       10        0        0        -
     -----------------------------------

     Totals   1616     3232       77

               Score:  248,864


Power Output: 150 watts     Hours of operation: 22

Equipment Description:
Yaesu FT-1000 (150 W) 
KLM KT34XA @66ft 40-2CD @72ft
486DX33 CT9 DVP

Post Mortem:
First Rule: NEVER give up.
After a hot couple of first hours on 20 m/ 40m , I became 
disgusted with the low bands during the first night, especially 
80. Shut the rig off early and got some sleep. Big mistake. Its 
SS, you gotta fight the temptation to quit early. You'll see 
why, later.

Woke up Sunday at 6:45 am local time and had one hell of a 
great time. Could not believe some of the runs as the rate 
counter went nuts. I didn't hear Derrick VE4VV so I guess I was 
the lone serious contester from VE4 land. It made a big 
differnce ( Derrick is a good op, but he prefers CW and leaves 
the SSB to me (TNX Derrick !!)). Many stations claimed I was 
their last section for the sweep and I told em to think about 
me when they are sipping their favorite beverage from their 
mugs.

Highlites:
-Rates on 20 and 40.
-Actually being able to grab an occasional frequency from some 
of the B power stations  
( Sorry AA5BL). 
-Randy K5ZD works me late in the test and likes my score. 
-Many a thank you from stations regarding me being final mult 
for sweep.
-XYL keeps 2 yr old daughter from shack for MOST of the 
contest.
-Coming within 50 qs of my personal best at a time when 
propagation is supposed to suck.
-Tnx to Bruce for going to VY1JA for SS phone. I worked VE8EV 
first anyway.
( Now Bruce knows what it is like to contest from up here in 
the northland. Perhaps he can write about it in NCJ)
-Surprised at the numbers of "94/95" checks I received and 
numbers of YLs.
-Not too much bitching by non-contesters regarding use of 
frequencies in the test. ( At least I didn't hear much, but 
then again look at my 80 m q totals)
-Happy with results considering I didn't use a 2nd radio. 

Lowlites:
-Rates on 80. I miss the 10m novices sooooo much. 
-WE9V works 981 qs on 80.(!!??!!) RIGHT !!! and 2 el at 168' is 
a practical antenna for my city lot --NOT--
-Fried my voice during the first day by trying to stay on 20 as 
much as possible before going to 40. Screaming into the mike 
doesn't help, but neither does repeating your check number 10 
times -> NO, it's Seven-Toooooooo. It is masochistic trying to 
run with LP on 20 m at this part of the cycle.
-My 80 M  inv. vee stinks.
-Harmonic still too young to log, xyl refuses to cook for 
contests and Dominos doesn't understand why I won't answer the 
phone or the door.
-XYL still doesn't understand why I can't "take a few breaks 
once in a while" to visit with harmonic.
-K1AR and CQ need to put out a video for wives/husbands of 
contesters.... are you listening John ?
-Definitely will need to use 2nd radio soon if I want to be 
taken seriously.
-Reading the results and finding that NN5T and NA5S beat me by 
24 qsos. AARGH. Shoulda stayed on for that extra hour and 20 
mins on Saturday night.
-Knowing that SS only comes once a year ( its my favorite !!)

Tnx to all. You guys ( and gals) really made it fun.
CU next year
Rob VE4GV 


>From Danny Eskenazi <k7ss at wolfenet.com>  Tue Nov 21 05:03:03 1995
From: Danny Eskenazi <k7ss at wolfenet.com> (Danny Eskenazi)
Date: Mon, 20 Nov 1995 21:03:03 -0800 (PST)
Subject: NEW TROPHY YOU CAN WIN!
Message-ID: <199511210503.VAA29696 at wolfe.net>

If you guys dont mind old funky bowling trophys slightly modified for ham
radio........I will sponser trophys for
                                    
              THE  K 7 R A,  HOMER SPENCE  MEMORIAL  "FIRST-TO-A-SWEEP"  TROPHY

                                               SWEEPSTAKES   ****
FIRST-TO-A-SWEEP!!

One for each class:       QRP         A CLASS          B CLASS
BOTH MODES                                                             
                   (and a special trophy for anyone brash enough to admit
"C" as their precedence,  1500W +++)


                                      Trophy sizes will be commensurate with
output power.
                                    (from the wee 'lil qrp one , TO THE
GIANT QRO ONE!!)
              
(I should have announced this BEFORE the test...but its a long wait til Nov
1996, and all the political fur will be flying then...so lets do it now!)


Send your total elapsed time to a sweep and your class of entry to me at
"k7ss at wolfenet.com"  and I will go to the thrift store and start collecting
handsome trophys befitting your achievements.  Total elapsed time is time from 
2100Z start til you got #77...... If you used packet to find them I will
send you a smaller throphy than you would have got if you found em yourself.

TOTAL TIME:
MODE:
POWER:
PACKET???:
MAILING ADDRESS:

and sign the disclaimer:   "I will not be disappointed by the tacky trophy I
may win with this entry.....and I will proudly display it in my home for all
to see."


(Homer K7RA was an afficienado of the 77 mults  in 77 QSOs SS club, partly
because he lived downtown in an apartment with a vertical, but mostly
because he had so much fun in racing for all the mults.  He passed away in
1990, a few days after having lunch in a Greek restaurant(Zone 20) in
Seattle, while trying to complete the covetted EAZ (Eat All Zones) Award. He
had done about 16 Zones at the time. He is still, 5 years after his death,
rumored to show up for a few contacts in CQWW and SS every year.) 


>From Hans Brakob <71111.260 at compuserve.com>  Tue Nov 21 05:20:00 1995
From: Hans Brakob <71111.260 at compuserve.com> (Hans Brakob)
Date: 21 Nov 95 00:20:00 EST
Subject: Who is grey?
Message-ID: <951121051959_71111.260_EHM167-1 at CompuServe.COM>


As followup to my "Greying Contesters" message, I wrote 
a quick program to analyze the "age" of the check of my 
CW and Phone SS logs.

The sample sizes are 910 and 1355 calls for CW and Phone 
respectively, and the numbers shown are percentages, 
rounded to the nearest 10th of a percent.

Check  Phone   CW
Pre46   4.2     6.4
46-50   3.0     3.1
51-55   7.2    12.1
56-60  11.6    16.0
61-65   9.5    14.3
66-70   9.9    13.7
71-75   6.6     9.3
76-80  10.8    10.8
81-85   5.8     2.5
86-90   9.4     4.4
91-95  21.9     7.4

I'm not so sure what all those numbers mean to a
statistician, nor am I sure that the sample size 
is significant, 

BUT.....

Here are some off-the-top-of-the-head impressions:

--New licensees are trying out Phone contesting but
not CW (at least in SS).
--There is a rapid attrition rate in the most recent 
three 5-year buckets for both modes (about 50% per 
bucket).
--CW contesting may be in trouble -- 14.3% of the
CW "checks" are in the past 15 years, as opposed to
37.1% for SSB.
--We need to figure out how to capture that "21.9%" 
in the most recent SSB bucket and hold their 
interest. We're apparently getting a lot of "tire
kickers" -- how do we keep their interest?

Perhaps my operating style skews these numbers. In
SSB I mainly run (rather than S&P). Thus I tend not to
work other "running" stations who are likely to be more
experienced (earlier checks). It would be interesting to
see figures from someone who mainly contests in S&P mode. 
I suspect they'd see few checks in the 90's.

Also, my on-the-air demeanor is "laid back and friendly", 
as opposed to "rapid fire and terse", and I tend (because
of station limitations) to work high in the less crowded
parts of the band. These habits may make a contact with me
less intimidating than trying to work a "high rate runner" 
deep in the "Hot Zone" of a given band. Thus I may attract 
a higher share of less "confident" operators.

Your thoughts?

73, de Hans, K0HB










        


>From patd at eskimo.com (Patrick Dayshaw)  Tue Nov 21 06:06:14 1995
From: patd at eskimo.com (Patrick Dayshaw) (Patrick Dayshaw)
Date: Tue, 21 Nov 1995 06:06:14 +0000
Subject: Ham IV (M) owners: WARNING!
Message-ID: <199511210606.WAA23786 at mail.eskimo.com>

>I just spent way too much time up on the back tower, trying to
>direct replace a Ham IV rotator.
  
Snip......... Very interesting story about replacing Ham IV(M) (for
Contesting of course ....)

>Hope this saves at least someone some of the aggravation I
>had to go through (and in the air too).  I never realized
>that I had such a colorful vocabulary!!
> 
>de Doug   KR2Q at mcimail.com
>

Well Doug.... just remember what one great American writer had to say about
"colorful vocabulary"....

  "In certain trying circumstances, urgent circumstances,
   desperate circumstances, profanity furnishes a relief
   denied even to prayer."     Mark Twain

Sometimes, no matter the intelectual implications,
it's how you spell "relief".  :-)

73 es DX


Patrick,   WA7VNI........    patd at eskimo.com


>From Paul Knupke (CS)" <knupke at babbage.csee.usf.edu  Tue Nov 21 06:20:52 1995
From: Paul Knupke (CS)" <knupke at babbage.csee.usf.edu (Paul Knupke (CS))
Date: Tue, 21 Nov 1995 01:20:52 -0500 (EST)
Subject: SS SSB 95
Message-ID: <Pine.SUN.3.91.951121010255.12982B-100000 at babbage>

                       ARRL SWEEPSTAKES 1995


      Call: KE4ZYV (Op KR4YL)                  Country:  
      Mode: SSB                      Category: SINGLE LP UNASSISTED

      BAND     QSO    QSO PTS   SECTIONS


      160        0        0        -
       80        1        2        -
       40        6       12        -
       20      119      238        -
       15        0        0        -
       10        1        2        -
     -----------------------------------

     Totals    127      254       45

               Score:  11,430


Power Output: 100 watts     Hours of operation: 3

Operator List: KR4YL (Just me again)

Equipment Description:
Station, University of South Florida REC Club Station in Tampa.
Yaesu FT-990, TH-5DXX at 130', 40/80 inverted VEE


Club Affiliation: FLORIDA CONTEST GROUP


Another year of SS SSB falling on the same weekend as the Suncoast 
Amateur Radio Convention/Hamfest and being involved on the hamfest 
organizing committee my time was very limited.  (Next year the weekends 
are different !!!!)

I got to the University of South Florida station (KE4ZYV) around 9PM on 
Saturday after being up at 5:15AM and on my feet all day working the 
fest.  I started on 20 and worked went almost into running stations.  Had 
a good run of about 40-45 stations.  Then went to 40 and made 6 tought 
contacts then made one contact on 75.  Went back to 10 for a few more Q's 
in S/P mode to find anyone else I could work.  Around 11PM I called it 
quits, I was too tired and I needed some sleep as I had lots to do at the 
fest on Sunday.  Made it back around 8PM on Sunday and went right to 
running stations on 20 again.  Had a great run of about 50 or so stations 
and I was extremely happy that I was able to work to the northeast and 
mid-atlantic.  About 9 PM I popped on 10 and heard on station, worked 
him and went back to 20.  About 9:30PM We had a lid on the USF repeater 
and I had to deal with it and changing some stuff ... thus I ended the 
test early. 

Biggest thrill was getting KH6RS and PAC early into my operating on
Saturday and getting him on the first call.  Biggest dissapointments were
no VE's AT ALL and not able to get anywhere on 40 or 75 with 100 watts and
missing my own section (again) ... I think alot of the casual contesters
around here were hamfesting instead. 

I think my meager 3 hours of after dark operations went great. 45 sections
was better than last year by far thanks to 20 being open. 

Next year... I can finally really get down to business.  

Paul

Oh, and yes.  Thanks to all the nice words from everyone on the check of 
95 (even though mine is 93 actually)  I explained it to most anyway.  I 
can't wait till vanity allows us to dump KE4ZYV though.  I'd have 
slaughtered it in CW ... actually I'd have used my own call.  


 ================================================================== 
 Paul Knupke, Jr.	           /  Pinellas County ARES Asst. EC
 knupke at babbage.csee.usf.edu      /         Pinellas County Skywarn
 Largo, FL USA                   /               Fidonet 1:3603/570
 Amateur Radio Callsign KR4YL   /    Packet @N4CNW.#TPA.FL.USA.NOAM 
 ================================================================== 






More information about the CQ-Contest mailing list