[CQ-Contest] my first SO contest

[Hanlon, Steve]

learned a great deal about propagation, efficent use of my radio, and contesting in general during this past weekend's ARRL VHF Sweepstakes.  my first true foray into contesting, i set a personal goal of 100 QSO's.  i worked the first 12 hours non-stop and made 81 contacts in 10 grids on 6 and 2 meters - the majority being on 2.

i worked the final 3 hours of the contest for a total of 106 contacts.  those last hours were extremely un-nerving due in part to not hearing any unworked calls.  i thought i'd never make my goal.  i never gave up and after nearly 20-30 minutes of calling CQ with no contact, i heard a weak FN21 come in and worked him followed by an FN32.  that made the time spent worth it for the additional 2 multipliers.

i've already started to assemble in my mind an improved 6 meter station with plans for a beam instead of the attic dipole as well as adding a rotor and hopefully another 11 element for 2 meters.  working the 2 meter weak signal was a challenge and my wife even came down after i let out a cry of joy when logging a very weak FM08 to make sure i was ok.  after showing her the map of worked grids, she seemed vaguely interested that i was able to make contact into FN32 from FM19 with the antenna i put up while she held the ladder.

i'm going to feverishly work to upgrade to Extra so i can reduce the length of my callsign; KB3KAQ is an obvious liability for weak signal contesting.  i also am going to make a few changes to the layout of the shack and add some operating aids to further help the contesting cause.

the contesting bug bit me for the November Sweepstakes when i participated in a club effort, and after working my first contest as an SO from my shack, the bug has infected me completely.  i need to increase my code speed and build an interface for spending CW from CT.  i also need a comfortable chair, the current one is ok for a few hours at a clip, but for a 12-18 hour stretch, it simply will not do.

the strangest part of the contest was 10 minutes after it ended, the 2 meter band was silent.  rather sad in a way that contesting make sthe band come to life in the CW and SSB modes.

-steve hanlon
KB3KAQ