[CQ-Contest] Sprint Return

[Mike Smith VE9AA]

Tnx for the Q's last night Pete. You were very loud here.

It's hard for me to say exactly.  For the first time in a vy long time I had
20m in play for about 2.5hrs ! ! !

 

Because it's well after dark here @ 00z, with no(low) sunspots, normally I
get a smattering of just the louder FL/TX guys on 20m for 15-20mins, then I
am off to 40m way too early and S&P on 80m for the few W1's that show up.

 

That, and I am a fair bit removed distance-wise from the action up here.
(KL7SB or KH6CJJ are probably in the same boat)

 

Still, I made my best score EVER, (by quite a margin) however I put that
squarely on the good number of mults that showed up and the long duration
opening of the 20m band making this a true 3-band contest for me (it's
normally a 2.1-2.2band contest that late at night).  I was blessed with
excellent mults NP2, PJ2, KH6 and KL7 and VE9CB for that rare NB mult. to
name just a few.

 

Yes, I do think activity was down a little.

 

CU (all of a sudden!) in the next one.

 

Mike VE9AA...medium amps+ all wires.

=====================================

 

Last night was my first Sprint in 7 or 8 years, and the rust was showing.
Fortunately, N1MM+ was a lot smarter than the op, so I didn't have to
relearn all the tricks with the format of transmissions because my stored
messages still worked well.

 

Goal was to have at least one QSO/minute.  After about 2 hours, that became
less and less plausible. I went earlier than normal (in past years with much
better antennas) to 40 and then 80, but thought the turnout was
disappointing throughout.  I finally quit before 0300Z.

 

Did anyone else feel that activity was down?

 

--

73, Pete N4ZR

 

Mike, Coreen & Corey

Keswick Ridge, NB