[Mldxcc] WPX SSB - WX6V

[Jim Venneman]

WX6V WPX SSB
Class: SOHP
On Time: 25 hours

Band  QSO  Points  Mults
80      57    135       26
40    224    756     138
20    498    989     261
15    161    277       59

Totals 940  2,157  482

Claimed Score  1,039,674  

Wow - that was fun! My best wpx ssb score to date. I really like this contest because I get to be a Mult! Pretty cool to work someone with several thousand contacts and have them thank you for being a new mult.

Pretty good conditions on 40 meters for a change which netted lots of 6 point QSOs. I worked more EUs than ever before on that band this time around. In fact, some were louder on 40 than they were on 20! Plus - It was certainly a pleasure not having to fight the hetrodynes from the broadcast stations in the 7125-7200 part of the band. 

Had an interesting problem develop early Sunday morning while running JAs on 40 meters. All of a sudden - the power output of the amp dropped all the way down to 300-400 watts for no apparent reason. After hooking up the amp to a dummy load, I found the problem affected all bands - NOT GOOD! I consulted W6SR for some suggestions and spent the next 4 hours diagnosing possible problems with the amp. No visual indications of any problems and I checked each of the 3-500z tubes by running the amp with only one tube, but didn't come up with any answers. When I put the tubes back in (swapping the sockets in the process), the amp suddenly came back to life and worked flawlessly for the remaining 6 hours of the event, which started by working 9K2K just before he faded out (whew!). Now I'm wondering what's up with my amp, if anything. 

Thought I could continue barefoot for the remainder of the day, but discovered real quick how important an amp is for an SSB contest. My attempts at QSOs running 100 watts ended after 20 minutes of frustration and only 3 contacts. When I was unable to work a WA5, I went back to work on my wounded amp. I was one happy guy when it came back to life again.

Didn't work very many KBers on the bands this weekend, but I realize that this is not an SSB group for the most part. 

See y'all in two months for the CW weekend (5/30-31).

Jim  -WX6V-