[SCCC] K1USC SOAB LP- WPX SSB

[Tony Ruiz]

I'm pretty proud of how I've done. A personal all-time high! yea.

I was inspired to do well after receiving the 2005 CQ WPX CW Rookie
certificate in the mail. I received 1st place call area, 3rd US, 4th NA &
World #9 in the Rookie subcategory. 

I figured I should try to better those standings. It was fun reaching goals
along the way: 100, 150, 200, 250. Towards the end, I wanted to break
100,000 points, I made that & then tried to reach 300 but wasn't able to get
on the air much on Sunday. That's OK. I can work towards it next time. I
have one more year in the Rookie sub-category.

Worked a dozen stations on 10 meters including Hawaii for the first time.
I'll send a QSL out for that one to work towards WAS. Tough time tuning on
10, 15 & 80.  I'm gonna have to work on getting the Antenna further away
from the house to reduce problems. My solution for this weekend was to
reduce power to about 50-70 watts.  The Tuner will bypass itself if I use
much more than that on those trouble bands & I have to power off & on to
reset it. Maybe I'll look into a multi-band/wire dipole for the contest
bands. This could eliminate the tuner and get all the power out into the
antenna. 

I heard K6EY answering a CQ, so I went up a couple of clicks & started
calling & sure enough I got her.  I heard KQ6ES once tried the same thing
but lost him. Never got my KQ6 Mult. 

Got NX6T four times. Worked AA6PW a few times, nice signal there Bob with
the new Amp. Got N6AA & N6QQ once & a few others too.  I heard N6QQ
everywhere! He would jump in & out of the pile up with great efficiency &
success! I guess that 85 foot tower helps get you heard. Several calls were
answered with a friendly "hi Tony" from several SCCC folks & other familiar
calls - that was nice.

I also made an eye-ball QSO with K6EY Sunday morning as she was helping out
at the Upland MS walk. I did a 10K walk in the middle of the contest &
raised over $1,300 for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.  That QSO
didn't count for the contest though, hi hi.

Here are the numbers:

                    CQWW WPX Contest, SSB

Call: K1USC
Operator(s): K1USC
Station: K1USC

Class: SOAB LP
QTH: Alta Loma, CA
Operating Time (hrs): 20

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
  160:    0
   80:   33
   40:   57
   20:  135
   15:   55
   10:   12
------------
Total:  292  Prefixes = 181  Total Score = 103,170

Club: Southern California Contest Club

Comments:

Worked a couple of new countries in the contest, that should help my DXCC
chase.
Radio is a Yaesu 857D at 100 Wts. G5RV Inverted-V Antenna up about 22 Feet. 
Antenna tuner had some difficulties tuning on 10, 15 & 80 Meters due to low
height & proximity of antenna to house, ground, etc. So, just reduced power
&
made it work.  Busy weekend limited OP time on Sunday. Overall, I'm very
pleased
with a personal all-time high in QSO's & points. Recently installed SSB (&
CW)
filter in the radio helped pull out weak signals and reduce the QRM. Amazing
how
that helps out! A great time was had in this contest. dit dit.  

de K1USC

Tony Ruiz