[SCCC] W6PH at K1PH (SS CW)

[W6ph at aol.com]

K1PH (W6PH opr)  NH

SO AB HP    21.9 hours

80M   -   409
40M   -   296
20M   -   192
15M   -    30

Total      927 QSOs   78 Sections

SCORE:    144,612

TS-930S(Piexx), SB-220   CT 9.80
Ants:  Field Day Style

Saturday morning I decided to put up some antennas for SS.  I have a 33 foot 
aluminum vertical that I put on a pipe in the backyard where I have about 10 
radials buried in the grass.  40m okay.  I went over to Stu's place a couple 
weekends ago and he showed me how he shot a line over a tree with a slingshot.  
So I figured I would try to shoot a line over a tree for 80m and pull a wire 
up.  The little insulator (for weight) went over the tree the first time and I 
pulled a 66 foot wire up and fastened the end to the bottom of the 40 m 
vertical.  Now I am on 80 and 40 with good SWRs (1 to 1) after adjusting the 
lengths.  Then I find out that the piece of coax that is buried going to the bottom 
of the vertical is trash and I have to make up another length to lay on the 
ground.  Next I found some aluminum to make a 20 m vertical.  (I spent about a 
half hour trying to decide what to do for 20m, then decided a vertical would be 
the easiest as it is now 2 pm.)  The vertical goes up in the tree with two 
slanting radials using a few mil-surplus mast sections so that the base of the 
vertical is at 20 feet.  It is leaning against the trunk and I only have to take 
it down once to shorten it to bring the SWR into the CW band.  (I had to make 
another length of cable for this antenna and I'm running out of PL-259s but I 
scrounge a used one and clean it out.)  I have only one cable going from my 
shack to the outside of the house.  So I have to find my remote relay that uses 
the feedline to run the DC control voltage.  It works okay but I have to make 
up a RF choke and capacitor isolation box for the shack end.  This takes 
about a half hour.  At 3:30 pm, I am finished with the antenna work and am 
satisfied that I have good antennas at the shack end (80, 40, and 20 and 15 m with 40 
m vertical).  I put my TS-930S back on the operating desk (I had been playing 
around with the IC-7000 but didn't want to use it for SS) and hook it up to 
the SB-220, get my laptop, load CT, hook up all the cables and give it a try.  
Everything is working and it is 3:58 pm when I set the WWV time on the 
computer.  I have not made any contacts with the antennas yet, so the SS starts and I 
s&p the first hour, a little over 70 contacts on 20 meters.  The rest of the 
contest goes real well despite the lack of planning.  I felt pretty loud on 
80m and 40m calling CQ a lot with answers.

I operated about 22 hours and ended up with 927/78 (no AK or NWT, of course). 
 I haven't put any kind of effort in the SS for several years and really 
enjoyed the contest.  I thought conditions were pretty good and very happy with my 
results.  If I had put in more effort, I feel that I could have made the 1000 
Q mark but I don't think I would have found AK and NWT (I didn't even try.)

End of novel.     73, Kurt, W6PH  (dba K1PH)