[SCCC] ARRL DX SSB SO(A)AB HP N6WIN

[Timothy Coker]

                   ARRL DX Contest, SSB
 Call: N6WIN
 Operator(s): N6WIN
 Station: W2IJ

 Class: SO(A)AB HP
 QTH: Rancho Cucamonga, CA
 Operating Time (hrs): 19

 Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
 -------------------
 160:      0     0
  80:     44   28
  40:   118   49
  20:   185   71
  15:   194   49
  10:      8      6
 -------------------
 Total:  549   203  Total Score = 334,341

 Club: Southern California Contest Club

 Comments:
I received clearance from my wife for a 24 hour push. I packed a cooler, put
on some comfortable clothes, and headed to my friend W2IJ's qth a mile from
my home. The plan was to only get two hours sleep and work the test from
0500Z Friday night through 0500Z Saturday night. I ended up leaving a few
hours early to spend some time with the kids before their bed, but not
before having a lot of fun on the radio.

I had lots of fun navigating through crowded conditions on 40/20m. On
Wednesday morning, Jay, W2IJ, and I put up an 80m IAC double bazooka as an
inverted-v at 50' in the center and six feet at the ends, broadsiding
nne-ssw just in time for the contest. I couldn't work much past the
Caribbean and Japan with it, but I was still able to grab 44 qso's and 28
mults that I would not have had without something up for 80m.

My initial goals were to fill in countries needed towards 5BDXCC on 80/40m
and to run JA's for an hour on 15m Saturday. I also wanted to see what
portion of the band is used during contests, understand more about
propagation, and in general learn more about ham radio after my seven years
absence from the hobby. I decided to use packet spots to aid me in grabbing
the new band/modes towards the 5BDXCC quest.

I had a blast working up and down the band, contacting every new station I
could hear who was running. I ran on 15m for a couple of hours and had a
good time testing my hearing on some of the lower signals that answered me.

In the end I was able to increase my 80m DXCC count by 15 to 39 and my 40m
DXCC count by 9 to 94. I also worked DXCC in 24 hours for the first time,
which was a pleasant surprise.

Operating equipment:

Kendwood TS950S
 Alpha 77
F12 C31XR 55'
40m rotatable dipole 70'
80m double bazooka inv-v 50'