[SCCC] NAQP CW W6PH Single Op LP (Impromptu Class)

[W6ph at aol.com]

North American QSO Party, CW - January

Call: W6PH
Operator(s): W6PH
Station: W6PH

Class: Single Op LP
QTH: Lone Pine CA
Operating Time (hrs): 7+10

Summary:
Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
160:           
80:  128    43
40:  142    48
20:   35    21
15:   63    29
10:   85    23
-------------------
Total:  453   164  Total Score = 74,292

Club: Southern California Contest Club

Team: SCCC #5

Comments:

IC-781  Cushcraft AV-5  CT-DOS 10.04  (SO1R)

This was an impromptu operation.  I knew that I couldn't operate in the
afternoon as we were attending a memorial service for two local ladies
who were killed in a tragic accident.  I had no operative antennas one
hour before the start of the contest as I had been debating whether to
operate or not.  But I had committed to a SCCC Team and thought I should
pull my share.  I found my old AV-5 lying in the sage brush and erected
it on a pipe.  Fortunately it only needed some tweaking on 80 meters.
I then found out that my CT Version 9 wouldn't cover the NAQP and I had
to go back in the house and download version 10 and then transfer it on
a floppy to my trusty NEC laptop 486-50 out in the shack.  I got everything
going and corrected the time from WWV at minute 58.  After an hour of 
operation I found that all the QSO's were logged on 20 meters even though I 
was on 10 meters.  I had forgotten to run COMTSR before booting CT-DOS.  
So I went back and manually moved all those QSO's to 10 meters.  After a
couple hours, I QRTed for a little over three hours and missed the 
20 meter operating time.

Ten meters was very good at the start.  When I QSYed to 15 meters, the
conditions were very spotty, not as good as 10m was.  When I got back on
the air, activity on 20 meters had definitely subsided in favor of the low 
bands and I spent the last four hours on 80 and 40.  Forty meters was 
squeezed between 7.000 and 7.035 because of some unfamiliar type of signals
above 35.  I was very surprised at how well the 5 band vertical worked as an
impromptu antenna.  Probably good ears on the other end.

As always, contests are fun despite some challenges.  VP9/W6PH for the
ARRL's.
73, Kurt, W6PH