[SCCC] VP9/W6PH ARRL DX CW SOAB LP

[W6ph at aol.com]

 ARRL DX Contest, SSB

Call: VP9/W6PH
Operator(s): W6PH
Station:  VP9GE

Class: SOAB LP
QTH: Bermuda
Operating Time (hrs):  40.5

Summary:
Band  QSOs   Mults
------------------------------
160:  220     35
80:  504    49
40: 1097   58
20: 1627    58
15:   867    46
10:  222     25
------------------------------
Total: 4537   271  Total  Score = 3,688,581

Equipment:  IC-7000   CT-WIN

Antennas:
160m - Inverted L (50 feet vertical)
80m -  Dipole at 20 feet
40m - Dipole at 20 feet
20-10m:  A4S  at 21 feet (repaired from an A2S)

My QSO count was 1100 more than last  year but my multipliers were down 
quite a
bit because of low band  conditions.  Friday night was a struggle and I 
thought
that Saturday  night would be the same.  So I got some sleep at 11 pm only 
to
find out  that the low bands got real good after that. 

Fifteen and ten meters were  not near as good for me as the folks in the
Caribbean.  On Saturday I  had a total of 8 contacts in 2 states on 10 
meters
even though I checked  often.  There was nobody there except some weak SA
stations.   Sunday was much better but I still have a big RF shadow to
everything east of  the Mississippi River and my QSO total shows it.  I 
spent
about four  hours trying to get something going there.  Fifteen was slightly
better  with the RF shadow starting at K3LR on the OH/PA border south  to
Florida.  I didn't work any W1, W2, W3, W4 (VA) or W8 (WV).

On  20 meters, I never ran out of people to work and the band was open to  
every
state at the same time giving me a great footprint.

It was good to put so many SCCC call signs in the log.  I was a little  
disappointed 
that I didn't get more in the log on 10 meters as the band was open to  
California
most of the day on Sunday.  Just a few 6's in the log on 80m and none  on 
160m.
If I had stayed up Saturday night when the conditions got better, that  
would have
been different.

For me the internet cluster is a love-hate relationship.  On one  hand  it
enhances my QSO count.  On the other hand people don't  find me until I'm 
spotted. I am of the opinion that there are many  contesters who have never 
been in a contest without the internet and don't  know how to S&P without 
it. 
They blindly call anything new that pops up  on their screens without 
evaluating the call sign for validity.  I had  an issue with a busted call 
sign
late on Sunday afternoon.  I am  reluctant to put duplicate contacts in my 
log
(old  school).  I  started getting a bunch of dupes and told each one that 
I 
wasn't logging  them and reemphasized my call sign slowly.  One guy told 
me, 
"You were  spotted as VP9/W3PH"  and he said that he would correct it.   I  
still
got a few more calls that were dupes.  My gripe is, what is  between the 
ears of
these guys?  An intelligent person would realize  that there are only a 
finite
number of VP9's and the odds of finding two guys  with such close calls in 
the
same contest were probably less than finding OJ  Simpson's DNA in  someone
else.

My IC-7000 still works perfectly  since I purchased it for the 2006 ARRL's. 
 It
is the perfect contest  expedition radio.

Always great to make contacts with people I have met in  Visalia and 
Dayton. 
This is my eleventh year operating as VP9/W6PH and I  plan to do many more. 
 I
really appreciate the hospitality of Ed,  VP9GE.  He is a super guy.

73, Kurt,  W6PH