[SCCC] NA Sprint CW W4EF HP

[Michael Tope]

                     NA Sprint CW Contest - September

Call: W4EF
Operator(s): W4EF
Station: W4EF

Class: Single Op HP
QTH: CA
Operating Time (hrs): 4:00

Summary:
  Band  QSOs  Op Time
---------------------
    80:   67   00:56
    40:   99   01:20
    20:  118   01:44
---------------------
Total:  284    Mults = 44  Total Score = 12,496

Club: Southern California Contest Club

Rig : FT1000MP MKV + Alpha 87A

Antennas :  20M/40M  Parallel Inverted-Vs w/common feed point @ 37'
             80M   57' vertical with ~1 mile of radials

Soapbox :

I had some time off work, so I lowered my AB-577 earlier in the week to swap out my Ham IV rotator with the bad direction potentiometer for a working unit, repair and upgrade my 3-band Spiderbeam to a 5-band Spiderbeam, and to switch the uninsulated steel guy wires on my AB-577 over to Phillystran.

Come Saturday morning after working all night Friday (it is much easier working at night in the desert so as to avoid the 100+ degree heat), it became clear that if I wanted the Spiderbeam back up in the air for the CW Sprint, I would not have time to install the 12/17 meter upgrade kit, nor would I have time to rest at all before the contest. I really wanted to upgrade the Spiderbeam and go over the existing hardware with a fine tooth comb, since work looks like it will be keeping my very busy for the next few months, so I opted leave the Spiderbeam on the ground until Sunday and spend Saturday resting up a bit. I
figured my 20 meter numbers would be about the same either way (i.e. exhausted operator with 3 element yagi would be about equal to a rested operator with an inverted-V).

As it turned out, I did okay on 20 meters despite the low inverted-V. It was not a great showing on my part, but I managed to keep a pretty consistent pace through out the contest (hourly rates were 72, 73, 67, 72). I thought I might even break 300 Qs, but 80 turned out to be less productive than I expected.

On the multiplier side, the ones I heard but missed were AR and VI. I heard K5GO in AR early on, but never did connect with him or any other station in AR. Also heard VI several times (including on 80 meters), but never was in phase with him. It was a thrill to work KO7X/m (twice), but a bit of a disappointment to discover that he was in California instead of Wyoming. I never heard the XE station that others reported working.

This was my first contest using the Alpha 87A. It was nice to be able to make quick band changes without any need to re-tune the amplifier. I probably should have made more use of this capability and switched from 20 to 40 earlier than I did, but 20 kept producing so I didn't bother. On Sunday and Monday I finished getting the upgraded Spiderbeam back up in the air with the new insulated guys along with the new rotator (the one that knows which was it is pointed). Hopefully (knock on wood), all this stuff will still be working come February. Cu all then.

73, Mike W4EF...........