[SCCC] IARU NI6W(W4EF) SO CW HP

[Michael Tope]

                     IARU HF World Championship

Call: NI6W
Operator(s): W4EF
Station: W4EF

Class: SO CW HP
QTH: CA
Operating Time (hrs): 20.4

Summary:
  Band  CW Qs  Ph Qs  Zones  HQ Mults
-------------------------------------
   160:     2            1       1
    80:    58            8       3
    40:   349    2      21      11
    20:   366           30      31
    15:   373           25      29
    10:    32           13       6
-------------------------------------
Total:  1180    0      98      81  Total Score = 680,558

Club: Southern California Contest Club

Comments:

Rig: FT1000MP MKV
Amp: Drake L-7
Antennas: 10/15/20M: Spiderbeam @ 48'
           40M: Inverted-V at 37'
           40M: 1/4 wave ground mounted vertical w/lots of radials
                (~5000ft)
           80M: 56ft ground mounted vertical w/same radial field as 40M
                vertical
          160M: 56ft Top-loaded vertical w/same radial field as 40M/80M
                verticals

I wore myself out on Friday taking down the AB-577 mast to repair the 
broken rotator that turns my Spiderbeam. Then I discovered my FT1000MP 
MKV had a high VSWR problem that was folding back the output power. The 
fault as it turned out was inside the radio, so it wouldn't be a quick 
fix. Fortunately, even with the fault, output power from the rig was 
just enough to drive the Alpha 87A to a decent level and on-the-air 
reports were good so I figured I could run it as-is. Fifteen minutes 
into the contest, however, the Alpha 87A faulted and wouldn't clear 
(power cycling didn't help). Frustrated and exhausted, I said eff-it and 
went to bed.

I woke up around 1530 UTC somewhat refreshed and decided to give it a go 
using my Drank L-7 back-up amplifier. With the low drive from the 
FT1000MP MKV, I could only get 350 to 650 watts depending on band. 
Fortunately, the higher bands were generally better for power output.

I stayed in the chair from 1551UTC until the end with a few short breaks 
along the way. I am glad I got back on the saddle and stuck this one out 
in spite of the false start. It turned out to be a lot of lot of fun, 
especially 20 meters Saturday night and 40 meters early on Sunday 
morning. I wasn't keeping track during the contest, but I still managed 
to work 56 of the 59 WRTC stations. I was amazed by how consistent their 
signals were.

Most of the time during this contest, I was frustrated by the feeling 
that I needed to be in at least two places at once. I really need to get 
some sort of SO2R system setup, so I can search for multipliers while 
running. First, however, I have a broken rig and amplifier that need 
fixing (sigh).

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