[SCCC] SS CW W6PH Single Op HP (Long)

[W6ph--- via SCCC]

Call: _W6PH_ (http://www.3830scores.com/findcall.php?call=W6PH) 
Operator(s):  _W6PH_ (http://www.3830scores.com/findcall.php?call=W6PH)  
Station:  W6PH  
Class: Single Op HP
QTH: Lone Pine CA
Operating Time  (hrs): 24     Summary:     Band QSOs  160:   80: 116  40: 
188  20: 271  15: 551  10: 14  Total: 1140 Sections 83 Total Score 189,240 
Club:  Southern California Contest Club     
Comments: 
    
FTdx3000 plus AL1200 first 13 hours, LK-500ZB second 11 hours 
Win-Test 
Antennas: 80m 1/4 wave sloper below 40-2CD at 55 feet (AB-577 nr 1),  20m 
3el yagi at 50 feet (AB-577 nr 2), 15m 5el yagi at 55 feet (AB-577 nr  3), 
20-10m A3S at 40 feet (permanent Rohn 25). 
 
I got back from Bonaire (PJ4X) late Monday night and made a road trip  to 
Pacific Grove on Wednesday and Thursday which gave me Friday to raise  the 
temporary antennas and get the station in order. High winds were  forecast for 
Friday, so I started at day break to get the antennas up. The  wind really 
started blowing as I was raising the third mast and I had to  get my wife to 
hold the up-wind guy wire while I was cranking the  elevator. She's a 
trooper. No mishaps and the antennas all had good SWR.  (I have them all marked 
for quick assembly.) 
 
I tested everything on Saturday morning and everything seemed fine. I  got 
a slow start as it has been a year since I operated SS and I was  behind 
last year after the first hour. But 15m was a bottomless pit of  callers and I 
stayed on the same frequency for four hours before finally  heading to 20m. 
As the sun went down I checked 40m occasionally but it  didn't sound real 
strong and the stations that I heard had already been  worked. Finally 20m 
slowed down and I headed to 40m. A highlight was being  called by VE8EV around 
7 UTC with a number 21. I quit with only ONN, SK,  and PR missing at 1 am 
and got 5 hours of sleep. I turned the radio back  on at 6 am (still PDT)and 
heard a weak VE3CX (ONN) calling CQ on 80m. I  called him and he came right 
back. The computer was still booting up so I  wrote the info on a piece of 
paper and entered it when Win-Test came up. I  didn't want to miss one of the 
last three sections that I needed. A little  later I worked several VE5's 
and didn't pick up PR until 23 UTC when I  caught NP3A giving me nr 1019. I 
never heard him before that! 
 
So why the two amps listed above? About 7 or 8 am I started hearing a  
raspy noise on the receiver thinking someone had turned on a device in the  
neighborhood, so I decided to take a 30 minute break. As soon as I shut  off the 
AL1200, the noise was gone. I turned the amp back on and the noise  came 
back. At that point I decided to swap out the amp with an LK-500ZB  that we 
use for K6Z CQP. Fortunately it worked fine for the rest of the  SS. I hit 
1000 contacts two hours ahead of last year and finished with 53  more contacts 
than last year. Fifteen meters was my gold mine. I swept 10m  a couple times 
to work any stations that weren't in the log already. Forty  meters never 
really worked for me. There seemed to be quite a bit of  atmospheric noise 
and signals were generally weak (except for K1ZZ who  sounded like he was 
across town). During the last hour I checked 80m and I  thought I had lost my 
antenna. There wasn't a single station on the band  which I thought was 
unusual at the end of the SS. 
 
As my friend W6SX opines, you should be doing it for the fun of it.  At 72, 
I am still enjoying the fun of contesting just like everyone else  with a 
CK number in the 50's. 
 
73, Kurt  W6PH