[SCCC] N6RV ARRL DX Contest CW 2017 SOABLP

[Bill Kendrick]

Call: N6RV
Operator(s): N6RV 
Station: N6RV
Class: SOAB LP
QTH: LAX
Operating Time (hrs): 41 
Location: USA 
Summary:   
Band	QSOs	Mults

160:  	  0	  0
80:		  0	  0
40:		355	 80
20:		285	 83
15:		190	 57
10:		 58	 23
Total: 	888	243

Total Score:	646,623

Club: Southern California Contest Club 

Comments:
First, thanks to everyone who worked me. It was a great contest. Here is a
short saga before the rest of the comments. The morning of the contest
during the worst storm in two decades I noticed the antenna was swinging +/-
20 degrees in a very mild breeze. It was expected to be 50 mph right at the
start of the contest. The antenna turned fine and the rotator seemed to work
well. I then recalled a previous experience with my old tower when I found
that all but one of the bolts that held the rotator to the tower plate had
fallen out. I rushed outside and, sure enough I found three, of the four
bolts lying at the base of the tower. In a mad scramble I lowered the tower
and prepared to attempt to put them back in all while the antenna was
swinging back and forth. Fortunately Chip, N6CA, who lives close by came
over and volunteered to climb on the roof and install the bolts. I was
thinking this was not a good idea and prepared to climb up with wrench in
hand to rotate the mast and hold it while he installed the bolts. Before I
could get the wrench out of the tool box Chip was on the roof and declared
that he installed the first bolt. The wind had subsided and the rotator
moved just perfectly allowing the bolt to fall in. In 5 minutes the job was
done and a disaster was averted. So much for de-stressing before the contest
started!

The contest started with a bang. The highest rates were the first two hours.
That normally does not happen for me. I tend to panic at the beginning and
then settle in. Maybe the rotator situation exhausted my start of the
contest jitters. 15m, 20m, & 40m were the bread winners. The Asian/Pacific
opening that night was exceptional and the multipliers were stacking up.
Saturday morning rolled around That the first all-nighter I have done in
years. The rates were high enough to warrant staying up.  After sunrise 20m
was really open with plenty of Europeans. 15m was better than expected with
weak European and African stations. 10m looked like it checked out for the
weekend. In spite of that it was sluggish all day, just the opposite of the
previous years which were slow at night and crazy in daylight. That night
the effects of no sleep hit me. I collapsed at 9PM and slept until 3AM. When
I got up the going was slow. It seems that 40m was fished out. The rate was
only 10 Qs/hr then sunrise came. Right at sunrise and a little after, not at
grey line, 40m opened to Europe and the Middle East on the LP. All those
stations that I could not work the night before fell handily. The
multipliers looked really good. 1800Z brought a big surprise. 10m came to
life. That was not expected at all. For the rest of the contest it was S&P.
Things really went south during the last hours until 2300Z when it was a mad
rush to find anyone I hadn't already worked. 

Hopefully the participation will increase next year. We should have the
second SteppIR, the 80m ¼ sloper, and 160m shunt feed up and running. I know
I missed about 60 multipliers and a few hundred Qs on that band.

See you all in the SSB contest!
 
Bill N6RV