[SCCC] NI6W (W4EF op) Stew Perry Topband Distance Challenge

[Michael Tope]

                  STEWPERRY Summary Sheet

        Start Date : 2020-12-26

     CallSign Used : NI6W
       Operator(s) : W4EF

Operator Category : SINGLE-OP
Assisted Category : NON-ASSISTED
              Band : ALL
             Power : HIGH
              Mode : CW

         Club/Team : Southern California Contest Club
          Software : N1MM Logger+ 1.0.8841.0

         Band     QSOs     Pts  Pt/Q
          1.8     392    2050   5.2
        Total     392    2050   5.2

             Score : 2,050


               Rig : Elecraft K-3 + Alpha 87A
          Antennas : 55ft Top-Loaded Vertical + Array Solutions SAL-30 
Rx Array

           Soapbox : I sponsored a plaque this year, so I figured I 
better show up and actually operate. Did this one 100% via remote 
control. Seems like I've finally got all the major bugs worked out of 
the remote setup (knock on wood). The SAL-30 Shared-Apex Loop-Array that 
I put up at the beginning of the year really seemed to help with 
receiving. It's been a long time since I had something other than the TX 
antenna to use for receiving.

After I realized I was in danger of having to QRT early because of the 
14 hour operating limit, I tried taking a short off-time Sunday morning 
around 9:30 UTC. I set my alarm for 11:00 UTC and laid down for a nap. 
My alarm woke me up, but I was in such a sleep deprived haze I shut off 
the alarm and fell back asleep until ~12:30 UTC. As a result I only 
caught the tail-end of the east-coast early riser "fresh meat". Signals 
from the east-coast were very strong, but they faded quickly which was a 
real bummer. I worked my first JA around 08:20 UTC, which made me 
hopeful that we would get a good opening in that direction. If we did, 
it was while I was asleep, as altogether I only worked a small handful 
of JA stations. My only transatlantic QSO was a very loud CR6K who 
answered my CQ. Otherwise, I didn't hear a peep out of Europe or Africa. 
Nevertheless, it was good fun.

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