[SCCC] ARRLDX CW W6PH SOUAB HP

[Kurt Pauer]

                    ARRL DX Contest, CW - 2024

Call: W6PH
Operator(s): W6PH
Station: W6PH

Class: SOUAB HP
QTH: Lone Pine CA
Operating Time (hrs): 36.5

Summary:
Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
  160:    0    0
  80:  63    41
  40:  278    77
  20:  632  103
  15:  909  110
  10:  512  100
-------------------
Total: 2396  431  Total Score = 3,098,028

Club: Southern California Contest Club

Comments:

K3S SPE 1.3K amp  DXLog on an old XP laptop.
Antennas:
80- 1/4 wave slopers
40- 40-2CD at 55 feet
20- A3S at 40 feet
15- 4L yagi at 55 feet
10- A3S at 40 feet

These conditions were probably better than I can remember in my 65 years of
active contesting.  I just wish that I had the antennas to take advantage of
them.  I use temporary antennas that I raise on three AB-577's.  This year I
planned to use monobanders on 40, 20, and 15 and use my A3S for 10 meters.
With
the help of a neighbor kid I had the antennas in the air by Thursday
morning.
They all rang out good.  Once the contest started it became evident that
the 3L
20 yagi I had raised was unusable due to intermittent loss of reception.
So I
defaulted to the A3S.  I encountered a high SWR on my 4L 15m yagi mid
Saturday
morning.  I did some quick troubleshooting and found a bad barrel on the
way to
the antenna.  I fixed that and never had another issue.  The 40-2CD worked
well
on Friday night but became unusable the next evening due to an infinite
SWR.  It
was dark and I had no interest in roaming around trying to diagnose the
problem.
Instead I went to bed without an alarm set.  I got back out to the shack at
5:30 am and found 20 meters to have signals.  The rest of the day was spent
on
the upper bands with emphasis on 15 meters where I felt strong.  I also
encountered some RFI issues which I was able to work around.

I usually spend a bunch of time on 40 meters working JA's for QSO volume.
But
all the low power JA's were barely readable.  It seemed like 80 meters.  It
may
have been my antenna acting up.  I missed the second night because of that
antenna problem.

Despite all these minor issues I persisted as this may be my last all band
gig.
At 82 it is getting harder each year to put the station together for a
contest.
I may just settle for minimalist antennas and do what I can.  My XYL of 60
years
was very supportive and brought me hot coffee and sandwiches to my outside
shack.  This was a contest to remember.

73, Kurt W6PH  w6ph at aol.com