TopBand: Dismal report from the Black Hole

[Melvin J Crichton]

                            STEW PERRY SUMMARY SHEET

    Callsign Used : KJ9C

         Category : SO LP

 Default Exchange : EM69

        Team/Club : Soc Midwest Contesters

          Raw QSOs   Valid QSOs   Points
__________________________________________

 Totals      202         202        557


    Final Score = 557 points x 2 = 1114 points

 Time on about 10 hours
 Rig FT1000MP at 100 watts. Inverted L. Slinky beverage, half wave bev.

 Soapbox Comments
 ________________

 Catching a bad cold 2 days before the Stew isn't a good idea.
 Between the cold medication and overall fatigue, my goal was to
 just SHOW UP! After I got the adrenaline going I decided to try for
 1000 points... not much. But first I had to fix the slinky beverage,
 as I had been hearing nothing from that direction (Europe) all
 season. The problem was water and corrosion in the Excedrin bottle
 I used as a toroid box, waaaaay out in the woods. The inverted L was
 showing 2.5 to 1 SWR, but we had to live with that (funny how your
 antenna projects get cancelled when you spend most of the fall and
 December in South America). Activity seemed a bit down from last year
 (heck, I could find RUN frequencies about anywhere... but nobody to run
 with)..  Europe was there.... Not near as many Europeans worked as
 last year's contest..where was Clive? Missed F6RWA, 4X4NJ. IT9ZGY called
 me but a couple of big east coasters jumped on my frequency and blew
 me away... managed only a handful of DX this year, lots more in 97.
 Could not stay awake the entire session, but still made more Qs than
 in 1997. I notice that W9RE is still in Canada. But later in the test
 Mike must have realized that he was sending the wrong grid square. Now
 how do you score that? What he sent? Or where he really was? I logged
 what he sent (more points that way... even if he is really only 8
 miles from me). Another SMCer, KE9I, must have gone crazy on his new
 Northern IN farmstead... he was working everything! Nice going, Jerry.
 Just as I was ready to pull the plug I heard KH7R calling CQ with no
 takers. Unfortunately, it was too late here.... no dice.
 Maybe next year, when the contest is on Christmas Day...Aargh!  I guess
 I'll be there, and the family will have to deal with it. Gonna cost me
 plenty (in presents) to buy the contesting time.



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