Congratulations to our brave Sweepstakes Super Guys! Great job Randy K5ZD for leading the pack!
Call: K5ZD
Operator(s): K5ZD
Station: K5ZD
Class: Single Op HP
QTH: OH
Operating Time (hrs): 23.5
OpMode: SO2R
Summary:
Band QSOs
————
160: 0
80: 190
40: 450
20: 247
15: 171
10: 50
————
Total: 1066 Sections = 85 Total Score = 181,220
Club: North Coast Contesters
Comments:
First contest from the fully assembled new station. Everything seemed to work.
A great CQ WW SSB contest usually means less activity for SS CW. This year was
no exception. Activity died around 0500z the first night and never returned.
I woke up an hour late due to confusion around the time change. Spent the day
futilely chasing N2NT and AA3B. We all moved through the day with the same
delta between us.
Happy to get the Sweep when I found VO2AC on 15m, dealing with a messy pileup.
I don’t understand why everyone seems to drop all sense of manners and
operating practices when a rare mult shows up in SS…
My 51st consecutive year of entering SS CW. The 1000 QSO streak was broken last
year. Thanks to everyone who was on and helped make the contest fun.
Station:
2 x K3, PGXL amp
80m: Inverted vee with top at 78′
40m: 2-el Moxon at 90′, 40-2CD at 45′, Inverted vee at 25′ (all 3
fed together most of the weekend)
20m: 5-el/5-el at 80’/50′
15m: 5-el/5-el at 50’/25′
10m: C31xr at 70′
Call: K8BL
Operator(s): K8BL
Station: K8BL
Class: SO Unlimited LP
Class Overlay: Limited-Ant
QTH: OH
Operating Time (hrs): 19
Summary:
Band QSOs
————
160: 0
80: 165
40: 319
20: 117
15: 22
10: 24
————
Total: 647 Sections = 84 Total Score = 108,696
Club: North Coast Contesters
Comments:
At 8 AM local time on Sunday, my Internet DIED (including TV service)!!!
That is DISASTER for trying to contest as Unlimited. No stations in the Bandmap
and no spots for catching needed Sections!
Leaving the Family without Internet/TV while I contested was out of the
question, so I had to try to resolve the problem.
Tech Support found that the trouble was external to my QTH and was dispatching
a Repair Tech. They showed up 5 hours later which was impressive for a
weekend.
Meanwhile I operated as Limited even though I had started as Unlimited and had
been giving out Prec U. Couldn’t change once I started! Had to stay a U.
The Repair Tech determined the trouble was in the cable down the street and
a cable crew wouldn’t be out until Monday.
The Family would have to be content with using their phones or watching DVDs.
The crash left me well short of operating 24 hours and a Clean Sweep. But, I
felt I ended up with a decent result in spite of the handicap. Only missed NL.
P.S. I built a Double Bazooka for 10M since my EFLW doesn’t work very well
on that Band and getting rare Mults there can be difficult. Pleased to say it
performed very well and gave me 21 Mults out of 24 Q’s!! Included, were:
KH6, KP4, KP2, KL and VY1, plus most of everything on the West Coast.
Callsign: NJ3K Contest: SSCW
Band QSOs Pts Sec Pt/Q
3.5 96 192 1 2.0
7 229 458 16 2.0
14 206 412 31 2.0
21 54 108 25 2.0
28 16 32 12 2.0
Total 601 1202 85 2.0
Score: 102,170
1 Mult = 7.1 Q’s
14 hours of operations, in my defense I am still recovering form Surgery. I can’t use this excuse much longer though. 🙂
Low power assisted. Wire antennas for 40 and 80. Tri bander at 40 feet for 20-15 and 10. I did finally get VO2AC for the clean sweep. That took over an hour to get him. I will echo what Randy K5DZ said about manners, they were indeed bad. I could hear him very well so I knew it was just a matter of time, but 1+ hours? Oh well I can purchase another coffee cup.
Call: W1NN
Operator(s): W1NN
Station: W1NN
Class: Single Op LP
QTH: OH
Operating Time (hrs): 13
Summary:
Band QSOs
————
160: 0
80: 194
40: 213
20: 92
15: 52
10: 8
————
Total: 559 Sections = 82 Total Score = 91,676
Club: North Coast Contesters
Comments:
In the weeks before the contest, I was able to fix a couple of things
and put up
two temporary antennas. The station was ready to go. About two hours before
the contest, I took a tumble off of my deck and landed hard on my back. It
didn’t seem that anything was broken but I was in considerable pain. I
made it through the first night until the bands died and put in three
hours on
Sunday morning, but I was still in pretty bad pain. With a 14 hour flight
coming up in a few days, I decided that I should go back to bed and take
care of
myself. I pulled the swich.
Rates were very poor while I was on. I had only 5 hours over 50. Sunday
morning was really bad – it seemed that Sunday afternoon had come on Sunday
morning. The three mults I messed were ONN, NL and NB. Quite a few other
mults
were worked only once.
Fellow OH LP ops W8CAR, K8BL and W8WTS sounded good and were everywhere.
Congrats to K5ZD and W8WTS for sticking it out to the bitter end. I’m not
sure if I have it in me any more, even without an aching back.
Call: K8MR
Operator(s): K8MR
Station: K8MR
Class: Single Op LP
Class Overlay: Limited-Ant
QTH: WCF
Operating Time (hrs): 7
Summary:
Band QSOs
————
160:
80: 10
40: 58
20: 129
15: 146
10: 79
————
Total: 422 Sections = 74 Total Score = 62,456
Club: Florida Contest Group
Comments:
In Florida for the winter, using the condo superstation antenna of an 80M OCF up
50 feet or so. Kids in town so limited time, but not much to be gained by extra
operating time. Missed WV, MS, EWA, and LAX(!) Were they all watching and then
celebrating the World Series?
Call: N3GJ
Class: Single Op LP Unassisted
QTH: WPA
Operating Time (hrs): 13
Summary:
Band QSOs
160: 0
80: 131
40: 82
20: 87
15: 41
10: 34
Total: 375 Sections: 82 Total Score: 61,500
A totally relaxed effort for this one. I didn’t do too much CQing, spent most of the time tuning the bands looking for new mults and making Q’s along the way. Put in about 7 hours on Saturday but was limited on time Sunday, only getting on for a few hours later in the morning and then a few hours in the evening.
I needed NB and NL – like everyone else that missed the sweep by a few mults, and I also missed ONN. I ran across the VE9DX pile up on both 20 and 15 but couldn’t get his attention. Never heard a VO1/2, and I called every VE3 that I heard but wasn’t able to find the ONN station.. and no luck getting one to call in on my CQ’s.
Always lots of fun working a bunch of familiar calls and giving out WPA. I worked a lot of NCCers.
Yaesu FT-710 100w
TH3 at 55ft (ex N8AA antenna I purchased from John years ago when he was downsizing)
Butternut HF9V
Inv vee’s for 40 & 80
Call: W3USA
Operator(s): K8MR
Station: W3USA
Class: Single Op LP
Class Overlay: Limited-Ant
QTH: WCF
Operating Time (hrs): 2
Summary:
Band QSOs
————
160:
80: 2
40: 124
20: 34
15:
10:
————
Total: 160 Sections = 61 Total Score = 19,520
Club: Florida Contest Group
Comments:
Two hours at the end. I ignored the stupid ARRL rule about one callsign etc. I
hope nobody minded the extra QSO with me using a second call. I estimate 90% of
my QSOs were with people I had worked earlier as K8MR.
