ARRL 10 Soapbox built 1-29-2007 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: 4U1ITU Class: SO Mixed HP Total Score = 3,744 Propagation was much better a few days ago on 10M. Anyway, just for the fun S&P and to give the multiplier. I had the feeling sometimes to be in the football PY/LU contest and not an the ARRL 10 !! HI ... Went back to the club on sunday but nothing at all on 10, so I moved to 2 hours pile up on 14 SSB instead. Propagation died at 5:20 UTC ... 88/73 PM HB9DTM/F6FNL ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: 8P2K Class: SO SSB HP Total Score = 169,904 Conditions were Good... Bad... and Terrible... all at once. Congrats to W0SD who has an incredible score considering the conditions. Equipment for this 'test included a FT1000mpMK5 with an ACOM 1000 amp. to a F12 C3E and a F12 C3SS. With this setup I worked just one EU and a couple EA8's and a couple others from Africa. I did hear 9H6A's contact with one of the big SA stations but wasn't able to get through what was probably a wall of SA, AF and EU stations. He was probably like 5 by 3. Had a pipeline into the SE USA - the 4th call area with signals threatening to blow out my frontend. Never heard much out of the 7th call area except for WA. Not sure if the stations weren't on or there was just no propagation to that part of the USA. SA also had tremendous signals into 8P most noticeably CV5D, PS2T, PJ2T and ZX5J - they were really really loud even through the back of my beams!!! Interestingly, I never heard P40K even though I was almost always looking for mults on the second RX. All together, this was about 12 hours of "real" operation, since the band opened from about 1200hrs and closed by about 1800hrs each day, except for SA which seemed to be open until about 0200Hrs. Thanks to all the stations who came up and gave me the points and mults. 73, Dean - 8P2K / 8P6SH ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: 9A5MT Class: SO SSB LP Total Score = 2,226 RX/TX YAESU FT 920 ANTENA 7el. QUAD ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: 9H6A Class: SO Mixed HP Total Score = 178,740 Conditions here were poor. One had to stick it out. Small opening in the morningd to Zl/Vk Vu Vr. Guess those were the highlights. Hardly any K and Ja? Not even a wiff. Hope next year wibe better Tnx to all who called John 9h1xt ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AA4FU Class: SO Mixed LP Total Score = 43,112 Took a guess at 16 hours. The logging software said 12.5, but I know I had several 30 minute periods without any QSOs. Highlight of the contest was working 3XM6JR on SSB on Saturday. I only worked one other station, EF8A, on the other side of the Atlantic. I was also surprised by how few South American stations I worked. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AA4LR Class: SO Mixed LP Total Score = 100 Just had a few minutes on Saturday night to work what I could hear. Hardly worth the effort, as the band had already closed. Too busy the rest of the weekend to be serious about operating. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AA4V Class: SO Mixed HP Total Score = 159,840 As usual, the band ebbed and flowed, but it was fun....nice to hear 5H3EE, D44BS and others. Not one European or Asian station in the log. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AA5VU Class: SO Mixed LP Total Score = 5,832 Used Kenwood TS-570S(G) and System 33 beam and the jLog logging software. I gave up early as the 10 meter band was not that good. The log of my part time effort has been submitted and accepted by ARRL Contest robot [tracking number is 15073.10meter] as well as to the LoTW robot. I did manage to work one new (to me) SSB country with 3XM6JR. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AA9DY Class: SO Mixed LP Total Score = 1,496 Did it to try and find more states for 10m WAS. Only gained 8 states, which is something. Several station I could hear, but could not hear me with my vertical and 100W. The 160m contest, by far, was the "funner" of the two. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AB1DR Class: SO CW LP Total Score = 15,996 ARRL10M Score Summary Sheet Start Date : 2006-12-08 CallSign Used : AB1DR Operator(s) : AB1DR Band : ALL Power : LOW Mode : MIXED Default Exchange : NH Gridsquare : FN42LU Name : Ann Byers Address : 8 Bartlett Street City/State/Zip : Newton NH 03858 Country : USA ARRL Section : NH Club/Team : Yankee Clipper Contest Club Software: N1MM Logger V6.10.3 Band Mode QSOs Pts Cty 28 CW 129 516 31 Total Both 129 516 31 Score : 15,996 Rig : Antennas : Soapbox : I have observed all competition rules as well as all regulations established for amateur radio in my country. My report is correct and true to the best of my knowledge. I agree to be bound by the decisions of the Contest Committee. Date : 2006-12-10 Signature : ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AC5AA Class: SO CW LP Total Score = 4,576 Wow, propagation was all over the place. And, boy, has my neighborhood gotten noisy on 10m. Unfortunately, I only had an hour or so spread across both days. Several times I got on and the only signal on the band was K5NA calling CQ (and reading a book). Go get 'em Richard! Can't wait for prop to return! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AD4EB Class: SO CW HP Total Score = 84,000 Conditions were no where near as good as last year. Very slow going, except for a 100/hr run from 19:30 to 20:30z on Sunday. Worked 45 states/prov and 15 countries total. Countries were: CX FM HK HP KH6 KH8 KL KP4 LU PJ2 PY TI YV ZL ZS. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AD5A Class: SO CW LP Total Score = 76,104 I haven't operated a contest in a few years. I only intended to get on Saturday for a few Q's. However it was a dreary weekend in South Texas so I played a little longer than I intended. I didn't start until 1715z on Saturday, so I missed some of the earlier openings. Interesting conditions. A lot of skew path propagation and seemingly one way skip. My antenna is a Tennadyne T-8 at 60 feet and the rig is a FT-2000. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AD5VJ Class: SO Mixed LP Total Score = 13,728 This year the contest was exceptionally interesting as propagation was very interesting with all of the Solar Flares, ect. Went all the way from silent band to New Zealand, which was the highlight of the contest for me here. GAP Titan Vertical did a good job as usual with the IC-775 as the rig. Thanks to everyone for the contacts, and thanks to N1MM contest program for making easy. 73 fer nw es gud DX, QSL VIA: BUR, LotW, e-QSL Bob AD5VJ(AAR6VM) Old calls: WY5L/KH3-KE5CTY-N5IET http://www.ad5vj.com/ Member: CTDXCC, NTCC, STXDXCC FISTS: # 12637, SKCC# 2369 10X# 37210, FP#-1141 SMIRK#-5177, RARS #-149 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AD6WL Class: SO Mixed HP Total Score = 76,196 Great conditions on Friday night and Sunday morning. Funny, how a dead band can just come to life when there's a contest. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AD6ZJ Class: SO CW LP Total Score = 20,304 I am still a freshman contester and as such am constantly surprised what you can do with 100W and a simple antenna. I went out to the shack Friday night to get ready for contesting a few short hours on Saturday in between family duties. While checking the logging software and the antenna I started copying the contest. I was not expecting to copy ANY 10M stations after dark in the low cycle, but since they were there I decided to work them, and besides that I had time to work them. Most of my contacts were between 0330Z and 0700Z on the first night of the contest in total darkness! It was a real hoot to work 10M into MN at 516Z. No great scores here but it's a start. 73 DE AD6ZJ, Loren ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AE6RR Class: SO SSB HP Total Score = 8,190 30 States and Provinces, only 5 DX I suppose this is not bad for the bottom of the sun spot cycle and a wire antenna. Didn't hear any JAs, KH6, ZL or VK... The antenna is a G5RV Jr. in a steath installation. Had fun! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AE8M Class: SO CW QRP Total Score = 6,760 K2, dipole at 50 feet ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AG0A Class: SO Mixed LP Total Score = 4,836 Missed Friday night due to meeting, Saturday was the pits and Sunday, when the band opened up I had a grand daughters birthday to go to. Fun while lasted ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AH6RR Class: SO SSB LP Total Score = 8,184 This was a tough one as we had no propagation to the US mainland ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AI2N Class: SO Mixed LP Total Score = 7,200 LZ0A was BLASTING in on CW on Saturday morning. I had limited time to play, but had some fun. C'mon sunspots! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AI4MT Class: SO Mixed LP Total Score = 31,248 Not perfect conditions for using 100w and an Inverted V at 35ft but it works, highlight was working A35RK. Managed to get a couple of runs on CW but apart from that and the band kept swinging from N/S to West Coast... Thanks for all the QSO's that managed to pull out my small signal. Heard all the ZL's but couldn't get back to them. Some amazing signals W0SD was continually 59+20 along with ZX5J and W0AIH and K0HA Rig: FT-1000MP MkV Ant: Inverted V @ 35ft. Merry Christmas to all and see you next year... Paul AI4MT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AI4MT Class: M/S LP Total Score = 33,232 Not perfect conditions for using 100w and an Inverted V at 35ft but it works, highlight was working A35RK. Managed to get a couple of runs on CW but apart from that and the band kept swinging from N/S to West Coast... Thanks for all the QSO's that managed to pull out my small signal. Heard all the ZL's but couldn't get back to them. Some amazing signals W0SD was continually 59+20 along with ZX5J and W0AIH and K0HA Rig: FT-1000MP MkV Ant: Inverted V @ 35ft. Merry Christmas to all and see you next year... Paul AI4MT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AJ1M Class: M/S LP Total Score = 7,416 No way to turn beam so was pretty much locked to southeast and its only up at 20ft so not very effective. Had fun! Thanks to all for the contacts! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AJ3G Class: SO Mixed HP Total Score = 101,620 Not as good as the 300K plus score I had last year. Only had time to operate 16 hrs, but think I made a decent showing. For the life of me I could not work any EU stations. I only heard two, they where there and then gone again before I could hit the send key. I will look forward to better condx next year. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AJ9C Class: SO Mixed LP Total Score = 32,640 Low power trying to work backscatter guys is a chore. Best DX ZL6QH and ZS1EL. Loudest here were PJ2T and P40K. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: CE4CT Class: SO SSB HP Total Score = 95,940 Hi to all, only works 6 hours mainly of Saturday in the afternoon by familiar commitments, Merry Christmas and happy New Year 2007 but with best propagation... Roberto CE4CT. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: CF2PIJ Class: SO SSB LP Total Score = 128 Special Prefix for december-january qsl to VE2PIJ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: CX5BW Class: M/S HP Total Score = 1,611,630 These year, in the low part of the propagation cicle really surprise us the high activity on the band. Unless the Europeans appears in sporadic form they give us most of the multipliers from that zone. Short time appertures permit us work with solid signals USA stations, so strong that many times we must turn of the rf-preamp and put 10 db attenuation in the receiver to try to avoid the saturation. We run with 2 antennas mainly with a KLM KT34A and in some cases when propagation goes low, we use the 7 elements monoband yagi.The use of the monster permit us work the europeans until late in the afternoon. Lot of USA stations come over Europe, throught the north pole with consistent signals. The propagation to the south pacific was absolutely random, we listen for a few second some bursts from ZL6QH but we do not try to call him, waiting for beter condx that never arrive! With Japan condx were better, lot of strong signals from JA, easy to contact. Africa appears strong in sporadic form, as the Europeans. At the beginig of the contest i exchange report with my friend , ZX5J, and after the exchange, Sergio ask me -What category are we participating? I respond him, Multi-Single, and Sergio explode of happiness, and say well, thanks god!, I am in the Single Operator, and now I respond with the same happiness, vy fine, thanks god also!!!! This action tranquilize us a bit because we know the expertise participation of his station on the contests. Sergio congratulations !!! your vy big score on SSB!!!. These year some of our friends, that habitually came at home to operate with us can not arrive.Some friends from Brazil and a couple of friends from Argentina , mainly from Rosario and Cordoba were missed. We hope next years can meet him again and participate in a multi-national group on some contest.My best regards to Gerardo, Daniel, Roberto, Javier, Waldir, Miguel, Rene, and many friend more that habitually came at home to contesting. Many thanks at all for this nice ARRL 10 meter contest, wish you Merry Xmas, and Vy Happy New Year, from all the team, 73, PEDRO. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: DH8BQA Class: SO Mixed LP Total Score = 1,296 Just a few QSOs from my car from a parking lot in Northern Cologne right at the river Rhine running just 60 watts out from an IC-7000 into a Diamond BIC-10H mobile 1/4 wl whip. Hope for a more serious entry next year again. 73, Olli ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: DL1IAO Class: SO CW HP Total Score = 68,096 Signals were in and out with an interesting sporadic opening Sat evening. CU next year! 73, Stefan DL1IAO@contesting.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: DR5X Class: SO CW HP Total Score = 6,624 Only just for fun RIG: IC 756 PRO II ACOM 2000A Optibeam OB 12-6 @ 20m www.dl8las.de ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: EA7HBP Class: SO SSB LP Total Score = 5,356 Hi, ¿Where was the propagation this year? On sunday i only made 9 contacts. Veeeery poor conditions at my location. TX/RX: ICOM IC-756PROII ANTENNA: OPTIBEAM OB11-3. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: F5IN Class: SO CW HP Total Score = 36,180 Powered by Win-Test 3.7.0 http://www.win-test.com http://perso.wanadoo.fr/f5in ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: F6IRF Class: SO CW HP Total Score = 14,800 IC756pro2 + HB PA(2x4cx250) 2elts steppIR @15m N1MM-logger Just to see what could give 10m at the bottom of the solar cycle... In fact, without W's (only FL wkd in-extremis), it just looked like a boring 6m contest, with a large majority of SE and central EU stations, and almost nothing from UK, Spanish peninsula, Russia and other continents (3xSA, 2xAS, 2xAF, 1NA, 0OC). Heard a few NA stations (calling CX5BW) with the beam to SA, but my poor take-off in this direction did not allow me to use this exotic path. Anyway, interesting to see that even at the bottom of the cycle, there are still a few QSO opportunities on ten... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: G0RTN Class: SO Mixed LP Total Score = 8,100 IC7400 barefoot (100W) and an R7 vertical. The band was weakly open to North Eastern and South Eastern Europe for most of Saturday, a weak, but consistent, Es opening stretching all the way from Eastern Italy to UA6 after sunset on Saturday, and only groundwave stations worked on Sunday. Only one LU in the log. Most bizarrely, no EAs, CTs or EA8s, indeed with the exception of the solitary LU, no-one west of IK4-land. Yes, it's solar minimum. Too many gotaways with 100 Watts and a vertical - CX5BW and ZS4JAN (CW) and NP3CW (SSB) all CQed in the face of my puny signal. 4K and ZA were the most interesting stations worked from here. Didn't hear too many big numbers being sent from G, although there seemed to be some decent scores, given the conditions, from the Balkans. I wish that sunspot polarity would hurry up and flip. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: G4FKA Class: SO Mixed LP Total Score = 2,016 Having two antennas configured as full wave verticals was never going to be an ideal solution but Saturday came and I remembered there was a contest so turned on the rig to see what was about. Saturday got off to quite a reasonable start. On from around 0830 up to 10 QSOs quite quickly and each QSO a different DXCC. An indication of good conditions to come I thought. Hah! thought the ionosphere we'll soon put a stop to that. Like everyone else I heard UA3, 3XM6, PYs and LUs. Could I work them? Not likely so after 30 Qs I gave up and went off to write some Christmas cards. Came back up around 2000 but band had gone to bed. Up on Sunday; heard a C4 at 0900 Oh good maybe better to come. In fact it was dire. I only heard around half a dozen stations all day and I'd worked all except one yesterday. Grand total of 1 QSO for the day! Lost interest very early and went off to write more Christmas cards and put the decorations up. Oh how I wish I'd had something to beam at them all. It wasn't a weekend for wet string! Thanks for the QSOs. Geoff G4FKA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: G7RTI Class: SO SSB LP Total Score = 32 Geenerally run in most contests with wire (20m) and FT840. Very difficult starting position! Worst on 10m for a long time. Anyway - sort of good fun to search, not much found! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: HI3C Class: SO SSB LP Total Score = 132,800 greetings to all I hope to have better propagation next time, see you next year 73s ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: HP1WW Class: SO CW HP Total Score = 232,128 TNX FER QSOS! CU. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: I2WIJ Class: SO Mixed LP Total Score = 16,632 Very poor conditions. Highlihts: both the VP8/h South Shetlands stations LZ0A and DT8A in a row. Great surprise. 73 Bob, I2WIJ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0BJ Class: SO Mixed LP Total Score = 110,160 Wonderful start with Es to NW and SE. I needed only a confirmation from ID on 10 for my 5BWAS, so when I got scads of WA MT OR UT VE6 the first hour with no ID, I was getting paranoid..... but by 2 hrs. in I had 3 ID in the log! This is the culmination of a 30 year goal and my biggest high of this contest. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0EU Class: SO Mixed HP Total Score = 72,226 Got on for very limited time, but probably caught the best opening Friday night for a few hours. Neat to have 4-5 stations calling at once on SSB, eventhough it didn't last long. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0FX Class: SO CW HP Total Score = 52,580 Happy Holidays... 73 Don K0FX ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0GAS Class: M/S HP Total Score = 157,092 Always enjoy this contest working together. Especially enjoyed the good openings in late mornings. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0HW Class: SO CW QRP Total Score = 14,976 This year I thought I would try and set the record for the 10 Meter ARRL contest for QRP - CW in South Dakota since there had never been an entry before from South Dakota. The 10 Meter contest is always amazing in that at times there are signals all over the band and at other times there is nothing but noise and maybe imaginary signals that pop once in a while with scatter. I was unable to find any local stations that could copy the QRP signal and the ZL station I heard could not hear me. It is neat that Dave K1ZZ found me late in the contest which made my last contact. It seemed that I must have been one of the only South Dakota stations on CW as almost every station thanked me for the multiplier. I will look for you all in the RAC Winter Contest the weekend between Christmas and New Years Day. 73 Jim K0HW ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0HW/M Class: SO SSB LP Total Score = 2 Made 1 contact at the end of the contest from the mobile. ICOM 706 MKIIG, Husler with 10M Coil ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0RH Class: SO SSB HP Total Score = 94,464 SOUTH HEARTLAND CONTEST SOCIETY ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0UK Class: SO CW HP Total Score = 47,824 Started out with a bang but only a couple hours the first night..Then when I could..Thanks to all GMCC'ers I worked K0FX, K0EU etc..fun in the barrel....PTL bill K0UK ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K1BV Class: SO Mixed HP Total Score = 14,688 At the bottom of the sunspot cycle: conditions "met their expectations"! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K1GU Class: SO CW HP Total Score = 124,560 Good fun for a "dead" band. Should get closer to WAS on LOTW ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K1SE Class: SO CW LP Total Score = 20,116 Only 24 DX stations worked; best catch was ZL6QH. Thanks for all the contacts. Until next year. Seasons greetings//73//Bill ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K1TEO Class: SO Mixed HP Total Score = 82,236 Antenna problem forced me to QRT early Saturday afternoon. Was pleasantly surprised by decent band condx while I was on with some E-skip and F2. Even had one nice run on SSB with 50 Q's in 10 minutes. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K1TO Class: SO CW HP Total Score = 337,792 Many west of here commented on the FB rate, something we never had here in FL (see breakdown below - only 2 hours over 60). For the first time since I've been in FL, there is a distinct possibility of no FCG member winning an individual category, although we certainly tried. 10M propagation is fascinating. Unprecedented (for me) LP signals from ZL at 15Z or so and VQ9X called in just before that. The smattering of Europeans is also not to be expected in a sunspot low (although there actually *were* a few sunspots). Even with the K-index at 4 on Sunday, a few more EU stations were worked. Sporadic-E allowed frequent "spotlight" propagation to limited areas. By Sunday AM, I still needed the adjacent cluster of AR/MO/OK/KS/NE. In rapid succession, AR, KS, MO and OK called in (never did hear NE, though). Only mult heard and not worked was ZF, often a tough one from so close. The good news out of CQing repeatedly is that it allows for lots of reading and e-mail time! Happy Holidays to all and 73 for 2007! Dan HOUR Q/M HR TOT CUM TOT 0 50/8 50/8 50/8 1 46/11 46/11 96/19 2 88/9 88/9 184/28 3 30/2 30/2 214/30 4 15/0 15/0 229/30 5 3/2 3/2 232/32 zzz ..... ..... 232/32 11 1/0 1/0 233/32 12 9/3 9/3 242/35 13 19/6 19/6 261/41 14 50/6 50/6 311/47 15 39/12 39/12 350/59 16 59/5 59/5 409/64 17 45/8 45/8 454/72 18 88/3 88/3 542/75 19 54/0 54/0 596/75 20 19/4 19/4 615/79 21 11/1 11/1 626/80 22 3/0 3/0 629/80 23 7/1 7/1 636/81 0 28/0 28/0 664/81 1 35/1 35/1 699/82 2 21/0 21/0 720/82 3 9/0 9/0 729/82 4 1/0 1/0 730/82 zzz ..... ..... 730/82 12 . . 730/82 13 9/0 9/0 739/82 14 13/2 13/2 752/84 15 9/0 9/0 761/84 16 22/5 22/5 783/89 17 16/1 16/1 799/90 18 49/0 49/0 848/90 19 56/1 56/1 904/91 20 4/0 4/0 908/91 21 3/0 3/0 911/91 22 2/0 2/0 913/91 23 15/0 15/0 928/91 DAY1 636/81 ..... 636/81 DAY2 292/10 . 292/10 TOT 928/91 . 928/91 North America CW 839 90.4 South America CW 58 6.2 Europe CW 7 0.8 Asia CW 0 0.0 Africa CW 12 1.3 Oceania CW 12 1.3 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K2PS Class: SO Mixed LP Total Score = 321,332 Always enjoy this contest. Highlights include VP8NO and A35RK calling in, and an incredible run between 2045 and 2130Z into the midwest. Had the rate meter up over 250 on SSB, over 150 on CW. Felt like DX - all these people couldn't have needed New Jersey, could they? Lowlights: no EU and fewer QSOs this year than last. Pete, K2PS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K2TA Class: SO Mixed QRP Total Score = 8,190 QRP on 10M is much more fun than QRP on 80M! Thanks for all the Q's. Nice conditions to West coast and Carribean/S.A. on both days. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K3STX Class: SO CW LP Total Score = 13,184 Very limited operation, still dealing with the terrible twos with out third child. Never made it for any European opening here. Only DX was HK, HP, LU, PJ2, PY, YN, and ZL. It was fun, while it lasted! paul ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K3SWZ Class: SO CW QRP Total Score = 12,800 Talk about swimming upstream!! Terrible line noise, terrible condx. and 5 watts! Hardest I ever worked for 100 Q's.... Great ZL signals 22 Domestic Mults 10 DX Mults ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K3TD Class: SO SSB LP Total Score = 7,910 IC-756ProII Inverted L antenna, 35'H x 75'L N1MM Logger Nice to be back on 10 meters, and to see some E-skip too! Next time I'll have to get the voice keyer going before the contest starts! 73, Tad, K3TD ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K3WW Class: M/S HP Total Score = 91,348 Mostly played like a VHF test, daytime obligations, but caught some of the Sunday afternoon opening after taking advantage of good weather to swap out a Ham IV.on the mult tower. Used packet, caught the VU7 on 20 LP, easy. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4BAI Class: SO Mixed HP Total Score = 172,260 FT1000MP, Alpha 78, 1 KW output, TH6DXX. Thanks for all the QSOs. No European QSOs this year. Conditions better on Sunday than on Saturday. Good signals from ZL land and from a few Africans and from most of the Caribbean. However, signals from the southern part of South America seemed generally down from what we usually experience. USA signals were up and down, of course. Other obligations limited on-the-air time as well as times when the band seemed completely dead. See you all next year. 73, John, K4BAI. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4EA Class: SO CW HP Total Score = 172,272 I missed the first 2 hours due to a XMAS party! (good excuse). I stared out to do both modes, but my line noise was so bad on Saturday I just did CW. Apologies to all that called me that I could not hear (I'm sure there were many). Saturday was better for me. The biggest surprise was being called by 5H3EE. I also worked some strong EA's for my only Europe. An IT9 called but I could not copy through the power line crud. The K index kept dropping during the day so I expected better conditions on Sunday, but in the morning the K index had shot back up to 4. Missed ND, DC, DE AK, AR, VE4 and some of the VE1's. DC, DE and AR are all in that zone that is usually too close for E, so only the better stations can be worked on scatter or tropo. Neal, K4EA ) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4EJ Class: M/S LP Total Score = 9,144 WOW ... does it get ANY WORSE than this? Sure glad had a REALLY FUN XMAS party Fri nite and tickets to the Bucs v Falcons on Sunday afternoon ... So it was more than radio fun this weekend. The 10m is ALWAYS alot of fun, but this was the most extreme "lack of signals" I can ever remember in the ARRL 10m. HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM THE SUNSHINE STATE FRANK ( K4EJ ) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4EU Class: SO Mixed HP Total Score = 307,928 Not bad for a "dead" band.... Interesting pockets of propagation during the day and lots of N/S backscatter and groundwave. No EU heard here but it was neat to QSO a few ZS and ZL stations. KH6 popped in a couple times but no props to KL7/VE8. Big signals from Caribbean and Central/South America. Missed ME, SC, WY in the lower 48. It was a fun time on a "dead" band..... Thanks for all the Q's. Merry Christmas!!! 73.....//Steve K4EU FT-1000MP/Field QRO amp 8 ele LP up 55' Most QSOs/states: CA-99 VA-85 MN-60 AZ-45 MD-44 WA-42 TX-34 WI-23 FL-21 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4HR Class: M/S HP Total Score = 282,064 Terrible band conditions! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4OD Class: SO Mixed LP Total Score = 5,400 A senior moment or two (or 3) caused me to totally miss the first 12 or so hours of the contest. Then my body totally refused to cooperate and sent me off to dream about 150 foot towers with monster monobanders atop each one. But, then, maybe that was just another senior moment. HeeHee. Had a blast though! Gordon - K4OD ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4OJ Class: SO CW LP Total Score = 158,688 Wow! This one was really rough from Florida this year! Would have been nice to hear more stations when the band was open. Thanks to all that called in. C U Next year. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4RO Class: SO Mixed HP Total Score = 45,368 Great E-skip openings to all over the country. Very intense QSB -- 40+ dB of change at times in a matter of seconds. It felt like a VHF contest. Lots of NA. I never did work a single European. The power company came out and worked on a few poles last week. I can finally hear again now. I hope they stay quiet for a few months. 73 -Kirk K4RO ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4TX Class: SO CW LP Total Score = 47,700 FT-1000MP, Hexbeam @ 30' ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4WW Class: SO CW LP Total Score = 17,600 If it "is always darkest before dawn", and "dawn" being the next solar cycle...there is something to look forward to? Not sure I can remember any worse propagation! Very frustrating to hear stations, especially West Coast stations, working stations North, South and East of me, without hearing me? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4ZA Class: SO CW HP Total Score = 321,048 On the road doing tower/antenna work & decided to operate 10M Test, prior to installing repairs here at Frank's this week. Having won this Test in previous years from NC, at a much smaller station, I was sure this would be fun. But the mind-numbing slowness...the weak & watery signals...the lack of stations...wow...tough sledding, indeed. Highlights? Absolutely, nonetheless! ZS1EL a true 40 over on Sunday, the always-loud ZL signals, the sudden burst (130 hour) of CA stations on Saturday, emails during the test (relayed by Frank: My God you're loud or I'm calling you but you don't hear me!), WAS minus KL7, the PVRC/CDXA gang & other old friends (K8IA, W8AV et al) who searched me out, et cetera. Contesting remains a source for fun, inspiration, & amazingly enough, employment...CU next year~! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K5KG Class: M/S LP Total Score = 230,622 There is not much that I can say about this contest that hasn't already been said on CQ-Contest! What a strange set of conditions. Some great runs interspersed with hours of boredom. At times, the band dropped out completely, so it made it difficult to stay focused and interested. Greatest thrill was being called by the VP8. Frustrations were the dead band iterrupted with occasional loan but loud distant stations, and getting a call, only to lose it in the noise before getting his section. Was tempted to open QRZ.com to see where stations were, but that would have been cheating! It was interesting how localize the band was at times. The 10m "cloud" seemed to be drifing all over creating pipelines at various times into AZ, CA, VA, TX, and WA. Zero, with a few exceptions, were notoriously absent. FL stations were difficult to work unless beaming due south into the sun. Got a real feeling that southwest FL was NOT the place to be in this one, unlike prior years. Seemed like being a bit further north or west would have been favorable. Equipment: Ic-756Pro2, Acom 2k, C31@60', 6el mono@30' (stuck south), and SteppIR Big Vert. All antennas on a Stack Match for switching around. Most CQ'ing was done on the three antennas simultaneously. Was SO, but entered as M/S to use the cluster. 73, Geo... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K5LH Class: SO CW LP Total Score = 37,800 Could only operate Friday night and Sunday. Had fun with 90W and wire dipole. See you next year. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K5NA Class: SO CW HP Total Score = 351,828 This contest started off with some great openings on Friday evening. I had a 130 first hour and a 90 second hour. The QSOs were rolling in. By midnight I had about 400 QSOs which was 300 ahead of what I had done the year before. After midnight I thought I should stop for the night because I was getting very tired and because I planned to get up an hour before sunrise. But the band was still open though I was only doing about 20 per hour at that time. I went on to bed not realizing that on Saturday there would be times that I would have wanted a 20 per hour rate back again. The next morning started a little slow but it peaked up to an 80 hour during 1400 to 1500Z. After that it was all downhill. The rates were very slow on Saturday with what appeared to be sparotic E skip coming and going and moving the focus around all day long. There was lots of quick QSB where missing an exchange during the first try might mean you never could hear that station again. The low point of Saturday was around 2300Z when I went an hour and 22 minutes without a QSO. It wasn't as though I wasn't trying, because I was. But the band came back a little and I worked about 15 per hour until 0400Z when I called it a night. At the end of operating on Saturday, I was now 150 QSOs BEHIND last year. Sunday was more of the same with my averaging about 20 QSOs an hour for most of the daylight hours. By the end of the contest I was 300 QSOs behind last year. To say conditions were disturbed is an understatement. But the contest was fun anyway and I managed to read all of Larry McMurtry's newest novel "Telegraph Days" on Saturday. 73, Richard - K5NA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K5NZ Class: SO Mixed HP Total Score = 284,868 Best part of this contest for me was going over to visit the NX5M multi on Sat afternoon! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K5TR Class: SO SSB HP Total Score = 204,798 Station K5TR: http://www.kkn.net/~k5tr/blanco/k5tr_station.html Kenwood TS-850SAT Kenwood TS-850SAT Ameritron AL-1500 Ameritron AL-1500 24' boom, 6-element Yagi @ 60' rotatable 24' boom, 6-element Yagi @ 30' fixed NE 4-element Yagi @ 40' fixed SE 3-element Yagi @ 20' fixed W Half wave vertical, base @ 20' Ameritron RCS-8V antenna switches Heil Proset HC-4 W9XT contest card TR Log 6.78 This year's ARRL 10 Meter Contest reminded me a lot of a VHF contest. I think as many as three-fourths of my QSOs with W/VE stations were on Eskip. When that is the case, just like in a VHF contest, you never know where the Eskip is going to be favorable. Last year, Texas was probably the best place to be; this year it looks like the north central United States had the best propagation. Congratulations to W0SD for his huge score! I have never had as good a start to the ARRL 10 Meter Contest as I had this year. The Eskip was great right from the start. By 0016 UTC, I had TR Log's rate meter at 276 QSOs/hour! The 181 QSO first first hour was the best first hour I've ever had in this contest. By the time the band really closed on Friday night, I had over 550 QSOs in the log, by far the most I've ever had after the first night of the contest. I worked some DX on Friday night - just a few QSOs with South America and the Caribbean, but some good conditions to Australia, New Zealand, and the South Pacific. The band was open until just after 0600 UTC. Saturday and Sunday, unfortunately, were quite different. There was Eskip both days, but nothing like what I got on Friday night. Both mornings, my first QSO came much later in the day than it had in recent years. Instead of hearing the PY/LU crowd first, the earliest signals I copied this year on both mornings were from HK. I worked a few Africans on both days, but never heard a European signal. The closest I got to East Asia was hearing a YC call me, but I was unable to pull out the call sign from the noise. On Saturday night and Sunday, in particular, the Eskip would get very focused, and I would work seven or eight QSOs in a row to stations in the same multiplier. This could get frustrating, as I worked station after station in Maryland, but never heard Delaware, then I worked dozens of stations in Minnesota and never heard Manitoba. One of the phone contesting skills I would like to think that I have learned well by now is the ability to decode almost any kind of accent, including the non-native-English varieties. On Sunday morning, though, I came across ZX5J on the second radio, and I swear he sounded like he was saying "Sugar Five Three Japan". I listened for a while and eventually it got to the point where it sounded like "Zulu Xray Five Japan" again every time. It was weird. The K5TR station worked really well this weekend. There was more line noise than usual, and a different kind of noise that might have been solar noise, or something, but it seemed to move around slowly and take out 10-15 kHz of the band wherever it was. George put the second radio on a 10 meter vertical dipole, raised about 20 feet off the ground. I couldn't really hear well on that antenna when the run radio was transmitting, but it was extremely useful to have. It worked really, really well, and the omni-directionality helped me find a few nice stations and openings earlier than I otherwise would have found them. I made lots of second radio QSOs, and only a few times had to switch to the Yagis to complete a QSO or bust a pileup with the higher gain antennas. It was frustrating on Saturday to work P40K and receive a serial number 500 lower than my QSO total at the time, only to hear her slowly catch up to and then surpass my number over the next several hours. I think northern South America must have had really good propagation into W/VE this year. I missed Delaware and Alaska in the United States, and several Canadian provinces and territories, including Manitoba and Saskatchewan. The only two DX multipliers heard but not worked were a YC who called me, but whose call I could not entirely get out of the noise, and FM5AN, who must have had a packet pileup by the time I found him - I went back four or five times to try to get him, he always had multiple stations calling, and I never heard him call a station west of the Mississippi. One highlight of the contest included working ZL6QH in the 1800 UTC hour, which seems very early to me - they gave me a very respectable QSO number, right in line with PJ2T and ZX5J at the time. Also on Saturday, a VA7 station called in and told me he was working me on a 10 meter HT! I only had one jammer this contest, who told me to "shut the ---- up", but he wasn't very loud or persistent. Thanks again to George for hosting me at his station this weekend. HR 10 HR TOT CUM TOTAL SCORE -- ------ ------ --------- ----- 0 181/25 181/25 181/25 0.01M 1 120/15 120/15 301/40 0.02M 2 107/3 107/3 408/43 0.04M 3 77/1 77/1 485/44 0.04M 4 43/1 43/1 528/45 0.05M 5 26/0 26/0 554/45 0.05M 6 3/0 3/0 557/45 0.05M 7 --- --- 557/45 0.05M 8 --- --- 557/45 0.05M 9 --- --- 557/45 0.05M 10 --- --- 557/45 0.05M 11 --- --- 557/45 0.05M 12 1/1 1/1 558/46 0.05M 13 11/3 11/3 569/49 0.06M 14 52/14 52/14 621/63 0.08M 15 27/7 27/7 648/70 0.09M 16 13/2 13/2 661/72 0.10M 17 29/6 29/6 690/78 0.11M 18 44/1 44/1 734/79 0.12M 19 58/0 58/0 792/79 0.13M 20 36/0 36/0 828/79 0.13M 21 12/1 12/1 840/80 0.13M 22 22/0 22/0 862/80 0.14M 23 7/1 7/1 869/81 0.14M 0 13/0 13/0 882/81 0.14M 1 13/0 13/0 895/81 0.14M 2 22/0 22/0 917/81 0.15M 3 6/0 6/0 923/81 0.15M 4 2/0 2/0 925/81 0.15M 5 --- --- 925/81 0.15M 6 --- --- 925/81 0.15M 7 --- --- 925/81 0.15M 8 --- --- 925/81 0.15M 9 --- --- 925/81 0.15M 10 --- --- 925/81 0.15M 11 --- --- 925/81 0.15M 12 --- --- 925/81 0.15M 13 1/0 1/0 926/81 0.15M 14 4/0 4/0 930/81 0.15M 15 16/2 16/2 946/83 0.16M 16 46/2 46/2 992/85 0.17M 17 18/0 18/0 1010/85 0.17M 18 45/0 45/0 1055/85 0.18M 19 36/1 36/1 1091/86 0.19M 20 23/0 23/0 1114/86 0.19M 21 9/1 9/1 1123/87 0.20M 22 27/0 27/0 1150/87 0.20M 23 27/0 27/0 1177/87 0.20M D1 869/81 869/81 D2 308/6 308/6 TO 1177/87 1177/87 Continental Distribution ------------------------ USA calls = 960 VE calls = 46 N.A. calls = 40 S.A. calls = 72 Euro calls = 0 Afrc calls = 7 Asia calls = 0 JA calls = 0 Ocen calls = 52 Total calls = 1177 Multiplier Distribution ----------------------- 1. Ca 182 2. Tx 82 3. Az 57 4. Wa 57 5. Fl 51 6. Or 48 7. Mn 43 8. Co 32 9. Oh 28 10. Il 28 11. Wi 26 12. Mi 26 13. VK 26 14. PY 26 15. LU 26 16. Md 23 17. Va 22 18. Bc 20 19. Mo 19 20. ZL 17 21. Ia 15 22. Nv 15 23. Tn 13 24. Nc 13 25. Ma 13 26. In 12 27. Al 12 28. XE 12 29. Ga 12 30. Nm 12 31. Pa 11 32. Ne 10 33. Ks 10 34. Me 10 35. On 10 36. Ut 8 37. KP4 8 38. Id 7 39. Wy 6 40. Ar 6 41. Nh 6 42. Ns 6 43. Ky 5 44. Ok 5 45. Ms 5 46. Ab 5 47. Hi 5 48. HK 5 49. Ct 5 50. Sd 4 51. Mt 4 52. Wv 4 53. Nj 4 54. HP 4 55. ZS 4 56. KP2 3 57. Qc 3 58. YV 3 59. TI 3 60. CX 3 61. CE 3 62. Nd 2 63. OA 2 64. P4 2 65. HI 2 66. Ny 2 67. 8P 2 68. Vt 2 69. Dc 2 70. PJ2 1 71. E5 1 72. VK9N 1 73. VP5 1 74. Ri 1 75. Sc 1 76. 6Y 1 77. 3X 1 78. HC 1 79. Pe 1 80. D4 1 81. A3 1 82. FK 1 83. TG 1 84. V5 1 85. VP9 1 86. Nb 1 87. La 1 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6AM Class: SO Mixed LP Total Score = 483,030 First I'd like to thank H.P. Maxim or Iris Colvin or whoever it was that took pity on us from up there and revoked the laws of physics for the weekend. For a few hours at least it was just like the peak years with the band open to most of the country. Add to that the very rare major e skip opening on Friday night that lasted until nearly midnight, and it made for a surprisingly fun weekend. I didn't even start setting up until a half hour before start time thinking it was gonna be a bust, but then everything busted loose with nearly 300 Q's after dark. Thanks to all the mults for the QSY's. John, K6AM ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6GEP Class: SO Mixed LP Total Score = 18,090 Unfortunately, my operating time was limited. Missed the prime time of 10AM to Noon both days. Even at the bottom of the sunspot cycle, this contest reminded me how much I like 10 meters! 100W and a Ringo Ranger vertical was all I needed. I like the concept of "you hear em, you work em" on 10. Tried a 10 meter dipole up 45 feet in my palm tree horizontally on a 20 ft pvc pipe and it worked well. On receive it was noisier than my vertical. I've got some serious interference in my neighborhood, as N6NB can attest. I thought I was going to hang it up at 2300Z, but the final opening to AZ, TX, SD and FL kept me interested to the final bell. Happy Holidays to all. -Tim K6GEP ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6JEB Class: M/S LP Total Score = 1,440 I worked a couple hours in between driving to Capitola and back with our two new adopted cats. I worked most everything I heard. Sunspot Cycle 24 is on the way!(I hope sooner than later) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6LA Class: SO Mixed HP Total Score = 100,214 There's no meters like 10 meters. I didn't expect much and didn't turn on the radio until about 0130 Friday night. Friday night's opening was amazing. Colorado stations were pinning the S meter, everything west of the Mississippi made it into the log, along with a few 8's, 9's and 4's up until after 0500. I don't remember anything like that at the top of the cycle. I operated intermittantly the rest of the weekend and there were some high rate times from 4 land. Only two 1 land stations were heard, but after the band was seemingly dead except for some 7's, a single NY station got in the log with nothing else from that region heard. 73, Ken, K6LA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6LRN Class: M/S HP Total Score = 98,820 Entered as M/S as I was logged onto K6LLK looking for VU7 spots during 10 M 'test DX worked; A3-thanks Paul!, CX, JA, LU, PY, TI, XE, YV, ZL. Thanks to all for Qs...Merry Christmas, HNY, etc ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6NV Class: M/S HP Total Score = 13,468 Mostly S&P, no serious effort, very surprised how well this station did with a minor effort. Apparently I missed the good run everyone had on Sat, (fixing my wife's car). I had good openings to the east coast, I was unable to hear anyone from SA, did get ZL and KH6 with no problems. Sunday, again just fooled around between chores. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6QK Class: SO SSB HP Total Score = 57,798 Conditions sure were up and down. This one of my favorite contests and doing well certainly doesn't hurt. Next time 73 Harv ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6RIM Class: M/S HP Total Score = 142,880 Not a serious effort - a few hours - but fun! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6ST Class: SO Mixed HP Total Score = 12,056 Saturday had poor band conditions, Sunday was good. Had one very good run of over 80 qsos per hour. 10M CW 10M PHO Total % NA 6 106 112 88.2 SA 4 11 15 11.8 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6VVA Class: SO Mixed HP Total Score = 27,800 A little bit of fun here and there. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K7ABV Class: SO Mixed HP Total Score = 17,370 considering the condtions and the fact the band went dead after 2;30 pm and opened at 10 am guess I can be happy with this score...thanks to all for the q's ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K7BG Class: SO CW HP Total Score = 150,080 Missed the good openings at the very start cuz I was at a basketball tournament. The band was still open though when I got home and the first QSO went in the log at 0320 and I worked about 90 contacts Friday night as the E cloud drifted around. I didn't plan on operating this too seriously, but it seems like I was around most of the time the band was open except for an hour here and there. Saturday saw some rate for an hour or so: The best 60 minute rate was 114/hour from 1719 to 1818 The best 30 minute rate was 142/hour from 1726 to 1755 The best 10 minute rate was 180/hour from 1732 to 1741 then I left for the rest of the basketball tournament at about 2130 Saturday. Sounds like I didn't miss too much. Worked 44 states missing AK, KH6, VT, AR, KY, and ND. Missed VE6, VE4 and other Canadian mults. Worked 17 DX mults. This contest is fun even at this point in the cycle. It's always fun to watch the band move around and see what E openings will occur. Thanks for another one, Matt--K7BG ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K7LMM Class: SO SSB LP Total Score = 288 Worked only 3 hours due to committments and very poor band conditions. Managed to work some South Americans and ZL (new ones for me). First test with a Van Gorden all bander dipole up about 50 feet. Last contact was Dennis, AF7Y in my home state. Thnx to all who worked me. First 10M contest. See you next year. 73, Mac, K7LMM. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K7RL Class: SO SSB HP Total Score = 192,036 It looked like the weekend might be a total bust with all of the solar disturbances, but E-skip certainly made it interesting. I echo many of the comments about a roller coaster ride. At one point late Sunday morning the band appeared ready to die. Within a few minutes of calling it quits, it suddenly sprang to life and I had a huge East Coast pile-up. One hour later the log was 250 Qs heavier. 10m is full of surprises. Thanks to all for the Qs and Happy Holidays! 73 de Mitch, K7RL ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K7XC Class: SO CW LP Total Score = 54,864 IC-746, 70W, 2 Ele Tribander @ 20' & Inv Vee @ 30'. Weird Propagation All Weekend... A Mix Of Es and F2 Coupled With Lots Of Solar Activity Made For A Very Facinating Event, Often Resembling 6M Es Characteristics. I was Very Pleased With The Results Of My Minimal Effort. Happy Holidays From Northern Nevada! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K7ZS Class: SO Mixed HP Total Score = 123,768 Wasn't planning on the contest (you need to remember it was this weekend to plan, right?) Missed Friday night, Saturday became aware of the contest, just caught a few locals on Saturday night. Listened starting early on Sunday, and the band opened up. Ran CW for a couple of hours on low power, then switched to SSB and lit up the Alpha. Had an amazing 2 hours on SSB, with over 200 Q's in a single hour. Propogation pretty amazing - band went north / south, then seemingly went dead, then suddenly 8 and 9 land opened BIG TIME, and again stretched out to east coast. Call from the South Shetlands a nice surprise! Fascinating and Fun! Hot 10 Meter activity at the bottom of the cycle???? Yahoo! Great stuff. 73 de Kevin K7ZS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K8AJS Class: SO CW HP Total Score = 72,000 Not the best conditions, for sure. Most of the time, the noise was fierce, and of course I had the usual IMD problems with the FT1000MP noise blanker. Things weren't too bad from 1400Z to 1500Z on Saturday, and again from 1700Z until about 2000Z. Other than that, times were hard. I spent almost all day Saturday with the antenna pointed straight south, working what little I could hear from the Caribbean and SA, and covering the entire US with backscatter. Signals were much stronger that way than trying to point the antenna at the station I was working. Finally, late in the afternoon as the opening moved west, I turned the antenna and pointed it at the left coast until most everything was gone. Sunday wasn't nearly as nice, as I spent the whole day fighting the noise and pulling out weak signals that couldn't hear me unless I pointed the quad right at them. I apologize to those that I couldn't pull through, we'll try it again next year. Rig: FT1000MP + ALS-600 amp 500 watts Ant: 3 ele quad Software: WriteLog 10.58e ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K8BL Class: SO Mixed LP Total Score = 46,596 I hope the condx are finally as low as it gets. With the 756PROIII, I could watch for sigs across much of the Band and much of the time it was nothing but a noise floor. Every now and then, I'd see a few bumps raise up and go work the stations if I could. Never heard any EU. Had a few nice catches from AF and ZL. N/S prop was nice at times. It was frustrating to hear stations in the lower latitudes working a lot of guys I couldn't hear on the shore of Lake Erie. Still, it was fun jumping in for a few Q's to get away from putting up Christmas decorations. Just think, in a few years 10M will be jumping again!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K8IA Class: SO CW LP Total Score = 233,856 Ten-Tec Orion II, 100w 3 el SteppIR at 78' N1MM Logger Because of the usual low sunspot doldruums, this wasnt on my contest schedule this year. So, I made firm plans for other activities both Saturday and Sunday afternoon. After Friday evenings great Es, producing 300 qso's in under 4 hrs, I realized I erred by not having this contest on my schedule. Won't make that mistake in coming years. I did catch great openings from about 1730-1930Z both days and had a ball with the big runs. Best was 151/hr for 1830-1930Z Saturday. Stratosphere stuff for this old dude. Doubt I could really do much better with HP. I think I may operate this one full time next year. 73, Bob K8IA Near the Superstition Mts Arizona USA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K8IR Class: SO CW HP Total Score = 74,812 Patience is a virtue in this one. Considering the bottom of the cycle and the active solar conditions, it wasn't that bad. Friday night was very slow. Few strong signals, but worked a few mults out west. Saturday morning was the best DX opening from here, worked lots of SA, heard but couldn't get through the LZ0 pile. Took a couple of hours out for W9JJC's gradeschool basketball game. Around 1800, the band opened up to the west coast a bit, and worked a couple of ZL's just before the band crashed at 2100. About 0030, things opened up to mainly GA and FL, but had a steady run until about 0230. Sunday morning was not as good for DX, but had a pipeline to GA. The afternoon opening to the west coast was much better than Saturday, with a couple of 40 over signals. It's amazing how the east coast opens up for us here in the midwest when everyone swings their beams around towards the west coast. Had a nice run with equal callers from out west and from W2. Later in the afternoon had a pipeline to the MD/VA area before the band shut down for good at 2300. Thanks for all the QSO's. Enjoy the holidays, and I'll see you in the Stew. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K8ND Class: M/S HP Total Score = 25,452 Just a little playing around (obviously)! Single-op assisted. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K9ES Class: SO Mixed LP Total Score = 10,320 First contest post surgery. Spent limited time operating from my wheel chair, with IC756 Pro-2 and Gap Challenger. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K9HCK Class: SO CW LP Total Score = 768 Very poor condx. I could hr stns calling each but they were very weak. Band just folded up completely abt 2200z. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K9MU Class: SO Mixed LP Total Score = 124,476 I had a blast with an ol' Antron 99 vertical and 100w! This is by far my best 10m contest. I couldn't get on until Friday so I'm sure I missed a 100 Q's or so. During Sunday's Es opening, from about 2000-2120z, I had 10 QSO rates of up to 300 on SSB and 200 on CW! Thank God for Es! 73, Justin K9MU ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K9MWM Class: SO SSB HP Total Score = 44,928 The band was open 6 1/2 hrs Friday evening. Not bad for the bottom of the sunspot cycle. Nice to see all old VK/ZL guys back on. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K9NW Class: SO Mixed HP Total Score = 114,390 It's been a couple years since I've been QRV for the 10M contest so I decided to make a quick trip to pass out a few contest QSOs and also look for the VU7 guys. Worked a few Saturday evening. VU7 went in the log early Sunday. The band was showing signs of life after that so I hung around til about 2100z. See y'all in the Stew! 73, Mike K9NW ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KA1ARB Class: SO Mixed HP Total Score = 11,098 With the mic amp in my TS-850 fried from Sweepstakes, I got on for a couple of hours as CW only. But when I pulled out my Swan 350B to get it ready to sell on eBay, I tested it with a brief spurt of SSB QSOs. This was my novice radio 20 years ago - what a blast! Anybody want to buy an all-tube "proven" contest rig? :-) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KC5R Class: SO CW LP Total Score = 67,184 Just casual. Been sick all week, so I stuck to CW only. Conditions weren't half bad, although openings to the NE USA were sporadic. Missed RI, VT, DE, DC, SC, NC, AL, KY, AR, MO, KS, NE, IA and AK plus everything in Canada except BC, AB, and ON. Except for 1 AL station, I didn't hear the stuff I missed at all. CU in 2007! -Al ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KD0S Class: M/S HP Total Score = 311,736 Band conditions were better than we thought they would be. Started with an opening to the west after a late start because of work. Lots of good operators and it was nice to contact a few friends that we have not heard in a couple years on 10. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KD2MX Class: SO CW QRP Total Score = 3,196 I hope Sunday turned out better than Saturday for everyone here in the Northeast. I was only around for the first half of the contest as the family flew out early Sunday to see the Magic Rat in Florida. The first day was not kind to the QRPer. The band was open Friday evening into Florida but local groundwave was tough. There was a weak opening to the Caribbean early Saturday but I had little success at 5w and worked only one dx. Late morning/midday brought a strong opening to the west but I had to go do errands and when I came back mid-afternoon the band was dead here. It stayed that way until mid-evening when there was a weak opening to south-central US but again I had limited success with QRP. I was tempted to abandon my qrp status to grab some multipliers but stuck with it. It is too bad there is virtually no activity on 10-meters except for contests. There was one short but excellent opening here and a host of more interesting, shorter/weaker openings during the time I was able to operate. So even at the sunspot lull, the band provides useful communication capability. I guess I'll have to get on and call CQ more often. Now to go read about the rest of last weekend's action... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KE1F Class: SO Mixed HP Total Score = 25,648 Part time operation. Conditions were bad in North East Florida. Next year, I will have a 2 EL SteppIR up and running. KE1F ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KE3D Class: SO Mixed LP Total Score = 20,832 Band Condx seemed very poor. I was trying new antenna out and hand rotating. When aimed in the "right direction" it produced great results compared to dipole and vertical. It is only at 15 ft. I only lost three mults heard. The antenna never seemed to be pointed in the normal propagation directions. Alot of fun especially that the new Spiderbeam seems to work quite well for the current height. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KG4IGC Class: SO Mixed QRP Total Score = 10,000 Good contest this year despite the band conditions, seemed like the band was opening and closing every few hours. Lots of QSB but was able to work New England the first few hours of the contest, Saturday we experienced some nice openings to the Carribian, both Central and South America, Mexico, and the West coast USA. Had a few openings to the mid West,but did not last for long. Sunday had the same openings but fewer stations to work although we had a nice opening mid afternoon Sunday to Canada. Unfortunately no Europe, Asia, or VKs heard the whole contest, maybe next year. Got to use my new Yaesu Mark V Field this contest, antennas used were my 8 element 10 meter Sterba Curtain, 3 differant extended double zepps, and a Maco V5/8 vertical tuned for 10 meters. I would have to say, out of all these antennas, the vertical won out hands down when it came to working the weak ones. Quite a surprise for sure! I tried my hand at CW for this test and I am very glad that I did, sure saved the voicebox especially durring those long hours of silence on the band! I have to say though, some of those guys sounded like they were sending 150 WPM !! Don't know how they do it. Had lots of fun as usual even though my scores were down compared to past years. TNX for all those stations who took the time to LISTEN instead of just calling test! See you all next year! Cheers and 73, Frank KG4IGC ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KG5U Class: SO CW QRP Total Score = 58,752 Very interesting conditions. I made 50 less QSO's on Friday night as I made over the next two days of operating. My new AlfaSpid rotator got a real workout trying to keep up with the propagation changes. Got lots of work done on the other computer while CQ'ing on the radio computer. :-) At 2358Z, Sunday, I got two quick replies to my CQ's. For a moment, I thought I was going to make the highest rate of the weekend in the last two minutes, but a third caller was not there...pity... Radio: Ten-Tec Omni VI @ 5W output Antennas: Force 12 C3E at 70' & Cushcraft A3S at 40' fixed Northwest ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KH6IN Class: M/S HP Total Score = 152,064 Excellent ten meter contest for the bottom of the sunspot cycle...!!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KH6NF Class: SO CW LP Total Score = 89,280 Only three runs of 12, 62 and 59 minutes: 2006-12-09: 0004-0016Z, 28031kHz, 18 Qs, 86.2/hr (11 CA, 2 AZ, 2 PY5, OR, IL, IN) 2006-12-10: 0031-0133Z, 28013 kHz, 42 Qs, 40.2/hr (38 JA, KH2, PY4, 2 UT) 2006-12-10: 1912-2011Z, 28016 kHz, 134 Qs, 135.8/hr (All W/VE, XE1, KH6) All other Qs were a good deal of S and not much P. Propagation: SA and South Oceania: Open most of the day with folks already in the log. Other Oceania: Sporadic; 64 million square miles of ocean. KH8 appeared, received my call and faded mid-sentence. Asia: Never great but there--very short in duration. JAs did well with marginal cndx + my 100w. HS0 appeared, received my call and faded mid-sentence. W/VE: Pencil beam propagation that had to be exploited quickly. Only decent W/VE opening (1912z Sunday) provided 37 percent of the QSOs in 7 percent of the operating period. I felt like I was sitting Air Defense alert over the weekend but still enjoyed each minute. Mahalo to all for the Qs and calls. Aloha, John KH6SH ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KI6DY Class: SO CW LP Total Score = 29,192 Alway fun to play around on this band. Think I worked more stations after dark than during daylight. Lot of backscatter prop and alot of QSB. Really exercised the rotor. 73 de Bob (KI6DY) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KI9A Class: M/S HP Total Score = 52,050 Usually do this with my friend, WE9A, at his QTH. This year, between the clean up from a major ice storm last week, work both mornings, and poor condx, decided to just get on between chores from home. When I did, it was either stone dead, or wide open. Never have seen such dramatic drops/increases in signals, all within exchanging reports. I listened to Mike, K5NZ Saturday evening, and he would go from nil to 20 over in the space of "five-nine texas". Wish I could have recorded some of this wierdness. Went M/S, so I could post a few spots, and pick a few up. There sure is a big difference in picking up groundwave Q's between my 25' tribander, and WE9A's 110' kt34xa. Never heard most of the stuff we normally work at his place. I sure miss the sunspots. This contest is fun with the strange prop, but, much more fun with spots! 73 & Happy Holidays-Merry Christmas! Chuck KI9A ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KK3Q Class: SO SSB LP Total Score = 484 SOAPBOX: Where, oh where did 10 meters go? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KM9M Class: M/S HP Total Score = 10,206 "assisted". ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KN4Y Class: SO CW LP Total Score = 38,356 Could only do Saturday in the contest. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KO7X Class: SO Mixed HP Total Score = 203,616 Not bad for the bottom of the sunspot cycle. I heard two Wyoming stations but never worked either one of them. Also missed Alaska, Delaware, Maine, N. Dakota and Vermont. No Europe or Africa heard. No JA either. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KQ6ES Class: SO Mixed LP Total Score = 116,232 FT-1000MP 100 watts 3-element tribander at 20ft and Butternut vertical Much better than I expected, but very little DX worked . A very nice short skip opening Friday night, not much Saturday with two prime hours lost due to local club commitments, and two very good hours Sunday. The rest was hard work. 73 and Happy Holidays, I hope to work a few of you in the Stew Perry. John kq6es ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KR2Q Class: SO CW QRP Total Score = 43,584 Doug's clock says 20 hours, CT sez 9.8 hours. That about sums it up. Kudos to the qrp comment already made that qrp on 10 is more fun than qrp on 80....well, that's one positive perspective! This was definitely a "gotta sit in the chair" type contest. Highlights: After calling N4GN several time and CQ TEST in return, I waited seven (7) minutes just listening to him at S1. Suddenly (maybe a plane flew by) he popped up to S3. A QRQ single call and equally fast exchange put a new state in the log, just as he went back to S1 for the remainder. Tried that with VA (which I never worked), but MYA never "popped" (neither did the others). Elecraft K2 qrp version and 2L home brew quad 55 feet. See you in the Stew. de Doug KR2Q ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KS0M Class: SO CW LP Total Score = 26,832 Of course, band conditions were lousy as expected. I started out doing S&P and soon ran out of calls to work. Everyone must have been soing S&P also. Calling CQ netted me some nice runs. Made 17 Q's 0100z to 0200z. Saturday Morning calling CQ upped my total to 73 Q's. Sunday morning in less that 2 hours I upped my total to 172 contacts. It was fun. Used "AGN" everal times. I was trying to work a W2 call and some jerk, putting out 1500 watts called on top. I had to send "the W2 call only please" three times before the jerk went away. The W2 had called me and I was not going to let a 20 over S9 inconsiderate operator push him out. See you all next year. Thanks to those who worked me. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KT0K Class: SO Mixed LP Total Score = 213,408 Modest conditions, modest antenna, modest station, modest score. I'm sure getting tired of modesty...BRING BACK THE SPOTS! (Oh, yea...it was still fun!) Greg KT0K ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KT0R Class: SO Mixed HP Total Score = 92,158 Well, just got on here and there. 10 meters is still amazing even at the bottom of the cycle. Fun to see the conditions change. Watch the rate go from zero to 100+ in just a few minutes then off again. Have a happy holiday Vry 73 Dave KT0R ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KT5E Class: SO CW HP Total Score = 127,248 Had fun on Friday night and Sunday mid-day. It was hard to turn the rig off on Sunday 2:00pm local for other committments. Was called by nice long-haul south of the equator (VK, ZL, ZS). Closest to Asia was V73RY...but no JA and of course no EU. I thought I would have maybe heard one big gun JA but nada. FT 2000, Alpha 99, KT36XA at 100', Writelog 73, Jay - KT5E ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KU8E Class: SO CW HP Total Score = 43,848 IC-756PRO - AL811H - 500 Watts Lazy-H pointed NW/SE , 67 foot Zepp point N/S. Off and on between chores this weekend. Condx reminded me of the summer VHF contest on 6 meters. Just have to be there to catch all the short openings. PJ2T was the loudest signal by far when it was open to that area. Put up a W2EEY Extended Lazy-H pointed NW/SE. It seems like it works as designed. Since I didn't have a switching arrangement built(yet)to switch the open wire between it and the zepp I had to run outside to switch the feedline between it and the zepp. I listened on 15 and 20 and it has some directivity there as well. Now it's back to work improving the 160 Inverted L in time for the Stew and CQ 160 CW .... Happy Holidays de Jeff KU8E ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KV0Q Class: SO Mixed HP Total Score = 92,680 vERY LIMITED OPERATING TIME THIS WEEKEND DUE TO MY SON'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT. oPERATED ABOUT 3.5 HOURS FRIDAY NIGHT WITH OUTSTANDING CONDITIONS AND 400 PLUS QSOS. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KV7DX Class: SO Mixed HP Total Score = 628,764 A3 at 30 ft FT1000 TenTec Titan Tnx to all that QSYed when asked. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KY5R Class: SO SSB HP Total Score = 135,096 Not so interesting at the start or most of Saturday. Didn't think I would spend much time today but the stateside prop sucked me in. In about three and half hours I had double my Q's and filled in some missing state mults. Band folded around 2200 not to return. Enjoyed the weekend all in all. Great to get back on 10mtrs and will use this event as a yardstick for the next few years to come. TNX to all for the Q's. Tim, KY5R ACG(Alabama Contest Group) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KY7M Class: SO Mixed HP Total Score = 71,176 Great conditions to East Coast with pile-ups to match. Sure missed hearing Europe and Asia. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: LT0H Class: SO SSB HP Total Score = 109,600 Merry Christmas and Happy new years.- 73 Juan LT0H (op LU3HY) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: LU4DX Class: SO SSB LP Total Score = 263,112 ARRL 10M Contest - 2006-12-09 0000Z to 2006-12-11 0000Z - 1158 QSOs LU4DX Max Rates: 2006-12-09 1629Z - 6,0 per minute (1 minute(s)), 360 per hour by LU4DX 2006-12-09 1637Z - 4,0 per minute (10 minute(s)), 240 per hour by LU4DX 2006-12-09 1719Z - 3,4 per minute (60 minute(s)), 204 per hour by LU4DX ARRL 10M Contest - 2006-12-09 0000Z to 2006-12-11 0000Z - 1158 QSOs LU4DX Runs >10 QSOs: 2006-12-09 1335 - 1438Z, 28472 kHz, 63 Qs, 60,1/hr LU4DX 2006-12-09 1457 - 1510Z, 28493 kHz, 11 Qs, 52,1/hr LU4DX 2006-12-09 1556 - 1743Z, 28452 kHz, 295 Qs, 165,3/hr LU4DX 2006-12-09 1858 - 2003Z, 28444 kHz, 114 Qs, 105,8/hr LU4DX 2006-12-09 2010 - 2045Z, 28444 kHz, 60 Qs, 101,8/hr LU4DX 2006-12-09 2121 - 2228Z, 28470 kHz, 39 Qs, 35,0/hr LU4DX 2006-12-10 1339 - 1401Z, 28466 kHz, 16 Qs, 43,7/hr LU4DX 2006-12-10 1448 - 1541Z, 28451 kHz, 128 Qs, 146,4/hr LU4DX 2006-12-10 1615 - 1650Z, 28520 kHz, 76 Qs, 130,8/hr LU4DX 2006-12-10 1700 - 1720Z, 28395 kHz, 46 Qs, 141,2/hr LU4DX 2006-12-10 1722 - 1801Z, 28485 kHz, 57 Qs, 86,3/hr LU4DX 2006-12-10 1813 - 1834Z, 28485 kHz, 26 Qs, 75,4/hr LU4DX 2006-12-10 1856 - 1921Z, 28519 kHz, 34 Qs, 81,7/hr LU4DX 2006-12-10 1929 - 1937Z, 28383 kHz, 11 Qs, 86,1/hr LU4DX Date Hour Total 2006-12-09 2006-12-10 Running Total 2006-12-09 0 6 6 6 2006-12-09 1 2 2 8 2006-12-09 13 36 36 44 2006-12-09 14 44 44 88 2006-12-09 15 34 34 122 2006-12-09 16 179 179 301 2006-12-09 17 121 121 422 2006-12-09 18 33 33 455 2006-12-09 19 104 104 559 2006-12-09 20 81 81 640 2006-12-09 21 40 40 680 2006-12-09 22 13 13 693 2006-12-09 23 5 5 698 2006-12-10 0 2 2 700 2006-12-10 13 16 16 716 2006-12-10 14 51 51 767 2006-12-10 15 96 96 863 2006-12-10 16 77 77 940 2006-12-10 17 99 99 1039 2006-12-10 18 42 42 1081 2006-12-10 19 53 53 1134 2006-12-10 20 6 6 1140 2006-12-10 21 6 6 1146 2006-12-10 22 5 5 1151 2006-12-10 23 3 3 1154 Total All Hours 1154 698 456 Rig: IC-775DSP Ant: 6 Elem. triband yagi @24mH Soft: N1MM Logger V6.10.10 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: LU5FF Class: SO Mixed LP Total Score = 68,526 A lot of noise of it lines almost the whole competition with s9+20db one cannot listen a lot.. We will see next year. QSL vía EA7JX 73´s and happy new year Javi - LU5FF ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: LU5HM Class: SO SSB HP Total Score = 253,422 Enjoy a lot this contest, thanks to all the Ham's that communicated with me, thank a lot to my main support LU7HE, we will find next ARRL International DX Contest, merry christmas and happy new year.- 73,Ramon LU5HM QSL VIA MGR : EA5KB ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N0HF Class: SO Mixed LP Total Score = 36,810 Friday nite was the most productive, you gotta work 'em when the band is open or risk tuning around to silence at any point later! Worked a few on Saturday and Sunday, had too much family stuff going on otherwise. As always, a great contest even during solar minimums. '73 Dan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N0JK Class: SO Mixed QRP Total Score = 1,440 A fun contest with a good Es opening Friday eve. and again Sunday morning. Some F2 to CX, LU and ZL. The active geomagnetic field helped. Operated QRP with a tuner to an indoor attic 6 Meter yagi. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N1HRA Class: SO Mixed HP Total Score = 50,078 Didn't have much time to opertae this year but still had a great time. Thanks to all who spotted me and thanks to all for your contacts. 73 Bill N1HRA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N1LN Class: SO CW LP Total Score = 7,728 Busy weekend but wanted to get on for a little while. Was quite surprised how much activity there was and wish I had more time to play. 73, Bruce ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N2CU Class: SO CW LP Total Score = 5,400 Conditions were surprisingly good. Loudest signals: 1st N2IC, 2nd N0FP. 73, Tom N2CU <>< ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N2FF Class: SO Mixed LP Total Score = 1,680 Conditions were abysmal to rotten. But I think I have a new one for 10M - LZ0A. Now that's weird! Please tell me this is the bottom. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N2IC Class: SO CW HP Total Score = 180,908 A very casual contest for me - Didn't start until Saturday morning, and when the band got quiet, I did something else. Great F-layer opening to the entire east coast both days from about 1800Z-1930Z. Worked 47 states - missed MO, IA and KL7. 2 JA's worked Sunday around 23Z. Otherwise, no really interesting openings. Thanks for the QSO's - I'm going to have to add this one to the calendar when we get a few sunspots in a year or two. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N2NT Class: SO Mixed HP Total Score = 85,008 Couldn't handle the high QSO rates, so I went to the movies and a football game instead :) Did catch some of the opening to West coast on Saturday. 2 more years and the band will be hopping again! 73, Andy N2NT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N2TTA Class: SO Mixed HP Total Score = 446,124 When Yuri asked if he could use the station for the ARRL 10 Meter Contest I asked if he was crazy. Drive 3+ hors to run a contest with what would probably be terrible propagation. This did not discourage him and over he came. Though I sat and listened at times it was obvious Yuri was working hard to get the QSOs. He did have an 85 QSO hour. In all I think he did well from up here in New England considering not everyone points their antennas this way. Kind of like a 6M contest. Only worked a few Europeans and only an EA8 on the second day. I am sure Yuri thanks all for the QSOs and the few QSY to the other mode that he requested. He only missed ND and DC for a sweep on the USA continental multipiers. Once again I received e-mail from people watching the Webcam though we were not uploading his score to the Realtime Scoreboard or our website. I was afraid I would mess it up and and ruin Yuri's SO/unassisted entry. Now to get ready for the January VHF contest and of course our annual Christmas Party in January which will be webcasted. 73 - Dick KB1H ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N2WN Class: SO CW LP Total Score = 44,004 Actually completed WAC, two Antartic stations worked, would have liked to add 9H, but he was in S&P. Conditions went from fantastic to horrible inside of a callsign. Never had an EU opening although I had hopes when the Canary Islands popped up loud and clear. Great job by everyone in this 'test! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N3BB Class: M/S HP Total Score = 13,056 N3BB + Packet ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N3KHK Class: SO SSB LP Total Score = 624 Station Description: ICOM 706MKIIG Antenna: G5RV @ 40’ Software N3FJP Interface microKEYER ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4BAA Class: M/S HP Total Score = 242,998 Firt of all I APOLOGIZE to everyone who thought we were deaf! This is the first contest from a new QTH, and MURPHY brought an unprecidented S7 LINE NOISE for 80% of the contest...so only the LOUD stations got through....Will get right on this...ONLY seems to be an issue on 6, 10 and 15 meters...so I have work to do! Fun time...a LOT of OPERATOR training done here!...Had a blast! Heard EVERY State except ND and RI...just couldn't work em.... Thanks for your patience!!! ICOM PRO II AL-1200 (2) 6L 10M yagis at 34 and 64 feet! 73 Jose Castillo - N4BAA GO PVRC! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4DW Class: M/S HP Total Score = 15,540 Very slow except for a 45 minute 20 Q run into WNY/SOnt late Sunday afternoon. Generally, heard many more than I could work. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4GG Class: M/S HP Total Score = 143,864 As usual I didn't plan to play much, but got more serious as time went on. Sunday afternoon had a nice opening. Put up a 10M GP early Saturday morning in 18 deg F wx - just like the good old days. Happy holidaze and 73, N4GG ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4GN Class: SO Mixed HP Total Score = 131,364 Never expected that huge JA run. O.K., just kidding! But the sporadic-E was really incredible at times. Best I can remember in several years. Too bad I had only a few hours to mess around this year. Maybe I just picked the really good hours to get on! K9GX and I have done this contest as a multi-op almost every year since the mid-1980s, but it wasn't to be this time. Mark had a schedule conflict and the rotator on my C4XL (currently the primary 10-meter antenna) was shot. So I took the opportunity to swap out the rotator on Saturday. Now if I can just get the antennas installed on the new second tower . . . well, we should be ready to give the NX5M boys a run next year! Highlight was a 164 hour on Sunday afternoon, all CW, with a few 10-minute peak rates of 210. That's one of my best all-CW hours ever from the home QTH. We had simultaneous double-hop to the West Coast and single hops all over the East Coast, Colorado, Texas and a touch of Florida. See y'all in RTTY Roundup! 73, Tim, N4GN ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4IJ Class: SO CW LP Total Score = 63,140 This was a lot of work. Lots of in the noise signals pulled. Heard EG8 (Canary Is) and my keyer went spaz so I missed him. Else worked just about all I heard. But it was not easy. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4PJ Class: SO Mixed HP Total Score = 156,780 Decent band condx the first night, none the second night. Couple of good openings to Africa both days. RFI probs early Sunday sent me QRT. Band condx stunk, but I was making headway. Just wait till next year! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4PN Class: SO Mixed HP Total Score = 29,480 Out of town for most of this one....grandkids activities... Condx seemed way down in what little time I did get on. PJ2T was only signal that knocked the earphones off with HK3CQ not far behind. Surprise was having VP8NO call me on Sunday morning with serial #40. 'Til the next one. 73, Paul, N4PN ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4TB Class: SO CW HP Total Score = 127,576 Worked more stations in Montana that I did in all of W1 land! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4VA Class: SO Mixed LP Total Score = 117,888 Sure was nice to work ZL a couple of times during the bottom of the cycle. Perhaps there should be a ten meter contest EVERY weekend? 100 watts to an A3S at 75 ft. Thanks for all the contacts & 73, Larry Vogt, N4VA Springfield, VA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4WW Class: SO CW HP Total Score = 239,372 Tnx to Austin for use of his FB station. Had fun despite the less than fun conditions. 73, Ron, K8NZ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4YQ Class: SO CW QRP Total Score = 4,400 Don't even want to talk about it... 73, Jeff N4YQ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N5KF Class: SO Mixed LP Total Score = 3,120 A very part-time effort (but the best I can do). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N5LYG Class: SO Mixed HP Total Score = 18,304 I arrive at the site around 11’ish on Friday morning. I got the popup trailer set up and was moving right along. Next on the agenda are the antennas. Two shots and I have the 10m dipole up about 70’. Next is the folded dipole. Two shots over a few other trees and I have folded up about 45’. Now, I get the station set up and get the generator fired up. Ah, purrs like a cat. I stroll back to the trailer and fire up the amp. Ah, heat from the amp on a cool winter day. Next is to check the SWR’s. Did I read that right, flat or close to it? Time to tune the amp. Band select, check. RF out of radio on low power, check. Now for the ultimate rush in contest, watching the tubes light up as the key is pushed. A few turns here and a few turns there and we have QRO! 700 watts of unadulterated power. I look at my watch and notice I have about two hours before contest starting. I tune around the band. Wait, did I hear something. Tune back! Wait, he say Zulu Lima 6? Can’t be, I said. Wait, it is Zulu Lima 6. What are the chances of working New Zealand on 10m at 2300z during the winter? Wait, I remember Kilo Mike Five Victor Ida saying something that propagation could be good that direction. I screamed, November Five Lima Yankee Golf. I listen intently. I hear “station with Yankee Golf come again.” I screamed back, November Five Lima Yankee Golf, you’re a 5 by 9 in Texas. After working ZL6, I felt this was going to be a good contest. Boy was I wrong! With about 20 minutes to go before the contest, I made a few other contacts. Oh, this is going to be a good contest. 10m is going to be open for a little while after sunset. Now with seconds before start, I wait for the first signs of activity. 1800 cst, the contest has started. I hear a few stations calling. I work them with ease. That’s one in the log. Now number two, three, four and the number is rising. Oh this is going to be a good contest. Now, Alan shows up with the food for the weekend. We do a little eyeball qso for a while and make a few contacts here and there. The band is starting to die around 21:30. We decide to hit the sack. Next morning is here. The air is cold but it’s time to heat up the airwaves with 700 watts. Lets rock and roll. We work our way to 113 contacts by lunch time. Bands are acting strange. I hear mostly Caribbean and South America but not the stations they are working. For some reason, Victor Ida keeps coming to mind. Alan and I go outside to start a fire and this is when the fun starts. A park ranger pulls up and tells us the bad news about our spot. You can’t camp here during deer season. DOH!! Ok, I was hoping for a miracle but one was not happening today. Well, the officer wanted to search my trailer for whatever. I gave the approval he needed. Well, he walked out with my Smith and Wesson 380. He asked if there were others in the trailer. Well, Alan had his. The officer retrieved the weapon and ran a check on them. Fortunately, neither was stolen, duh. Well, he decided to write each of us a citation for camping in a non-camping site during hunting season. My internal reaction was, this is not logical. About an 1/8th of a mile down the road is a parking lot where dirt bike users can get on the trails. There’s a trail behind us, there’s a trail across the road. So, he was afraid of our safety from a high powered rifle but not for some dirt bike riders. I guess it was the antlers I had on my pop up that would confuse a delusional hunter. So, we packed it up and came on home. So, this is probably the end of our 10m activity in Sam Houston National Forest. I do not want my pop up to be confused for a 12 pt. buck. Next year, we will go to Huntsville State Park. I was able to do a little contesting on Sunday. Thanks to all for the contacts. 73, Bill, N5LYG ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N6GK Class: SO Mixed HP Total Score = 10,906 Tried CQing, but with a ground-mounted vertical, it was painfully slow and not much fun, even with a KW, so went to S&P, which was much more fruitful. From the large number of marginal contacts whispering in my ear, requiring lots of repeats, I knew I would have done infinitely better with a few more db in the antenna department to pull guys out of the mud. Definitely need to get a beam up! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N6MU Class: SO CW LP Total Score = 34,400 Part time effort when I heard the band open. 73... John, N6MU ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N6RO Class: SO CW HP Total Score = 10,304 I get a headache or nosebleed from operating above 7 Mhz.! Got on just to work NCCC guys, and check for wierd propagation-which there was plenty of in my three short spurts. CU on 160m in the Stew Perry bash. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N6WG Class: SO Mixed QRP Total Score = 73,112 This was a lot more fun than I thought it would be. There was a lot of activity Friday evening after dark, up 'til 10PM local time. Saturday morning got off to a slow start, but it got better as the morning wore on. No significant after dark activity Saturday night, however. Too bad. Sunday also got off to a slow start, but the band picked up nicely in late morning, and I worked a lot of ssb stations. Then things thinned out in the afternoon, although I hung in there to the final bell. I really started out in a very laid-back way. Took breaks as I felt like it, and didn't really get into the contest 'til well into Friday night when the band seemed to stay open after dark. Probably could have had an even better score, but I'll take this one, thank you. It's way better than any of my previous 10m contest scores. I was surprised to completely miss the Caribbean. I did work 10 LU, 5 PY, 5 XE, 2 CX, 1 HP, 1 ZL and 1 JA. This was more DX than I had really expected under these conditions. The 10m contest has always been one of my favorites, as it's one where us "little pistols" have a fighting chance at a good score. Thanks to all for the Qs. 73, Bob N6WG The Little Station with Attitude ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N6XI Class: SO CW HP Total Score = 81,400 Amazing Friday evening opening here at the bottom of the cycle! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N6XT Class: SO SSB LP Total Score = 1,512 Multiband Dipole at 35ft. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N7LOX Class: SO Mixed LP Total Score = 255,612 Wasnt going to put the little 4el monobander back up for this one. Sure glad I did,wrked great. Helps to have 2 or more antennas to play with.. Short intense runs on sat and sun till about 2100z. slim pickens after that. Has a good time with the locals just playin around during the slow times. Tnx for all the Q's Brian N7LOX ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N7MAL Class: SO CW LP Total Score = 23,100 I don't have a 10 meter antenna. I used my 80 meter delta loop. I had great fun, kinda like the good ole days. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N7VR Class: SO Mixed LP Total Score = 22,274 Bands were intermintant. Had to check frequently, while doing other things. Probably lost a few contacts from not sitting the full 36 hours :) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N8II Class: SO Mixed HP Total Score = 618,900 Another surprisingly wonderful weekend on 10 meters has come and gone with much better conditions than most could hope to have. It never ceases to amaze me that a band most including me don't even check often because there is little activity or apparent propagation springs to life. There always seems to be significant sporadic E and at some time the states from WI thru AL and everything west out to the Rockies gets a shot at my area. F2 wasn't a good as last year, but condx were disturbed. The main difference between this year and last were some very good hours in 2005 from 20Z thru 24Z with lots of Es to the mid west; this year the band was dead from 2045 until 0017 by which time a lot of the casual ops had given up for the day. Friday night the band was stone dead with virtually no meteor scatter until 0157Z when I was about ready to call it a night after 102 local Q's. First heard was PS2T, then the Es moved to KR4F in AL at 0203Z, C6DX and VP5D were worked on Es and some good volume came from FL, I quit at 0345Z with 200 Q's in the log. I heard YU2A weakly via a Es link around 1205Z, but he faded before the amp had warmed up and I couldn't quite make it. There was a smattering of Es to VE1/2/9 and a few stations were weak from FL/GA until 1308Z when 5H3EE called on CW for my first F2 QSO. Backscatter F2 Q's started about 1327, but sigs were quite weak for the next 20-30 minutes. LZ0A was found from S Shet at 1340 and DT8A shortly thereafter both with big sigs; at the same time I could barely hear LU. CW was the preferred mode of the multitude due to fairly weak backscatter; I could run a few on phone, but the run wouldn't last long and I worked fewer than last year. I did find ZS, 3X, and S9SS (first NA QSO) on phone and 1602 EC8DX was worked along with other EA8's, but that was the closest the band would open to Eu. At 1618Z NS9I in WI was worked for the start of some Es to WI, IL, and QSO rich MN. The first west coast QSO was W7VJ in WA at 1649Z, but the band didn't really open marginally until 1707Z when NG7Z in WA was logged. I logged 131 Q's in the 17Z hour on CW until 1750Z when I switched to phone. The band didn't stay open to the Rockies for long at all, so it paid off to switch over. The 18Z hour was a continuous run with 134 Q's which was slowed considerably by line noise/QSB/weak signals after 1840Z. After 19Z condx were much poorer and CW ruled; my last F2 QSO was at 1955 with CA. There was some strong Es to OK, west TX, and XE which died at 2044Z with WX4TM in AL being the last. Just a few locals were worked with many CQ's in many directions including fruitless attempts to work OH and MI still needed on phone; those WV mountains really hurt to the west. Finally at 0017Z, Es resumed with W5PR in TX. ZL1CN was worked via Es to F2 link at 0140Z on phone and the biggest surprise was KH6IN on CW at 0219Z. The band was open to CA on double hop Es, but the footprint must have been small as only about 4-5 Q's were made. Stations from OK, KS, IA, and WI sure did their part to keep the band active; I'd guess I worked a personal highest total from those states. With the high K index, 10 was very slow to open Sunday and the locals heard were basically all worked before. WB0UKX in SD was first Es of day at 1357Z; ZV5D at 1416 was the first F2 QSO. Backscatter was pretty marginal, especially on SSB, but the west coast sprang into action with K7SS in WA being first on CW at 1728Z. Rates were slower than Saturday, but there was still plenty to work. CA was mostly weak all day. WA and OR dropped out and a pipeline into AZ and NV ensued, there was lots of AZ activity on phone. A35RK called on phone and several KH6's were worked on both modes with booming signals. Skip shortened up into NM with record NM activity. Thankfully the band stayed open a bit longer than Saturday with last F2 Q being K6XX at 2109Z. There was very short Es around that time into OH thru MN, but it was short lived with last Es QSO around 2210Z. I probably should have moved a few more of the rarer mults between modes early in the contest. Attempts to move and willingness to do so were down from last year. Missed ND on both modes thought I heard SD on Es often. There was no propagation to AK and KY was missed on phone, WY on CW. I only worked VE3,4,and 7 on phone and VE1,2,3,6,7,9 on CW. I probably should have spent more time on CW with the double point advantage. Many thanks for the Q's and the fun! By next year, F2 should improve. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N8RA Class: SO SSB HP Total Score = 125,400 Good to see many new contesters active this year, in addition to the regulars. As usual, the "dead band" came to life during a contest weekend, but you had to be there to catch the openings. Many folks don't realize that their signal may only be copiable for 10 seconds, so they need to exchange the contest info first, and make remarks later- hi! I think conditions were a bit worse than last year- no Europe at all, and less Q's, even with having fixed the broken antenna that was used last year. Great fun! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N9ADG Class: SO Mixed LP Total Score = 8,610 Just a few minutes here and there during the weekend. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NA2M Class: SO Mixed HP Total Score = 15,680 Rig : Yaesu FT-1000MP - Ten-Tec Titan 500W : Antennas : 40M Delta Loop Cushcraft R5 Vertical Soapbox : Rotten Condx. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NA4BW Class: SO Mixed QRP Total Score = 18,568 The CA/GA/Argentina Qso party for me. 73's Brian ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NA4M Class: SO Mixed HP Total Score = 14,406 Little time to operate with family and holiday activities. Outside of some good Es Friday night propagation seemed pretty poor during the times I was on. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NA5TR/M Class: SO Mixed LP Total Score = 408 Strictly low key Mobile near NX5M while taking a break from M/S HP at NX5M. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NA7RF Class: SO Mixed LP Total Score = 88,536 Good contest, but I came down with the flu Saturday night and felt rotten all Saturday night and Sunday...gave up at 2100Z Sunday. Still, I was able to have at least one nice run on CW Sunday...great fun! A good, low, yagi (KT-34XA at 18 feet)is not bad when the propagation is largely Sporadic-E. Friday night treated us to some amazing short-hop stuff and I worked a ton of CA/AZ stations. That brought back memories of some of the VHF contests I worked circa 1961 to 1973. I managed to work all the states I need for WAS on 10 except ID. Now to get a card out of Delaware! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NB1B Class: SO CW HP Total Score = 129,720 Mults worked: 47 States (missed AK, Id, ND) 3 Provinces (worked VE2,3,and 5) 19 countries (A35, KH6, ZL, and ZS only ones not in NA or SA) 10M was constantly in and out all weekend, but mostly out. Never heard a European or an African other than ZS. Best openings were Saturday 1600-1800Z, and Sunday 1800-2100Z. Lots of weak signals, and lots of signals going from S7 to S2 from dit to dit. The loudest, most consistent signals from the midwest were W0AIH and K0HA. As always, thanks for the Qs. Dennis NB1B ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NB7V Class: SO SSB HP Total Score = 40,860 Where did the East Coast and Canada go? Never heard any of them. This is the second year @ this qth and have never had power line noise until this contest My apologies to those who called me and I could not work thru the S-6 line noise when I pointed the antenna South! I always enjoy this contest. This one was full of propagation suprises--NB7V ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: ND0C Class: SO SSB QRP Total Score = 6,448 - Just "dabbled" a little as my other commitments allowed. Propagation was extremely focused (spotty), but at time signals were booming in and I had several compliments such as "great signal" from stations that had no idea I was QRP. My rotor is stuck on ESE but at times it didn't seem too matter when stations were 45 degrees off - skew or just pipeline?. Even at the sunspot minimum 10 meters is fun! Rig: Ten Tec Argonaut 509 (3 watts out) Antenna: Wilson SY-3 (3 el. tribander) 15 meters high - fixed at 120 degrees (not intentionally!) 73, Randy, ND0C ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NF4A Class: SO Mixed HP Total Score = 6,670 Got on for a couple of hours on Friday night before I headed to my hunting lease for a weekend of deer hunting. STRANGE CONDX. Very specific, narrow opening to CA Friday night but only heard and worked a few stns there. Many WA and OR stns. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NI7T Class: SO Mixed HP Total Score = 208,626 Great contest for the end of the cycle...fantastic short skip into two population centers southern Cal and the Pacific NW added many Q's to my log...the last two hours of the contest I was shut down by snow static and S9 noise..the band reopened in the last 6 minutes..thanks to all those ops that tolerated my bad CW operating..73 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NJ8J Class: SO Mixed LP Total Score = 1,452 Equipment Transceiver: Alinco DX-77T Antenna: AR-99 vertical Managed to put in a little time Friday evening and Saturday afternoon. Had a lot of trouble when I first got on Sat afternoon until I figured out the antenna was switched to the (wrecked, and partly on the ground) wire antenna instead of to the vertical. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NL7Z Class: SO Mixed HP Total Score = 1,830 Poor conditions here in Alaska this weekend. Only worked a handful of stations, but still managed to have fun. Thanks to all that listened up this way for me. Happy Holidays Kevin NL7Z ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NN3W Class: SO Mixed HP Total Score = 504,384 As always, thanks to N3HBX for letting me use the Poolesville station. Only one casualty this time - a fuse in the antenna control box for tower one. Quickly replaced it and I was off and running. Was not really motivated for this one. Questioned myself several times as to why I was operating this one - especially after an eventful firm holiday party the night before. Anyhow, I don't get it. In every major DX contest that I operated in during 2006, there was always a EU opening. ARRL DX CW - check. ARRL DX SSB - check. WAE CW - check. WAE SSB - check. CQWW Phone - Check. ARRL 10 - nope. Not one. EA8 was as far as I got. Amazing runs on CW and Phone at time. Had periods when I was doing 6 Qs a minute. Then I had times where I worked one QSO in 6 minutes....At times I think I worked every ham in Kansas, Wisconsin and Arizona. Nice E skip openings and a couple meteor contacts. Nice being called out of the blue by KH8Q and the VP9. Oh well, here's to 2007, and 2008, and 2009.... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NN7ZZ Class: SO CW HP Total Score = 174,352 What a roller coaster ride...A Great sporadic E opening the first evening, plus a good run Eastern Seaboard run Saturday AM with lots and lots of slow going in between, but we were definitely blessed by the propogation gods this time... missed KY and LA for WAS....thanks for the Qs.. Don, N5LZ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NQ4I Class: SO Mixed HP Total Score = 94,674 Just playin' around some...pretty poor condx...de Rick nq4i ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NS3T Class: SO Mixed LP Total Score = 51,216 That sure was some kind of 6 meter contest, eh? Lots of fun, even if using a dipole for it was like slamming your head against the wall for hours at a time...but I just kept coming back to the shack again and again... I went mixed this year for the first time (instead of CW only) because my time is just more limited and I knew that would make it easier to get a few more Q's in the log. The openings were few and far between and getting DX to hear me was even harder. Still it was fun as always to be contesting. My best DX was LZ0A on Saturday morning. My best QSO period was Friday night - actually Saturday around 2 am ET. I was calling CQ on a dead band while I was finishing my work for the day. Suddenly this huge signal W0AIH responds. No one else around, but he's 40 over. I tried to move a half dozen people from CW to phone for mults, but only one person said yes, and then it was an easy hit up the band. I'll keep trying. As usual, almost all my Q's were using Writelog and voice files. Hope everyone has a good holiday season and see you the weekend of the RAC Winter and Stew Perry. 73 Jamie NS3T TS 2000 two EF 10 meter dipoles by W4OP ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NX5M Class: M/S HP Total Score = 763,680 This was the 10th consecutive year to do the ARRL 10 Meter contest in the multi-op category. Each year there are some old faces along with some new ones. This year was no different as K5PI stepped in after two other regular operators were not going to make it this year.....one had a change of plans so he never made it and the other simply never showed up. The only regular with me this year was N5XJ who has operated every 10m contest with me going back to 1997 (from the new location).....even more if the late 80's and early 90's are counted. I had a sinking feeling 7 minutes into the contest when the Alpha amp made a loud pop and totally shut down. We quickly replaced it with another and went back to work. We were able to get the original amp back into operation after we had quit for the night. I felt better when it powered up again and even moreso when I keyed it up for the first time to find that it was working again. There is still some issue with it however as two other times it did the same thing (one was when it was warming up the second morning). I left to go to a playoff football game about 2100z Saturday and did not get back until 0500z. While gone the control box for the antenna switching system had a toggle switch go bad so the guys were stuck using only one antenna at a time instead of having the option to run a multiple array. I just pulled the 15m controller out and used it for the rest of the weekend. This was the toughest 10m contest in 10 years! No worries, it will get better before long. We had several laughs but I think the one that got us the most was when N5XJ had a LU call on ssb and used the phonetic "unit" instead of uniform or united. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NX9T Class: SO Mixed HP Total Score = 65,928 That was interesting! Wasn't really sure what to expect prior to the contest, but it actually had a couple very nice, although somewhat short lived, runs to the West Coast. I didn't have much time this weekend to play radio but in keeping with my current radio mantra...."Make the most out of whatever time is allocated"...did the best I could while I was on. It was fun to work many of the local folks on both groundwave and backscatter. Thanks to all for the enjoyable Q's...and especially those who had to hang in there with me either as a result of QSB or my CW skills (or lack thereof). Merry Christmas to all....see ya in 2007! 73, jeff NX9T www.qsl.net/nx9t ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NY3A Class: SO CW HP Total Score = 227,696 I planned to operate this low power but when I heard the band on the verge of opening to EU Saturday morning I couldn't resist hitting the amplifier switch! Quite interesting propagation and many more signals than I expected at this time of the cycle. Those ZL's were amazing. Signals all day and even still heard ZL6QH at 8:30 PM Saturday night! Was also suprised by how few SA I worked. Missed ND, KL7 and KH6. 756PIII, SS Amp with 1kw output, 5L at 60ft 73; Steve ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: P40K Class: SO SSB HP Total Score = 221,920 Thanks to Andy, AE6Y/P49Y, and John, W6LD/P40L, for use of the great station. Equipment: IC-756PROII, ALPHA 87A(1 KW), Force12 5el Yagi and C31XR, TR6.78 logging software. Thanks for the Q's. Kay, K6KO/P40K ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: PJ2T Class: M/S HP Total Score = 887,050 Masochism is alive and well in Curacao as we decided to make an effort in the 10 meter contest at or near the bottom of the cycle. Except for F5IN, Europe was non-existent from here, EA8 came through like a beacon, there was the usual small dose of good conditions to the Pacific, lots of our neighbors in PY and LU, and two frantic but short openings to the U.S. both days, peaking at about 1400Z both days. Persistent (or totally crazy) to the end, we made 10 QSOs in the final three hours. Many thanks to Jerry (WB9Z) for his superb SSB skills and great patience in nailing mults on Saturday night after the band supposedly had closed and I had gone to bed. I handled most of the CW -- our task specialization has worked out well for several years in this contest. Thanks for the Qs! Now it's back to normal life at PJ2T: Scraping and epoxy painting towers in the endless battle against salt and tropical corrosion. - Geoff, W0CG (PJ2DX) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: PP7ZZ Class: SO CW LP Total Score = 960 BAD PROPAGATION. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: PS2T Class: SO Mixed HP Total Score = 822,120 Has been nice to have my old friend (Brother) Marko operating the station. Thanks for being on our log Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Oms PY2OMS/PY5EG ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: S56A Class: M/S HP Total Score = 42,160 Ionosphere played games with signals like meteor scatter pings. I had fun despite lack of DX. I wish I was at ZX5J place :-) Season's greetings & 73 de Mario, S56A, N1YU ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: S57S Class: SO Mixed HP Total Score = 147,126 Not again! Not a single American station for us in this region. The only good spots was VK's both days, early in the morning - if we are talking DX, and fantastic E-Sporadic to G/F/PA Saturday evening - which gives us some satisfaction after endless CQ-ing. Africa was very poor, only few mults can be found. I miss the only Japanese. I heard from S51DX that he was luckier and he managed to worked him. If we are talking N/W direction - that was completely catastrophe this time. Not even single UA9 or UA0. South Americans think the only center of gravity must be in USA. Wrong. Please turn your beams to us too, or rise up another Beam to EU. We are calling and calling and calling YOU, guys. And we are mults to. I simply don't understand. Tkanks to great contest again! 73, Aleksander, S57S ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: SV1BJW Class: SO CW LP Total Score = 14,500 Very poor propagation.... cu agn..73s ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: SZ1A Class: M/S HP Total Score = 172,550 When Dimitris SV1CIB told me to run the 10m contest, i thought he is crazy. But after some thought i told myself why not. So we went in a mountain close to our city (abt 950m high)where i have a house. It was like a field day because we hadn't a rotor to turn the antenna and we assembled all (including antenna) the Friday! Antenna was a 4el quad but the swr was too high on cw (3:1). We borrowed a tuner and after all we were on the air Saturday morning. What a dissapointment. We could hear 3-4 stations and that's all. Spyros SV1JMO and me (SV1DPI) blamed Dimitris. Why you told us to run this damned contest? We were calling cq abt 1 hour and no replies! But after the noon the band was better. Finally we went to sleep after 2300 local hour! The band was open for us until then! Mainly Europe and a lot of EA8's, no JA and W band open! Yes it was nice. Next morning the band was not better but our soul was the best. We worked many Europeand agn and we had a good opening in afternoon. Late afternoon we worked the first USA station. It was K4RV from SC. After that we worked some more but all from FL. We really enjoyed the contest, even it was in the bottom of the cycle. Many stations gave us numbers like 001 to 005. We are sure that many of them confused our call especially on cw where they thought us like hz1a, iz1a, uz1a, s71a and who knows what else.... We identified our selves almost in every qso. Our call was SZ1A. SZ prefix is what the ministry gives to Greek clubs. That's why the SZ... Tnx to all who worked us. Very soon our log will be on LotW. Qsls also ok via buro or direct in qrz.com address. We want to thanks also Cristopher SW1HKX, Apostolos SW1JMF , Dimitris SV1SN and Kostas SV1CQN, who helped us a lot. Best 73 a part of SZ1A team (SV1CIB, SV1DPI, SV1JMO) PS. We missed the company of SV1BJW, SV1ELF and SV1JMC who were in our initial plans... Next time guys... equipment yaesu ft1000mp markc field icom pw1 4element quad with Dimitris rotor ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: TI5N Class: SO Mixed HP Total Score = 491,274 Condx way down from last year. One European (CT1BOH) and 2 AF (3XM6JR, EA8EW). Best activity from VK/ZL in a contest in a long time. Thanks to Keko, TI5KD for the use of the station again. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VA1CHP Class: SO CW HP Total Score = 15,260 Limited Time. Prop pretty sad. Best DX was ZS1. Most contacts to TX and OK. Got 2 VE1 Q's and VE1OP wasn't one of them, go figure! See you in the next one Rich VA1CHP ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VA3DF Class: SO Mixed QRP Total Score = 33,390 First day was rough, heard lots of DX but not many qsos. Second day was the opposite. As usual, it's a jungle out there when you run qrp! 73, Doug VA3DF ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VA3EC Class: SO CW LP Total Score = 1,824 Steady power line noise of 20dB above the noise floor ever 1KHz really sucked the fun out of this. The up side is my noise level is 10dB lower than VE3HG who is all of 360 meters away. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VA3KA Class: M/S HP Total Score = 40,320 Only a few minutes here and there this year. Was so slow Friday night thought I would try the assisted category (well M/S in this contest) as I knew I was not going to have much time and wanted to maximize my multipliers. First time using N1MM (and the bandmap function, kind of interesting). No EU, 1 AF (3XM6JR), HI (AF7DX/KH6),a couple of ZL's (ZL1AIH, ZL6QH, ZL2AWH and a bunch of Caribbean and South America round out the DX. Hopefully better next year! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VA3RJ Class: SO CW QRP Total Score = 4,840 Always an interesting band, full of surprises. Rig: Elecraft K2, hamstick antenna on 4th floor apartment balcony. Thanks to all for the QSOs! 73, Dave VA3RJ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VA3RKM Class: SO CW QRP Total Score = 2,340 K2, 5W, vertical with parasitic director. Harder work than last year. Thanks for the contacts! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VA7ST Class: SO CW LP Total Score = 18,908 A lot of time spent calling with no answers. Found V31JP in the final hour but no takers after that. Finished with far fewer mults and Qs than ever. NO VK/ZLs heard, though I listened and called in their direction. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VA7XX Class: M/S HP Total Score = 31,920 Not too many singals up this far north. Pretty much all on a north/south path. Ran single Op assisted to put me into M/S cat. Hope I helped a few others. Looking forward to next year if the solar cycle starts on its new upward trend. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE1OP Class: SO CW LP Total Score = 19,008 Good thing I had other things to do this weekend..!!...Not much propagation, except for a few openings here and there...An all CW effort here, although there seemed to be more SSB stations audible than CW... Over 1/2 of my QSO's were either TX or OK...Only one VE worked...No East-West paths at all...Glad this is the worst it gets... 73, Scott VE1OP ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE3DZ Class: SO Mixed LP Total Score = 127,664 Part time again this year. Lots of things on "to-do" list before X-mas. Nice comment from one of the W6's: "Did everyone move to Ontario?" Way to go, CCO! Gear: FT1000D, Dell Inspiron 1300 laptop (only USB ports), RigExpert 2.2 USB interface, MixW2.17 software. Antennas: TH6DXX at 60', MA5B at 30'. Thanks to all for QSOs! 73 Yuri ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE3FH Class: SO Mixed LP Total Score = 11,424 From here sounded like a CA/AZ QSO party. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE3JAQ Class: SO Mixed LP Total Score = 7,144 Could only spend a few mintues here or there. Family committments at this time of year. Most of the time I was running <50 Watts with an old FT101ZD I restored just for fun. Nice front end on the 101ZD no issue with close in interference with other CCO'ers. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE3KZ Class: SO Mixed HP Total Score = 227,930 Lucky to get almost 2/3 of last year's score. The 5el at 50' just didn't seem to cut it and the 3el at 100' was frozen SW and the wind howled all weekend so even turning the other was problematic. The 3el(stripped 1966 TH6) performed great going west come daylight! Wide enough Beamwidth to catch FL to BC! Nice turnout from CCO. Way to go guys! Next year it gets better !? 73 Bob VE3KZ From now on ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE3NE Class: SO CW LP Total Score = 57,028 Brrrrr.....yak.......:-) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE3RCN Class: SO Mixed LP Total Score = 2,890 6x better than last year. (Must mean that I worked 6x less than last year on that weekend). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE3SY Class: SO SSB HP Total Score = 21,632 Was only able to fit 3 hours into the test however good conditions with a few African and Australasia contacts. Interesting how selective some of the westerly openings were producing short term paths to individual states. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE3XD Class: SO CW LP Total Score = 22,880 Time limited to 6 hours this year but maybe that wasn't such a bad thing given the conditions. I started out Friday night planning to operate QRP but after working only 12 stations all local CCO members I decided to switch to low power on Saturday morning. Propagation was very selective. There would be few signals and then for a while a bunch of MN would come in. Then KS or TX would repeat the phenomenon. DX was tough to catch. I heard VA3PL, from across town, work an HK quite easily but when I tried he wasn't even hearing me. On the other hand ZL6QH was booming in like a local and got him immediately. Worked a good number of NY on back scatter, mostly with very weak signals as I'm sure mine was as well. Thanks to all, 73 of the season. Don VE3XD ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE6CNU Class: SO CW LP Total Score = 3,520 I wasn't planning on doing this contest as I never hear anything on 10m (even though I have a TH6 at 40'). I listened at the start and heard nothing. I listened several times on Saturday and heard nothing. Then, mysteriously on Sunday afternoon, I heard signals on 10m! I found a spot to call CQ and in about 1.5 hours I managed my 55 QSOs. This about equals the number of 10m QSOs I've had in the past two years! Then, just as sudden, the band dropped out and silence again. The only stations I heard (and worked) were two from New Zealand and after a few minutes even they died out. I'll have to try this contest again next year, as there is only one direction to go! Thank you for the couple of spots and hope to see everyone in the RAC winter contest later this month. Jerry VE6CNU ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE6EX Class: SO CW LP Total Score = 29,540 Wow!!: That was kind'a grim was'nt it. The contest was a series of catching a few openings and working Q's that were ESP. Very casual few hrs effort here at VE6EX. Kinda feel guilty about it. Pretty well all North/ South. The first