SS CW Soapbox built 1-14-2007 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AA1K Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 3,720 W2VJN in Oregon was best DX of the hour! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AA4GA Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 132,246 no vo ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AA4LR Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 2,700 Equipment: A3S/A743 @ 15m Elecraft K2/100 w/ KAT100 Comments: Knew I could only be part-time, since I was recovering from a bad cold earlier in the week. Figured I'd work some Saturday evening, then finish up on Sunday afternoon until the end. Barely lasted and hour and a half in the chair Saturday. Sunday, my crazy friend Jim invited us up on the lake, and that is something my family couldn't turn down. So there went that plan. Had moderate success calling CQ on 40m. Band started to go pretty long by 0030z. See you in the Phone portion, hopefully with much more operating time. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AA4LR1 Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 2,700 Had to re-do this because the score form burped. Suffice to say I had planned to put in about 10 or so hours on this contest, around all my other activities. I had been coming off a cold earlier in the week, so I only lasted about one and a half hours on Saturday. Sunday, my friend Jim invited us to go boating on the lake. That's an invitation that the family just doesn't turn down. So, there went all my Sunday operating time. Managed to call CQ for a while on 40m. By 0100z it had already gone a bit long. Curious moment was when I was calling CQ SS, and had been on frequency for a half hour or so, when an EA7 opens up with CQ DX right on top of me. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AA5B Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 176,800 Another field day style operation. As of Friday afternoon, my only antenna was an 80-meter inverted L. By noon on Saturday I had the rest of my antenna farm in place: 40: Inverted vee, apex at 55 feet on a push-up mast. 20: Inverted vee, apex at 45 feet on a second push-up mast. 15: Inverted vee, apex at 35 feet on a fiberglass pole lashed to my deck. Really gotta get a tower in place next year. Now that the landscaping at the new house is just about done, maybe I’ll get started on the station. Interesting problem: Something in the audio system was picking up the AM broadcast station about a half mile away, so I was treated to easy listening muzak in my right ear all weekend. It was A. Relaxing (“KKJY, soothing music for your busy day!”), B. Challenging (try copying QRP exchanges through Sinatra), C. Annoying (see C), D. All of the above. Just as in many previous years, I felt like stopping a few times or maybe just putting in a part-time effort, especially Sunday morning, but kept going anyway. I’m sure many of you have felt the same way at times. My wife’s advice after listening to my grumbling during a break: “No one’s holding a gun to your head, ya know.” Oh yeah? The club needs my points! Gun or no gun, it was fun in a warped sort of way. Glad I stuck with it. 73, Bruce, AA5B at arrl.net ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AA9DY Class: SO Unlimited LP Total Score = 46,360 * First time in SS-CW, and also first time Working All States in a contest. Now I can follow up with my WAS-CW endorsement. * Missed ARRL Sections: NNY, ON, MB, NWT * Managed to load up 80m into my 40-thru-2m vertical antenna with an external tuner and crack off a few Q's. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AC8E Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 62,900 Missed WTX, WY, ND, NL, NT, PR. Stop #2 on my annual CW SS tour, operating from 0300z to 0830z. I had my best qso from here - KL7WV calling in on 80 meters. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AD4EB Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 160,000 MB was the final holdout, finally found VE4VV on 20 meters Sunday afternoon. This was my first ever sweep. After reaching 1000 QSOs, didn't have the motivation or energy to run the final hour. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AD6WL Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 38,720 This is the first time I made a clean sweep. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AD6ZJ Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 22,704 On some Friday morning advice at breakfast I decided to blow off the WAE-RTTY contest and give the CWSS a try. Yes I could have done both but why make it work? Had to fit the contest in around many family obligations. I got off to a rocky start with my 3 year old at my side needing attention and not having my contesting program set correctly. The first 25 or so Q's took for ever... Then I got into the swing of things and the rate was getting better, then I noticed my son had stepped out of the shack and was sitting in a pool of mud. In the process of getting him out of the mud he got me in the mud... After cleanup and putting him to bed, I got back in the shack too late for more 20M so I was on 40M till I ran out of gas and ended withh 100 Q's and 50 mults (this was my goal for the contest). Sunday morning I woke up several hours too early for church so I deceded to work a few more. Ended up getting lots more. After church I hit the contest for one last go and picked up some needed mults. All together I still got about 16 hours in. Loads of fun as my first QRP entry in any contest. Why QRP? Because I had never done a contest QRP. Will I do it again? Likely. 73 DE AD6ZJ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AD8J Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 128,960 Lucked out and got all the hard sections in the first few hours. Only had one section (SBar) to find on Sunday. Had three of them call me within 15 minutes on Sunday morning for the sweep. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AE6Y Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 52,164 Very little time to operate, due to work commitments (and having taken off a week to do CQWW SSB at P49Y). Lots of good rate when you are only on for 4 hours on Saturday evening and Sunday morning! 73, Andy, AE6Y ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AJ1M Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 89,120 Had Fun... My First Sweep!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AJ6V Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 170,880 Made the sweep about halfway into it. That's the earliest I've ever swept. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AJ9C Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 178,880 Wow the gods smiled upon me and I was relatively unmolested by qrm most of the contest. The absolute best score I've ever had in cw ss since 1974 and the first time over 1k Qsos. Thanks to everyone who stopped by. cu in ssb! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AL4T Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 56,640 My first SS - and a Clean Sweep to boot! Like some others, I was suprised at some of the mults - KH6, DE, ND, SD, early, LA, AR, MS, not until mid-afternoon Sunday. Who knew? All S&P - I have been sans radio for most of the last year & 1/2 due to deployment to Afghanistan (I'm Active-Duty Army). I had a blast. GO PVRC! 73, Brad AL4T/W4 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0AV Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 111,706 Missed AK - heard a few but couldn't get. New K2 was a real pleasure operate. And tried N1MM as logging software. I'll use it again. 73, Alan K0AV ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0EU Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 199,520 Excellent conditions although 40 and 80 seemed noisier the second night. 20 and 40 were the place to be. Never could get much rate going on 15M, even though I tried many times. Good to see the only section I missed last year show up in droves - worked 4 North Dakota stations. Got the sweep at 07:46Z compliments of VE6EX so all I had to worry about was rate from then on. Many thanks to VY1JA for being there on 15M. Thanks also to Derrick VE4VV for representing VE4 so well. Murphy still paid a few short visits, mysteriously locking up my computer five different times (running TR-log Version 679) just as I needed to send a report to a station worked on the 2nd radio. Taking time to reboot, plus lost QSO's were probably just enough to keep me under the magic 200K point barrier. Guess I'll set my sights there again next year! Thanks much to all who participated from GMCC including W0ETT, K0AV, W0ZA, KO7X, and KR0U. I'm sure I left a few out. With 23 different stations logged from Colorado, I seriously doubt that anybody missed it for a mult! 73 Randy K0EU ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0HC Class: School Club HP Total Score = 173,280 It's always fun to put K0HC on the air representing the Hesston College Amateur Radio Club. A number of new students interested in helping with the SSB SS team this year, so I'm now busy "recruiting." Hope to work you all again in two weeks! 73, Bob, w0bh ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0HW Class: SO Unlimited LP Total Score = 72,352 I tried to exceed my past entrys in this contest and I don't know if I did or not. It was tough the last 3 hours, I even tried CQ'ing for a change. I heard but did not work ND and QC. I did not find LA and NL. It is always fun to work Paul N4PN and John K4BAI because they always great me by name. One station did great me but he named me as CHAS which he got me confused with W0HW. This was probably my last try at unlimited as I never turned the amp on and I really didn't find many mults using the internet. I will see you all in the phone SS in 2 weeks as long as my voice stays with me. Writelog, ICOM 756PROII, Hygain TH11DX dipoles on 40, 80 and 160 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0OB Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 167,638 Set up: Radio 1: Mark V Radio 2: 1000D SO2R box from Array Solutions Antenna's: Force 12 C3 tribander with one 40M element All band folded dipole 80 meter dipole Software: TR 6.74 Missed MB and the sweep. It's tuff here in MN to get MB since we only have a couple of bands where it's possible. I heard VE4VV on 20 but, the piles was big and obnoxious and VV was weak here so I had no chance at A power. Ditto on 40. After the contest I got on the cluster and did a SH/DX VE4. I only see VV and XT were spotted. How can a place as big as MB have only two guys on?!!! See you in phone from the mighty KT0R! 73, Greg K0OB ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0OU Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 162,720 Never thought I would see a contest where I would do as well on 80 as I did on 20. Must have had fun, I stayed at it for 24 hours. Since my neighbor, KB0VVT, is off at college, I was able to put in a full effort withouta KW a block away. It was fun to hear her at the helm of W1MX, tho. Didn't pay much attention to the cluster, but it did help me find Jay for the sweep Sunday evening at dusk. I had tried to get the "hard ones" early on Saturday but Jay was weak and the pile unruley, so I figured I would get him later, but then there were no spots or noise from up north until Sunday evening - had me worried. Great fun - think I'll do it again in a couple of weeks. CU all on SSB. Thanks again for the Q's 73 de K0OU Steve in MO ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0RC Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 85,020 I missed MB and NL. Heard VO1HP but couldn't bust the pileup. Heard VE4XT in last couple minutes on 80m but he was S&P and pretty weak into MN at that time. There were lots of ND stations this year! Murphy tried to get me... but I overcame the intermittent right angle connector on the back of the rig. I thought the antenna or coax had an intermittent but the problem followed both 40m antennas with different feedlines. I finally reach around the back of rig, jiggled the coax and found the issue. Four times when I kicked into Keyboard CW to send greetings to club members, the software blew up on me and required a restart. This bug needs to be fixed! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0SR Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 202,240 First HP CW SS in a long time. Sundays get tough on us OT's. 73 Steve K0SR ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0TG Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 31,992 Just a bit of time here and there. Lately something always comes up on the CW weekend. Missed most of the 20 meter action due to schedule. Better luck next year. 73, John K0TG ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0TO Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 166,374 I was totally surprised by the 15 meter opening during the first hour and also on Sunday. The number of contacts on 20m and the signal strength of a lot of the East Coast signals well into the evening on 20m was a surprise too. I did hear noise on 80 meters on Sunday and it seemed as though propagation was long on 40 and 80 both evenings. I would appreciate it if someone would bail out the VE4's before the next SS. I can only conclude that they all were at a 'wild party' on Friday and had been incarcerated by the RCMP during the weekend. Oh well, maybe next year. Tod, K0TO ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0VBU Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 132,088 Trusty old 940S, TH6DXX@50', 40M Dipole at 20', G5RV @ 20'. I may be overestimating the wire antennas heights...but I've got the 'high angle' going here! XYL attended a conference out of town, and left me alone for the whole contest. No shack visits with meals or random snacks. But I didn't starve. I had to pass the refrigerator every time I ran upstairs to check the beam's direction..rotator works, but doesn't indicate. I just couldn't trust myself holding down the lever and counting - 1 mississippi, 2 mississippi....Jeez! I didn't answer the phone this weekend, and I'm glad all those messages on the machine were automated election campaign calls instead of irritated neighbors.. Never really got 40 going. It was extremely noisy Saturday. Very happy to nab 79 mults before bed at 0800Z Sunday a.m. Strangely, neighboring MO was mult #78. Tuned the usual freqs for J, but must have not been the right times...Other 'rare' mults came in multiples. Lots of KS this year! Always great to work old friends, but I'm glad to hear some very good ops with 21st century checks.....This continues to be my all-time favorite contest! Thanks to everyone! Bill, K0VBU ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K1BX Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 166,400 I think I won the Single Band category for 80 meters. IC-775 80 Inv V @60' 40 2 el wire beam @ 45' 20, 15 X7 @ 60' N1MM, WinKey USB I knew 10 more Qs could mean a lot in the final standings. But I had to realize I was already up > 225 Qs over last year. Mostly due to a radio with real filtering. Also due to operating the first 12 hours and then little sleep. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K1EP Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 4,554 I oreated from my car, sometimes mobile. Sorry for the weak signals. And sorry to a couple of those stations out there that I couldn't come back to because the battery on the car died! Apparently one of the current draining accessories was on and I didn't know it. I did manage to get the car started. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K1HT Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 113,880 The level of activity from NE and ND was amazing. In my part-time effort I was disappointed to miss NL and NT, but not surprised. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K1KI Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 8,610 All QSOs on 160m. Suspect a serious "single band" 160m effort might generated more than 200 QSOs... :^) -- Tom ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K1PQS Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 93,940 Missed AK,ID,MB. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K1PT Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 191,840 A personal best ever SS score. Thanks for the Q's. Great operators but a few need to fix their key clicks (GGGRRRRHHH...) Rain over the weekend tempoarily cured the S-7+ powerline noise I've been suffering with, thankfully. The utility company is scheduled to do a permanent fix next week. Force 12 C31-XR tribander and shorty forty on 60 foot tower on 1/4 acre lot. Salt water all around helps a lot. FT-1000 and Omni-6+ 73, Paul K1PT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K1RX Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 213,920 Activity was definitely up. Hopefully my suggestion to the YCCC got a few more out that might have done otherwise! I only checked 160 M in the last couple of hours - found a quick 11 Q's. 10 M was completely dead here. 40 M from the east coast is the money band - really helped to have both 40 M yagis pointed west for this one - seemed to make a nice difference. Is it true, Randy, K5ZD may hang this one up?? Doubt it! Hey, what's 30 years anyway? Had 79 sections by the time I went to bed Sunday morning (2:30 AM) and when I did a bottom to top sweep of 20 M around noon, heard my neighbor (N1IX) calling in some pile up around 14.007. Listened more carefully and found Jay, VY1JA. My buddy worked him first, then I called and got through! Did better than last year in terms raw score (about 100 more Q's) - great fun and the operating quality was excellent. It still annoys me about the leading Zero thing in the numbers - why bother? I supposed if we were handing out decimal type serial numbers this might be helpful! But I am sure it is some software related problem. Thanks everyone for such a great time! 73, Mark, K1RX ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K1TN Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 106,650 LP, one dipole. Missed NWT (heard once on 20 just as he was leaving, never heard again -- drat). Lots of activity "below 025;" found several juicy multipliers there. Only once did a digital station fire up on top of me. Jim Cain, K1TN ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K1TO Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 57,524 Fun run! First Q at 2335Z Sunday and never left that freq. 00Z clock hour was 129, proving that being fresh meat can be fun. Unlike the Sprint, code speeds rarely exceeded 34 WPM, making the exchanges tedious at times. Amazing to have 73 sections call in - only missed DE, WTX, WY, MB, NWT, VI and AK. KH6NF called in plenty loud at 0146Z which looks to be about 2 hours before sunset there. No QRN here and 40 stayed short (plenty of GA stns called in), making condx ideal. Not sure I can ever go back to the full 24-hour tedium again! Looking forward to being at PJ4A for WW CW with K4BAI and N4TO, running M/S. 73, Dan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K1TR Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 143,622 IC756P3 A3S at 90' and low wires for 80/40 Never heard NWT but had duplicates of all other sections. Most fun code practice opportunity of the year! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K1XM Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 146,940 Checking out the Elecraft K2, notebook computer and keyer that I plan to use from 6V7D in the CQWW CW. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K1ZZI Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 90,080 Running QRP was a brutal experience in learning patience! I waited what seemed forever to finally work VO1HP for NL to make a sweep. Thanks to everyone for YOUR patience and good ears in giving me a QSO! FT-1000MP - N1MM Logger Antennas: TH7 @ 100', 40M 3EL Telrex @ 90', 80M delta loop (apex @ 90') and 160M V @ 90' ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K2QO Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 441,000 First big QRP effort from the new QTH in FN03. Not bad for a dipole and HF2V, the latter which was installed the morning of the contest. Good thing too as it played very well. With 2 hours to go, I gave up hope on a sweep as I NEVER heard AB, MB or SB. Heard a pileup on NWT and sat in many pileups for AK, but my 5W was not enough. Maybe next year.... Bottom line; it was a good contest for the bottom of the solar cycle. 73, Mark K2QO/qrp ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K3LR Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 7,740 Single band 20 effort with a dipole at 15 feet. Lots of fun working SS stations! See you in CQWW CW in a few weeks. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K3STX Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 74,228 My first time real effort from my own home, but still limited time due to family duties. Had a blast, hopefully next year I will not miss the first 6 hours of the contest. paul ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K3WA Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 149,120 It's over. Heard lots of our little pistols just chewing up the air waves! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K3WW Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 100,000 Pretty fast sweep, CQed up a SB for #80 at 0537. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4BAI Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 125,424 FT1000MP, AL811H, 500 watts output, TH6DXX, zepp and dipole on 40, inverted vee lying on the house on 80. Arrived home from San Francisco after the contest started on Sat. Slept about 4 hours. Played a tennis match Sunday afternoon. So, a part-time effort. Band conditions seemed pretty good except for heavy QRN on 80 on Sunday evening. Didn't hear any activity on 10 with limited listening. Was called by YI9DXX on 7030 at 0145Z Sunday evening. Imagine it was WA4PXP operating the remote station. Quite exciting for a new band/country. Thanks for the QSOs. Hope to work you all in CQWW CW from PJ4A. 73, John, K4BAI. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4EA Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 118,658 A very limited effort. Bad line noise on 15 and 20 kept the rate down. Missed VE4! I saw latter that VE4VV was on but not at the same time as I! Worked two stations in NT. Neal, K4EA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4EJ Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 68,320 FT1000MP, 100W, CUSHCRAFT AP8A VERTICAL! GREAT SURPRISE TO FIND N4OGW IN MISSISSIPPI SUNDAY EVENING ON 40M FOR THE SWEEP. 73 / OJ - Frank (K4EJ) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4EU Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 130,240 Thanks for the Q's. 73....//Steve K4EU ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4FXN Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 150,560 You would think I would learn not to chase multipliers in the SS (except for VY1JA). 80 was a little rough but the rest of the band were great from here. FT-1000D X-9 @ 40 ft Dipoles and Inv L My best score in years. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4IE Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 93,444 Couldn't do an all-out effort again this year. Maybe next time. Saw some really big scores this year in my catagory so may not have done well anyway. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4LT Class: SO Unlimited LP Total Score = 30,400 While I sent B to indicate High Power, that was the INTENDED class, knowing that you are supposed to list the highest power used. I never got the amp in line, but I did submit as high power, but again, never used more than 100 w. Also, I looked at packet a couple times to get the VE4 at the end for the sweep, so technically, it is Single Op unlimited LP. Not a big enough score to worry about the category! It was my first sweep in 8 years. Fun! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4LW Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 19,152 Very part time effort. Having a meaningful exchange to complete makes this one of my most fun contests. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4OD Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 37,950 Like a few others, I wasn't in this year for points but rather for the sweep. It didn't happen though. The elusive NL, and NT, along with DE, QC and LA. Heard Delaware just before the contest started but couldn't find him later. Rig in use was a Drake C-Line and a new dipole at 65' God bless Drake for making filters available like the 500Hz, and 250Hz jobs! Though in many contests before, this one is a personal victory for me in CW SS. Most sections ever worked and most points ever scored. Friends like N4PN are also very hard to find! :) Gordon - K4OD Real Hams Glow In The Dark ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4RO Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 123,520 I don't know who that was operating at N0NI, but I suspect that they cleaned my clock big time. No three-peat for me. Of course I had to keep plugging away at it no matter what. You just never know. Sweepstakes is not about quitting for me. It's my one "big chance" to compete. The bands were in fine shape, and the station played great. My new antenna "Nexus" really made a difference. Now I have to get used to operating with many more options. The hardware is still ahead of the greyware. Here's a photo of the switch: http://www.k4ro.net/k4ro/nexus/K4RO_Nexus.JPG I didn't get off to a great start, and I even felt a little rusty for the first hour. I had a footswitch (used for RX audio focus) fail in the first five minutes, but I managed to repair it (while still operating.) Huge thanks to Tree N6TR for updating the TR-Log software. It worked extremely well the whole contest. I still prefer TR-Log for serious SO2R CW contesting, and am grateful to Tree for spending more time with the code. Heard a zillion NCCC and PVRC stations out, and a good number from TCG, SECC, SMC and surrounding clubs. Thanks to everyone who tried to get a club member on the air for SS. The toughest moment was when I first tried to work VO1TA. I called, and got a response. Then there was QRM and then I fumble-fingered something and changed bands on the radio accidentally. By the time I got back there was no sign of Wayne. That led to my most aggressive S&P ever, and four hours later we managed to connect. Thanks OM, and also W8IVF/VE8 who was a real shocker! It's the second time I've made the sweep QRP. Thanks to all the CW SS players who make this so much fun. 73 -Kirk K4RO ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4TD Class: Multi-Op HP Total Score = 204,160 My thanks to Jim, VE7ZO and Doug, NX1T for all their hard work. The three of us had a great time doing this contest as a Multi-OP. A special thank-you to all those who worked (and spotted) us this weekend... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4TX Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 48,576 No pressure - pure casual and fun FT-1000mp, AL-1500, Hexbeam @ 30', 80/40 inv vee @ 35' ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4WI Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 40,800 Funny how every year the last ones are different.. SB was the last of the lower 48 and AK ended up #80; MS and KY just before SB.. Got ND and SD in the first hour... go figure! 73's Cort K4WI ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4XU Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 167,520 Another year with Murphy. Spent an ineffective hour about 0330 Saturday working SO1R while repairing the other Omni 6 after an error on a band change left it without a bandpass filter. They don't like more than a watt of input.... Glad I had a few spare PINs. The half square beam on 40m was working until wind and the damn squirrels cut the halyard. What is it with these NW arboreal rodents?!! 40m went long early so I spent more time on 80 which was quiet and quite productive. Was there an SWF Sat night? The LF bands were sagging until about 0530 when the rate suddenly shot up to 70/hour. No sign of life on 10m but 15m was fun. I found the pile on VO1HP but he was really weak. Checked a bit later and couldn't even hear him. Darn, another year with 79 mults. An hour later I came back and he was S-8 and got him first call. Then I realized that I was using the the 40m vertical on 15m... That's the second radio ant! I heard some huge A-scores and amazing sigs from QRP W7GG and N0SS and N0NI. It will be interesting to see how the QRP shootout shakes out. 73, Dick ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K5AF Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 67,192 Great 15M conditions for the start of the contest, personal best first hour. I knew from the start that this would be a part-time effort, so it became a great opportunity to shake the cobwebs off the rig, antennas and operator. Generally, everything was working well, but about three hours into the contest, I noticed my number one radio was jumping in frequency as I keyed it. I also noticed intermittant hum on receive. I tried to work several stations, but often I was moving off their frequency as I sent the exchange. Sorry about that! It turned out to be a loose coax barrel connector, it was made of nickle or some other mystery metal, and was acting as a diode at times. It caused a mismatch and RF in the shack. When I tightened everything down, the problem went away. Good lesson! Overall, I was quite impressed by the band conditions and the activity levels. Missed some low-hanging fruit as far as multipliers were concerned, but was really in it for the fun anyway. I had hoped to try out a new antenna, but still have to put a few finishing touches on it before the Sprint and NA. Thanks for the Qs. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K5KA Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 180,960 Great conditions and participation. It was nice to work several checks of 05 and 06. Thanks to everyone for getting on for the Granddaddy of Domestic contesting. I am in the process of adding historical information to the SS Records page on the ARRL web site and it should be available by year end. 73, Ken K5KA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K5KG Class: Multi-Op HP Total Score = 172,480 Had a sweep at @0526z, 519 Qs. Last two sections worked were WCF and PAC. Worked two NT stations, W8IVF/VE8 early on and VY1JA later. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K5NA Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 224,960 Wow! Conditions were really good and there seemed to be a lot of stations to work this year. But maybe my station improvements are finally starting to pay off with better scores. This year was a personal all-time best for me in SS CW. I had been improving my QSO totals slowly the past few years with 1261, 1265, and 1275 QSOs. When I hit 1300 QSOs this year, I was really surprised. And then getting to 1400 QSOs was a really unexpected thrill. The multipliers were all worked early allowing me to concentrate on QSOs. I found VY1JA on 15M with the second radio during the third hour of the contest, then the other multipliers called me. At 0900Z I took a sleep break with 79 multipliers in the log. The only one I had missed was KP4 and I was beginning to wonder if KE3Q had cancelled his KP4 operation. But early the next morning I found WP3R on 20M using the second radio. Later in the day as the QSO rates fell and I used the second radio more, I heard him many, many times. I noticed that my score breaks the old STX CW SO HP record; but I guess glory is brief. Congratulations to N5RZ who set the new record from K5TR with a much greater score. Nice going Gator. Dare I hope for a top ten finish? I hope saying it doesn't jinx me. The last time I managed a top ten CW SS finish was twice in the 1970s as K5PFL. I was a lot younger then but it was just as hard. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for this one. Thanks for all the QSOs guys. 73, Richard - K5NA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K5OT Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 81,440 Family priorities created a part-time SS effort for me this year. However, no complaints. I enjoyed the first part from home (SO1R/wires) and creatively worked some additional QSO's from my truck (a la KT5J) later in the contest. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K5TR Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 232,480 Better condx and activity than in the past few years. Several hours approaching 50 on Sunday. 40 & 20 were the workhorse bands. Congrats to all the big scorers. Thanks to George for use of his fine station, and thanks to all for the QSO's. 73, Gator ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K5YAA Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 114,550 Had 79 sections worked in under 9 hours. Looked for NWT the rest of the time. Jay may have been around but didn't hear this year. All other sections well covered this year with multiples from every one. The SS does indeed revive the past what with all the CKs before 75. A fun contest especially using SO2R and trying to keep a run frequency. Heard some outstanding Q counts around the country. K5YAA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K5ZD Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 216,000 I think I worked two of every section. VE4VV provided number 80 on Sunday morning. Excellent conditions all weekend. Nice to see 40m with relatively short conditions all night. Absolutely no noise here in New England so working 80 and 40 was a pleasure. Tried something different for off times this year. Operated the first 12 hours without getting out of the chair. Then 3 hours off for sleep. Then back on for 9 hours with no breaks. So operated 21 of the first 24 hours. It always seems like the hours from 23z to 02z are always terrible from here, so decided I would stay on as long as the rate was over 30 per hour. Ended up burning 3 hours of off time in the last 5 hours of the contest, which seemed to work out OK. We have less and less of the old timer traffic handlers every year. Kudos to those who organize their clubs to make a big effort. Also thanks to all of the QRP stations who join in. The quality of operating from everyone was superb. Only a few people didn't know what PR or PREC meant! :) This is my 30th consecutive year with over 1000 QSOs. I think it is time to hang up the streak. But you never know, the lure of SS CW is strong. QSO/Sec by hour and band Hour 160 80 40 20 15 Total Cumm Off Time 2100Z - - - 25/14 64/23 89/37 89/37 2200Z - - - 56/15 30/6 86/21 175/58 2300Z - - 32/4 46/6 - 78/10 253/68 0000Z --+-- --+-- 80/4 12/0 --+-- 92/4 345/72 0100Z - 6/1 73/1 3/0 - 82/2 427/74 0200Z - 11/1 73/2 - - 84/3 511/77 0300Z - 7/1 84/0 - - 91/1 602/78 0400Z - 18/0 59/1 - - 77/1 679/79 0500Z - 24/0 36/0 - - 60/0 739/79 0600Z - 21/0 23/0 - - 44/0 783/79 0700Z - 38/0 13/0 - - 51/0 834/79 0800Z --+-- 11/0 23/0 --+-- --+-- 34/0 868/79 6 0900Z - - - - - 0/0 868/79 60 1000Z - - - - - 0/0 868/79 60 1100Z - - - - - 0/0 868/79 60 1200Z - 31/0 18/0 - - 49/0 917/79 2 1300Z - 7/0 30/0 11/1 - 48/1 965/80 1400Z - - 23/0 26/0 - 49/0 1014/80 1500Z - - 32/0 5/0 - 37/0 1051/80 1600Z --+-- --+-- 27/0 5/0 5/0 37/0 1088/80 1700Z - - 21/0 9/0 4/0 34/0 1122/80 1800Z - - 3/0 32/0 - 35/0 1157/80 1900Z - - - 33/0 5/0 38/0 1195/80 2000Z - - 3/0 29/0 3/0 35/0 1230/80 2100Z - - - 9/0 12/0 21/0 1251/80 32 2200Z - - 7/0 7/0 3/0 17/0 1268/80 38 2300Z - 8/0 9/0 3/0 - 20/0 1288/80 16 0000Z --+-- 1/0 3/0 3/0 --+-- 7/0 1295/80 43 0100Z 4/0 21/0 16/0 - - 41/0 1336/80 3 0200Z 3/0 - 11/0 - - 14/0 1350/80 40 Tot: 7/0 204/3 699/12 314/36 126/29 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6ANP Class: Multi-Op HP Total Score = 135,200 Had a great time. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6CSL Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 31,682 Station Equipment as follows: ICOM IC-707 Transceiver ICOM IC-730 Transceiver 2 MFJ-949E Tuners MFJ Model 481, 2 channel Grandmaster Memory Keyer Bencher Paddle Panasonic C-27 Toughbook Computer with N3FJP Logging Software. Antennas: #1-A 14ft high by 27ft wide Delta Loop, radially mounted on the back wall of my mobile home.(I live in an antenna restricted mobile home park in Riverbank, CA) #2-An Indoor Coaxial Diploe that runs the length of the center beam of the mobile home. #3-Anapproximately 10ft square horizontal loop that is mounted on the ceiling of the radio room. This station is pretty primative by most standards but this is a most enjoyable contest, my 57th SS CW since I was first licensed, at age 9, in 1949. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6CTA Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 76,304 Thanks for the Q's! 73, Ed - K6CTA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6GEP Class: SO Unlimited LP Total Score = 17,220 I really haven't been a fan of SS in the past, and have never entered before. Since I have an antenna on 80 now, I hung out there to pick up some new states for 5BWAS. For a 100W station with a low wire, I found the N3FJP software to be a valuable tool in Unlimited Mode. Condix were great, and could just pick up sections one by one. Ended up with 70, which seemed good to me. Missed VT, NNY, NLI, WNY, LA, NE, ND, NL, MB, AND NT. Hopefully, I will have my multiband dipole up at about 60 feet just in time for next week's contest. I will probably try another part-time effort. Tim K6GEP ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6III Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 75,208 Missed NL. All H-n-P except for last two hours when I tried some runs. Must have sent a thousand spots to keep the bandmaps full. 400w, Force12 C4 and wires. Someday I am gonna have to hook the PC up to the rig for keying. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6JEB Class: SO Unlimited LP Total Score = 59,444 Search and Pounce all weekend. Surpassed last year, but didn't make this year's goal. Let's see what SSB weekend brings. Tip for next year: get your keyer messages set up well in advance. NCCC has practice sessions on Thursday nights. CA QSO PARTY will helpget your Sweepstakes chops up. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6LA Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 222,080 So I have a great clear frequency on 15m in the middle of the trenches that I'm warming up with the paddles a few minutes before the contest starts. The clock rolls over to 2100Z and I hit F1 ... and NOTHING happens. What? The paddles are working through the multi-keyer. The computer was sending CW a few moments ago. ARRGGGG!!! A reboot of Writelog solved the problem, but the clear frequency was lost. And, the first 3 minutes with no QSOs. Well, it did get better. Despite the slow start, I was able to put 3 consecutive 100+ hours in the log and the rate kept in the 80's for the next 3. Usually I suffer a much steeper dropoff after the 1st few hours. Murphy did revisit during that time. Both 87As started flipping into standby reporting filament current problems. I wound up turning them off, letting them sit a few minutes and then powering back up (the longest 3 minutes in ham radio.) The problems went away. Bottom line was this was over 20 QSOs better than my previous best claimed score - and without any QSOs on 10 meters. While conditions were good, they were also strange. I was hearing CA stations on 15m & 20m louder than on 40m. All 3 bands were wide open to the entire US, sometimes at the same time. 80m went long early also. The sweep was in the bag a little before 0500 Saturday evening and the last section was SDG! I could have worked W6YI in SDG on 15m earlier in the contest, but decided to wait until the rate slowed down. EVERY section called ME. I found VY1JA on 15m about 2 hours into the contest, but W8IVF/VE8 called me later. I took 4.5 hours off straight at night and actually slept well, needing the alarm to wake me up. While I felt well rested and not tired Sunday afternoon as a result, that was probably my biggest mistake. I should have gotten up an hour earlier and skipped the last hour of the contest as I only made 21 QSOs. See you from VY2TT for the SS SSB. 73, Ken, K6LA / VY2TT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6LL Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 215,040 The bands, including 15, were all great from here, thanks to the new sunspot that rotated into view just in time for the weekend! There was no trace of the loud QRN on 80 that was reported by N2IC, about 400 miles east of me. It's nice to see that Steve's station is working well. It was also nice to see KO7AA (WB0O) doing well at his new station near Tucson. My rate sagged a little in the second hour, I think because I stayed too long on 15. The band was good, but most people had moved to 20. When I worked N6RO four hours into the contest, Ken was about 50 Q's ahead of me, which gave me quite a scare, but I managed to catch up later. Unlimited Class used to be a poky little backwater category, but competition is sure heating up with N6RO and now K3MM in there. I guess I was tired on Sunday afternoon, because I got disconnected from the Telnet node at about 2 p.m., and didn't reconnect. I just thought the spotting activity had slowed down - duh! I've got to do something about the little A3 Tribander that I use for so2r on 10, 15, and 20. It just is not loud enough to break the packet pileups. I had to manually switch the six-pack to get through, and it's only a matter of time before I accidentally do a hot-switch and fry something. I'd like to have a nickel for every time K6RIM beat me out in the pileups. Those pileups have grown substantially in the past couple of years as the popularity of the Unlimited Class grows. This year, as recommended by K6LA and others, I didn't use a database to fill in the check and section. Hopefully my logging accuracy will show an improvement. I tried to be extra careful to verify information this year, and feel good about the accuracy of the log. We'll see how that turns out. At least I didn't type NT for North Texas, losing six qso's for that (logged as Northwest Territories) like I did last year! I also lost some Q's last year for operating overtime, and I was careful about that too. I think my noise-proof headphones (see cq-contest archives) really helped on copying the weak ones. The only noise I could hear was my own heartbeat, and I was able to sychronize my heartbeat to copy QRP'ers info! I did have one little problem with the headset though, As the ear muffs compressed over time, the little speakers inside got too close to my ears, and a loud signal would cause the speaker to actually touch my ear, giving it a nasty 500 Hz buzz - ouch. I had to pluck out some foam from behind the speakers to get more clearance. All in all, not bad for a tribander/shorty forty at 48 feet and a couple of 15 year old TS-850's. Thanks for the Q's, and see you on SSB! Dave Hachadorian, K6LL Yuma, AZ HOUR 80CW 40CW 20CW 15CW TOTAL ACCUM ---- ------ ------ ------ ------ ----- ----- 21 0 0 0 106 106 106 22 0 0 0 73 73 179 23 0 0 82 4 86 265 0 0 20 56 0 76 341 1 2 84 0 0 86 427 2 11 64 0 0 75 502 3 8 53 0 0 61 563 4 22 39 0 0 61 624 5 11 52 0 0 63 687 6 28 38 0 0 66 753 7 35 23 0 0 58 811 8 25 13 0 0 38 849 9 0 0 0 0 0 849 10 0 0 0 0 0 849 11 0 0 0 0 0 849 12 0 0 1 0 1 850 13 0 8 15 0 23 873 14 0 13 34 0 47 920 15 0 0 43 6 49 969 16 0 0 18 24 42 1011 17 0 0 13 27 40 1051 18 0 0 16 27 43 1094 19 0 0 27 14 41 1135 20 0 0 13 30 43 1178 21 0 0 31 13 44 1222 22 0 8 28 0 36 1258 23 0 0 31 0 31 1289 0 0 14 15 0 29 1318 1 0 26 0 0 26 1344 TOTAL 142 455 423 324 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6LRN Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 110,400 Thanks to all for Qs...great to see ops that I've worked in SS over the past 51 years. Some of the high spots...getting called by VO1HE to complete sweep-thanks!! Finding J at the beginning for NT-thanks!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6ME Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 20,976 This was my first SS CW operation and log entry. Most of my operation was hunt and pounce for sections. I heard all the sections but couldn't bust 4 of them with my 80 watts. Hope to give the SS SSB a try even if just for a one day operation. I obviously need to improve my antenna system and get the rust out of my ears. 73: K6ME, Terry Cobb Sr. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6MM Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 129,280 Need more VO1 stations for the SS-SSB contest. I was one of the lucky ones to catch VO1HP in the pileup :} Thanks for the QSOs..73, John, K6MM. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6NV Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 77,520 This was my first really serious effort on SS CW, in the past I have been out of town this weekend. These totals are my all time high. As luck would have it, during WW SSB my neighbor called and said I was blasting her out on 15m, until I get her problem figured out I choose to limit my effort on 15m, I believe that probably hurt some. Here in the evenings 40m has been really bad, Sat evening had a very high noise level, but 80m made up for it. I also noticed that until it got dark even though I could hear people on 40m I just couldn't get anything going- gotta get that low dipole up higher. I also had a guy send "please copy.......", then a guy spelled out his call. Those "whisper" QRP guys just killed me off, tough copy for me. I had a couple of good runs on 20m with my rate meter showing a sustained rated of 40-50 per hour for a couple of hours, after that my brain was totally fried. Then, what happened the last few minutes on 80, with still 4-5 minutes to go it just went dead, nobody answering my CQ's. Overall a good time, missed the sweep by 3 (when I check the log I believe I will pick up at least 1 more section). "Hats off" to those who put together the pre-fills, what a great tool that was and not that many changes were necessary. The station performed very well, the Thursday night NS pratices have sure helped to fine tune that part- now to get my brain tuned better...... FT-1000MP AL-80B, 700-950w out TH-3 @ 60' in the trees Inverted vees for 80 and 40, 160m slopper that also works well on 80m. Writelog with an ancient Dell PC running Windows 98 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6SU Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 79,474 K6SU was my Saturday operation sharing the W6YX station location and antennas with the W6YX Multi-op (I had my own radio, amp, and computer.) My connection to the big 20m yagi wasn't working, but that was nothing compared to the problems W6YX had when their radio stopped receiving. I kept my operation going while they tried to fix things and eventually swapped in a different radio. I couldn't get my rate up as high as I'd like, runs seemed pretty short, had to change frequencies often to avoid qrm. I started on 15m for an hour, then spent a little over 3 hrs on 20m, a quick run up to 80m, then 40m and 80m for the rest of the evening. I stopped just after midnight as the rate was falling, I had made my target of 500 Qs, I wanted to save energy for my second operation on Sunday, and still had to swap radios and setup for the Sunday HMO op by N7MH. The first 70 mults all came to me, or were easily found as I tuned looking for a clear CQ frequency. I then jumped to spots for the last few mults, but if there was an NL on Saturday he didn't call me, and in the evening I never saw a spot to chase him, so I ended at 79 mults (just fine). Equipment: Yaesu FT-1000MP Alpha 78 amp Antennas: Tribander: Force12 C31XR at 60 ft 15m: 6-el at 75 ft, 5-el at 25 ft 20m: 5-el at 36 ft. 40m: 4-el yagi at 65 ft, and inverted vee at 55 ft. 80m: inverted vee at 55 ft Writelog QSO/Sec by hour and band Hour 80 40 20 15 Total Cumm D1-2100Z - - - 69/28 69/28 69/28 D1-2200Z - - 50/25 1/1 51/26 120/54 D1-2300Z - - 49/9 1/1 50/10 170/64 D2-0000Z --+-- --+-- 55/5 --+-- 55/5 225/69 D2-0100Z 13/1 - 15/1 - 28/2 253/71 D2-0200Z 2/0 47/6 - - 49/6 302/77 D2-0300Z 1/1 43/0 - - 44/1 346/78 D2-0400Z 22/0 16/0 - - 38/0 384/78 D2-0500Z 40/1 - - - 40/1 424/79 D2-0600Z 2/0 40/0 - - 42/0 466/79 D2-0700Z 21/0 15/0 - - 36/0 502/79 D2-0800Z 1/0 --+-- --+-- --+-- 1/0 503/79 Total: 102/3 161/6 169/40 71/30 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6TA Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 196,160 Thanks for the wonderful hospitality (and the big station) of Ken and Kay Anderson, K6TA and K6KO. They really know how to treat a guest operator right! I used packet full-time this year (Unlimited category) for the first time and fell victim to the famous "Single Operator Distracted" syndrome, as K3WW coined the phrase. I should have ignored packet for the first seven or eight hours and run rate, rate, rate. But then again, I was delighted to have a clean sweep only five hours into the contest. (Of course, I worked numerous duplicate multipliers later in the contest when they called me.) I also discovered just how huge some of the "packet pileups" could be in SS when I was just looking to work a new QSO from the packet list when CQing dried up. It was also delightful to hear all the NCCC members on during the contest. Thanks for all the spots, guys/gals. Now it's on to phone SS in two weeks! K,D & 73, Dean, N6BV ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6UFO Class: SO Unlimited LP Total Score = 74,560 K6UFO was my Sunday operation from my house with my usual equipment and antennas. I was low power here, as the neighbors are close and have had problems before. I got up early enough (15Z) to run for an hour on 40m, then to 20m, then to many pleasant hours on 15m. Eventually as the day ended I had to go back to fight the QRM on 20m and 40m with only LP. As usual, more than 70 mults just called me or were easily worked as I tuned the band. Then I watched the spots a little more carefully, and I had all 80 done by my sixth hour. With higher power or a second radio I might have made my target of another 500 Qs, but activity seemed very light in the last few hours, so I ended at 466 Qs. Starting with a new call on Sunday keeps it interesting enough that I put in a whole 12 hours, and I'm sure the big guns were glad I showed up with a new call on Sunday for them to work. Equipment: Yaesu FT-1000MP 100 watts. Antennas: Tennadyne 6 el Log Periodic up 40 ft wire loop and tuner for 40m and 80m. Writelog QSO/Sec by hour and band Hour 80 40 20 15 Total Cumm D1-1500Z - 53/23 - - 53/23 53/23 D1-1600Z --+-- --+-- 44/26 4/1 48/27 101/50 D1-1700Z - - 4/1 52/14 56/15 157/65 D1-1800Z - - 5/5 46/6 51/11 208/76 D1-1900Z - - 12/2 33/0 45/2 253/78 D1-2000Z - - 23/1 5/1 28/2 281/80 D1-2100Z - 20/0 4/0 10/0 34/0 315/80 D1-2200Z - - 45/0 - 45/0 360/80 D1-2300Z - 1/0 25/0 3/0 29/0 389/80 D2-0000Z --+-- 11/0 12/0 --+-- 23/0 412/80 D2-0100Z - 29/0 - - 29/0 441/80 D2-0200Z 3/0 22/0 - - 25/0 466/80 Total: 3/0 136/23 174/35 153/22 To everybody on both days, Thanks for the contacts! Mark K6SU and K6UFO ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6VVA Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 83,680 2006 CW SS for me can be best described as Operator Abuse, and my Occupational Hand Therapist is going to kick my butt today when I confess to her what I did. Even with a new Ergonomic keyboard, I am not supposed to be on the computer for more than 15 minutes at one time. So my plan was to operate 15 minutes on and 15 minutes off, although wasn't sure I could even make my minimal goal and pledge of 400 QSOs for the NCCC. I was not looking forward to another SS from this Little Pistol Contest Station RF-hole location, so I did a mental paradigm shift Saturday Morning to approach things as if it were my very first SS. That helped TREMENDOUSLY! When the checkered flag dropped, I got caught up in the excitement, and decided to keep operating with several 3 to 7 minute mini-breaks each hour. Working a couple of my usual most difficult or missed mults in the first few hours fueled the excitement. I decided things looked good enough to make a run at my first ever Clean Sweep. Thank God for packet in this endeavour. Power outtages in this rural area are frequent, and since the power went out Friday afternoon, I put the Honda EU2000i, a couple of gas cans and a long power cord on the front (concrete) covered porch just-in-case. I also arranged for my neighbor to come over and pull the starting cord for me if needed during the contest. That's what neighbors are for, right? However, during my first smoke break on the front porch, I forgot about the generator until realized I was standing right next to the gas containers with a lighted cigarette. Duh! Although I did some of my hand & wrist exercises while the computer sent out my exchanges, in the 3rd hour things got painful. I kept pumping leftover Halloween candy, Pop-Tarts and all sorts of other non-organic food into my system every 20 minutes or so to keep the sugar buzz energy going. The mults kept coming so I stayed at it PAINFULLY until Midnight and dropped into bed with a swollen forearm. Not good. At 7AM the Operator Abuse continued in spite of the pain and swelling, but mults #78 & #79 called me on 15m in the next hour. The adrenalin was flowing heavy, but also departure time for Church (or not) kept approaching rapidly. Then I saw the post for mult #80 - VO1HP on 15m who ranged from 339 to 559 with a big hill in that direction. So I made a deal with God ... help me work VO1HP and I'll definitely go to Church. I expected a lightning bolt to zap me right then! After 59 minutes of getting squashed in the pileup, Mult #80 was finally in the bag for I think my first Clean Sweep ever. Of course I dropped to my knees and gave TNX, and headed off for Church. Coincidentally, the sermon dealt with setting priorities, time management and changing eating habits! No surprise. The rest of the Contest and evening was spent on the couch with an ice-pack on & off and just plain sleeping. Fortuntately, the swelling has gone down and minimal pain now after a decent night's sleep, but would I abuse myself again for another Clean Sweep? YES, YES & YES!!! 73 & Tnx for the Q's & Mults & the Clean Sweep... Rick, K6VVA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6WWW Class: SO Unlimited LP Total Score = 39,116 lotsa fun. did this totally with 100 watts and -- literally -- a wire on the roof of our city apartment and a tuner. objective was sweep without packet. switched to unlimited category after the first 70. should've done that sooner and prolly got the sweep (missed AR, QC and NL). 80m bit (RF stayed inside the apartment), 40m had TVI, 20m getting into the neighbors cheap sound system downstairs pretty much assured a hip-hop free weekend. 73 / robin / K4VU/6 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6YT Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 184,800 What blast! Great conditions all weekend, no power failures, no station failures. Thanks to a new TR-Log 6.85 Beta, which worked flawlessly, the weekend was more interesting than usual, especially Sunday. I had a horrific first few hours with rates barely at 60/hour due to terrible intermod in the radios. There always enough strong signals within a few Khz that obliterated the passband for any target signals less than S6-8. It was worse on 15 and 20 where my numbers show the story. I couldn't even pounce on running stations because I couldn't copy the exchange through the intermod. Back to the previous radios for Phone. I was very impressed with the quality of fills, and I got lots of practice asking for fills! Almost everyone just sent the single exchange element that I asked for and they only sent it once (unless I asked for more than three times when some people then sent it twice). 73, Ed - W0YK ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K7ABV Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 37,620 playing with new logging program, plus loads of family staying here, still, here hi...so time very limited to what i could sneak away with...had fun tho as usual tnx to all for the numbers ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K7BG Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 193,440 Deederdeet deederdeet. It's still ringing in my head. I only went through about a six pack of diet Dr. Pepper over the weekend. I think a few more rounds might have helped the last couple hours which were rougher than I had hoped. I think the noise on 80m may have given some of the usual fresh meat a reason to do something else with their Sunday evening. It really is fun, in a twisted sort of way to scrounge the contacts on Sunday afternoon. It is this craziness, I think, that makes the flavor of SS so uniquely, tortuously enjoyable. This was the first SS where I had all 80 mults in the bag in the first ten hours which was before my first break and hitting the sack. Last one worked was VE6EX. Worked multiple contacts in all sections except VE4 and VE6, but I heard another station in each of those secs that I didn't get into the log so there were multiples on from all sections. I gave a thought to starting on 15, but decided on 20 due to the larger footprint available. I only made 2 contacts on 15 on saturday, those being VY1JA and KL7. I had my little tribander pointed NW and I tuned for loud sigs on 15 while running on 20. Sure enough I ran across them early on and it worked as I had hoped. Quite a surprise to have W8IVF/VE8 call me on 80m late the first night. Must have worked a half dozen MAR stations, those guys were really going gung ho. The wind blew here all weekend and I found I had an intermittent in one of my 80m slopers. It just happened to be the one most used, that being the SE one. I could see my power jumping up and down from 50 to 100 watts as the wind blew the loose connection around. The additional noise that created didn't help either. The topband activity hour yielded a half dozen QSOs. The first ever in a SS for me. Looking at the log I worked K1KI, WA1Z, AA1K, and K1LT out east and a few 6's and HEY, I know I worked W2VJN in Oregon, but I must have somehow erased (F11ed) him from the log... what in the blazes! Write it off to operator fatigue..ggrrrr. I know I got my low power britches dusted by at least 2 or 3 stations so I hope those guys get on here and post there scores so I can pour another glass of Doc Pepper and then cry in it. Actually, the only time all year I drink Dr. Pepper is during the actual SS contest so I might have to cry into something else. Thanks to all the clubs and great operators who get on each year. All the best, Matt--K7BG ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K7GK Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 189,920 Because of my fondness for a certain logging program that doesn't run on Windows XP, I had to use a laptop that's not a part of Brad's station setup. This meant destroying the beautiful new operating position arrangement. I’m sure it was tough on Brad, who put so much effort into creating it. The unanticipated side effect of this was to reveal itself later. In the first couple hours I was off to a decent start, even though I had a feeling that I wasn’t doing as well as I could. When it was time to go to 40, though, my computer seem to have lost its mind. It was obvious that RF was getting into something. Trying to figure what it was led to a break during the productive time and had quite a discouraging effect on me. After a break things were going again, but my CW sounded choppy and sometimes the messages were coming out wrong. My apologies to those I worked during this time, it must have sounded weird. Some time later I realized that a good candidate for causing computer/RF problems was the keyboard extension cable. After I took it out and plugged the keyboard directly into the laptop CW manipulation problems went away. Another word about that keyboard, though. It’s one of those shortened versions of a full size keyboard where the arrow keys sit right next to the other keys and are arranged in a weird way. Brad’s desk has a special cutout for it and it really looks great. A realization came to me about 8 hours before the end of the contest when it was too late to do anything about it – these weird arrow keys have been killing me all contest long! I type a lot at work and I’m really used to a normal keyboard, so having this unusual key arrangement made me look at the keyboard every time I pressed an arrow key. It really can break your rhythm. During the slower part of the contest, I tried my best to catch up by working two radios as hard as I could, but you just can’t make up rate when you mess up early. As others noted in their posts, it’s been a rough weekend here in the Northwest weather-wise. S-8 noise on 40 and S-9 on 80 made for some challenging hours. I must have been somewhat alligator-like on those bands. Last 4 sections worked were SK, RI, MB and PR. 73, Denis – K7GK ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K7MI Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 193,440 A repeat of last years SS. Hit by strong winds and heavy rain around 0300Z Saturday night and the 40M rate went from 100 per hour to 24 per hour in a matter of minutes due to S9 precip static which lasted for about 4 hours. Was able to make up some of the lost Qs on Sunday but you can never totally make up for lost time on Saturday night. My apologies to those I could not pull out of all that noise. Hopefully the WX will cooperate next year. 73 de Larry K7MI ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K7MM Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 109,120 Third consecutive QRP Sweep! First time with SO2R; it was somewhat distracting but fun. However, I'm listening to the other radio while I am sending CQ, as well as while I am sending my exchange to you. Therefore, dear operators, I need your help in shifting my attention to your report. Please return your exchange in the following format: " QSL NR ......" Then, you get my attention, and I don't have to ask for fills on your exchange number (which I had to do many times). The very little bit of time saved by not "prepping" me for your exchange by blasting away with your number-pre-call-yr-sec, without even a "QSL," is not worth the time saved. The goal is communication, and sometimes you have to make sure the other person is ready to listen. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K7NV Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 119,360 Thanks for the q's and time consuming fun! 73, Kurt ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K7OX Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 186,560 Conditions seemed pretty good except for high winds ( Gusting up to 64 MPH ) and lots of rain outside. 15 was open but not strong here in the Pacific NW. Final two sections were NL (VO1HP) and VT. Surprised to work two NT sections while CQ'ing on 80. Had 13 dupes and just worked them rather then a "B4" this happens when my friend Allan KO7X in WY is on. Thanks for all the Q's and nice to work old friends who are still there in my favorite CW contest. 73 Gary ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K7QQ Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 167,520 Really ruff Rain static for lots of the time, record rains for the NW. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K7RE Class: SO Unlimited LP Total Score = 148,160 Decided to try the U rather than Q category this year. I can only run a maximum of about 400W here, so I was at somewhat of a disadvantage TX power wise compared to others in this category that can run the maximum power. Still, had a good time, and enjoyed playing with the latest crop of new antennas here set up for this year's contest season. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K7UT Class: Multi-Op HP Total Score = 180,000 First time for cw ww multiop at NI7T in Price. Station is coming along nicely and will be great fun to improve and enjoy over the next few years. Mike is working hard to build a fine station and Jim and I appreciate the hospitality and use of the station. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K7WA Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 32,630 Thanks for the QSOs! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K7XC Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 70,152 My First Q was with VY1JA, Thats not a bad way to start! Almost Had a sweep too... Needed DE, Found AA1K on 160M, He Had My Call, We were in the middle of the exchange and the contest ended!!! Does that count as 79 1/2 Mults? Equipment Description: IC-746, 80W, 160M Inv L @ 35', 80/40 Inv Vee @ 30', 20M Inv Vee @ 35', 2 Ele tribander @ 20'. See You On SSB! 73s de Tim - K7XC - DM09nm... sk ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K8AZ Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 77,420 Last full time stop on my SS tour, 1900z to 0130z. Missed Delaware. This was the closest I've ever come to a clean sweep on my tour. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K8BL Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 141,280 ARRL SWEEPSTAKES -- 2006 Call: K8BL Category: Single Operator Power: Low Power Band: All Band Mode: CW Section: OH BAND QSO QSO PTS SECTIONS 160 14 28 - 80 413 826 - 40 232 464 - 20 182 364 - 15 42 84 - 10 0 0 - ----------------------------------- Totals 883 1766 80 Score: 141,280 Power Output: <150 watts Hours of operation: _20_ Equipment Description: IC-775DSP; 80 & 40 DOUBLE BAZOOKAS, 160 INV L, 20/15 4EL TRIB @ 50' Club Affiliation: NORTH COAST CONTESTERS This is to certify that in this contest I have operated my transmitter within the limitations of my license and have observed fully the rules and regulations of the contest. Signature ____BOB LIDDY - K8BL_____________ MAILING ADDRESS: BOB LIDDY K8BL 7234 ENFIELD DRIVE MENTOR, OH 44060 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K8CC Class: Multi-Op HP Total Score = 202,080 Station: 2 x FT-1000D, Henry 2K3, 40M 4-1000A, 20M 3-1000Z, 15M 3-1000Z, 10M 2x3-500Z Antennas: 80: dipole, 4-square 40: 2xdipoles, 3L 20: 5L/5L & 4L 15: 5L/5L/5L & 4L 10: 5L/5L/5L We always look forward to SS CW. This year, we got to share its mysteries with SS rookie KK8I/DL2HBX, who joined K8BB and I for the first day, then went home and operated Sunday from his home QTH. Usually, from W8 in SS the big story is 40M. However, this year it was 80M. We went to 80M at 2345Z (which is early for us) wedged ourselves in on 3538 and stayed there until 0830Z. Activity on 80 seemed much higher this year, perhaps because 40 was so stinko (at least for us). 40 seemed to be plagued with slow QSB all Saturday night - for example, we'd hear a big gun W7 well over S9, and two minutes later he'd be barely audible. One thing which did not help this was having to do without our big 3L 40 yagi for most of the contest. Back in August, the rotator started having trouble maintaining it's grip on the mast, so we put some clamping bars on it to hold it in place due west and save the coax. However, unnoticed by us was the fact that the wind had turned it to 60 degrees, which caused much confusion amongst the operators. However, it did raise VO1HE on the first call in the pileup Saturday night. On SUnday, K8CC climbed up the tower to tighten the rotator and remove the clamp bars and all was back to normal. The packet-induced pileups on new stations Sunday night were unreal! You would have thought Heard Island was underneath the mess. This is the seventh year (out of the past eight) that we've done SS CW multiop. Our goal all along has been to beat the existing MI multiop record at 1253 x 79. We've finished ahead of that score twice, only to lose out in the log checking. We'll see how we fare this year... 73, Dave/K8CC Don/K8BB Uli/KK8I ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K8FC Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 122,880 What started out as a test run using N1MM turned into a 21 hour marathon. Did not get the sweep until late on the second day. Lot of fun, congrats to all the skilled cw ops out there. Joe K8FC ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K8FU Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 120,640 My first SS CW was as a Novice in 1973. I was hooked on Domestic Contests.In the first 11 yrs in Ok I operated with wires only.This year gave rise to a new antenna system here on the "Lily Pad" A Rohn SSV @ 120' with a FM MonstIR On top and a 4l SteppIR fixed @ 40' toward Philadelphia. A second tower is a Hy-gain 52' crankup with an Optibeam 7-3. An 80m dipole is mounted between the 2 twrs with the feed point being roughly 100'. The day before the contest I discovered the Monstir was inop so had to rely on the dipole for 40m but fed both the SteppIR and the Optibeam simultaneously. Now in roughly 25 SS CW contests I have NEVER achieved a sweep.This yr with the new antennas I had all 80 in the bag after 12 hrs. The most difficult sections from OK are VE8, KL7, and PAC. What really blew my knickers in a twist was that ALL 3 sections called me.(VE8-2, KL7-5 PAC-2) for my first sweep. In celebration of this crowning achievement in my SS life I'm gonna pay the bucks for the cup and sit it on top of the radio where I'll see it every day. Der Frogmeister........Ribbit............Ribbit..........BOHICA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K8GU Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 34,560 Thanks for the QSOs! 73, --Ethan, K8GU/9. http://www.k8gu.com/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K8IR Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 108,072 Conditions were good. I matched last year's score by 2230 Sunday. The contest came to an abrupt halt at 0118 when the Hard Drive in the laptop decided to quit. Fortunately, it decided to work long enough to get the files onto the main computer. Missed VE4. I heard the VE4VV pileup on 20 Sunday afternoon, but I was too close for the propagation. Seemed like there were a lot of QRP'ers this year. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K8MR Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 75,614 Missed NL, AB, NT. Stop #3 on my SS tour, from home 1230z to 1815z, plus 0205z to 0300z Sunday night. Radio #2 (40 meters) was a TS-830S, celebrating 25 years on the air. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K9AY Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 65,416 First contest from the completed new QTH -- bare bones and part time. One radio, one amp, one antenna (no towers yet). About 8 hours in the chair. 73, Gary K9AY ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K9ES Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 10,608 Radio - IC756 Pro-2 Antenna - GAP Challenger (20 / 40 M), 4 Square (80 M) Software - N1MM Very limited time to operate. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K9GY Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 89,628 First time since 2002 that I was able to be back in IL and do sweepstakes. Nice to work all the contesting friends in radio land. Put up a 40m dipole about 3 ft above the roof of the house. Not sure how I missed SC ? I can understand WY and NT. Tough to sit all weekend when my work job is sitting all week too! Maybe this should be multi-op as the cats were in the shack most of the time. Interesting trying to work a contest when a cat is laying across your arms, hah! Glad I kept plugging away during Da Bears game as they lost! Da Bears! So which club will win the gavel this year? Only time will tell... Best of health to all, Eric ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K9JK Class: Multi-Op LP Total Score = 338 It was rough running mag mount antennas at HF, operating IN my pick-up truck (but parked in the driveway), and CW SS was probably NOT the place to try it. Thanks to those who heard me and I REALLY apologize for how rusty my CW was. Where were those segments where the CW speed was supposed to be a bit slower? I sure didn't find them but I DO appreciate those ops who at least were sending slow enough that I could get their calls and then QRS'd even more to match my straight key speed when they replied. And hey...SOMEONE has to submit the lowest score ;-). 73, JK ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K9MMS Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 56,000 Spent most of the time searching (80% S&P) for sections to get a sweep. It took a long time searching to find the last section (VE4). Worked two VE4 stations the last 40 minutes of the contest. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K9MU Class: SO Unlimited LP Total Score = 41,870 Part-time effort. Missed MB :( Heard VE4VV and VE4XT but couldn't break the W6 piles they had with my wires and LP. 73 'till SSB weekend. Justin K9MU ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K9NR Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 154,080 Worked a VE4 in the last ten minutes for a sweep! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K9NW Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 182,400 Sweep was in the books at 0249Z Saturday evening.....pretty sure that's the fastest I've ever achieved that! A timely pass across 20M in the second hour netted virtually all of the "typical" tough sections. Last three were WTX, PAC, and UT. See y'all next time......thanks for the QSOs! 73, Mike K9NW ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K9UIY Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 150,080 Found conditions to be quite good...all bands, except for the few times that I checked 28 mHz...noisy & few sigs on the band. Otherwise, another great time and special thanks to Jerry, WB9Z & Lori for letting me barge in and use the station. Next year...YEAH!!! Can't wait...it's always my favorite contest. Nice to get a sweep -- VE4 pile up on 80 M in the last 10 minutes was a big thrill...! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K9YC Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 139,200 My first sweep ever, my first from the left coast. It's a bit different from here, but no less fun. 73, Jim ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KA1ARB Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 29,156 I worked as much as I could, and I celebrated when my Sunday commitment fell through so I could work some more. My first "real" CW contest (other than "59 NC") since the Novice Roundup way back when - thanks everyone for all your patience! I wasn't even thinking about mults until I was nearing 70. Not a sweep, but ended up with 74. The low bands were great with very little noise here in NC. I spent Saturday afternoon and into the night getting up new dipoles for 40/80. I also got up a delta beam for 40, but in the dark I forgot to finish one of the connections for the reflector. Working hard to get everything done for SS Phone - see you all there! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KA9FOX Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 24,544 Too much family and work stuff going on to do this seriously, so mainly using this as a way to get my feet wet (again) with SO2R. Thanks for the Q's. Rigs: FT-1000MP, IC-746 SO2R Box: DX Doubler by Top Ten Devices Antennas: F12 C4XL @ 95ft (2 ele on 20m & 40m) F12 EF180C @ 100ft (rotatable dipole on 80m) Alpha-Delta DXCC @ 50ft (inverted vee for 10-80m) Pictures at: http://www.qth.com/ka9fox/gallery 73 - Scott KA9FOX ka9fox@qth.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KB7Q Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 102,346 K-2 w/ TH-7 @ 55' and trapped inverted "V" for the low bands. Surprised to find 15 meters wonderfully open both afternoons. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KB9S Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 92,114 Missed Ak for sweep. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KC4HW Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 19,032 Boy, I am not a CW op! My less than 20WPM speed was left in the dust by most ops. Some slowed down, other did not, guess that is the way it goes. Used the tribander (not rotating) and the 4BTV (not rotating HI HI) and a sloper for 80M. Thanks to all that tolerated my requests for repeats. Jim/KC4HW ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KC5R Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 121,212 You know, I didn’t start drinking until after the contest! Now that I’m good and toasted, here’s a report: The good: W5WMU decided to take a holiday (although I heard him on 40 just cruising around), but I found W5ZR on 20 to get my own section around 4 PM on Sunday (I owe you, bub). Otherwise, my XYL would have had to get her General on Sunday (she’s a codeless, and I’ll leave it at that). Turns out that VO1HP was about 5 kc’s up, so I got a “2-fer”. The goods news was that people seemed to be a bit more excited to work me without Pat around, with my “Big QRP” signal (sorry, my “Dits” are showing). As Mel Brooks said, it’s good to be the King….. The bad: I love hearing about all the NTs you all worked, but I never heard one. Maybe one of you guys who got 2 of them can slide my call under your Q (give him my NR 778 Q, 78 LA). Yes I’m kidding about that part (just in case the ARRL is reading)…but I never even heard one. I hope they all missed LA…. The Ugly: So Clemson got beat by Maryland. Big deal. My Buckeyes beat Illinois, yet I managed to work about 30 some stations from IL. Did all you SC stations have to boycott SS or did you get all tripped-out over your losses and couldn’t remember which buttons to push on the CW Keyboard? Yes I missed SC (and I never even heard anyone). So I ended up with a mult total of 78. So much for beaming east on 40. Finally, you know I like operating QRP because us TB-Wires guys and less can take a shot at the “big time”. It’s really a pooper when you hear some 4-tower station and SO69R guy turning the power down and rotating the otherwise Europe pointing array stateside, rather than running atleast “A” category. I guess I’ll have to escalate the “nuclear-antenna” war in the future. Maybe that is a little envy, but it would be nice to not find an Indy Car at the Nascar track…… In all seriousness (you can tell the buzz is thinning), it was great to have quiet bands on 40 and 80 on Saturday. 15 was a great opener. I never had an hour over about 58 QSOs, but I had consistent 30-40 hours throughout the contest until late Sunday. My best 2 hours were pouncing (I use both VFOs to search, but only run one TX). The activity on the air was good from my perspective as I put in a full 24 hour effort. The only bad spot was that the same folks seemed to be on 15 (the NCCC mafia) – maybe it was propagation, but there were far less casual operators from the west on 15 versus 20. Well before I get another drink, let me just add that the XYL commented upon how quiet this whole weekend was (I gave her the “unless my parents die…”, don’t disturb me speech) as I operated SS CW. However, I warned her that in two weeks that the situation may be a little different as I plan to operate QRP in “SHOUT-Stakes” Phone. Of course, I wont start until the OSU-Michigan game is over (hey-it’s #1 vs. #2). So please listen up for me then, so I will still have a voice left for Dayton. In the meantime, I suggested my XYL start listening to the code CD, just in case…. 73’s –Al KC5R ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KD2MX Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 41,760 Missed AL and AK for WAS. Alabama was annoying to miss and Alaska has turned into my WAS nemesis. In the year that I've been active from this QTH, I haven't even heard an AK much less been able to work one. I figured the SS would give me a chance but nada. Did hear one station work a KL7 but I could only hear a few distant dits. Aside from that, I really enjoyed the SS. Last year's SS was my first CW contest and I really struggled (used a straight key!). I was in much better shape for this year. I was almost skunked by VEs. Didn't pick up ON, QC and MAR until late Sunday. That was it aside from a few SKs. Didn't hear BC or MB. Still I was quite satisfied with 72 sections. All S&P, but I rarely had to hunt for a new station to work. Also, this was the first contest for my new 600ft. loop and it seems to be performing nicely. I was shooting for 300 Qs but a budding sinus infection forced me to QRT a bit early. Had nice openings on 15M both days with a pipeline into CA. Nothing heard on 10M though. 73 and thanks to all for the QRP Qs. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KD4D Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 191,360 Well, following in a long tradition of slow starts in Sweepstakes, I just couldn't seem to get any decent runs going for the first few hours, and never made up the lost opportunity. I never really felt like things "clicked"...There is always next year, though! :-) As an example, some "VY1..." called when I was running on 40 Saturday night. Excited, I spun the rotor dial - the wrong way! By the time I got the beam turned back around, the mysterious VY1 was gone. Thanks for trying - I suspect it was VY1JA. I didn't find Jay until Sunday afternoon, when he was 20 over on the low end of 20 meters. Got him on the second call at 22:51 - and the first one wasn't timed well on the second radio. Stacked monobanders are cool! :-) The last four sections were UT, NL, DE, and NT. Great activity. At least two of everything except NT. Thanks to John Evans again for letting me invade the "farm." I had too many antennas! :-) For some reason, I couldn't get the 80 meter CW inverted Vee working. I ended up using a 3-element yagi fixed on Europe. It worked pretty well, except for the Europeans who kept calling. This reduced the QSO total on 40. 80 was nice and quiet until Sunday evening when 80 and 40 developed loud QRN. Great fun as always. Good conditions on the low bands, so I expect some great scores. Congratulations to K3MM for an incredible effort! 2006 SS CW - KD4D @ N3HBX HOUR 80CW 40CW 20CW 15CW TOTAL ACCUM ---- ------ ------ ------ ------ ----- ----- 21 0 5 63 0 68 68 22 0 16 51 0 67 135 23 0 20 34 0 54 189 0 31 15 4 0 50 239 1 38 32 0 0 70 309 2 67 8 0 0 75 384 3 15 66 0 0 81 465 4 16 48 0 0 64 529 5 25 37 0 0 62 591 6 17 26 0 0 43 634 7 21 29 0 0 50 684 8 24 16 0 0 40 724 9 0 0 0 0 0 724 10 0 0 0 0 0 724 11 0 0 0 0 0 724 12 37 10 0 0 47 771 13 40 15 0 0 55 826 14 3 36 6 0 45 871 15 0 8 8 0 16 887 16 0 8 32 4 44 931 17 0 0 39 4 43 974 18 0 0 8 3 11 985 19 0 12 18 0 30 1015 20 0 33 8 0 41 1056 21 0 33 9 0 42 1098 22 0 8 5 0 13 1111 23 0 16 10 0 26 1137 0 4 8 0 0 12 1149 1 9 34 0 0 43 1192 2 0 4 0 0 4 1196 TOTAL 347 543 295 11 2006 SS CW - KD4D 1. Il 65 2. Scv 52 3. Va 47 4. Mi 47 5. Mn 40 6. Mdc 40 7. Oh 39 8. WWa 35 9. Nc 32 10. Wi 32 11. Co 31 12. In 26 13. Ep 25 14. STx 25 15. Or 25 16. Az 24 17. Tn 24 18. WNy 23 19. Em 22 20. NTx 22 21. On 20 22. Ga 20 23. Sv 20 24. NFl 18 25. Org 17 26. Nh 17 27. Ia 16 28. SFl 16 29. Ok 16 30. Eb 16 31. WPa 15 32. NNj 15 33. Al 13 34. Ks 12 35. Lax 12 36. Sf 12 37. Mo 12 38. Ct 11 39. Nm 10 40. Nv 10 41. ENy 10 42. Ar 9 43. Ew 9 44. Wv 9 45. Me 9 46. WcF 9 47. Sjv 9 48. La 9 49. WMa 9 50. Ky 9 51. Ne 8 52. NLi 8 53. Bc 7 54. Sd 7 55. Id 6 56. Mar 6 57. Sdg 6 58. SNj 6 59. Ri 6 60. Sb 6 61. Sc 5 62. Nd 5 63. Qc 4 64. NNy 4 65. Ms 4 66. Ak 4 67. Mt 4 68. Pac 4 69. Ut 4 70. De 4 71. Sk 3 72. Vi 3 73. WTx 3 74. Nl 3 75. Vt 2 76. Pr 2 77. Ab 2 78. Wy 2 79. Mb 2 80. Nt 1 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KE5C Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 41,400 I mostly want to apologize to those I left hanging when my computer locked up several times, and to those whose number I sent was off by one due to a logging setup error. I'll not submit a log so hopefully you won't get docked for my sloppy operating. Otherwise, I used a borrowed TS570s and operated casually out of necessity. After a while I opened up the radio to verify that a CW filter was indeed present. Give me a TS850 anyday (or better, give me two). Due to RFI problems, several of which I did solve during the contest, and a blown FET in my amplifier, power was 500 watts to a HyGain Explorer-14 at 45 feet and to a 120 foot long inverted doublet center-fed with twin lead for 40 and 80. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KF6T Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 183,200 Comments: Fun contest but hard work near the end. 15 and 20 were great! Pointed the beam north, tuned to 14027 (as predicted) and got "J" right away. Now where are the VO1s? Finally worked two so no panic about the sweep, just tried to keep some rate going. CU SSB Jack - KF6T ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KG5U Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 101,594 I was so psyched for this contest. AND, for a change, I was so ready for this contest. Tuesday, I fixed (yet again) the C3E driven element feed. A year or so ago, the element to boom rivets wallowed in their holes and the flexing ripped one of the balun wires from the crimp ringlug terminal. The problem reappeared: suddenly high SWR (4-10:1). I found one terminal loose, removed it, crimped on a new one. Beam played like a champ. I run RUFZ an hour a day. Wednesday, I set up TRLog. Using part of my TRLog config file from last year's SSCW, it was a snap. I played with it the rest of the week, refining it and my techniques. I stay up until 0200 CT to start sleepshifting. Thursday, I rewired/recabled and rerouted the audio feed from the DXDoubler to the two-speaker/headphones switchbox. I jerk the headpones cable taut much less now. I also put in an audio isolation transfromer between one radio's speaker output and the DXDoubler to remove some hum. Hum's gone, but the audio is way loud requiring the AF level be kept to nearly minimum--really touchy down there. But, I think I can live with it. I stay up unil 0300CT this day. Friday, I print out a new keyboard key template and tape it to the desktop directly above the keyboard tray. I re-read N6TR, K5ZD and N6TJ's contesting tutorials. I stay up until 0400CT Saturday, I turn on the radios, computer, and run TRLog. Everything works FB!! I get in another hour of RUFZ. I go to an early lunch and come home to take a nap. I just lie there thinking about the contest. 2030Z and I'm tuning 10, 15 and 20. 10's without signals. 15's active with signals from east and west coasts, and 20m is where everybody else is at. There are even sigs on 40m. Should be fun. Third contact and SWR goes crazy. Geez! I hit it with a keydown at 100w and SWR drops to nominal 1.5:1 and stays there. Just as the contest starts I notice I'm not hearing any audio switching when I'm transmitting on one of the radios--I should hear only the receiving radio while the other is transmitting. Flip switches on DXDoubler, no joy. I check cables blindly reaching my hand behind the unit and plugs are seated well in the jacks. Oh well. Press on. I'm rolling along S&P'ing my way across the band and about QSO 60, I am told by KZ1M that I'm a dupe. Huh? Tr says no. KZ1M says yes. I get him to work me anyway and then go offline and do some dummy dupe checks: W6oat, no dupe; K5ZD, no dupe, K1ZZ, no dupe and I KNOW I worked them on 15 not an hour before. I'm using a new version TR, so I move pertinent files over to the subdir with the old version I've used for a couple of years. Same-o, same-o. No dupes anywhere. I mull this over for a few minutes. I'm QRP. S&P is my bread and butter. If I can't dupecheck them, it's almost pointless to be here. I create a whole new SS log with just the basics to control the radios and do the exchanges. Dupechecks work. Now, to reload 80+ QSO's...I'm in a haze here. The contest clock is rrolling and I'm not making any Q's. Desperation sets and I start typing in the QSO's into TRLog. I've got the original log with the times, so I'll fix the times in the new log later. Just get the calls and exchanges in and get on with the contest! Not two hours into the contest and I've got an hour's off-time already. I can live with that. Actually, I don't even think about it. I just want to get back to making a QSo and looking for the next. Once the log is re-entered and make some dupechecks, I'm back to S&P'ing and even CQ'ing where I can. Life is good. Then, I notice the log time. that's not right. It's not 0600, it's only 0000Z. How'd that happen? How long has the clock been like that. Geez. Reset the clock with a note to remind me to fix the times since I restarted, as well as the times before that that were handentered. This is getting nuts. After a while, I can no longer stand the audio from the radio with the audio isolation transformer. For some reason, I had the good sense to install the transformer between a phone plug and a phone jack and not hordwire it in the audio cable. So, it was just a matter of ripping out...er, ah...unplugging the plug and jack and plugging in the plug from the DXDoubler. Hum was back, but it's tolerable given the better and finer control over the audio level. I'm still mulling over what I could have possibly done to disable the audio switching in the DXDoubler. I even reached behind, removed the two audio cables from the radios and plugged them into another pair of jacks adjacent to where they were originally thinking I may have mispatched them. Nothing. No change. Still hearing the left and right radios in the respective ears. I unplug and replug them back into their original jacks. Still no change. Strange. Oh well...live with it... Finally, 0900Z rolls around. But, because of the lost time early in the contest I press on for another 30 minutes hoping they will be productive and I can make up a little bit of what I missed. At 1215Z, my alarm goes off and I'm back in the seat at 1240Z. Missed by 10 minutes...Oh well, I've got coffee, my V8 and a Cliff bar to munch on as I work towards Sunday afternoon doldrums. Between QSO's, I do some calculations to schedule off-time remaining and when I'm going to take it. I was off for 3 hours, 10 minutes, so I have 2 hours 50 minutes yet to take off. Sunday morning, I'm CQ'ing on 20m and S&P'ing 15m--the rate is good...by QRP standards, that is. I'm having so much fun, I decided to take only one hour during the afternoon doldrums and another hour later. Midafternoon, SWR on the C3 goes crazy again. No amount of ramming it with all of 100W will bring the SWR back down. When this happens, 20-over signals drop to s1. Fortunately, I have a second beam hardmounted to the tower pointing Northwest. Amazingly, I'm heard well enough for stations to answer my S&P calls to them. For a few minutes I considered taking a break and runnning up the tower to do another fix on the antenna, but decided against it. I kind of wish I had. It was an absolutely beautiful day out with almost zero wind. Ah well. Fortunately, 15m is still active to the west and as it dies, 20m becomes more active to the west. By about 2200Z, I'm still looking for YT and MB. I find Ve4VV in a pileup. Thirty minutes later, he's in the log. Thanks, Derrick. But, still no VY1/VE8 heard. Shortly afterwards, I'm having small hallucinations...As I call a station, I realize I don't what to give him for working me and giving me his information. Fortunately, I know enough to hit return after he sents his exchange and TR does the rest, but I have this feeling that it's not enough. There has to be more I'm supposed to give him or it's not going to count. Fortunately, this feeling passes after about ten or fifteen QSO's, but it was weird as heck when it was happening. At 2330Z, I decide to take a 1.5 hour break and get back on for the last two. I go into the kitchen, make a sandwich, some cut veggies and an iced tea. I sit down on the couch and eat while watching a PBS program about great lodges of Canada. Suddenly, I open my eyes and it's PBS' Masterpiece Theater on the tube and it's dark outside. Huh? It's 0315Z!!!!! I fell asleep while sitting upright--that's a first--and with half my sandwich on the plate still in my lap. But, I missed the end of the contest. Geez!!! Well, it is said that God watches over fools, drunks and small children. Having been both of the first two at the same time more times than I care to admit, and the latter the first part of my life, He was indeed at work again. Had I taken my planned 1.5 hour off time and finished the last two hours of the contest, I would have done 25 hours of operating. I had neglected to realize that I had taken over an hour to re-enter the log early in the contest. That brought my remaining offtime to 2 hours when I took my last 1.5 hour break. Better to miss the last two hours of operating I suppose than get gigged Q's made for the 1 hour over. Monday, I checked out the audio wiring. All seemed nominal. I pulled and reseated the cables, turned on the radios, turned on and loaded TRLog. Audio switched as it should: while one radio transmits, the other's audio is in both ears. Oh well. I made up and taped a strip of paper to the top of the DXDoubler box indicating what cables go where. I also fixed the time in the re-entered portion of the logsheet from the old logsheet. I don't know what more I can do before a contest than I did for this one. This had to be the craziest and problem-ridden contest I've been in. I've been way, way less prepared for a contest and done better. Ah well....CQ WW CW is next, then ARRL 10. Bring 'em on! 73, dale, kg5u ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KH6RZ Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 100,646 Band conditions were great on 15meters, missed the NT section, we will be looking for him next year, Aloha, Fred W6YM/kh6 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KI9A Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 144,320 Wow. Decent condx, been saying for several years, this is about max Q's I can squeeze from this puny station. Holds true so far. Gotta figure something else out. Thanks for the fills, a baaad headcold makes for interesting times on 40 meters Saturday evening! Rig ICOM 746 Amp SB-1000 @ 600w Ant: G5RV @ 50', A3 @ 25' 73-Chuck KI9A ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KK8I Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 38,780 Very limited time, since I had used up this weekend's contest allowance at K8CC's QTH until 3:30am on Sunday. Still, the family allowed me to operate from home for some four more hours in total. Working with the Laptop only / no keyer resulted in some cumbersome repeat exchanges, because I am not that good at using NA's keyboard mode on an old 486 notebook. Still enjoyed my first Sweepstakes weekend. FT-1000MP, G5RV @ 35ft 73! Uli, KK8I ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KM0O Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 85,778 Missed: SB, MB, NL ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KN6RO Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 7,290 Just a couple of hours free time so I jumped on. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KN7NV Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 116,604 Many thanks to my friend Rod & his YL for this little experiment on Saturday! Great Fun! 73, Kurt ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KO7AA Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 197,920 I got off to a too slow start on 15, and just couldn't get into the SO2R after a long time away from it while building up the current station. This was the first real contest for my new antennas, they're great! (There is nice antenna photo on my QRZ.com profile). Thanks for the Q's! 73, Bill KO7AA in Tucson ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KO7X Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 151,840 I was beginning to wonder if I was going to get a sweep or not this year. I was down to two missing sections Sunday afternoon - Utah and Wyoming (of course). My neighbor, WC7S, did not seem to be active and I had not heard K7VU or any of the other stations in Wyoming who occasionally get on. Finally, K7UT called me on 20. He was weak but easy to work. I was watching the spots on the cluster and someone spotted K7VU. I managed to work Steve through lots of QRM. He said "TNX FOR WY". CU all in a couple weeks. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KQ6ES Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 51,282 Conditions seemed unusual, with more Qs than expected to the sections farthest from me, and some sections worked on 20m that usually come in only on 80m. I was very pleased with 77 sections, my best section total ever. Missed NL, NLI, and LA. I don't think I've ever worked NL in the SS. I'll be hosting W6IER multi-op in the phone contest. John kq6es Butternut vertical FT-1000MP ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KR2Q Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 84,056 First, I have to thank K2TTT and especially KU2M for helping me with the tower/antenna work immediately prior to the contest (like raising the beams within hours [minutes] of the contest). Had no antenna for 80m, so use the 160 wire fed with coax. Now that's really qrp! Hope to get my second tower "working" for CQWW (along with putting back my south antenna) -- all I need is time and a working left hand. This was my first time doing more than just a dabble in an SS (in over 30 years of contesting). Though only 18 hours, I had a good time. Could not believe the huge pile on VE4VV on 20m (one of two sections I still needed at that point). After listening, leaving, and coming back for too many minutes, I left for good. And, of course, I then found him on 40m an hour later, begging...one call qrp = NICE! Gotta love these guys with good ears. Only missed NT. This was also the first time I've used my Elecraft K2 under contest conditions. Great radio for crowded band condx! I was VERY impressed with the performance. The bands (esp 40/160) sounded very, very clean. Easy listening. It's a keeper. de Doug KR2Q ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KT0K Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 110,240 First clean sweep. Hard to believe that Vermont was the last holdout! Thanks to W1ECH for finally coming through! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KT0R Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 145,280 Good to be on for SS. Great to hear all the old friends in there. SS cw is kind of a bad weekend for me. My son's birthday is always that weekend. Ben is now 7 years old. We had a nice party for him. And my in-laws were in town from Flordia. So I didn't really get going until around 22:30 utc. Always tough to miss the fisrt few hours and try to play catch up. 20 was good, I just didn't think 40 was all that great. 80 saturday night was in great shape. The band was coast to coast so that is where I stayed. Nice to work NP2B for the 1st qso and get Jay VY1JA qso # 14. Was also nice to hear many ND stations on, where there was a lack of them last year. My last couple of mults were NLI,UT,DE,WTX and NL. Had all but NL Saturday night. Was glad to hear NL on Sunday on 15 meters. 15 meters was very poor, but it did give me PR,Vi,NT, and NL plus a few others. I really like that band but, no sunspots and that is all she wrote. On 20 I had a JA call in that was nice. SS is always a good time. Of course on Sunday I thought a few times, why am I doing this? Thanks to everyone and see you all in SSB. Vry 73 Dave KT0R ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KT3Y Class: Multi-Op HP Total Score = 186,240 80/40 m nw/se dipole, T VERT 40 E/W dipole, NE 4L beam 20 stacked dipoles N/S, E/W, 5L wire beam nw 15 stacked dipoles N/S, E/W 73 phil ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KT4PD Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 55,024 Used flag-pole vertical by Force 12. Missed AK, MB, NWT, and WCF(!). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KT4W Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 158,240 Thanks to N4RV for the use of the station. I've known Jack since our W3AU days in the 70s. This station has been my home away from home for years. This is my first serious CW SS since the mid 70s, and is a personal best. I'll need to find that SS Award from K4VX in perhaps 1974 to see what I did. My goal was 1000 QSOs, and I sent #1000 just as my time expired. There were a few dupes included, so the claimed shown here is a bit less. There were lots of stations to be worked, especially in 9 and 0 call areas. The bands seemed to have long skip all weekend. I don't recall 9 and 0 stations being so loud. I'll count them up later, but I believe the percentage of 1 and 2 call area stations is lower than normal. The New York City metro area is only 200 miles from the QTH in Northern VA. So, perhaps this flux level just doesn't give the required close-in skip to work a jillion 2s on 40 and 80. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KT5J Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 35,360 Family priorities created two part-time SS efforts for me this year. I worked the first part of the test from home and thought that was going to be 'it' for me. But then I remembered how K8MR does his multi-station SS road trip. Why couldn't I do the same - on a much smaller scale? I threw my laptop in the truck on Sunday afternoon and parked on a quiet ranch road near my son's home. I had a blast being 'fresh meat' on Sunday while listening to the numbers escalate for the big dogs. Thanks for the inspiration, Jim! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KT5X Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 82,720 First time to sweep at QRP power level, completed in 450 QSO's. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KT8X Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 117,710 Thanks again to Dennis and Stephanie for putting up with me. No NT this year, though I heard two of them. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KU5B Class: School Club HP Total Score = 50,560 My first sweep!! Great ops in this contest, was very enjoyable to work y'all. Couldn't get the cw interface to work so I hand keyed this contest, sorry to y'all that had no clue what i was sending. On behalf of Birmingham-Southern College, thanks for the Q's! I'll be back next year! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KU8E Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 132,480 Icom 756PRO - 100 Watts - Wires ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KV8Q Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 127,506 Finally topped the 800 QSO mark but still no sweep here. Never heard NT. All other sections were easy pick-in's this year. But wait, there is always next year, right? Thanks for the Q's & see ya'll in CW SS 2007. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KY7M Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 161,600 First CW SS I can remember where I worked two NT stations (and they called me). The challenge for the sweep was finding WY and NL, but both were in the log by early Sunday morning. Great activity levels once again and SS is always like coming home when I hear the same familiar calls year after year. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KZ1M Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 119,168 KZ1M...Jim Dalterio Memorial Station ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KZ1O Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 9,212 Only got a few hours to work the contest due to work issues, but still had a lot of fun. This is one of my favorites! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N0AC Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 118,560 Was called by NT and VI in the first few minutes. I thought that was a good sign but then never did hear PR or MB. Found one of my verticals has something wrong with the 40m circuit. The Orion didn't like that antenna and started sending crappy CW. Bill Omni 6 + Butternut 40/80m vertical Orion + All band Butternut vertical ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N0AT Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 167,480 1st time I missed VY1JA in a long time. Usually its WY or AK in SSCW. Took 295 Q's to work my first Illinois station! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N0IJ Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 176,960 My 50th entry--started as a novice in 1957 and don't think I've ever missed! Saturday is so much fun, and Sunday--well, it's better than work! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N0NI Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 153,600 I decided to try QRP this one time for a different SS CW experience. Thanks to Toni and Colleen for being such gracious hosts and for another year of operating fun. Thanks for all the QSOs. 73, Mark AG9A ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N0NR Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 172,000 The critical first hour was dismal due to operator error, so I had to scratch my way back during the rest of the contest to reasonably make up for it. There was excessive band noise on 80, which prevented me from spending as much time there as I would have liked, otherwise conditions were very good this year. I had a great time. Thanks to Bill, for his hospitality during the weekend. Glen ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N0OCT Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 36,018 Power in the neighborhood went off @ 2101Z Saturday. Just as I got my FD type setup arranged in the dark, the power came back on. Dogs ran away, teenage daughters melted down, trees fell over, but none of that explains my poor operating skills. I did manage to work MAR early on 40 meters Saturday night. Not too bad from the Black Hole via QRP. Thanks for the fills! -- 72, Jim N0OCT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N0SS Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 100,100 Well... I didn't set any records this year, BUT I didn't do too badly either. I was tickled that my body (still) allowed me to operate virtually the entire available time... first time in a number of years I've felt like doing so. Conditions were decent... not terrific (no 10M at all!), but still had a good time... It was GREAT to work so many Elecraft friends this weekend, and seeing so many of them doing so well in the SS...which is my VERY FAVORITE contest of all! I'm sure several folks kicked my butt, but I still had lots of fun. The rig (K2) performed as anticipated.. PERFECTLY! I ran with 1KHz BW about 80% of the time, 400 Hz BW about 15% and maybe 200 Hz BW the rest. I still prefer to let my ears do most of the 'signal sorting' for me.. also helps to let me catch those other ops who still haven't mastered the art of ZERO BEATING and who persist in calling many hundreds of Hz off-freq. Few were missed as a result... MANY would have been missed had I used the 400 Hz filter most of the time. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N0UR Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 98,560 Maybe that first ever sweep next year ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N0XB Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 72,540 A limited time, but great fun. Just starting to get my S02R capabilities back, and man, am I rusty. A little Murphy in attendance, but in most cases easily overcome. Had a cw sending problem for the last couple hours, not sure what that was about, but I think it a glitch with N1MM and not my hardware. All in all, fun as usual. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N0YY Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 162,880 Rig: (2) FT-1000MP Alpha 99 8877 80M Delta Loop @ 70' 40M 2ele @ 82' 20/15/10M X9 @ 72' Software - WriteLog 10.55D Another fun contest! Was excited by the Saturday afternoon and evening performance which was a personal best. But Sunday just came apart at the seams. Never could get anthing going. Everything just seemed harder than it should. I chased VE4VV and VE4XT for what seemed like hours for the sweep. (The pileup on Sunday afternoon on VE4VV sounded like a pileup for Scarbourough Reef!!!) Wound up working VE4VV my second from last QSO for the sweep. Of course Murphy visited - I lost my SO2R set-up early, got booted from the cluster a couple of times, had a couple of software gotcha's (What's it doing to me now???) - but that's all part of SS. Good news was that all the "glitches" did not stop anything productive - no lost radios or antennas - so life was good. I really do need to finish my real automated SO2R setup and get it wrung out. Might have helped with the Sunday afternoon doldrums... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N1CC Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 28,152 Very Low antenna at lake home. First operation from here. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N1DC Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 87,934 I've been trying for the sweep since 1968. Still no luck, but I came closer than ever this year. Missed NT, NL and MB but heard all three at one time or another. I should have stayed in the MB and NT pileups on 20M longer but decided to mark the frequency and move on. When I came back they were both gone. I heard NL working others near my frequency a few times but couldn't muster any response with my nearby CQ's. I had 77 sections at about 1700 Sunday and tried hard to get the last 3. It was frustrating but still a lot of fun. Conditions were very good with lots of activity. I worked 99% of my contacts on the first call with only a handful of repeats. Equipment: Ten Tec Paragon 80W, 80/40M dipoles, 4 element Tri Bander at 30ft Computer: old Dell 133Mhz, CT software Thanks for all the QSO's. It was a blast. 73 Rick N1DC Braintree MA (near Boston) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N1LN Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 156,160 This was my first serious contest effort from my new QTH in North Carolina. I can tell that the old TX QTH must be in many hams Super Check Partial (or the equivalent) as I was asked for many repeats on the section. I usually don't like to participate in the "U" class, but being still classified "antenna challenged" I thought having a strong enough signal to actually hold a frequency might be an issue. It turned out to be that way on 15 and 20 as the Q count shows. I never felt loud. I was running SO2R and the quick S/P Q on radio 2 was out of the question for both 15 and 20. I was rarely the first station called which resulted in many repeated attempts as well as the loss of the run frequency on radio 1. Conditions on 80 and 40 were just great. I was quite surprised at how many of the ultra weak "Qs" I was able to pull out. Suggestion: IMHO when sending the sequence number - don't insert leading ZEROs. If your signal is weak the leading zero adds to the confusion (could be a 1??) as well as adding useless additional data to an already long exchange. I must thank "U" for my sweep. Manitoba was my last section ( thank you VE4VV) and the only one I got from the cluster. The sweep occurred at 17:50 UTC on Sunday. ONE BIG PILE UP and my little 20 meter dipole (up at about 20') had quite a time breaking through. I must have jumped in the pile at least 5 times, each time (again) losing my run frequency by the time I got back. I did not quite make the full 24 hours, with my final op time of 21 hours. The smell of Sunday dinner and the soon to follow Colts - Patriots game seemed to stop my SS at about 23:00 UTC Sunday evening. Yup, I know.... wrong priorities :-( Station: FT1000-MP (2) AL-80B AL-1500 Top Ten - DX Doubler Array Solutions SIXPAK WriteLog 80 Inv-V @ 56' 40 dipole @ 30' 20 dipole @ 20' 15 - used the 40 dipole (3:1 SWR) See you in a couple weeks. I will be back in the "M" class for SS-SSB with my wife (N1YXU) joining me. See you then!!! 73, Bruce - N1LN ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N2CU Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 109,494 SS has failed to gain my enthusiasm for several years. This year was no different. Went into it determined to do only a part-time effort and the score shows it. Worked the first few hours off-on using S&P and then took a big break to watch the Sabres game. Then things got better with the low bands opening up and being able to run for the first time. Sunday isn't nearly as bad when you have a low QSO total; plenty of stations to work. With a few hours to go I still needed PAC, MB and NL. Very high up the 15m band I found PAC with a big signal. Then I kept thinking, "where's VE4VV?" since he's always quite active on the MWA reflector, talking contesting. A little while later I found him on 20m. That left NL, but alas, no joy for me. Checking the packet spots after the contest I see that NL was on, but apparently not when I was. BTW, got J (VY1JA) pretty early on so I thought a sweep was in the making. What will we do if J ever gives up contesting? The 160m experiment went very well with quite a few newbies getting on the last hour. All-in-all, it was more fun than I expected. Maybe I'll try a full LP effort next year. FT1000MP, TH6DXX 50', 80/40m dipoles, 80/40m wire vertical, 160m inverted L, K9AY loops, N1MM Logger. 73, Tom N2CU <>< ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N2IC Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 233,600 Another great SS weekend ! Activity was the best I have heard it in at least 5 years. Who says CW contesting is dying ? Too bad the QRN was so bad on 80 Sunday night - 40 was the only game in town then. Congrats to K5TR(N5RZ) and WX0B(K5GA) for the great competition out this way. 73, Steve, N2IC ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N2NT Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 220,320 I'll echo K5ZD's comments and thank all the clubs who support SS. The difference is noticeable. Good conditions on 40 and low QRN made this year a pleasure compared to last year. Amazing activity the last few hours. Good rate and found quite a few new stations CQing as well. Was sweating Vermont for the sweep. Did not find W1ECH on the second radio until 19Z. Thanks to N2NT for hosting me in another SS. See you all in the SSB portion as a multiop. - John N2NC BREAKDOWN N2NT ARRL SWEEPSTAKES Single Operator HOUR 80 40 20 15 10 HR TOT CUM TOT 21 ..... 19/6 29/21 38/15 ..... 86/42 86/42 22 . 1/1 59/12 24/6 . 84/19 170/61 23 . 30/3 39/4 . . 69/7 239/68 0 2/0 88/1 2/1 . . 92/2 331/70 1 1/0 89/4 . . . 90/4 421/74 2 3/0 76/1 . . . 79/1 500/75 3 7/0 65/0 . . . 72/0 572/75 4 12/1 63/0 . . . 75/1 647/76 5 34/0 36/0 ..... ..... ..... 70/0 717/76 6 21/0 29/0 . . . 50/0 767/76 7 13/0 22/0 . . . 35/0 802/76 8 10/0 21/0 . . . 31/0 833/76 9 . . . . . . 833/76 10 . . . . . . 833/76 11 9/0 7/1 . . . 16/1 849/77 12 42/1 12/0 . . . 54/1 903/78 13 5/0 36/0 3/1 ..... ..... 44/1 947/79 14 . 43/0 10/0 . . 53/0 1000/79 15 . 38/0 7/0 2/0 . 47/0 1047/79 16 . 7/0 13/0 . . 20/0 1067/79 17 . 7/0 35/0 4/0 . 46/0 1113/79 18 . 16/0 8/0 1/0 . 25/0 1138/79 19 . 5/1 9/0 6/0 . 20/1 1158/80 20 . 18/0 12/0 4/0 . 34/0 1192/80 21 ..... 5/0 20/0 ..... ..... 25/0 1217/80 22 2/0 15/0 20/0 . . 37/0 1254/80 23 12/0 3/0 4/0 1/0 . 20/0 1274/80 0 10/0 31/0 . . . 41/0 1315/80 1 10/0 38/0 . . . 48/0 1363/80 2 6/0 8/0 . . . 14/0 1377/80 TOT 199/2 828/18 270/39 80/21 ..... ..... 1377/80 Off time: 0842-1142 1611-1641 1809-1839 1928-1958 2136-2206 2332-0002 0230-0300 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N2WN Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 66,880 Started off rough, and for the most part my heart wasn't into it. We lost our collie, Oreo, Thursday night. He was 12 and my shadow. I think he knew more about my antennas than I ever will. Miss you buddy... As to the fray, just couldn't manage to get anything going on 20M. 80 was my money band, between the 1/4 wave vertical and squashed half square that was hastily erected the band fairly cooked here. There was even decent activity the first night on 160, never heard a peep on 10. OK, where was ol' Miss? Never heard a single station from there or NL. VE4VV and VY1JA were mobbed, tough for a QRP station to break thru, still considering some of the numbers from QRP stations (and there were a plethora of us) I'm speculating that a new record may be set. N0NI had an awesome number midway into the contest. Plenty of KL7, ND, SD, and DE stations. Didn't hear as many VE's as I would have hoped for even on 80. Thanks for all the QSOs and patience. 73, Julius n2wn Elecraft K2 #3311, KAT2 4 element SteppIr @ 55' 40M sloper 80M 1/4 wave vertical and squashed half square (which doubled as my 160 ant) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N2YO Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 85,008 My second participation. It was fun again! 73s de Chip N2YO ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N2ZN Class: Singl