SS SSB Soapbox built 1-14-2007 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AA4BL Class: SO Unlimited LP Total Score = 32,960 First Clean Sweep in 26 years of ham radio! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AA4LR1 Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 34,980 Antennas: A3S/A743 at 15m (10,15,20,40m) Shunt-fed 15m tower (80m) 115 foot untuned doublet at 10m (40, 80m) R7000 at 2.5m (10-40m) Half-size K9AY loop pointed North (not switchable) Equipment: Elecraft K2/100 w/KAT100 running 100 watts Kenwood TS-430S running 100 watts Homebrew K1KP-style voice keyer (1 message) Comments: Well. Not what I expected. I had tried my usual trick of finding a cozy spot on 20m just before the contest, but the band was already way too crowded by the time I showed up. Instead, I started by S & Ping on 15m. This was very effective, as I was getting through on the first call. Back to 20m after 20 minutes and more S & P. By the end of the first hour, I found a spot on 20m to call CQ. End of the first hour was 63 Qs. Second hour is just as productive with about 70 Qs, mostly on 40m. By the end of the third hour, I'm at 184 Qs and this ain't such a bad start after all! Wham! The forth hour hits and I'm just not getting anywhere. 25 Qs. By 0110z - I hit the wall. The contest just stopped being fun. So, I stopped. I had expected a full-time effort and a score as good or better than last year. I just think I wasn't well-prepared this time. Too many long hours at work the couple of weeks before and not enough down-time. Got on for a little more than an hour on Sunday afternoon just to hand out a few more Qs. I think my full-time efforts are going to be limited to NAQP for a while. One high note to end on. This year, I was sporting a half-size K9AY loop for receive on 160-40m. I had used it a few weeks before to work XF4DL on 80m and 160m, then I repositioned it so I could use it for the domestic contest. I wasn't convinced it was working well at all. The K9AY loop made a huge difference digging signals out of all the QRM. It really didn't help me work anybody I couldn't hear on the transmitting antenna, but it did help me work them faster, without any time-consuming repeats. I'm probably going to build it on out to a full set of two loops switchable in four directions. Interestingly, the loop is supported by a small oak tree. The sides are literally supported by the limbs of the tree. I though I might have to use some short guy ropes. I'm using a counterpoise at the moment, but Gary recommends a short ground rod instead. Plenty of improvements to make. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AD8J Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 64,084 Too many other things going on this weekend to make a big effort. Between going out for dinner and a show, my work as a volunteer aquarium scuba diver and celebrating my birthday, there wasn't a lot of time left for contesting. Add to that the vino and noisy band conditions and I was lucky to make over 400 Q's. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AE6RR Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 10,976 Only had a few hours with a wire antenna in a clandestine installation. Had some fun though. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AE6Y Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 52,500 Between work commitments and getting ready to leave for P49Y for CQWW CW next weekend, could only manage 4 hours Saturady night and Sunday morning, but did want to at least get 50k points for NCCC. See you in CQWW! 73, Andy, AE6Y ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AG4RZ Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 6,820 Didn't operate long, but tried to help out PVRC. Operated at WB4MSG's station, while he ran a single op as well. The station has been under reconstruction, so this was the first chance we had to check it all out. It played well, and had minimal co-station interference. Looking forward to 10m! 73 de AG4RZ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AI4ME Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 24,716 START-OF-LOG: 2.0 CREATED-BY: N3FJP's November Sweepstakes Log 4.4 ARRL-SECTION: VA CONTEST: ARRL-SS-SSB CALLSIGN: AI4ME CATEGORY: SINGLE-OP ALL LOW CLAIMED-SCORE: 24716 OPERATORS: AI4ME CLUB: Potomac Valley Radio Club NAME: Don Michalek ADDRESS: 2437 Broomsedge Trail ADDRESS: Virginia Beach, VA 23456 ADDRESS: (e-mail) ai4me@cox.net SOAPBOX: So close to a sweep, but didnt make it. QSO: 21000 PH 2006-11-18 2101 AI4ME 1 A 04 VA K5TR 2 B 76 STX QSO: 21000 PH 2006-11-18 2107 AI4ME 2 A 04 VA NK7U 18 M 75 OR QSO: 21000 PH 2006-11-18 2111 AI4ME 3 A 04 VA K0TO 22 B 52 ID QSO: 21000 PH 2006-11-18 2116 AI4ME 4 A 04 VA VE5UF 26 U 60 SK QSO: 21000 PH 2006-11-18 2118 AI4ME 5 A 04 VA W0ZA 31 U 74 CO QSO: 21000 PH 2006-11-18 2121 AI4ME 6 A 04 VA W5KFT 50 B 93 STX QSO: 21000 PH 2006-11-18 2124 AI4ME 7 A 04 VA VE5ZX 39 A 63 SK QSO: 21000 PH 2006-11-18 2143 AI4ME 8 A 04 VA KE5BL 41 M 79 WTX QSO: 21000 PH 2006-11-18 2145 AI4ME 9 A 04 VA N7IV 32 A 63 ND QSO: 21000 PH 2006-11-18 2147 AI4ME 10 A 04 VA N5ZC 57 U 79 WTX QSO: 21000 PH 2006-11-18 2159 AI4ME 11 A 04 VA WG7Y 46 A 51 WY QSO: 21000 PH 2006-11-18 2202 AI4ME 12 A 04 VA K0UK 93 A 60 CO QSO: 14000 PH 2006-11-18 2206 AI4ME 13 A 04 VA WA0MHJ 106 B 68 MN QSO: 14000 PH 2006-11-18 2208 AI4ME 14 A 04 VA W5WW 125 B 90 NTX QSO: 14000 PH 2006-11-18 2210 AI4ME 15 A 04 VA W6NL 149 B 52 SCV QSO: 14000 PH 2006-11-18 2211 AI4ME 16 A 04 VA VE4XT 145 B 82 MB QSO: 14000 PH 2006-11-18 2216 AI4ME 17 A 04 VA N0AC 101 A 78 IA QSO: 7000 PH 2006-11-18 2235 AI4ME 18 A 04 VA K0SF 145 U 71 MN QSO: 7000 PH 2006-11-18 2236 AI4ME 19 A 04 VA AA4LR 101 A 75 GA QSO: 7000 PH 2006-11-18 2241 AI4ME 20 A 04 VA WT9U 147 B 75 IN QSO: 7000 PH 2006-11-18 2242 AI4ME 21 A 04 VA KK9K 99 M 63 IL QSO: 7000 PH 2006-11-18 2243 AI4ME 22 A 04 VA N9UC 152 S 53 IL QSO: 7000 PH 2006-11-18 2246 AI4ME 23 A 04 VA KY5R 155 B 63 AL QSO: 7000 PH 2006-11-18 2247 AI4ME 24 A 04 VA W4NZ 197 B 60 TN QSO: 7000 PH 2006-11-18 2249 AI4ME 25 A 04 VA N2MF 136 B 71 WNY QSO: 7000 PH 2006-11-18 2250 AI4ME 26 A 04 VA W9RE 215 B 62 IN QSO: 7000 PH 2006-11-18 2251 AI4ME 27 A 04 VA WD9CIR 152 M 77 IL QSO: 7000 PH 2006-11-18 2253 AI4ME 28 A 04 VA K8AO 190 B 61 MI QSO: 7000 PH 2006-11-18 2254 AI4ME 29 A 04 VA K9SD 105 M 62 IL QSO: 7000 PH 2006-11-18 2254 AI4ME 30 A 04 VA N8VW 188 B 81 OH QSO: 7000 PH 2006-11-18 2256 AI4ME 31 A 04 VA K9NS 303 M 53 IL QSO: 7000 PH 2006-11-18 2259 AI4ME 32 A 04 VA K8RDJ 70 A 59 MI QSO: 7000 PH 2006-11-18 2301 AI4ME 33 A 04 VA N4BAA 180 U 77 VA QSO: 7000 PH 2006-11-18 2303 AI4ME 34 A 04 VA K9MOT 123 M 96 IL QSO: 7000 PH 2006-11-18 2306 AI4ME 35 A 04 VA K0HB 115 U 64 MN QSO: 7000 PH 2006-11-18 2313 AI4ME 36 A 04 VA K0SR 286 U 68 MN QSO: 7000 PH 2006-11-18 2314 AI4ME 37 A 04 VA WB9Z 226 B 71 IL QSO: 7000 PH 2006-11-18 2317 AI4ME 38 A 04 VA KN6RO 96 U 91 GA QSO: 7000 PH 2006-11-18 2319 AI4ME 39 A 04 VA N0AV 106 B 68 IA QSO: 7000 PH 2006-11-18 2322 AI4ME 40 A 04 VA WW9R 135 U 82 WI QSO: 7000 PH 2006-11-18 2324 AI4ME 41 A 04 VA K9CT 201 U 67 IL QSO: 7000 PH 2006-11-18 2324 AI4ME 42 A 04 VA K0HC 264 S 97 KS QSO: 7000 PH 2006-11-18 2327 AI4ME 43 A 04 VA N2BJ 60 U 61 IL QSO: 7000 PH 2006-11-18 2332 AI4ME 44 A 04 VA KI9A 164 U 78 IL QSO: 3500 PH 2006-11-18 2337 AI4ME 45 A 04 VA WB1GQR 259 U 69 VT QSO: 3500 PH 2006-11-18 2340 AI4ME 46 A 04 VA K1HTV 164 A 58 MDC QSO: 3500 PH 2006-11-18 2345 AI4ME 47 A 04 VA K4KDJ 34 S 21 VA QSO: 3500 PH 2006-11-18 2346 AI4ME 48 A 04 VA N3KS 210 U 75 MDC QSO: 3500 PH 2006-11-18 2348 AI4ME 49 A 04 VA W3SO 151 B 00 WPA QSO: 3500 PH 2006-11-18 2349 AI4ME 50 A 04 VA NI1N 281 U 84 VA QSO: 14000 PH 2006-11-19 0005 AI4ME 51 A 04 VA WX6V 255 U 61 SV QSO: 14000 PH 2006-11-19 0007 AI4ME 52 A 04 VA WC6H 416 B 71 SJV QSO: 14000 PH 2006-11-19 0012 AI4ME 53 A 04 VA N6BV 388 B 59 EB QSO: 14000 PH 2006-11-19 0030 AI4ME 54 A 04 VA NI7T 355 M 54 UT QSO: 14000 PH 2006-11-19 0034 AI4ME 55 A 04 VA KN4KL 86 M 86 VA QSO: 7000 PH 2006-11-19 0042 AI4ME 56 A 04 VA KP2TM 427 B 77 VI QSO: 7000 PH 2006-11-19 0049 AI4ME 57 A 04 VA K7RL 469 U 84 WWA QSO: 7000 PH 2006-11-19 0126 AI4ME 58 A 04 VA K7IR 449 M 65 EWA QSO: 7000 PH 2006-11-19 0132 AI4ME 59 A 04 VA W7RN 460 U 59 NV QSO: 7000 PH 2006-11-19 0141 AI4ME 60 A 04 VA K2NNY 330 M 95 NNY QSO: 7000 PH 2006-11-19 0203 AI4ME 61 A 04 VA KK1L 433 B 93 VT QSO: 7000 PH 2006-11-19 0206 AI4ME 62 A 04 VA WP3R 494 B 65 PR QSO: 7000 PH 2006-11-19 0209 AI4ME 63 A 04 VA VY2TT 521 B 02 MAR QSO: 7000 PH 2006-11-19 0230 AI4ME 64 A 04 VA K1RX 503 B 63 NH QSO: 7000 PH 2006-11-19 0231 AI4ME 65 A 04 VA W1MKY 147 M 02 NH QSO: 7000 PH 2006-11-19 0233 AI4ME 66 A 04 VA VA3NR 54 U 84 ON QSO: 7000 PH 2006-11-19 0236 AI4ME 67 A 04 VA N5AA 571 B 77 STX QSO: 3500 PH 2006-11-19 0334 AI4ME 68 A 04 VA K1BX 392 A 74 NH QSO: 3500 PH 2006-11-19 0347 AI4ME 69 A 04 VA K5MA 236 B 56 EMA QSO: 3500 PH 2006-11-19 0409 AI4ME 70 A 04 VA N6ZO 296 U 62 VA QSO: 3500 PH 2006-11-19 0418 AI4ME 71 A 04 VA N8ZJ 252 B 65 WV QSO: 7000 PH 2006-11-19 0423 AI4ME 72 A 04 VA W8MJ 679 U 81 MI QSO: 7000 PH 2006-11-19 0428 AI4ME 73 A 04 VA N6NF 487 A 52 SCV QSO: 7000 PH 2006-11-19 0431 AI4ME 74 A 04 VA AE5T 319 A 89 LA QSO: 7000 PH 2006-11-19 0434 AI4ME 75 A 04 VA K6NA 875 B 89 SDG QSO: 7000 PH 2006-11-19 0435 AI4ME 76 A 04 VA W6YI 883 M 56 SDG QSO: 7000 PH 2006-11-19 0441 AI4ME 77 A 04 VA N4KK 39 B 72 SFL QSO: 7000 PH 2006-11-19 0445 AI4ME 78 A 04 VA K9CC 375 M 52 IL QSO: 3500 PH 2006-11-19 0547 AI4ME 79 A 04 VA K1KD 598 B 86 VT QSO: 3500 PH 2006-11-19 0549 AI4ME 80 A 04 VA W2VQ 231 M 73 NNJ QSO: 3500 PH 2006-11-19 0559 AI4ME 81 A 04 VA AB2E 153 A 67 SNJ QSO: 3500 PH 2006-11-19 0603 AI4ME 82 A 04 VA K1GIL 223 B 75 RI QSO: 3500 PH 2006-11-19 0609 AI4ME 83 A 04 VA N3UM 426 B 52 MDC QSO: 3500 PH 2006-11-19 0610 AI4ME 84 A 04 VA K3MM 726 U 73 MDC QSO: 3500 PH 2006-11-19 0612 AI4ME 85 A 04 VA ND8DX 436 M 89 OH QSO: 3500 PH 2006-11-19 0623 AI4ME 86 A 04 VA NN3W 742 B 86 VA QSO: 3500 PH 2006-11-19 0624 AI4ME 87 A 04 VA N2NT 1026 M 72 NNJ QSO: 3500 PH 2006-11-19 0656 AI4ME 88 A 04 VA W4NC 253 A 30 NC QSO: 3500 PH 2006-11-19 0706 AI4ME 89 A 04 VA NT1N 474 M 63 ME QSO: 3500 PH 2006-11-19 0709 AI4ME 90 A 04 VA NG1I 405 B 86 WMA QSO: 3500 PH 2006-11-19 0712 AI4ME 91 A 04 VA NO2X 330 M 78 ENY QSO: 3500 PH 2006-11-19 0722 AI4ME 92 A 04 VA W2CDO 352 M 60 MDC QSO: 3500 PH 2006-11-19 0732 AI4ME 93 A 04 VA NY3A 597 B 73 EPA QSO: 3500 PH 2006-11-19 0738 AI4ME 94 A 04 VA W3PP 684 U 63 DE QSO: 3500 PH 2006-11-19 0742 AI4ME 95 A 04 VA N4OX 914 B 76 NFL QSO: 7000 PH 2006-11-19 0750 AI4ME 96 A 04 VA K6RIM 549 U 58 SF QSO: 7000 PH 2006-11-19 0751 AI4ME 97 A 04 VA N0KK 516 A 77 MN QSO: 7000 PH 2006-11-19 0754 AI4ME 98 A 04 VA W5WMU 996 B 52 LA QSO: 7000 PH 2006-11-19 0756 AI4ME 99 A 04 VA W7WA 967 B 70 WWA QSO: 7000 PH 2006-11-19 0758 AI4ME 100 A 04 VA K0RH 578 A 59 KS QSO: 7000 PH 2006-11-19 0804 AI4ME 101 A 04 VA W6OAT 621 U 58 SCV QSO: 7000 PH 2006-11-19 1429 AI4ME 102 A 04 VA KE2DX 590 U 93 ENY QSO: 7000 PH 2006-11-19 1440 AI4ME 103 A 04 VA NS4SC 264 U 77 SC QSO: 7000 PH 2006-11-19 1445 AI4ME 104 A 04 VA W1WEF 445 B 52 CT QSO: 14000 PH 2006-11-19 1449 AI4ME 105 A 04 VA K5TA 942 B 66 NM QSO: 14000 PH 2006-11-19 1457 AI4ME 106 A 04 VA KD0S 1244 B 86 SD QSO: 21000 PH 2006-11-19 1745 AI4ME 107 A 04 VA K7VU 462 M 66 WY QSO: 21000 PH 2006-11-19 1746 AI4ME 108 A 04 VA N7KA 632 A 57 NM QSO: 21000 PH 2006-11-19 1750 AI4ME 109 A 04 VA K6HNZ 449 B 54 SCV QSO: 21000 PH 2006-11-19 1752 AI4ME 110 A 04 VA K7HP 485 A 51 AZ QSO: 21000 PH 2006-11-19 1804 AI4ME 111 A 04 VA AA6PW 794 B 89 ORG QSO: 21000 PH 2006-11-19 1806 AI4ME 112 A 04 VA WA7U 484 M 77 MT QSO: 14000 PH 2006-11-19 1811 AI4ME 113 A 04 VA AD4TR 610 B 72 NFL QSO: 14000 PH 2006-11-19 1832 AI4ME 114 A 04 VA VE2DX 324 A 90 QC QSO: 14000 PH 2006-11-19 1836 AI4ME 115 A 04 VA VE6EX 895 A 58 AB QSO: 21000 PH 2006-11-19 1840 AI4ME 116 A 04 VA VE5MX 183 B 90 SK QSO: 14000 PH 2006-11-19 1856 AI4ME 117 A 04 VA N0GVK 568 M 81 NE QSO: 14000 PH 2006-11-19 1900 AI4ME 118 A 04 VA K5KG 650 B 57 WCF QSO: 14000 PH 2006-11-19 1933 AI4ME 119 A 04 VA VY1JA 551 A 60 NT QSO: 14000 PH 2006-11-19 2000 AI4ME 120 A 04 VA W5JJ 851 M 97 AR QSO: 14000 PH 2006-11-19 2014 AI4ME 121 A 04 VA AC0W 872 A 69 MN QSO: 14000 PH 2006-11-19 2018 AI4ME 122 A 04 VA VO2WL 619 M 55 NL QSO: 14000 PH 2006-11-19 2020 AI4ME 123 A 04 VA N4BP 1131 B 55 SFL QSO: 7000 PH 2006-11-19 2023 AI4ME 124 A 04 VA KX2P 173 A 59 NLI QSO: 7000 PH 2006-11-19 2024 AI4ME 125 A 04 VA AD8J 238 U 63 WPA QSO: 7000 PH 2006-11-19 2025 AI4ME 126 A 04 VA NT8V 821 M 61 MI QSO: 7000 PH 2006-11-19 2026 AI4ME 127 A 04 VA KZ2I 815 A 64 NC QSO: 7000 PH 2006-11-19 2028 AI4ME 128 A 04 VA W1XX 1044 B 54 RI QSO: 21000 PH 2006-11-19 2034 AI4ME 129 A 04 VA VE5CPU 555 B 90 SK QSO: 21000 PH 2006-11-19 2036 AI4ME 130 A 04 VA KO7X 624 U 56 WY QSO: 21000 PH 2006-11-19 2039 AI4ME 131 A 04 VA NP3CW 125 A 92 PR QSO: 21000 PH 2006-11-19 2050 AI4ME 132 A 04 VA K0LMD 294 A 57 CO QSO: 21000 PH 2006-11-19 2053 AI4ME 133 A 04 VA VE5SF 617 A 90 SK QSO: 21000 PH 2006-11-19 2055 AI4ME 134 A 04 VA K6NR 957 B 69 ORG QSO: 21000 PH 2006-11-19 2056 AI4ME 135 A 04 VA W7TBG 940 M 92 UT QSO: 21000 PH 2006-11-19 2059 AI4ME 136 A 04 VA W7ED 486 M 62 MT QSO: 14000 PH 2006-11-19 2110 AI4ME 137 A 04 VA K0FJ 1376 M 89 KS QSO: 14000 PH 2006-11-19 2115 AI4ME 138 A 04 VA N7VR 303 A 90 MT QSO: 14000 PH 2006-11-19 2118 AI4ME 139 A 04 VA NI5W 13 A 90 OK QSO: 7000 PH 2006-11-19 2121 AI4ME 140 A 04 VA N3OC 1268 M 73 MDC QSO: 7000 PH 2006-11-19 2125 AI4ME 141 A 04 VA K3DI 658 B 48 MDC QSO: 7000 PH 2006-11-19 2126 AI4ME 142 A 04 VA W4MYA 1018 U 58 VA QSO: 7000 PH 2006-11-19 2128 AI4ME 143 A 04 VA W4KAZ 429 A 76 NC QSO: 7000 PH 2006-11-19 2130 AI4ME 144 A 04 VA WA8WV 682 A 58 WV QSO: 7000 PH 2006-11-19 2150 AI4ME 145 A 04 VA W8EDU 387 M 48 OH QSO: 7000 PH 2006-11-19 2159 AI4ME 146 A 04 VA KK9DX 69 U 92 IL QSO: 7000 PH 2006-11-19 2220 AI4ME 147 A 04 VA K0OU 1162 U 58 MO QSO: 21000 PH 2006-11-19 2225 AI4ME 148 A 04 VA NH6P 1058 B 56 PAC QSO: 14000 PH 2006-11-19 2229 AI4ME 149 A 04 VA WX7P 700 M 52 EWA QSO: 14000 PH 2006-11-19 2230 AI4ME 150 A 04 VA K0FG 271 B 70 MO QSO: 14000 PH 2006-11-19 2232 AI4ME 151 A 04 VA N7PP 924 M 52 WWA QSO: 14000 PH 2006-11-19 2234 AI4ME 152 A 04 VA N7TT 975 B 54 WWA QSO: 14000 PH 2006-11-19 2247 AI4ME 153 A 04 VA K6IDX 1231 U 62 SV QSO: 7000 PH 2006-11-19 2259 AI4ME 154 A 04 VA VA1CHP 389 B 04 MAR QSO: 3500 PH 2006-11-19 2323 AI4ME 155 A 04 VA W1AW 1153 M 38 CT QSO: 7000 PH 2006-11-19 2338 AI4ME 156 A 04 VA W0MW 730 A 72 KS QSO: 14000 PH 2006-11-20 0000 AI4ME 157 A 04 VA KI4VB 146 U 76 VA QSO: 14000 PH 2006-11-20 0006 AI4ME 158 A 04 VA W6YX 938 M 24 SCV QSO: 14000 PH 2006-11-20 0009 AI4ME 159 A 04 VA K6XX 1452 U 74 SCV QSO: 3500 PH 2006-11-20 0145 AI4ME 160 A 04 VA N4CW 621 M 56 NC QSO: 3500 PH 2006-11-20 0235 AI4ME 161 A 04 VA N4GG 141 B 61 GA QSO: 3500 PH 2006-11-20 0241 AI4ME 162 A 04 VA N4DWK 292 U 01 VA QSO: 3500 PH 2006-11-20 0242 AI4ME 163 A 04 VA WB4MSG 603 B 65 NC QSO: 3500 PH 2006-11-20 0246 AI4ME 164 A 04 VA K4TS 1065 M 97 VA QSO: 3500 PH 2006-11-20 0247 AI4ME 165 A 04 VA K1OU 1090 B 76 OH QSO: 3500 PH 2006-11-20 0250 AI4ME 166 A 04 VA W1QK 872 M 73 CT QSO: 3500 PH 2006-11-20 0255 AI4ME 167 A 04 VA KC4UF 443 A 87 VA END-OF-LOG: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AI4MI Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 5,040 My first phone contest, just feeling the water. Had lot's of fun, and don't mind helping out PVRC just a little bit! 73, CW-AI4MI ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AI4MT Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 7,252 Hadn't really planned to operate in this contest, but decided at the last minute to give it a go, operated for 4 hours on Saturday Night, then family commitments took over... FT-1000MP MkV 80-10m Inverted V at 35 ft ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AJ9C Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 200,320 SSB is brutal. If I hear we have a qso 2 kcs down one more time...........AAaaarrgh ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AK9F Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 16,422 Only available for part time operation this contest. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AL2F Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 53,406 This was another fun one. I also learned about frequency owner's...It's their freq. and you can't use it even if they are not. That's ok life goes on, if being unhappy about contesters makes them happy I'll do my best to help them be unhappy....hi hi. All kidding aside thanks to the stations that worked me. 73 and see you in the next one. AL2F-Alaskans Love 2 Fish Kris in Anchor Point AK ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AL4T Class: SO Unlimited LP Total Score = 11,118 Only had a few hours to play. My new 80M fan sloper works much better than my old inv-vee. I felt much louder (low power) on 40M than 20 or 80. My Explorer-14 w/ the add-on 40M kit has always worked well for me. Can't wait to put up the 2x TH6-DXX stack when I get back from Iraq, though. Thanks for the Q's and 73, Brad AL4T Sergeant First Class, Infantry 82d Airborne Division ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0AV Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 5,254 Using new K2. Now able to get power down below 5 watts. Surprised when got a "run" of 8 stations going on 14.199 while using 1 watt. Worked about 10 to 15 stations S&P with 100 milliwatts. Most of you guys have great ears! ~ Alan K0AV ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0EU Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 8,610 Congrats to K0UK on a FB low power score from Colorado. Glad I made it into his log with my first contact. Just tried to provide some fresh meat for an hour or so. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0FJ Class: Multi-Op HP Total Score = 249,280 Another great time at W0NO’s awesome QTH! Three Tri-Band Force 12s and 2 elements on 40 make for a fun time. Alan’s QTH is 8 miles from the nearest small town and power line noise is not a problem. Thanks Alan for using my call, and the chance for great conversation enjoyed by all during the event. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0GAS Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 90,012 Great seeing lots of old friends. Always enjoy this contest. Couldn't believe I missed the Sweep - missed NE (unbelievable!), and WTX. Reading the internet this AM, I learned how others found the WTX! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0HC Class: School Club HP Total Score = 225,280 A very enjoyable 2006 SSB SS this year with 6 students and 4 faculty from Hesston College participating. The students were all non-hams, so they spent Saturday listening, logging, searching and pouncing. On Sunday, two felt confident enough to run (and my sincere thanks to those of you who patiently helped them start to learn that fine art!). Sunday found us still needing AK and NT. With the beam pointed towards AK, a "CQ Alaska, beaming Alaska" call soon got the response we were looking for. With the beam turned back northwest, a request for us to beam Alaska again must have earned us a spot because three more AKs found us in short order. We found and worked VY1JA on 20m for #80. I think Jay's chuckle must have had something to do with the cheers coming through his headset. Thanks again, Jay! Reading the posts, I noticed VE7 seemed to be a rare one for some. Our log counts from Kansas show normal counts of sections worked except for BC which was very low although WWA and EWA were normal, and MDC which was way up compared over the past three years. We also worked more schools this year than in previous years. Let's keep that number going up as well! Until next time ... 73, Bob, w0bh k0hc trustee Hesston College ARC ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0HW Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 53,250 WOW, what a different world. I thought I would try the QRP Power this year in SweepStakes Phone as I had good luck in last year's 10 Meter contest. It was really a battle most of the time. I had spent the last 4 Phone SS contests in the Unlimited category with the ability to use the Internet for multipliers and the amp to burn a hole in the frequency. My objective for the contest was to break the record for Phone QRP in South Dakota. I didn't realize how hard QRP is. Every QSO in S & P mode seemed like it took several calls to make and S & P mode is the norm. It seemed that if stations were in run mode you had to wait until a CQ without an answer befor making an attempt to call. I had the best luck on 15 meters and really had good signal reports from the stations I worked. They seemed to think I was strong but you don't have a very strong signal when anyone else was calling. I was surprised to work as many multipliers as I did but I was also disappointed to miss what should have been the easy ones I heard but didn't work ND, IA, MB and MS. I never heard any WTX but usually work several, but not this year. I had a really good run on 20 meters from 0206 to 0244 on Saturday evening. 75 and 40 meters were really tough and 160 was great for QRP but there were no SS stations there. You at least could hold a frequency on 160 and call CQ but with no responses you know it was not the place to be. On 75 and 40 if you found a frequnecy it was while one of the SO2R operators was away on the other radio and they would take it back when they returned. Thanks to all those stations that I worked and thanks to those many stations that I called but was not able to make it work. I gave up a couple of hours early on Sunday evening as we had out of town guests and I missed a couple of hours on Sunday morning while at church. 73 and catch you all on the 160 meter and 10 meter contests. Again I will be QRP/CW for both. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0KX Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 12,482 North Dakota has left the planet ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0OU Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 205,440 My ears are bleeding. It musta been fun tho, I stuck with it for 24 hours. Got the sweep at 13:34z when WB0CW in ND answered my cq on 40 meters. That after going to bed with 79 mults. Can't remember the last time I got a sweep on both modes. The Sunday doldrums weren't too bad, with fair runs on 40 and 20 all day. Since I had the sweep early I could concentrate on whereever the best rate was. That was fun - however, the QRM on 40 an 20 was tremendous. No such thing as a clear freq and lots of frayed nerves. I was able to get thru the weekend with no calls from my neighbors. That was a victory. TNX everyone for the Q's, and see you all in the CQWW from a real station - the multi-mult in AR. 73 de K0OU Steve in MO ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0RH Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 158,158 LOW POWER THIS YEAR MADE HOLDING A FREQ VERY HARD.. SOUTH HEARTLAND CONTEST SOCIETY ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0TG Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 4,752 Just got on for a little bit today. I would have though that being fresh meat on Sunday I would be able to generate some interest. But it seemd like the band was not that great. I tried 40 then went to 80 (to late) and had some better luck there just before the end. I noticed in the short time that I operated that there were several stations not giving the whole exchange (leaving off their callsign). It is part of the exchange and the rules state what t he exchange is. Give the whole exchange!! CU In CQ WW DX CW from W0AIH. 73, John K0TG ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0TO Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 216,480 Very interesting band conditions. At the start 15m was gangbusters for 3 hours and then collapsed. Both nights the 40m and 80m bands were short term QSB and it was feast or famine. Collected 3 -NT's; 5-ND's 5-SD's and more NE's than I had before. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0UK Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 212,160 Long version to follow..Now to get ready for cw dx contest..PTL bill UK ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K1BX Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 204,320 IC-775 X7 @ 60' 80 Inv V 40 2L wire beam @ 45' N1MM Logger (FT-847 and A3 were used the last 2 years) Sunday morning & mid-day were tough, afternoon and evening were much better, great activity level overall. It took me 3 years to beat my 1994 South Dakota score. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K1EP Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 30,388 I only had a few hours to play around this year, as I was not entering this contest competitively. All I have to use for an antenna is a stealth 160M inverted L, which actually didn't do so bad. Of course, that is when you are just casually tuning across 20M and you hear VY1MB calling CQ and *begging* for QSOs, even announcing to everyone that he is in the Yukon. This never happens. Of course then, about three or four hours later, I run across VY1JA, also calling CQ, calm, no pileups. No problems getting them on the first call. This is not normal. Less than a minute spent getting two VY1's in the log. Can I bank them for next year? I did miss 9 sections, including Maine. Thanks for the Q's and sorry I had such a weak signal. I just need an antenna! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K1OU Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 175,680 As always, I love this contest, but it's a grind. Perhaps I am a pain addict. Murphy messed with the voice keyer, took down an amp, and killed a relay in the antenna switch box. I'm glad I had a second amp and a second switch box. At least things come in threes, and I'll have better luck next year. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K1PY Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 135,096 First time at new combined W2TZ/K1PY station at W2TZ's new location. Thanks to those who spotted me! Heard about it at the club meeting -- I've never been "spottable" before! Multiple spots on same band must have been when I was moving around trying to get or hold a freq. Thanks again. Going for personal best 1K Q's dampened by A-index, but overall was nice. And there's always next year! Many thanks for the contacts! Vic K1PY @ W2TZ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K1RX Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 208,960 Off to a wonderful start but late Sunday morning had to attend to other things around the house. Besides, it is tough to do CQ WW SSB, then CW SS, then SSB SS and then another big crowd at the house for CQ WW CW (MM operation and gonna use a very special call)! Kinda pushing the environment. Still had a great time although 40 SSB had me down for awhile and the rate dropped (noise, broadcast junk) and this in turn made me unmotivated. But came back and the rate jumped up making the return engagement to 40 a pleasure. I knew however, the rate would crawl all day Sunday, so I decided to opt out and attend to other things (non-radio). Was surprised to hear so many comments that I was a new multiplier for them (NH). There were lots of NH, WMA and ME guys on. Got more sleep Sunday morning that I usually do and then banged away for that last mult (VY1JA) by noon. Found it convenient to use my 3 20 M yagis in different directions - South, West and NW. When I came across VY1JA, before I even heard him sign his call or give his section, checking the antennas, he peaked NW - I knew immediately it was him! Then surprisingly, he said - "who is the 1 station?" Well, of course I jumped in - worked him and it was done! That was fun! Thanks all for the great operating by the Q and A guys! They seeme to know when to just go ahead and repeat the info, making the exchange great! Congrats to all that made the huge numbers this year! Amazing the Q totals from both coasts! For quite awhile, I was within 200 or so of the leaders but then reality hit - time to QRT! 73, Mark, K1RX ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K1TN Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 69,678 Missed North Dakota. #78 was MS, #79 was NE. Worked two VY1s, the one mult I missed on CW. LP/one dipole. Jim Cain, K1TN/9 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K3DNE Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 185,600 FT1000MP MKV SB220 CushCraft A3 at 45ft 75/40m Inverted V's at 55ft. 360 ft NE/SW Beverage N1MM Logger ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K3MIM Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 217,760 Cross-reference W3IDT Log Father (Bob, W3IDT) and Daughter (Miriam, K3MIM) effort at the W3LPL qth. We thank Frank, W3LPL, for providing us a flawless "adult playground", with separate radios on each band, and Phyllis, his xyl, for letting us invade her home on an "off" weekend. (And the FCC for getting Miriam's new General Class license to her on FRIDAY! Miriam, ex-KA3UBJ, long time old Novice Class licensee, passed the Tech, got a new call, passed the General within the past two months.) class qsos mults score hours K3MIM: B 1361 80 217,760 24 W3IDT B 1379 80 220,640 24 All bands (well 80, 40, 20, very little 15), separate radios on each band, separate calls, no internet connection, no exchange or friends database. (Only one of the two separate computer networks to support the two sets of sequential numbers could have had internet spots, but in our operating environment keeping the spots separate would have been a challenge; hence no spots to either network.) Bob, w3idt, and Miriam, k3mim w3idt@arrl.net k3mim@arrl.net ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K3MM Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 233,760 I think Murphy was saving it all up for this weekend... It started with what I think is a bad feedline for the 40 meter antenna - Tripping the amp, about 50% reflected and if they werent about 20 over I couldnt work 'em. Then I think the wattmeter feedthru started breaking down in my antenna tuner for 80, which started tripping the Alpha 87 out at minimal power levels, bypassed or no. This misled me into thinking the antenna was breaking down until I later patched around it, leaving me with very low power and a bad mismatch on 80 for most of the first night. Ugh. Then I think I found every net frequency on both 20 and 80 about 15 minutes before "goin' ta meetin' time". Of course, like an idiot, I upgraded to the latest version of CT right before the contest and at about contact 485 it became a random number generator, so I was paper sequencing after that... I dread cleaning up THAT log! I would have just quit and gone to watch my daughter ride in a horse show on Sunday, but I knew I had to tough it out and do my bit for THE Club! I think 'ol Murphy was telling me my lack of station maintenance over the past few years has finally caught up to me. Time to rebuild! Congrats to NI1N for a kick-ass single-radio score and also to the rest of PVRC that showed up in droves for phone SS. Win or lose, a great club effort! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K3STX Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 55,096 Wow! I am a CW man, and really only did this to help PVRC win back the gavel. But I have to admit, I LOVED IT! I have never done a phone contest, and this was a blast. I ran 500 watts, so could actually run and it was a real rush. I can’t wait till the next SS. I only wish I operated more, child care/family obligations limited my 8 hours of time and my only long stretch was from 0200Z to 0700Z on Saturday. (You might have heard my 2 year old screaming in my shack during an afternoon run, it annoyed ME more than YOU, believe me!) I sure have a lot to learn about phone contesting, but it was much more enjoyable than I had expected. It was especially enjoyable working my fellow CW contesting friends and putting voices to callsigns. Tons of PVRC and NCCC activity, I'm keeping my fingers crossed. CU next time. paul Rig: Ts-850S with AL-811 amp. (no SSB filters, ugh!) Antennas: 20/40 fan dipole up 30 feet, 80 meter dipole up 60 feet ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K3SWZ Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 51,750 Missed VE7, VE4, VY1, MS and SB..... I remember why I don't like this contest!! Glad to help PVRC!! Everyone doesn't type 60 wpm --- slow down!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K3TD Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 38,304 Checkout of the new multi-band Inverted L antenna (35' H x 65' L). It is great to be back on the air, even with a compromise antenna! 73, Tad, K3TD ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K3WW Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 58,880 Found N0UNL on 75 meters for section #80 at 11:45 local time and closed down. Spent the first 13 minutes of the contest calling VY1JA as he went from pretty loud to gone on 15 meters. When I worked him on 20 he was calling for East Coast and not hearing many of us. My main rule in SS is to leave the antennas pointed at VY1 until I have the multiplier, this strategy is not aimed at maximizing my score. 73 Chas K3WW ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4BAI Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 115,498 FT1000MP, AL811H, 500 watts output, TH6DXX, zepp, dipole, inverted vee for 80 fallen down and partly on the roof. Missed VE7 for some reason. Didn't get the voice keyer hooked back up. Played two team tennis matches during the weekend, spent some time with family, and got a good night's sleep. Tried not to tire myself out before this week's trip to Bonaire for CQ WW CW next weekend. Thanks for all the QSOs. Hope to work you all on many bands from PJ4/K4BAI Nov 21-28 and PJ4A (M/S with K1TO and N4TO) in CQ WW CW. 73, John. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4EJ Class: SO Unlimited LP Total Score = 137,760 For the 2nd time, the invitation to operate the WK2G station proved to be alot of fun and challenging as any low power, single tower station would be. I took advantage of the stations strengths, (YAESU FT 1000MP, FORCE 12 C31XR TRIBANDER,FORCE 12 2EL 240N 40M), especially maximizing the use of the 2 el 40m yagi. I made the SWEEP, and surprisingly, worked 39 MULTS on both 20m and 40m, with WCF and SFL as the last two I needed ... so heading off to 75m before sunset on Sunday evening to find K4LQ in WCF for #79 and AC5ZS in SFL for #80, I felt that by 7PM Sunday night I'd met my goal and was ready to head back home. I believe I could have spent the last 3 hours churning for the 1,000 QSO mark, but having made a SWEEP in both the CW and SSB events this year, I was satisfied with the effort. Thanks once again to Merrill and Maryanne for their fun hospitality and RadioSport spirit. I had as much fun visiting with them during my offtime, eating pizza and telling stories, as I did running 'em at six a minute during the peak spurts. So ends another chapeter in ARRL SS history. I must have logged 30+ MN stations, so I know the Minnesota Wireless Assn was up to something this year! Only the logchecking will tell. 73 ... Frank (K4EJ) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4EU Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 128,000 Wow! I've never operated SS/SSB to any great extent. But, stuck with it for as long as I could. First ever sweep on SSB.... Had an unbelievable 16 KL7's, 5 KH6's and 3 NT's call me.... Anxious to see how the NCCC/PVRC competition shakes out. Thanks for all the Q's. 73....//Steve K4EU ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4HR Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 23,680 Not much time in chair this year. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4KDJ Class: School Club LP Total Score = 66,080 Virginia Tech Amateur Radio Association (VPI) Operating conditions were Kenwood TS570, tribander and low 80M dipole from the club station on campus. Enjoyed the competition and teamwork by fellow PVRCers. Also proud of a clean sweep! First SS participation in a few years as a club. Several newly licensed members enjoyed their first time operating in a contest. I'm sure a few are hooked. 73 and Go Hokies! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4MIL Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 30,056 Another fun weekend!!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4OD Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 27,048 Hmmmmm............there gotta be a better way to do this :) Had a blast even though the score doesn't reflect it! Antennas, antennas, antennas! More and better antennas! <~~~is thinking "MORE WIRE"! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4TCG Class: Multi-Op HP Total Score = 34,170 W4PA and his daughter Cecilia had to take a last-minute flight to S.F. for family funeral. They had a very early flight out of Nashville, and stayed here (near Nashville) the night before. I got to visit with Cecilia and the OM for an evening, which was really great. We decided to play around in SS, and we used the K4TCG call sign since it was, after all, a TCG multi-op. I think Scott made maybe a dozen QSOs as we tuned the bands and listened to the good, the bad, and the ugly. We had plenty of laughs and some good discussion about some operating practices happening today in contesting. Sunday I actually got the voice keyer and PTT line working correctly with N1MM. In celebration, I ran off a couple hundred more K4TCG QSOs before having to tend to some other things. The bands sounded fine, and it's always to hear the voices of old friends. 73 -Kirk K4RO ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4TD Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 25,340 Just got on the air to hand out a few QSO's. Lot's of great signals from W6/W7 on 15 meters. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4TMC Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 14,382 S&P only on 40 Meters with low inverted-V. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4TS Class: Multi-Op HP Total Score = 170,400 Thanks to all who were kind enough to work us. All QSOs are appreciated. Fun especially when all the equipment works. Had a very bad experience on 75 when someone deliberately kept QRMing us. He made derogatory remarks, mimicked the operator, played music, questioned the sexual orientation of the operator, etc. This continued for an hour and was confirmed by other stations. Sorry to hear this occur to others. It was very disturbing to have it happen to us especially on how blatant and the continuous length of time it was done. Of course he never gave his call. Oh well, this was one hour out of 24. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4UJ Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 7,040 Antennas : Nuttin' but wire Soapbox : This is the first contest I participated since moving this past summer. Running single OCF windom and 100W. Main goal was getting N1MM DVK working sending call's and exchanges all via the computer. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4XU Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 54,720 Thought I'd get on after spending all day Sturday getting my antennas ready for the next BIG CONTEST. Tried to make a sweep. Was encouraged early - worked J as first qso, folowed by NL and QC. In the end I was missing DE, SC, PAC and ID. Tough to miss some easy ones after snagging the usual hard ones. New 40m antenna is playing well, we will see how well it works when pointed in the other direction - to JA. I hate ssb... 73, Dick ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K5KG Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 130,400 I didn't start the contest with any expectations of making it a serious effort. I did, however, want to try and work a sweep, and that we managed to do. Our last three mults were PAC, MS and SC. SC proved to be especially difficult to nail. I heard AA4V in SC earlier on Sunday on 15 or 20m, but he was deluged with a left coast pileup making it impossible to work him on backscatter. Later, however, on Sunday evening, I was tuning across 75m, and K4MQG, who was not in the contest, casually signed his call. I gave him a shout and, low and behold, he was in SC. He had just come up on frequency to meet his son for a sked, and he obliged me with the sweep. 73, George, K5KG OJ! There has been a lot of chatter on the reflector about guys working in the 75m "dx window". We were guilty, although at the time I didn't realize I was on such scacred ground, and was promptly run off by a policeman. It was easier to move than argue about it! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K5TR Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 324,800 Always fun to do the November Sweepstakes. Great to work the old friends and meet some new ones. I had kind of a hard start and it took more than 30 minutes to get a good frequency and get the run really going. As a result the second hour of the contest produced my highest rate. As others have noted 20 meters was pretty much useless before sunset each day here in Texas. This made it hard to get off to the big starts that I have had the last few years. Sunday on 20 meters produced some very good hours and in the end I finished not too far behind last years score - I guess it kind of all equaled out. Nice to see some very good scores from east of the Mississippi. Thanks for all the contacts and congrats to all who did well and had fun doing it. Callsign Used : K5TR Operator : K5TR Station : K5TR Category : Single Op High Power BAND Raw QSOs Valid QSOs Points Mults __________________________________________________ 80SSB 117 114 228 0 40SSB 615 607 1214 9 20SSB 1213 1191 2382 50 15SSB 120 118 236 21 __________________________________________________ Totals 2065 2030 4060 80 Final Score = 324800 points. Station: http://www.kkn.net/~k5tr/blanco/k5tr_station.html 160 - 1/4 wave sloping vertical - NE, NW, SE, SW beverages ~500' long 80 - Half wave sloping dipoles - sloped NE, NW from 120'. - NE, NW, SE, SW beverages ~500' long 40 - Cushcraft 40-2CD at 120' fixed NE - Cushcraft 40-2CD at 97' - NE, NW, SE, SW beverages ~500' long 20 - 6 element yagis at 80' and 40' fixed NE - 6 element yagi at 90'(rotates) - 6 element yagi 40' fixed NW - 4 element yagi 60' fixed SE 15 - 6 element yagi at 70' (rotates) - 6 element yagi at 35' fixed NE - 4 element yagi at 50' fixed SE 10 - 6 element yagi at 60' (rotates) - 6 element yagi at 30' fixed NE - 4 element yagi at 40' fixed SE HR 160 80 40 20 15 10 HR TOT CUM TOTAL SCORE -- ----- ------ -------- -------- -------- -------- ------ --------- ----- 21 --- --- --- 51/27 85/20 --- 136/47 136/47 0.01M 22 --- --- --- 159/11 13/0 --- 172/11 308/58 0.04M 23 --- --- --- 143/9 3/0 --- 146/9 454/67 0.06M 0 --- --- 50/2 61/1 --- --- 111/3 565/70 0.08M 1 --- --- 105/2 --- --- --- 105/2 670/72 0.10M 2 --- 3/0 43/0 --- --- --- 46/0 716/72 0.10M 3 --- 8/0 37/1 --- --- --- 45/1 761/73 0.11M 4 --- 6/0 75/1 --- --- --- 81/1 842/74 0.12M 5 --- 5/0 90/1 --- --- --- 95/1 937/75 0.14M 6 --- 9/0 57/0 --- --- --- 66/0 1003/75 0.15M 7 --- 10/0 50/2 --- --- --- 60/2 1063/77 0.16M 8 --- 20/0 6/0 --- --- --- 26/0 1089/77 0.17M 9 --- 2/0 18/0 --- --- --- 20/0 1109/77 0.17M 10 --- --- --- --- --- --- --- 1109/77 0.17M 11 --- --- --- --- --- --- --- 1109/77 0.17M 12 --- --- --- --- --- --- --- 1109/77 0.17M 13 --- --- 1/0 50/0 --- --- 51/0 1160/77 0.18M 14 --- --- --- 64/2 6/0 --- 70/2 1230/79 0.19M 15 --- --- --- 87/0 1/1 --- 88/1 1318/80 0.21M 16 --- --- --- 91/0 3/0 --- 94/0 1412/80 0.23M 17 --- --- --- 80/0 2/0 --- 82/0 1494/80 0.24M 18 --- --- --- 89/0 --- --- 89/0 1583/80 0.25M 19 --- --- --- 64/0 3/0 --- 67/0 1650/80 0.26M 20 --- --- --- 59/0 2/0 --- 61/0 1711/80 0.27M 21 --- --- 2/0 71/0 --- --- 73/0 1784/80 0.29M 22 --- --- 2/0 70/0 --- --- 72/0 1856/80 0.30M 23 --- --- 14/0 49/0 --- --- 63/0 1919/80 0.31M 0 --- 5/0 47/0 3/0 --- --- 55/0 1974/80 0.32M 1 --- 37/0 10/0 --- --- --- 47/0 2021/80 0.32M 2 --- 9/0 --- --- --- --- 9/0 2030/80 0.32M D1 0/0 0/0 0/0 353/47 101/20 0/0 454/67 D2 0/0 114/0 607/9 838/3 17/1 0/0 1576/13 TO 0/0 114/0 607/9 1191/50 118/21 0/0 2030/80 Gross QSO's=2065 Dupes=35 Net QSO's=2030 Unique callsigns worked = 2030 The best 60 minute rate was 179/hour from 2213 to 2312 The best 30 minute rate was 194/hour from 2213 to 2242 The best 10 minute rate was 210/hour from 2215 to 2224 The best 1 minute rates were: 5 QSO's/minute 1 times. 4 QSO's/minute 30 times. 3 QSO's/minute 181 times. 2 QSO's/minute 383 times. 1 QSO's/minute 596 times. There were 161 bandchanges and 80 (3.9%) probable 2nd radio QSO's. Number of letters in callsigns Letters # worked ----------------- 3 2 4 834 5 801 6 392 9 1 ------------ M u l t i p l i e r S u m m a r y ------------ Mult 160 80 40 20 15 10 Total Pct ------------------------------------------------------------- Il 0 4 39 61 0 0 104 5.0 Va 0 3 40 47 6 0 96 4.6 Mdc 0 5 29 38 4 0 76 3.7 Oh 0 3 28 45 0 0 76 3.7 Mi 0 2 20 46 0 0 68 3.3 Nc 0 2 23 39 1 0 65 3.1 Scv 0 1 21 27 13 0 62 3.0 Mn 0 2 18 42 0 0 62 3.0 WWa 0 2 12 30 9 0 53 2.6 Co 0 2 16 34 1 0 53 2.6 Ep 0 1 15 28 6 0 50 2.4 Wi 0 0 13 35 0 0 48 2.3 Az 0 1 20 26 0 0 47 2.3 On 0 3 6 25 7 0 41 2.0 Ga 0 0 17 23 0 0 40 1.9 In 0 1 15 24 0 0 40 1.9 Sv 0 0 10 25 3 0 38 1.8 NNj 0 3 9 19 6 0 37 1.8 NFl 0 2 10 22 0 0 34 1.6 Org 0 1 9 22 0 0 32 1.5 Em 0 0 6 19 7 0 32 1.5 Ct 0 2 6 18 5 0 31 1.5 Or 0 1 8 20 2 0 31 1.5 Nh 0 1 9 16 4 0 30 1.5 ENy 0 2 6 20 2 0 30 1.5 WPa 0 0 6 20 2 0 28 1.4 NLi 0 0 2 18 6 0 26 1.3 Mo 0 7 6 13 0 0 26 1.3 Tn 0 4 10 11 0 0 25 1.2 Ky 0 0 8 16 0 0 24 1.2 Ut 0 1 8 15 0 0 24 1.2 SFl 0 2 7 14 0 0 23 1.1 WNy 0 0 7 15 1 0 23 1.1 Wv 0 2 7 14 0 0 23 1.1 Ia 0 1 4 17 0 0 22 1.1 Ew 0 2 7 10 3 0 22 1.1 Sdg 0 1 11 10 0 0 22 1.1 SNj 0 0 2 19 0 0 21 1.0 Ne 0 2 4 14 0 0 20 1.0 Lax 0 0 3 17 0 0 20 1.0 Eb 0 0 5 10 4 0 19 0.9 Sjv 0 0 4 10 4 0 18 0.9 Sc 0 0 3 15 0 0 18 0.9 Mt 0 0 8 10 0 0 18 0.9 STx 0 7 2 9 0 0 18 0.9 Al 0 3 7 8 0 0 18 0.9 WcF 0 0 8 9 0 0 17 0.8 Sf 0 0 4 9 2 0 15 0.7 Id 0 1 3 11 0 0 15 0.7 Bc 0 1 2 12 0 0 15 0.7 Me 0 1 2 11 1 0 15 0.7 Nv 0 0 6 8 0 0 14 0.7 NTx 0 6 1 6 0 0 13 0.6 De 0 0 5 4 3 0 12 0.6 Vt 0 1 4 4 2 0 11 0.5 Sb 0 0 0 11 0 0 11 0.5 Ak 0 0 2 7 2 0 11 0.5 Ri 0 0 4 4 3 0 11 0.5 Nm 0 3 4 3 1 0 11 0.5 Wy 0 0 5 5 0 0 10 0.5 Ab 0 1 4 5 0 0 10 0.5 Ok 0 6 2 2 0 0 10 0.5 WMa 0 2 5 3 0 0 10 0.5 Mar 0 1 2 3 1 0 7 0.3 Nd 0 1 2 4 0 0 7 0.3 Sd 0 0 1 6 0 0 7 0.3 Qc 0 0 1 5 1 0 7 0.3 Ar 0 3 3 1 0 0 7 0.3 La 0 3 2 2 0 0 7 0.3 Ks 0 4 1 1 0 0 6 0.3 WTx 0 2 2 2 0 0 6 0.3 NNy 0 0 0 3 2 0 5 0.2 Sk 0 0 0 3 2 0 5 0.2 Ms 0 2 2 0 0 0 4 0.2 Pac 0 0 3 1 0 0 4 0.2 Mb 0 0 0 2 1 0 3 0.1 Nl 0 0 0 3 0 0 3 0.1 Vi 0 0 1 2 0 0 3 0.1 Nt 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 0.1 Pr 0 0 0 1 1 0 2 0.1 ------------------------------------------------------ Total 0 114 607 1191 118 0 2030 Sweepstakes Checks Check QSOs Pct ---------------------- 00 23 1.1 01 31 1.5 02 33 1.6 03 33 1.6 04 37 1.8 05 33 1.6 06 15 0.7 07 0 0.0 08 0 0.0 09 1 0.0 10 1 0.0 11 0 0.0 12 0 0.0 13 0 0.0 14 0 0.0 15 0 0.0 16 1 0.0 17 0 0.0 18 0 0.0 19 3 0.1 20 0 0.0 21 2 0.1 22 1 0.0 23 0 0.0 24 1 0.0 25 0 0.0 26 1 0.0 27 0 0.0 28 0 0.0 29 0 0.0 30 2 0.1 31 1 0.0 32 3 0.1 33 0 0.0 34 3 0.1 35 3 0.1 36 0 0.0 37 2 0.1 38 2 0.1 39 3 0.1 40 2 0.1 41 3 0.1 42 0 0.0 43 1 0.0 44 1 0.0 45 1 0.0 46 4 0.2 47 6 0.3 48 9 0.4 49 7 0.3 50 8 0.4 51 9 0.4 52 23 1.1 53 24 1.2 54 47 2.3 55 35 1.7 56 42 2.1 57 56 2.8 58 56 2.8 59 54 2.7 60 35 1.7 61 53 2.6 62 63 3.1 63 58 2.9 64 34 1.7 65 43 2.1 66 26 1.3 67 44 2.2 68 43 2.1 69 46 2.3 70 41 2.0 71 34 1.7 72 41 2.0 73 27 1.3 74 30 1.5 75 33 1.6 76 65 3.2 77 69 3.4 78 57 2.8 79 32 1.6 80 22 1.1 81 18 0.9 82 27 1.3 83 22 1.1 84 20 1.0 85 22 1.1 86 27 1.3 87 16 0.8 88 24 1.2 89 32 1.6 90 34 1.7 91 49 2.4 92 39 1.9 93 37 1.8 94 41 2.0 95 22 1.1 96 26 1.3 97 20 1.0 98 14 0.7 99 21 1.0 Callareas Worked Area QSOs Pct ------------------ 0 210 10.3 1 177 8.7 2 190 9.4 3 220 10.8 4 285 14.0 5 88 4.3 6 258 12.7 7 237 11.7 8 164 8.1 9 201 9.9 Sweepstakes Precedents Precedent QSOs Pct ---------------------- A 1086 53.5 B 421 20.7 Q 67 3.3 M 164 8.1 U 273 13.4 S 19 0.9 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K5YAA Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 6,786 Missed NWT in the CW running - worked 2 during my short time on SSB. A Sweep using both modes! K5YAA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K5ZD Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 66,400 Interesting short skip both Sat and Sun evening from here to W8/9/0 on 20m. Helped me avoid having to work 40 and 75. Last three sections were VE4, VE7, and SC. Got on after the Cowboys game to see if I could find SC. Had about given up when K3AN called in on 20! VY1 was easy. Heard VY1MB and VY1JA running guys for hours on the very low end of 20m. WMA must have been rare because had a number of people thank me for the Sweep. Some with big QSO numbers. That gave me motivation to call CQ more. At one point I must have been spotted in the NCCC cluster because had a run of 15 class U stations in a row! QSO/Sec by hour and band Hour 80 40 20 15 Total Cumm OffTime 2100Z - - - 12/8 12/8 12/8 26 2200Z - - - - 0/0 12/8 60 2300Z - - - - 0/0 12/8 60 0000Z --+-- --+-- 24/11 --+-- 24/11 36/19 35 0100Z - 1/0 16/2 - 17/2 53/21 48 0200Z 11/5 5/3 4/3 - 20/11 73/32 11 0300Z - - - - 0/0 73/32 60 0400Z - - - - 0/0 73/32 60 0500Z - - - - 0/0 73/32 60 0600Z - - - - 0/0 73/32 60 0700Z - - - - 0/0 73/32 60 0800Z --+-- --+-- --+-- --+-- 0/0 73/32 60 0900Z - - - - 0/0 73/32 60 1000Z - - - - 0/0 73/32 60 1100Z - - - - 0/0 73/32 60 1200Z 38/14 - 8/8 - 46/22 119/54 15 1300Z 6/1 8/2 3/0 - 17/3 136/57 40 1400Z - 14/2 21/3 - 35/5 171/62 15 1500Z - - - - 0/0 171/62 60 1600Z --+-- --+-- --+-- --+-- 0/0 171/62 60 1700Z - - - - 0/0 171/62 60 1800Z - - 63/13 - 63/13 234/75 21 1900Z - 11/0 15/2 25/0 51/2 285/77 8 2000Z - - - - 0/0 285/77 60 2100Z - - - 8/0 8/0 293/77 53 2200Z - - 42/2 2/0 44/2 337/79 29 2300Z - - - - 0/0 337/79 60 0000Z 27/0 2/0 37/1 --+-- 66/1 403/80 4 0100Z 3/0 8/0 1/0 - 12/0 415/80 46 0200Z - - - - 0/0 12/8 60 Total: 85/20 49/7 234/45 47/8 Guess I never operated a whole clock hour. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6GEP Class: SO Unlimited LP Total Score = 23,616 This is my first actual entry in SS Phone. Never got a run going like I did on CW. Very tough sledding. Got my multiband dipole up to 55 feet at the apex right before the contest. A little disappointed that raising it from 20 feet up to 55 did not make too large of a difference. Thanks to all of the MDC stations out there - you were well represented! Where were the VE7's? Finally worked one late Sunday. 72 sections will be my record - only got 70 on CW. Missed WNY DE SFL SC MS ND NL NT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6IDX Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 207,360 Thanks to Brad, K6IDX for the use of his fine station. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6III Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 67,940 Spent a bit of time making spots to the node. Missed SC (as usual)! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6JEB Class: SO Unlimited LP Total Score = 30,222 I am learning that Contesting is a journey, not a destination. SSB is more challenging than CW IMHO. I learn something new in every contest. A haiku: Sweepstakes Weekend here station set up perfectly where's that fuse I need?! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6MM Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 123,680 It doesn't help when Murphy visits during the first hour of the contest. Power outage + computer freeze = #@!&@!. It's always a slugfest on 40 SSB (ugh), and there's always one Section in low supply. This time it was SC for me. Luckily, one called me late Sunday. Next year I'll use a voice keyer -- I'm pooped. Thanks for all the Qs. 73, John, K6MM. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6NV Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 96,696 This is, by far, the best I have ever done is a SSB SS! I missed out on my first sweep by missing NL somehow which is a bumer. Thought it was going to be a washout earlier in the week due to some pretty awful power line noise that has come up in the last month. It is due north of my house, so with the Yagi I could minimize it by pointing due east, but 40m was gross and 80m bearable. The noise rendered 40m almost unuseable except for selective S&P. The station played flawlessly, no problems with my stuff. Sunday before the contest we had a short work party and raised my low 40m vee about 30'to over 60', don't know how much difference it made, but the RFI problems into the house have lessened. I also re-adjusted 1 leg on the 80m vee to get it further away from the house and now no RFI into the ham computer. Now to solve a problem with my neighbor and we will be home free, going to pay attention to what K9YC is putting out. I learned some lessons in this contest, other than it was pure torture for most of the time on 20m and 80m. I should have stayed up latter (past 0030) Sat night, when I started getting tired 80m quieted down and most of the QRM and congestion disappeared, I probably could have worked another 50-100 q's late at night, and just slept another hour or so on the other end, plus the late night operators seem to have it together better. The highlights were being able to hold a run frequency most of Sunday morning on 14.201 without being pushed off (I even felt that I was loud for most of the 4 hours), my rates weren't high (they never are) but it wasn't until propagation changed that I had to move. I did get in on the NCCC rally times, it was very cool and a break to have these loud, clear, well articulated stations to work after suffering with noise and QRP stations. The spotting helped save the day, thanks guys. I could always tell when I got spotted by the pileups, also got spotted in PVRC territory when the 2's and 3's lined up. I worked more ME, VT, NH, NE and SD stations than I knew that existed, this was good. I see now that next year I will be over the 100,000 point mark. Equipment lineup: FT-1000MP AL-80b, 8-900w out most of the time TH-3 Yagi at 60+', vees on 80 and 40, 160m slopper WL and an ancient Dell PC ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6OWL Class: SO Unlimited LP Total Score = 15,008 Seven hours according to Writelog, only seemed like longer. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6QK Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 131,054 I expected to do a limited effort but that all changed when my station started to function as it was designed to. My RFI problems experienced in CQWW were resolved with the use of torroids and ferrite clamp-on beads with absolute success. I could change bands at will and operate a full legal limit with absolutely no problems. My FT-1000MP, Alpha 91 Beta, SteppIR, MFJ Voice Keyer and WriteLog all played as they should. What a pleasure when it all works. And the bands appeared to be in very respectable conditions. YES. This was my best effort in SS to date; again, another good experience. Thanks to all who worked me. 73, Harv K6QK ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6SU Class: SO Unlimited LP Total Score = 94,720 My mother told me - if you can't say anything nice ... It's nice that being low power on SSB will help you practice S&P. It's nice that RFI problems can be easily found by hooking up a second radio, and nice that RFI problems can be easily removed by unhooking the second radio. It's nice that computers shut down whenever they think they are having problems, and nice that there is always paper to log on until the computer starts back up. Its nice that 40m doesn't really open up for contacts by low wire antennas until many hours after 20m closes, so that you can listen to the east coast work each other without interference from your calls. It's nice that I get to spend twice as many hours on the air, just to make the same number of QSOs as on CW. Its nice when people say "Is everyone from SCV on in this contest?!" It's nice that its over... Mark K6SU (K6UFO) Yaesu FT-1000MP 100 watts. Antennas: Tennadyne 6 el Log Periodic up 40 ft wire loop and tuner for 40m and 80m. Writelog ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6VVA Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 84,160 As it always seems, I ended up operating more hours than planned. Contesting is an addiction! Less pain that in the CW SS, 'cuz I did my right hand therapy exercises more frequently and sometimes just let it hang down toward the floor while the computer Auto-CQ'd. Unlike my packet screw up in the CW SS, I installed the latest version of Writelog just before the SSB weekend but could never resolve the - Can't create packet OLE Automation Object - problem. No possible screw up again, 'cuz I couldn't use packet. I think it was a blessing in disguise. Shame on those whose prefill logs may show me as PREC "U" 'cuz I was "B" this weekend. In spite of no stinkin' packet, I made another Clean Sweep which was thrilling! Working some usual rare mults in the first few hours got me excited about the possibilities again, and in spite of off and on operating, I thought it just might be possible. After working VO1HE on 15m just before QSYing to Church Sunday Morning, that only left MB & WMA after just missing VE4EAR. When I returned in the afternoon, I kept hoping maybe VE4XT was around, and really got excited after finally snagging Kelly on 20m. Tnx, OM. That's when I inhaled most of the rest of a new bag of Jet Puffed marshmallows and a bunch of chocolate to ramp up toward a possible Sweep. It was so close I could taste it. I reverted to CQing on 14.173 for about 30 QSOs before I panic'd about WMA for #80. No WMA's called, so decided to start tuning around. All of a sudden, I realized I hadn't yet worked K5ZD, but couldn't remember if he was EMA or WMA. So I checked my CW SS log and that's when the adrenalin started flowing when I realized Randy was my possible ticket to paradise. Oh Oh...more panic...I wondered if he did a straight 24 hours and then quit? UGH. Where on earth might he be? I dialed down to 14.150 and started working my way up. No K5ZD. I was back on (my) 14.173 frequency but kept tuning up. HOT DIGGITY DOG! Just 4Khz up from where I had been CQing and QSOing in panic city was K5ZD. First Call...Wham Bam...Numero 80...I almost wet my pants!!! Tnx again, Randy. You made my day, OM. Except for a brief Mini-HMO as KP2CW/M next door, most of the rest of SS was spent on the couch with an ice-pack nursing my Tendonitis. This was my last SS from this RF-Hole LPCS QTH. Next year: Surprise, Surprise!!! 73 & Tnx for the Q's & Mults & Sweep... Rick, K6VVA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6ZM Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 109,440 Many thanks to Kevin, WB6S, for his wonderful station and hospitality. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K7ABV Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 29,480 played with new logging program only on sunday, too much going on rest of the time...program worked fine, suprised to work so many sections with short time on the band, nice to see old timer's again.. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K7BG Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 92,000 Last section needed was SFL. Had some fun getting a rate fix, but with no voice keyer the old tonsils sure get a good workout with the SS exchange. I sure wish all these fine SSB ops would get on for the CW running of this premier contest next year. What say? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K7LMM Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 720 Operated limited time with a borrowed R7 (thanks to Dennis, AF7Y). Got on the air a little late. Propagation not good from this location. Did manage to get several new states however. Could hear far more than could hear me. See you next year with a tower and a beam. Hope to do better next time. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K7MM Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 80,000 Fourth consecutive QRP Sweep! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K7RL Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 290,720 Admittedly, I was less than enthusiastic about participating in Sweepstakes this year. The thought of slugging it out on 20m and 40m for over twenty hours among the heavy splatter and buckshot seemed daunting. My solution to this motivational dilemma was to try something new: Unlimited! Overall, total raw Qs are down 115 from my 2005 bravo effort. I was already trailing 105 Qs from last year’s pace after the first twelve hours. That proved tough to make-up. In hindsight, three mistakes cost me: Number one: Leaving 20m for 40m too early the first night. Number two: Staying too long on 40m the first night. Number three: Moving to 15m at all. In fact, I never should have left 20m during the daylight hours (although, it was a nice break from the QRM!). Speaking of QRM, if tuning-up on contesters ever becomes the best way to spend a weekend, my wife has strict instructions to institutionalize me. Surviving the jammers, zombie ragchewers, frequency police, and crowded bands are certainly part of navigating a successful SSB SS effort. Thanks to all the great ops that made it into the log. Happy Thanksgiving to all! 73 de Mitch, K7RL ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K7VU Class: Multi-Op LP Total Score = 122,880 First time for multi for sweepstakes. Got our sweep near end of contest when ND called us! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K7XC Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 50,050 Recovering From Outpatient Surgery. My endurance is not what it used to be, Only On For The First Half Of The Contest as NA7RF was coming to use my place for the second 1/2 under the call K1CD. 80M was increadible! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K8BB Class: Multi-Op HP Total Score = 263,680 K8BB and WD8S Multi-Op from the main K8CC station, with K8CC Single-Op Unlimited from the 10m operating position outside the main shack. No SCP for us - real men copy what they hear! (We'll see what the UBN report looks like ... ) First hour was great: 130! Then the next three hours hovered around 85 - not so good. Finally, with a band change to 80m, hour 5 (!) was back up to 120. From there, it tapered off as SS usually does. One of these years we'll figure out the key to 600 QSOs in the first 6 hours ... All Day-1 QSOs were all 15m, 40m, and 80m as K8CC was using the 20m antennas for his Single-Op effort. Day-2 rates were decent enough and somewhat steady. We only took one 30-min period off in the early evening, then ended at 0130z. Overall we came up just a few QSOs short of our similar effort, two years ago. Some highlights include making the Clean Sweep on Saturday night. Just after WD8S hit the hay, VE7SZ called in at 0814z and was 30 over on 80m! I decided to leave the 80m antenna pointed to the NW, hoping that AK would call in. *The very next QSO* was AK, with our last needed mult! We tried to conform to the rules and conventions of clean, ethical contesting: we avoided running in the DX windows, we tried to be aware of the stations around us so as not to park next to a "rare" mult, and once I abanonded my run frequency when I accidently spotted a station on my frequency after working him on the SUB-VFO. While running on 3772kHz Saturday evening, two particularly loud stations started a QSO right on my frequency and proceeded to accuse contesters of being impolite and irrespectful of the DX window. Therefore, they were going to intentionally QRM *ME* and take *MY* frequency for their use. After enough seconds/minutes of this that I knew these guys indeed might not go away, I addressed them and tried to plead my case that I was NOT in the DX window, I had not done anything to harm their previous frequency or QSOs, and that I felt I was being unfairly singled-out as a target for RF abuse. Furthermore, I had been on this frequency (after I asked if it was in use) for hours and hundreds of QSOs. I suggested, as politely as I could at that point, that we "work out a compromise" or something. Having two antennas and five directions to from which to choose, I was still able to make a few QSOs through their antics and they eventually left, though not without making a final statement about my character. In response, I resisted the temptation to "oink" into my microphone. :-) NA 10.64 FT-1000D x2 with TX interlock 15m: 5/5/5, 4L; 3-1000Z 20m: 5/5, 4L; 4-1000A 40m: 3L, dipoles; 4-1000A 80m: 4-square, dipole; 2x3-500Z 73! Don/K8BB and Mike/WD8S Go Mad River! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K8BL Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 80,000 ARRL SWEEPSTAKES -- 2006 Call: K8BL Category: Single Operator Power: Low Power Band: All Band Mode: SSB Section: OH BAND QSO QSO PTS SECTIONS 160 0 0 - 80 236 472 - 40 65 130 - 20 69 138 - 15 130 260 - 10 0 0 - ----------------------------------- Totals 500 1000 80 Score: 80,000 Power Output: <150 watts Hours of operation: _12_ Equipment Description: IC-756PROIII (WHICH DIED AFTER 11 HOURS!), THEN IC-706MKIIIG 80 & 40 DOUBLE BAZOOKAS, 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: K8IR Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 67,308 Missed ND. Got off to a fast start thanks to 15m. Had some nice short skip on 20 well into the evening Saturday. Can't complain about conditions. I was even with last year at 2000 Sunday. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K9ES Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 73,164 2006 ARRL NOVEMBER SWEEPSTAKES K9ES SFL (Nr A K9ES 58 SFL) SO AB Phone LP Operating Time 9 Hours 75 391 Q 60 Sections 40 19 Q 0 Sections 20 39 Q 11 Sections 15 20 Q 7 Sections 469 Q 78 Sections Missed KH6 and VE7 73,164 Points Managed to also work 5A7A and 3B8/OM0C on 80CW It is obvious that the 4-Square plays better than the GAP Challenger. Was able to use the 80M doublet on 15 and 20M with low VSWR and no tuner. Radio - IC756 Pro 2 100 Watts Ant - Gap Challenger 80M Doublet 80M 4-Square Managed to work many FCG'ers. 73's Eric K9ES ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K9GX Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 204,480 Got off to a slow start. Should have started on 40m. Fooled around with trying to hang a horizontal loop until about 18UT on Saturday. Got snagged in trees. Firewood delivery guy called at 1945UT to announce he was on the way with a load of wood (keep your comments to yourself)so at 2015 I was showing him where to drop his load (shut up). 75m dipole at 30 meters suddenly was delivering loads of RF back into the shack. Went barefoot with it Saturday night. Went QRO Sunday night on the HF9V. Couldn't really estabish a good run on 20. Last 3 sections were PAC, KP4 and MS! Got a tip that N5KDV was holding forth on 40, worked him on the first call in a huge pileup for #80. Of course 30 minutes later KK5K called me! Found calling out discreet numbers when delivering serial numbers and crisp phonetics on the rest of the exchange really cut the requests for fills. Was great to hear more YLs, school stations and kids operating with their parents, like young Steven at NU2M. I always stopped for a second to visit with the youngsters. Had fun in spite of Murphy's presence. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K9GY Class: SO Unlimited LP Total Score = 31,496 Well first attempt to call CQ ended in XYL QRM so most of this is S+P effort. Got to keep the family harmony for CQ WW CW next weekend. Next year I'll need to put up an 80m dipole instead of a 40m dipole! Missed: WMA, SC, PAC, AK, MS, NM, NTX, OK, ID, WY, IA, NE, ND, NL, QC, SK, BC, NT Highlight of the weekend was working E51PEN on North Cook with 5 watts (FT-817) and Cushcraft R7000 vertical on 40m CW early Sat a.m. Got to love CW :-) Also went to Casino Royale on Sat...Another two years until the next Bond movie. Best of health to all, Eric ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K9NS Class: Multi-Op HP Total Score = 326,880 See us on the web @ http://www.k9ns.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K9PJ Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 15,552 Great Sport, at least while Murphy allowed it. Basement shack flood Thursday prior to contest forced all equipment and anything valuable to have to be moved, and after water pumped out equipment reinstalled, and other commitments handled, not much operating time left for a sleep deprived operator. Handicaps known prior to flood: one 80 meter dipole at 20', no computer, rusty operator. Station: IC-756, 30L-1, 80 Meter Dipole at 20' RFP's now out for an Ark. MM next time. Spirit of PVRC members is really impressive! 73, K9PJ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KA1ARB Class: Multi-Op HP Total Score = 223,520 For the first time ever, the station was fully ready to go the night before the contest. One the plus side, we added a new and improved 3-element 40 meter delta beam. One the minus side, we blew the mic amp in the radio before the contest and sounded like lids for the entire weekend. We may not have had the most Q's in the contest, but we're in the running for the worst audio! With Lee, WB1ADR, putting in some of the best runs ever from KA1ARB, we got off to a great start. Somehow, we lost our focus and ended up with fewer Q's than last year. Still, we had a great time as always - thanks for all the Q's. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KA1CQR Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 25,960 What a weekend, huh? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KA2D Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 39,500 Missed SC ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KB9OWD Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 109,440 Well, way down from last year but overall I left the weekend feeling good. Had nice runs on 80 and 40 at different times and felt fairly loud there most of the time. 20 in SS in LP is about useless as there is no sense and even trying to run. Got up there early before the "big guns" came up and did a little CQing, but 90 percent of those are S & P and work what I heard. Good openings to the west coast all day on 15. The 3 160 QSO's were the only time I was up there, which was about 5 min. Saturday night. Hit CQ and my first reply was from MT, the only time I heard MT all weekend so it paid off. Finished the sweep earlier than last year. I was running on 40 a good part of Sunday afternoon and had it down to MS pretty much all afternoon for the sweep. Kept asking those that called in if they had seen anyone and all had the same response of "not since yesterday". About 2200Z while scrolling for one on 40 I did come across one, finishing the sweep with plenty of time to spare. Finished first in WI LP last year, but think the torch for that may go on over to Greg, K0PJ. He was a good 80 QSO's ahead of me when I heard him Sunday morning!!! If so, congratulations Greg!!! See you all next weekend from "the farm" W0AIH in CQWW CW. 73, Ryan KB9OWD ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KC4HW Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 38,088 Used a TH3MKSII at 40' pointed North (not rotating), a 4BTV and a 1/4 wave sloper pointed north. I had a pretty good time on 40M and 20M Sunday morning. Just spent when I was not working on the tower projects. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KC5R Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 102,240 My turn to gloat - Yeh, I got (2) NTs this time too (thanks guys). Just for kicks, I even asked VY1MB to repeat his section. Pretty much a full effort, although I had to watch the OSU-MI Football game first. So I missed about 2.5 hours early in the contest. In the end, I got less sleep and had a monster headache by about 6 PM on Sunday. I grinded away but my last 2 hours were pitiful by even QRP standards (10 Q hours). Physically I was drained, vocally I was tired (I'm asking Santa for a voice keyer, in addition to my own Hooters franchise this year) and I had to get up at 5 AM Monday to boot. I had to take a couple extra breaks. QRP in SSB is almost an athletic event. The good news was that my XYL didn't have to pass the code test on Sunday for me to work LA. I got 2 of them (although I did not work W5WMU - he just doesn't want to work me or something). The last 5 sections for me were QC, ME, NT, AK, finally BC (I heard about 4 VE7s, but all were pouncing except the one I worked). I practically cried as I worked my first sweep in 26 years of SS on either mode (I probably operated about 15 of those years in one mode or another)! Frankly, I got 2 of all sections except for QC, BC, ME, WMA, SC, NNY, SFL, PAC, and ND. Thanks for all the signal compliments, and the guys who listened up for me, especially on 80 (except for N2BJ who said with a raspy NY gangster voice "You Q guys are killing me"). Some favorites were K0BUD on 40 stopping his run and asked me "WOW Q....so how much power are you running?" (I don't know what he was expecting me to say), and NE3F on 20 saying he might as well not have put up a 100' tower if he could do it QRP. Thanks (I think) for the compliment. Both these guys were 30-40 over here, and I think I was 5-10 over there. Good signals for me, except when you add in the QRM factor - it does make it tough to run stations. However, in case anyone else ever wants to pay a compliment to a nice strong QRP station, a better compliment would be, "Hey you've got a great QRP signal. How 'bout you take my nice clear frequency while I go pounce a little, and I'll come check on you later and run off those big guys that will inevitably move 1 KC away and start CQing". See you all. -Al ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KD0S Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 303,200 Thanks to Jim- KD0S and family for allowing me to invade and use this very new but excellent station! Only had antennas and radios set up for 3 weeks at this new QTH! This time as opposed to CW SS, everything worked perfectly. No RFI issues to deal with, just equipment working as it should which was really nice. We didn't have up all the antennas we wanted due to weather, but that will come with time. Started on 20m, and had really solid hours of 144,170, and 124. Actually the first 10 hours ended up well over 1000 Q's. By the break time at 0756 hours had only ND and VY1 to finish the sweep. Bands seemed to be very good from here, especially 20 and 40m, with some deep QSB on 40m. 80m was wall to wall, and was CQ'ing up to 3970 at times! Sunday I started on 20m and carved out a spot on 14.286, spending most of the day there, until I had to hunt down VY1 later in the day. 15m was very long for here, so didn't spend much time up there except to look for J, VY1JA. Thanks J for getting on. Got that mult knocked off, then to find ND! Wow, thats usually pretty easy from here, but not this time. Ended up going to 80m early Sunday evening and CQ'ing around 3919, and an ND called in after coming off a net, W0OSP! Thanks for calling. Unbelievable it took that long! Celebration and then back to 80/40m cq'ing and S/P for some slow few hours. Great contest, thanks again to Jim and family, and to all the Q's - great to work the regulars and new folks also! Lots of 00-06 years, so thats encouraging. Got another tower and some more antennas to get up yet in the next year at this station, so will continue to develop that. It seems to work very well from here. Right now, have a TH7 at 95 ft and a 2 ele 40 at 90 ft, with Inv Vee for 80/160m at 87 ft. Plans are for another tower with similar hardware and also sidemounted tribanders on both. Lots of work but great fun to operate! 73, Lord Bless! Todd WD0T ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KD2MX Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 18,980 QSO #1 was KL7IDA on one call on 15M. That was a thrill, with a touch of contest irony, as I had hunted high and low for AK during the CW SS. He disappeared shortly afterward and I didn't hear another AK during the rest of the weekend. My time was limited but I enjoyed working a phone contest, running a full 100W, for a change. Missed some "easy" sections. Where was everyone from WI? Never heard even one. Almost didn't work my own section of NNJ but finally found somebody Sunday evening. Made many unsuccessful calls trying to work a K6 with a huge signal from NV, only to grab K6NV on one call a bit later. It is always amazingly bizarre how the multipliers fall (or don't). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KD4D Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 254,880 Thanks again to John Evans, N3HBX, for letting me use the "farm." I lost the beverage switching box early Saturday night, so I had to listen using the transmit inverted vee on 80 which made for a long night. I wanted to really push 80 meters, but due to the loss of the beverages and having better antennas on 40, I ended up having more QSO's on 40 than 80 this year. A personal best for me in SSB SS. First time over 1500 QSO's! :-) I used a couple of tips from Ty, K3MM, that I think helped. First, I really concentrated on running for the first ten hours. That helped my rates and kept my run frequencies clearer. Second, I didn't lose my run frequency any on Saturday trying to pull out the REALLY weak stations. That helped a lot. Trying to copy these guys on Saturday would sometime result in a loud CQ getting an answer on my run frequency - and then no more run frequency. I don't think I made any MAJOR blunders this time in strategy. I wished at 8:25PM that I had some more operating time, but who knows? I tried 40 for the last few hours a few times, but could never get anything going so ended up on 80. This is the first time I ever worked more than one NT (I ended up with three). I remember thinking "I need VY1JA" when I went from 40 to 20. I turned the beam to about 320, called CQ, and worked J. in 1 MINUTE as my third QSO on 20. Thanks, J. I used the second radio to pick up PR and VI on Sunday morning while CQ'ing on 40. I just pointed the beam southeast and found WP3R and KP2D. The last sections were (in order): A and BC on 40 before my first break, VI and PR on 20 when I got on Sunday morning, and then MB and NL. I worked at least two of each section - a first for me I think! Lots of MDC, VA, and even DE stations on. Great fun. Go PVRC! 2006 SS SSB - KD4D @ N3HBX HOUR 80SSB 40SSB 20SSB 15SSB TOTAL ACCUM ---- ------ ------ ------ ------ ----- ----- 21 0 6 70 0 76 76 22 39 47 2 0 88 164 23 79 1 0 0 80 244 0 88 0 0 0 88 332 1 59 6 0 0 65 397 2 7 73 0 0 80 477 3 0 90 0 0 90 567 4 7 68 0 0 75 642 5 42 37 0 0 79 721 6 1 78 0 0 79 800 7 43 25 0 0 68 868 8 23 13 0 0 36 904 9 0 0 0 0 0 904 10 0 0 0 0 0 904 11 2 7 0 0 9 913 12 44 22 0 0 66 979 13 3 35 9 0 47 1026 14 1 53 3 0 57 1083 15 0 66 6 0 72 1155 16 0 23 44 0 67 1222 17 0 6 59 0 65 1287 18 0 0 21 2 23 1310 19 0 0 52 1 53 1363 20 0 0 29 18 47 1410 21 0 0 41 4 45 1455 22 10 2 5 0 17 1472 23 48 1 0 0 49 1521 0 49 4 0 0 53 1574 1 18 1 0 0 19 1593 TOTAL 563 664 341 25 2006 SS SSB - KD4D @ N3HBX 1. Il 98 2. Va 76 3. Mdc 64 4. Mn 60 5. Mi 54 6. Oh 53 7. Scv 51 8. Nc 40 9. Co 37 10. WWa 36 11. Sv 34 12. Wi 34 13. In 33 14. NNj 33 15. On 31 16. NTx 29 17. Ep 27 18. Mo 26 19. STx 26 20. Ga 26 21. Or 25 22. ENy 25 23. Ct 24 24. NFl 23 25. Nh 23 26. Em 23 27. Az 22 28. Tn 22 29. Ok 21 30. WNy 20 31. SFl 19 32. Ia 19 33. Ks 18 34. Org 18 35. WPa 18 36. NLi 18 37. Eb 18 38. Ky 17 39. Sdg 15 40. Ew 15 41. Al 15 42. Ne 14 43. La 13 44. WcF 13 45. Nm 13 46. Bc 13 47. Mt 12 48. Ar 12 49. Nv 12 50. Wv 12 51. Sjv 11 52. Sc 11 53. Lax 10 54. SNj 10 55. Sf 10 56. Sd 9 57. Id 9 58. Vt 9 59. Wy 8 60. Me 8 61. De 8 62. Ri 8 63. WMa 8 64. Ab 6 65. Sb 6 66. Ut 6 67. Pac 6 68. Ak 6 69. WTx 5 70. Sk 5 71. Mb 5 72. Nd 4 73. Nl 4 74. Mar 4 75. Qc 4 76. NNy 3 77. Ms 3 78. Nt 3 79. Vi 2 80. Pr 2 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KE1IH Class: Multi-Op HP Total Score = 136,800 This is my first M/S from my home QTH. Many thanks to N1MM and N1IXF ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KE4KMG Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 26,180 Didn't hear BC and ND! Could not break the pile up with NWT. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KI6CG Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 152,160 At 70 years old I may be slowing down. DE:George ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KI9A Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 167,200 Figures..just 50 Q shy of personal best, & I didn't stay in the chair the full 24! Beat myself up Sat night, shut down early. Sunday turned out to really good..well, better than I thought. Had 450 Q's when i shut down, ended up with 1045, with a nice 1.5 hr lunch. Thanks for the Q's, & Happy Thanksgiving to all! 73-Chuck KI9A Rig: Icom 746 Icom 751 Amp; Sb-1000 @ 800w Ant A3 tribander @ 25', and G5RV @ 60' ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KK1L Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 242,240 The past few years Saturday has continued to become less productive, whil Sunday has improved slightly. I think this is due to the increasingly crowded band conditions on 20m. I find myself fighting much harder against the QRM and it has a profound effect on the rate. I really really really should have bought a roofing filter for the D. I have a long wait for relief for the TS-850 it seems. MAYBE the TS-950 roofing filter in the works can be made to work in the 850...one can only hope. I was really impressed with the meteor contacts(??) I made on 20m around 01Z. Really watery contacts to NNY, NNJ, and southern VT...very unusual. Sunday as usual was a very long day! I pretty much had a QRP rig as my 2nd radio. The D started putting out only 30W or so later on Saturday and could not drive the amp well. I chose to move it to the 2nd radio to get pretty much full juice out of the four 572Bs. The Rx in the 850 is not as good as the D, but it worked out okay. For those few of you that wondered why I sounded Q with a B precedence, it is probably because you were a 2nd radio contact. I must say that the PVRC did a nice job of drumming up stations. MDC moved from a consistent 12th (~30Qs) rank in section count to 4th (63Qs) this year. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KK8I Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 67,032 FT-1000MP, G5RV Had planned to reach 100k but cut it short for three reasons: - Low Power SSB with a single wire antenna is quite a pain (QRP would be even moreso). CW is so much better for this setup. - My shack is next to the bedrooms, so cannot operate SSB at night. - Had taken in two stray kittens a few weeks ago and on Sunday, a cage at the Animal Shelter became available. The kids were all in tears, so we spent a lot of time together, including going to the theater to see 'Happy Feet'. Missed ND, AK, PAC and NT. Heard AK and PAC, but no chance on SSB... 73! Uli, KK8I ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KN6RO Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 67,200 Only managed to work about half time. I always have fun during the sweeps. Worked WB4UKL in WCF for the sweep at 17:54 on Sunday. Heard and worked several SECC members. Sounded like everyone that owned a HF radio in MDC, DE and VA was on the air. FT-1000MP, Tl-922, KLM KT-34 at 60 feet, Inverted Vee at 60 feet on 40 and 80 meters. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KO7X Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 128,960 Don't know where the KH6s were this time, but the only station I ever heard out there was NH6P. I sat in the pileup for quite a while on Saturday before giving up and thinking I would get him on Sunday. All the other sections were in the bag except for WTX. Sunday morning a WTX station called me on 20. One section to go and I figured that NH6P or another KH6 would show up that afternoon. Sure enough, NH6P was spotted on 15 and I got him in the log after a couple of calls. No trouble with Wyoming this time - there were 4 of them in my log and someone told me he had worked 15 stations in Wyoming. Rather amazing. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KP2CW/M Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 144 A Mini-HMO at the end of the contest with a Hustler whip on my SUV parked on my neighbor's property. It was Brutal, but congrats to those who pulled me out of the poop (W7WA was first). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KP2TM Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 328,960 This is year two of the KP2TM station and with one SS from VI under my belt and some time on the air from the station in other contests, I at least had an idea of how the station played (last year's SS was the first time the station went on the air). The best I can describe this weekend is the tale of two contests. There was the first 18.5 hours of operation and then there was the last 5.5 hours of operation (which was also the last 5.5 hours of the contest). After 18.5 hours, I had 1900+ Q's and thought I was on track. Last year I averaged 60+ Q's/hr for the last 5 hours. So I was thinking 2200+ or better, which I thought would be competitive. Unfortunately, that isn't what played out this year. 15m took a dive early. 20m didn't play either. 20m seemed to be more of a transitional band than a run band this weekend. 40m was a big disappointment on Sun eve (after a good run Sat eve). 80m had so much QRN that it wasn't much good. If you were doing the math, you figured out that after averaging over 100/hr for the first 18.5 hours... it took the last 5 hours to get the next 100 Q's. Words can't express the frustration. I guess there's always next year. Now to get ready for WW CW but first some scuba, mountain biking, sea-kyak time, etc. Then another weekend in the chair. Tim K9TM/KP2TM ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KR2Q Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 83,006 I did a lot more antenna work between weekends, but my score dropped compared to cw (6 more qso's, but less sections). Missed MS, BC, NT (heard MS and BC). My first serious SSB SS effort ever. de Doug KR2Q ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KT0R Class: Multi-Op HP Total Score = 265,920 Well, another year of Sweepstakes has come and gone. We had another fine top notch dedicated crew. Everyone was here and willing to help out however they could. I want to thank Greg K0OB, Al K0AD, and Jason NN7L for a fine job. We had kind of a rocky start. I had to leave at 3:40 to pick up my son from a birthday party. I was gone for an hour. Greg K0OB had to leave for a wedding party from 4:40 till around 9:30. But Al and Jason stepped up to the plate and did a great job. All the equipment worked flawlessly. The DOS software TRLog never crashed once. I just can’t say enough about TRLog. I keep hearing all the horror stories about writelog and the other window base software. TR log you can run on a $10 computer and just goes and goes. The only down side to TRLog is RTTY. But for CW and SSB I think a great program. Our rates the first few hours were very good. Greg started out on 20 and we finished the 1st hour with 165 hour followed by a 103, 98,111, and 89 hours. Things stayed steady for the evening hovering around 50-60 hour mark. 40 meters seemed to go long a bit early so off to 80 meters we went. I think going to 80 early helped. I think we got on the band before a lot of others. This is the first year that we didn’t have too much trouble with the rag chewers on 75 meters. We were on 3863 all night and no one really said boo to us. Well as far as I can remember. We just kept plugging along on the low bands. Jason and I kept operating until we were famished around 9:00 pm and we ordered some great pizza from Frankie’s. Wow it was good. Thanks Jason. Greg returned around 10:00pm and gave us some relief and left around 12:30am. Jason and I pulled the plug at 2:00 am and QRT’d till 8:00 am CST. We had 908 Qso’s and 79 mults. Needing only NL. On Sunday morning Greg was here bright and early. Our first qso was with VO1TA 14:03 UTC for the Sweep. We started out on 40 and 20 meters. 40 was in good shape and remained good till almost 10:00 am. Our morning rates were 94,88,69 and then 39. Then 20 and 15 got going and things picked up. The last 3 hours were spent on 80 and 40 with low rates in the 30’s. We felt had good signals but, just could not get much going. Nice to hear KR0B on my freq for a new qso. The band was strange you were very weak for some reason. I knew I had to get your attention. If you started running there I would have been pushed out and 75 meters was packed. Next year should be better with the expanded frequencies. Sunday night we were on 3783 for the duration. The bands just seemed strange this year. It was so nice to hear so many old friends and familiar calls. Sunday can be a grind but, sure is nice to have a few guys together to make it fun. We had many laughs and chuckles and looking forward to next year, despite our score being a bit lower than expected. Congrats to everyone that got on for the contest. It was nice to hear K0FVF on the band. We worked 51 Mn stations. It was state # 6 tied with OH. Va won with 93 and IL with 90. Thanks to everyone that called in and we will be in there for CQWW ! Vry 73 Dave KT0R ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KT4PD Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 14,884 Using flagpole (vertical)antenna. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KT4Q Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 99,520 Conditions were not the best but at least the atomospheric noise level was low. I didn't start until 7:30 EST as I have prior commitments. The night was short but still enjoyed the event. Was pretty wipped out toward the end as my productivity fell off dramaticallly. I got my Sweep however! Rig: Yaesu FT-1000MP MV Amp: AL-572 running @ 1200W Ant: 7 element tri-band @ 60ft for 15/20M Vertical @ 80ft for 40M Carolina Windom @ 65 ft for 40/80M ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KT4W Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 175,680 Thanks to N3HBX for the use of his home station. This is a very good station. KD4D was at the monster station about 10 miles away. My activity was part of the PVRC push. A few comments: Never worked so many WY stations. They used to be rare. I know that it's one skip to WY. Skip must have been just right to TN and MN. They all had big signals. SC still seems rare. ME was loud early, that indicates long skip. It makes working all the 2 call area harder than at higher flux. I think all sections had at least two operators. It was good to hear two VY1 stations in there for hours. With the low flux and A index, it was hard to hear others on 20, so finding a run frequency was a challenge. A little backscatter is a good thing. This was my first attempt at SO2R, that's a new aspect. If the spots change to the alternate band, it would make finding new Qs easier. That's a fairly complex change to the program. With everyone on computer logging, it was interesting to hear so many queries about my section. Yes, it's officially Maryland-DC. I usually gave "Mary-land." I heard a lot of the MDC ops giving the section phonetically as MDC. We're the only Section that crosses a political jurisdiction. Until the early 60s, the section was MDD, so it included Delaware as well. If DC were a section, it would be VERY rare. There are only about 600 hams in DC. Searching QRZ shows very few with a DC address. 73, Ray ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KT7G Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 12,654 Other than N1MM thinking the ft100D was on 338mhz and not letting me log without a reboot, not too bad. Propogation can only get better! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KU5B Class: School Club LP Total Score = 40,000 Fun test. Alabama and Auburn game on Saturday so I could only op on Sunday! I'll be back next year to try and beat this! On behalf of Birmingham-Southern College Colin KU5B ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KY5R Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 240,320 TNX to all for Q's this weekend. Had a great time. Just can't figure out 20mtrs from hr. Seems 20mtrs to be the only situation thats holding me back to get to the next level. If I had been able to get any rate on Sunday morning to mid-day Id have been there. Put up low tribander(30')just for the weekend. Didn't prove that was the missing link to 20mtr rate. Oh well back to the "skunk works" for resolution other than moving to NE or to FL. Hope all had as much fun as I did. 1st SS was in 1963 as a novice. Still comming back for more....... Tim ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N0AC Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 170,482 Thanks to Toni for the use of the station. Missed MB. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N0IJ Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 83,550 Only had 6 hours to play--glad they were the first 6. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N0KK Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 164,960 I really thought it was going to be better than it was but as soon as the bands went to 40 Saturday night I knew it was going to be a tough one..they were so long. BUT..The E-Like opening on Saturday night on 20 was awsome. It was so slow at times that there were two points when Writelog actually posted my off times even though I was tuning both rigs with all I had looking for a Q!( CQ'S went unanswered for many minutes!) That is SLOW...1 hour I only netted 4 contacts. To have s-9 stations not hear you got old. This was the toughest SS SSB weekend I can recall as SOLP...Really could have used that "Little Extra" many times. Was great to have KB7S (WY) call in the last couple hours for the sweep! That helped. Tnx N0AT for the use of his station! CU next year. KK ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N0OCT Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 4,480 Didn't have much time to operate, let alone figure out how a microphone really works. Thanks to the ops who did dig my wee pistol signal out of the mud. Did see Spamalot Sunday evening, which was much more funny than 20m Sunday afternoon. . . -- 72, N0OCT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N0XB Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 43,470 Not the best band conditions. Had fun, considering it was a SSB contest, which I almost never do. Thanks to all who partipated. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N0YY Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 34,704 Rig: FT-1000MP Alpha 99 80M Delta Loop @ 70' Cushcraft X9 @ 72' Cushcraft R7 Well this is different than all others! Lost all 40M capability one hour before the contest. Something happenend to the 40M beam and the R7 went silent. Hmmmm... Nothing in common - Oh well, was time challenged for this weekend anyway. So with no 40M capability I just thought I would hand out a few Qs. Was only able to operate about 7 hours because of other unplanned challenges. Missed easy close in sections (CO!) and others because of the lack of the right band. The 80M Delta Loop does not like the phone end of the band so that was another challenge. Anyway - had fun and handed out a few Qs. Now to fix the antennas fast! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N1LN Class: Multi-Op HP Total Score = 96,000 What don't you want before, during and after a SSB contest? A sore throat!! Yup, came on Friday afternoon and, as you might expect, still here today. I got lots of use (and assistance) from the DVR in WriteLog, otherwise my participation in the event may have been a no show. I lived on ice water and menthol cough drops for all the on-the-air time. Laurie (my wife - N1YXU) and I entered as a multi-op this time. As we had a commitment Saturday afternoon and evening the opening hours were significantly impacted. I was on for about 35 minutes at the opening and then not back on until around 04:00 UTC. I worked for about 1 1/2 hrs before the throat said "quit until tomorrow if you want there to be a tomorrow" - so off to bed. We did manage to log about 13 hours of participation, although I took frequent breaks so the actual Q time is somewhat less. Oh well, we had fun anyway. We enjoy operating together and are looking forward to a M2 entry in NAQP-SSB in January. 73, Bruce / N1LN & Laurie / N1YXU ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N1QD Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 600 Not bad for an indoor antenna and lowish power. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N2GC Class: Multi-Op HP Total Score = 30,084 Price of Sony PS-3 on eBay: $1500 - $5000 Price of an Amateur Radio Station: ? (don't want the XYL to know) Price for doing a phone contest: 2 Tylenol Watching your 8 year old son running guys: Priceless! After 4 years of Kids Day and 2 years of FD. The contest bug has bitten my son Sam. We started the contest by doing some S&P and he was comfortable with just having to say the serial number and the DVK did the rest. Then I found a clear spot high in the band on 75 (in between the guys complaining about contesters, the government or their hemorrhoids) and started to run guys. He didn't think he could do it. I kept coaxing him while I was running and after about 20 minutes I just switched headphones and DVK files on the fly. After the first few QSO's I could tell the nervousness went out the window and he was really into it. He kept watching the mult window too and gave a thumbs up everytime we worked a new one. Unfortunately we could only put in about 6 hours and did not get the sweep. It was also nice to work so many other youngsters and YL's. Maybe ham radio isn't dying after all. I would like to thank the many guys and gals that gave words of encouragement to Sam during our QSO's. You should have seen the smile on his face. Now if we can get the FCC to relax these silly third party rules and let these kids work some DX, maybe they will trade in their Sony's for Icom's! CU this weekend Mike, N2GC BTW the ARRL License Manual is on Sam's Xmas list. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N2MUN Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 50,050 Never heard SC,BC, AK ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N2NT Class: Multi-Op HP Total Score = 295,040 We were behind last years pace the first night - 80m didn't seem to have the same magic as 2005. Sunday saved us. 40m SSB was a bottomless pit until a little after noon local time. Sporadic E on 20m was a nice treat at the end. We stayed on 20 from 00Z until 0130Z. Not many other stations on the band but there was a steady stream of W4,5,8,9 and 0 callers with low serial numbers. WB9Z was nearly pinning the S meter on 20m here at this time. Finished the contest at 0130Z. Nice to be done with SS at a reasonable hour on Sunday night. We finally broke 1800 QSOs this year - been trying to do that for 3 years. Hopefully we can get the crew together again in 07. Thanks to N2NT for hosting another SS multiop. - John N2NC ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4BAA Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 184,480 Very fun!....Lost AMPLIFIER at 400 QSOs and just couldn't get it going FULL BORE again on any band! 40 SUCKS without an AMP!!! HI HI... FIRST CONTEST at my new QTH.... ICOM 756 PRO II AL-1200 6L 10M Mono x 2 6L 15M Mono 5L 20M Mono 2L 40M Mono + Dipoles 80M Dipole Looking forward to more contests!! Thanks to ALL PVRC and Others who spotted ALL THE TIME FOR THIS ONE!! GO PVRC!! Jose - N4BAA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4BP Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 208,000 Goals for phone SS are always to match my CW score and hopefully make the sweep. After 1284 Q's still needed UT to complete the sweep. Then a QRP UT called me during my 20M run. Worked another 15 to make an even 1300 and quit. Used the DVK function of the free N1MM Logger. The computer saying calls and serial numbers sure sounds like a computer, but makes for a relatively effortless contest. Had a slight problem with RF feedback, but easily cured by running a jumper between pieces of equipment. I was amazed at the numbers of ops who had major feedback problems, overdriven amps, etc. Fun contest, but CW FOREVER! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4GG Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 17,190 Didn't get home until near the end - ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4NW Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 131,520 At 2202z on Sunday,7175.00 calling CQ when foreign station calls 5A7A and asks if he can work me and would I mind giving frequency up as it is only one he can hear US on because of European BC QRM. I worked him, spotted him as he asked and quickly retreated to a new freq as the pile-up decended! It was a real surprise to have the 5A7A call me in the Sweepstakes. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4OK Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 12,444 Originally planned multi at son's house (N9JRZ), but we were both out until late Saturday night for "Light Up Ocala", so decided to call off the multi. Operated 30 minutes from my house Saturday night and could not get one single station to answer me. Got back on Sunday morning and worked 8 hours with flamethrower antenna system. Met goal of 100 Q's and enjoyed picking up 61 sections in the process. Was a real grind (I'm talking "GRIND!"), but still had fun (most of the time). Only work phone tests to help put action on the air, but prefer the cw tests 20:1. Amazing how hard it is to find Florida stations, and got many sincere "thanks very much for north Florida!!!" during the latter parts of the test. Sure will be nice to get an antenna up in the air one of these days! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4OX Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 254,240 Another Field Day setup.....rented 60' portable lift with new, "very used" Hy-gain DB24B......3 elements on 20 meters and 2 elements on 40 meters with 402BA elements.....antenna was supposed to arrive on Wednesday and of course it arrived on Friday......missing pieces parts....I had ordered 20 new plastic insulators for the linear loading......should have ordered 40......managed to piece the rest of the antenna together with other pieces parts I had from other antennas I had laying around. The antenna tuned up fine on 20 meters, but 40 meters had high SWR, (no surprises considering the linear loading looked like a slinky snake). The antenna did appear to have a pattern on 40 meters, so I used it at times even with the high SWR. Other 40 meter antenna is a 1/4 wave vertical. Last year I had a tuned Cushcraft XM240 which played very well. I thought the DB24B would be a good compromise rather than dealing with two antennas. It has promise if I can get the linear loading pieces from Hy-Gain......I'm hoping the linear loading is the same as a 402BA, but haven't downloaded the manual yet to check. This year, I just couldn't make it happen on Sunday. Last year, I would have made the top ten if I had sent in my log.....1827 Q's by 79 sections.....this year.....well, you see the results above.....I didn't have a beam on 15 meters....decided not to put up a yagi and I think in hindsight that was a mistake......used the 40 meter vertical on 15 meters to make 3 contacts..... icluding WP3R for my next to last section.......I really admire the ops who make the top ten year after year.....It may be time to upgrade my radio from the TS-830S I have been using since getting back on the air about 10 years ago. I'm not if it's showing its age or the op is showing his age. I was hoping that 40 and 75 meters would be quiet due to the clear weather we have had recently.....neither band was quiet and I was very surprised to make more Q's on 75 meters. See ya'll next year. 73, Jay N4OX ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4PN Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 201,760 This one started out not so good... I had a meeting in Columbia, SC on Saturday afternoon that started at 1pm. I left a little early and made the usual 4 hour trip back to Macon in a little over 3 hours....making contact nr1 at 0002 UTC - taking 3 of my 6 hours off a the beginning.. I thought after it was over last night that maybe I had forgot to change bands as far more Q's on 80 meters than any other band...what's going on here? I found it easy to find spots to sit down on 80 not so difficult until one of the "pig farmer" nets, Winnebego net, old poots net, etc started up and assumed I would leave...bad thing about LP is you don't have any choice. They just talk over you 'til you give up and get gone..40m is like it always is....too much junk and almost worthless on LP...no...almost worthless period. Looking at some of the LP scores, I note that K1BX's score looks a lot like mine with most of the contacts on 80m. Several others show the same thing. I had 78 of the mults fairly early on Sunday - needing only VE7 and KL7. Yeah...I know - VE7? But worked a VA7 on 15m Sunday afternoon and AL2F and KL7AIR both called me within a short period of time beaming NW....Also worked another KL7 before the end of the day on 15m and a bunch of VE/VA7'S.... Got VY1JA fairly early and later VY1MB...thanks to them for being there. Lots of fun....I like SSB Contest a little more than I have in the past. 73, Paul, N4PN ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4VA Class: SO Unlimited LP Total Score = 42,032 100 watts w/ A3S @ 70 ft + 130 ft sloper. Missed RI AR MS ND BC and NT. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4YQ Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 23,790 Operated from a tent on a remote high spot, very near the highest spot in the state of Alabama. Lucked out with the sling shot twice and got two resonant dipoles on 40 and 80 up at 90+ feet off the ground. Used a tuner for 20M on the 40m dipole. I've been wanting to operate a contest like this since I bought the FT-817 five years ago. The little rig did great with all the big signals, ran the attenuator the whole time. Was 35 degrees over night, catalytic heater kept tent at 50 to 55 degrees. Learned enough to double the score next year, had enough fun to motivate me to do it. Thanks to everybody that hung in there to dig me out of the noise!! (especially on 40!!) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N5AA Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 269,120 I'm still WAY DOWN on the SO2R learning curve in SSB contests - but I managed to learn a lot and have some fun in the SS fray this year. Richard worked hard during the week before the contest to get his new microKEYER2+ SO2R box installed, which worked great for me. My biggest challenge is utilizing his many antenna/Beverage choices to keep the rate up - but I still managed a personal SS best. Thanks to Richard and Susan for use of the station and some top-notch support. 73, Larry K5OT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N5BO Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 70,400 Rig: FT1000MP MK-V with stock filter (brutal) Antenna: Windom @ 40ft Logging: TR-LOG Tough with a single wire, 100w, and no extra filters in rig. No chance at running stations and you can only work so many when S&P before you run out of stations to work. My goal was for a sweep and 400+ Q's, both were achieved. It was pretty easy to find the hard sections, they had massive pileups on Sunday! VE7 was the last one for me and I probably called for an hour before working VA7DP at 2137z. I look forward to next year with a better setup. Justin N5BO Florida Contest Group - Panhandle ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N5IA Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 2,912 Just a few minutes to S & P on 15 M Sunday morning before church. Then about a half hour right at the end where I CQed on 40 M and waited for the spot of new meat. Most who showed up were U & M. The couple of A & B stations most likely were scanning the band. Good show, guys, de Milt, N5IA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N5UWY Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 46,720 First test at new QTH and I'm very happy! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N5YE Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 45,436 START-OF-LOG: 2.0 CREATED-BY: TR Log POST Version 6.67 CALLSIGN: N5YE CONTEST: ARRL-SS-SSB ARRL-SECTION: La CATEGORY: SINGLE-OP ALL LOW SSB CLAIMED-SCORE: 45436 NAME: Donald W Bohannon ADDRESS: 203 Slack St. ADDRESS: Springhill, La. 71075-4313 QSO: 21000 PH 2006-11-18 2100 N5YE 1 A 76 La W6AMM 1 U 57 Scv QSO: 21000 PH 2006-11-18 2100 N5YE 2 A 76 La K6HNZ 1 B 54 Scv QSO: 21000 PH 2006-11-18 2102 N5YE 3 A 76 La WJ6O 6 U 67 Scv QSO: 21000 PH 2006-11-18 2104 N5YE 4 A 76 La N7PP 6 M 52 WWa QSO: 21000 PH 2006-11-18 2105 N5YE 5 A 76 La WB6S 11 U 70 Scv QSO: 21000 PH 2006-11-18 2106 N5YE 6 A 76 La K7RI 11 B 62 WWa QSO: 21000 PH 2006-11-18 2107 N5YE 7 A 76 La W6NL 18 B 52 Scv QSO: 21000 PH 2006-11-18 2109 N5YE 8 A 76 La N7LOX 18 B 69 WWa QSO: 14000 PH 2006-11-18 2116 N5YE 9 A 76 La N4BP 17 B 55 SFl QSO: 14000 PH 2006-11-18 2118 N5YE 10 A 76 La W8RC 10 B 48 Mi QSO: 14000 PH 2006-11-18 2119 N5YE 11 A 76 La NN3W 29 B 86 Va QSO: 14000 PH 2006-11-18 2122 N5YE 12 A 76 La KA1ARB 34 M 79 Nc QSO: 14000 PH 2006-11-18 2123 N5YE 13 A 76 La WM3O 26 U 03 Mdc QSO: 14000 PH 2006-11-18 2124 N5YE 14 A 76 La NE3F 13 B 72 Ep QSO: 14000 PH 2006-11-18 2125 N5YE 15 A 76 La KD4D 42 B 71 Mdc QSO: 14000 PH 2006-11-18 2127 N5YE 16 A 76 La NI1N 38 U 84 Va QSO: 14000 PH 2006-11-18 2128 N5YE 17 A 76 La W1XX 31 B 54 Ri QSO: 14000 PH 2006-11-18 2129 N5YE 18 A 76 La K6LL 66 U 59 Az QSO: 14000 PH 2006-11-18 2130 N5YE 19 A 76 La WA3SES 17 A 72 WPa QSO: 14000 PH 2006-11-18 2131 N5YE 20 A 76 La W2DZO 22 A 88 Nc QSO: 21000 PH 2006-11-18 2141 N5YE 21 A 76 La VE6EX 40 A 58 Ab QSO: 21000 PH 2006-11-18 2144 N5YE 22 A 76 La W7RN 88 U 59 Nv QSO: 21000 PH 2006-11-18 2147 N5YE 23 A 76 La N7MH 60 U 69 Scv QSO: 21000 PH 2006-11-18 2147 N5YE 24 A 76 La K6XX 85 U 74 Scv QSO: 21000 PH 2006-11-18 2148 N5YE 25 A 76 La K6YT 75 U 62 Scv QSO: 14000 PH 2006-11-18 2150 N5YE 26 A 76 La KO7X 69 U 56 Wy QSO: 14000 PH 2006-11-18 2151 N5YE 27 A 76 La K0SR 121 U 68 Mn QSO: 14000 PH 2006-11-18 2153 N5YE 28 A 76 La KE0L 90 U 93 Mn QSO: 14000 PH 2006-11-18 2159 N5YE 29 A 76 La N2NT 155 M 72 NNj QSO: 14000 PH 2006-11-18 2200 N5YE 30 A 76 La N2MM 98 B 60 SNj QSO: 14000 PH 2006-11-18 2201 N5YE 31 A 76 La K3ZQ 56 U 67 Mdc QSO: 14000 PH 2006-11-18 2202 N5YE 32 A 76 La W4NF 112 U 75 Va QSO: 14000 PH 2006-11-18 2203 N5YE 33 A 76 La K1RH 17 U 01 Mdc QSO: 14000 PH 2006-11-18 2204 N5YE 34 A 76 La W7WA 161 B 70 WWa QSO: 14000 PH 2006-11-18 2205 N5YE 35 A 76 La WX3B 155 U 76 Mdc QSO: 14000 PH 2006-11-18 2206 N5YE 36 A 76 La N3KS 105 U 75 Mdc QSO: 14000 PH 2006-11-18 2208 N5YE 37 A 76 La W3ZZ 84 B 53 Mdc QSO: 14000 PH 2006-11-18 2210 N5YE 38 A 76 La W3IDT 115 B 57 Mdc QSO: 14000 PH 2006-11-18 2214 N5YE 39 A 76 La W3PP 69