SS CW Soapbox built 12-6-2007 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AA4FU Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 70,994 Missed NWT, NL and WTX for a sweep. I cut my needed states in half on 80m by picking up Idaho. Now, I "just" need North Dakota. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AA6SS Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 38,894 Limited operating time but I got some nice 60+ per hour runs going on 40 meters. Quite satisfying. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AA9DY Class: SO Unlimited LP Total Score = 41,888 Tried to work byt missed NT, MB, NL. Came so close on getting NT, but VY1JA pulled the plug and QSY'd from 15m-->20m, when condition we getting bad for him. But... at least I got to Work All States in a weekend on CW. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AB2E Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 121,660 Rig: IC756ProII/Dentron MLA2500 amp. Great contest as usual. 80m proved to be my best band w/465QSOs, considering my meager wire antennas. G5RV-style dipole for 10-40. Inverted L w/4 tuned radials for 80m. The 80m antenna worked great, with many extremely strong West Coast stations calling me. Easy to hold a frequency and call CQ all night. Stayed on 80m until qrt around 5AM local time. It also seems to work equally well on nearby stations. 73 and CU in SS Phone. Darrell AB2E ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AC5AA Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 11,988 Only had a few hours here and there to play S&P during the contest. Had fun! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AC8E Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 63,196 Missed: WTX, WY, NE, MAR, NT, AK AC8E is my traditional late Saturday stop. I usually drive home in the wee hours from there, but this year I caught my 3 hours of sleep here. My wife had to be up very early to catch a 9am flight, so I decided that trying to sleep through what she needed to be doing would be futile. That worked out well, as when I woke up about 11:00z, 40 meters was open nicely to the east coast, and 80 was still good to most everywhere. So I got a whole bunch of people who were themselves new in the morning. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AD5VJ Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 23,532 First time in this one. Mostly S&P during the entire contest. My plan was to make up rate the last night on 40 and get as man mults as possible in the beginning. The plan would have worked to except I totally froze when I started my run on Sunday night. The first few contacts were ok, but then I was spotted and man I havent heard that many calling me since I lived on Johston Atoll as WY5L/KH3. Anyway I froze and couldnt hardly copy my own name. Shows where I need improvement. So back we go to the Morse Runner Trainer for some more activity training. :) Interesting contest, longest exchange I have ever had to deal with but sure points out where you need improvement in your copy. Only worked 12.5 hours due to family obligations. Thanks to everyone for all the Q's and especially to VE2CWT who hung in there with me to overcome the QSB on our contact. He was a champion. Thanks to N1MM LOGGER and those who support it. It sure makes things a heck of alot easier. 73 fer nw es gud DX, QSL VIA: LotW, BUR, e-QSL Bob AD5VJ http://www.ad5vj.com/ Member: NTCC, CTDXCC, STXDXCC 10X#-37210, SMIRK#-5177 FISTS#-12637, SKCC#-2369 NAQCC#-1966, FP#-1141, RARS#-149 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AE6RR Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 2,430 My first CW SS. Computer assisted copy as I cannot copy at contest speeds. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AE6Y Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 104,480 Couldn't do a full weekend, but wanted to make my NCCC 100k commitment -- though I can't resist going without packet for the fun of looking for the sweep. Also wanted to iron out any remaining points of programming to get CQPWIN to work 100% with Winkeyer 2, so it will be fully ready for CQWW CW, where I'll be on as P49Y. Actually stopped Saturday night to fine-tune the speed control software, but basically it works FB. A great relief not to have to worry about Windows issues, like trying to reduce startup programs. Tnx K1EL. 73, Andy, AE6Y ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AJ1M Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 105,120 Accomplished both my goals for the contest. Thanks for all the q's. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AJ9C Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 168,160 My score was better than I thought it would be. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0AD Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 173,958 First SS with the new tower and beam. It made a difference for me. 73, Al, K0AD ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0AV Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 95,316 SECTIONS MISSED: 2 close-in sections SoDak & WTx. SCORE: down from last year . . . 611('07) vs. 707 ('06) claimed Q's. This was in part because my new "run vs. S&P" strategy did not work out the way I had hoped. And 15 mtrs was not as good as last year. SLEEP: Never got tired or even yawned. Probably because I took a 1-1/2 hour mt bike ride and got back 2 hours before contest started. SO2R: got the gear - now just have to learn to use it effectively. Wouldn't it be cool if some software guru would come up with an SO2R-capable contest simulator? GREAT QRP SIGNALS HEARD: N4OGW, K4RO and KC5R. They were loud, they were everywhere & it seemed like they were always running stations. CODE SPEED FOR QRP STATIONS: These top QRP stations seemed to be sending at about 28 wpm (vs. 32-34 wpm for A and B class stations). ACCURACY: Once again, I tried hard for 100% log accuracy. The last 2 years I never even came close. We'll see what the UBN report says for 2007. 73, Alan KØAV ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0EJ Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 60,800 sporadic effort this year due to other commitments. Missed VY1, NL, ND, and NLI(???) for sweep. Heard VY1JA early Saturday evening on 20M but didn't raise him after a few calls so moved on. NLI (of all places) was heard on Sunday morning on 20M but why bother, there will be a million of 'em (NOT!!). bands were quiet here and weekend wx was very nice. 73, Mark K0EJ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0EU Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 189,758 Missed NL again! I must be on the Newfoundland blacklist. Five Maritime stations called me, so I know I was copiable. Maybe next year. Conditions seemed OK considering almost no 15 meters. Just couldn't get anything going in the last 5 or 6 hours and it really hurt the final score. Not sure where the fresh meat went. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0HB Class: Multi-Op HP Total Score = 131,520 Worked VY1EI for his 001, our 001. It all went downhill from there. Lowest score in years. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0HC Class: School Club HP Total Score = 191,840 Enjoyed the weekend fun, especially the contacts with other schools. Wish we had a catalog listing for COMM --... ...--, Intro to CW, as a course here at Hesston College! Our SSB Sweepstakes team of students will be training hard during the next two weeks, so hope we work you all again! Thanks for the Qs ... 73, Bob, w0bh Hesston College ARC, k0hc ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0HW Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 77,280 I always enjoy Sweepstakes, my fifth CW Sweepstakes and I seem to improve every year, I was only able to spend 21 hours this year. I was going to use QRP or Low Power this year but I decided to stay in unlimited class with both the high power and internet helping this year. I did get a clean sweep this year for the first time on CW. The last two were NE (I live 6 miles North of Nebraska!!) and MB. The NE station called me while I was calling CQ and the VE4 showed up on the band map just up from where I was calling. Thanks for the packet clusters, they made it for me this year. There was not near enough activity on 160 as far as I was concerned. ICOM 756PROII, Ameritron AL-1200, HyGain TH11DX and dipoles on 40, 80 & 160. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0PC Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 72,696 Missed NL & NT but sweated it out over WTX! I only heard one WTX station (N5DO) and that wasn't until three minutes before I shut down. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0RC Class: SO Unlimited LP Total Score = 92,246 I operated CW Sweepstakes from Grand Forks, ND. Although it is only 300 miles from my regular QTH in MN, the propagation took some "getting used to". I missed my goal of 100,000 points, but came close... just like in horsehoes. The station consisted of an Icom IC-756 Pro II at 100 Watts and a new SteppIR - BiggIR vertical for 80 through 6 meters. A 40m wire dipole was tossed up into the trees as a last minute addition on this city lot. I missed three sections. I heard NT and NL but never could break through the piles. MB went undetected from here. The station hardware operated flawless. The operator did not. I continue to find ways to lock up my software while working a contest! This time I even found the holy grail of lockups... when I reached for the paddles to complete the QSO, my WinKey was dead as well! I quickly unplugged and replugged the USB cable and it sprang back to life so that QSO didn't become a NIL. I had anticipated the ND multiplier to be a real pile-up generator. But apparently anyone who owned a radio and lives in North Dakota decided this was the weekend to get into a CW contest! The crushing blow was when I saw a spot with my callsign on the cluster with the note "Yet another ND!". So if you guys didn't get ND in your log this weekend, it isn't our fault... somethings wrong with your radio! :-) This was a lot of fun and I have to thank Glenn Johnson, WØGJ who made all the arrangements (house, antenna, equipment, pizza, bed) to make this possible. Although this QTH is only 5 hours away from home, it felt like a mini DXpedition to me! 73 de Bob - KØRC in ND (for 2007 CW Sweepstakes) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0SR Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 197,440 I knew going into this that it would be a 3 band contest for us in the North. What I didn't realize is that it would almost be a two band contest. 20 wasn't a lot better. The skip was very long and it was discouraging to hear people in the Southern tier of states working people that I couldn't hear at all. By the time everyone is on 40 or 80 we're 100-200 QSO's behind and we never catch up. Are you paying any attention to this, Russian WARC organizers? W0 can't compete well with W5.... I see N2IC made 87 contacts in the first hour on 15 meters. I had the second radio on 15 and not only couldn't hear anybody he was working, I never heard N2IC either! Congrats to Steve for cracking the 1500 barrier and to all the other great scores. Amazing.... 73 Steve K0SR ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0TG Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 78,110 Had some decent runs at times. Worked a few stations on 15 then went back there later and nothing there. That is life in the Northland! The 80 meter antenna did not work out so hot, so it was a two band contest for me. Missed: ID (Where was K0TO!), SD, AK, PAC, NL, MB, NT. Surprised to not hear PAC anywhere. They should be easy on 40 or 20. See you in SS Phone slugging it out! 73, John K0TG ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0UK Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 21,350 Missed CQ WW phone due to elk hunting. Didnt do the antenna work I should have before leaving on the hunt. This saturday WA0RSX Carson and I did some of the work that need to be done. Still have a non working tribander to fix plus 3other antennas including beverages to get done. Anyway enough of what has to be done. SS was phone but not much time for it. Thanks to all the great ops. Didnt work any GMCC stations due to time spent..Next time.. PTL bill K0UK ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0VBU Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 24,288 TH6DXX@50', stuck north... 40M dipole at 15' 80M G5RV@ 25' TS940SAT Incredibly busy lately, but couldn't miss at least a few hours of SSCW..My favorite contest! As usual, nice to hear old friends..and nice to hear some new calls too! 73 Bill K0VBU ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K1EP Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 50,832 I was still a bit tired from CQWW and had a few obligations, so I didn't put in a full 24 hours. I got a late start as I had to mess with the computer when it didn't function as it was supposed to. That's it for excuses :) I wanted to see how the K3 did in CW contest conditions. It seemed to do rather well, the DSP filters were easy to use to knock out offending signals. The CW tune function was great. But it did show me how many people can't zero beat a signal :) I was running a K3/100 to a 160M inverted L, so not only did I have a non-directional pattern, I had difficulty matching on some of the bands. Of course, I didn't hear NWT or some of the other VE sections, like NL, MB, I even missed VE2. I heard only one VE2 and he had a pileup. I tried coming back a little later and he was gone. I heard a NE station in S&P mode but couldn't snag him. And I also missed NLI for some reason. I heard a KH6 station, but he couldn't hear me. Sections missed: NE, NLI, PAC, AK, MB, NL, NWT, QC. Usually, ND is a rare SS CW station, but I heard several of them on during the weekend. I guess the rare ones change from year to year! Thanks for all the Q's and see you in SS Phone. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K1KD Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 170,482 This will be my last contest from Vermont as I am relocating my family to Rochester, MN at the end of the year. It has been a great ten years living and contesting from this beautiful state, but the time has come to move back closer to my family in the Midwest. Thanks to everyone for all the contest QSO's throughout the years! Special thanks to KT1J for the use of his Acom amplifier which was a great addition to the operating equipment. This contest was also the first time to really exercise my full SO2R capability. A pair of Kenwood TS-850's and my homebrew 2x6 antenna switch (thanks KK1L) for selecting any six antennas between two radios worked great. I also got to try out some new YCCC bandpass filters which made two radio contesting even possible given the close proximity the antennas are to one another. After having run SS with two radios I can't imagine going back to using just one especially during the slow hours on Sunday night! I'm hooked! Interestingly, LAX and NLI were two section that didn't get into my log until near the end. When it was all said and done, I ended up missing NWT for the sweep. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K1LT Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 147,840 My intention this year was to prove that I can generate a decent signal on 80 and 40 as well as 160. I'm sticking with the "verticals only" plan, since verticals are easy and cheap to erect. Also, towers are a potential no-no, since I'm 13000 feet from the end of the runway at Fairfield County Municipal Airport, and uphill from there, so that ground level is within the supposed flight zone. From years past, I came to have 65 feet of aluminum tower and mast and appropriate trees to arrange a 160 meter "T" antenna with 80 radials. So, 160 is all set. This past spring I bolted 33 feet of aluminum tubing to a 4x4 stuck in the ground and laid 32 radials. So, 40 was a snap. The summertime plan was to hang an 80 meter inverted L from the top hat wires of the 160 meter T antenna, and lay a new radial field. However, last month I was the lucky recipient of a homeless HyGain HyTower, which would make an excellent 80 meter vertical, not to mention the other bands. However, the schedule has not cooperated with the work necessary to plant the HyTower. Since HyTower succeeds in making a bunch of parallel verticals work from a common feed, I thought I could do the same thing for 80 with my existing 160 antenna. EZNEC modeling showed that hanging a wire off the side of the 160 vertical would work. So, I hung a wire and it resonates and does not interfere with 160. However, the bandwidth on 80 was horribly small, even worse than mobile antennas. I was out of time. My wife had to work, and I had parenting duty. Resonance was 3560 kHz, with a 2:1 bandwidth of about 30 kHz. I started on 15 meters because there were signals and the 40 vertical gives a decent SWR on 15. I've never heard so many PRs, VIs, and KH6s and 7s. Also, the far west coast was booming in, but anything closer was too close to be heard. It only took about an hour to work everyone on 15. It was still too early to change to 40 for the long haul, so I bypassed the amplifier and used the radio's internal antenna tuner on the 40/15 vertical on 20 meters. After about 40 minutes, I had worked everyone I could. Finally I moved to 40 where I could operate the radio equipment the proper way (fundamental resonance, amplifier in the "not-bypassed" mode). I bounced between 40 and 80 and parenting duties until about 05z when my wife returned from work. Since the whole family has been battling a very nasty cold/flu/pandemic/whatever bug, I quit for the evening, having proven that I can generate a half-way decent signal on 80 and 40 (and 15 as a bonus). I woke up coughing my head off about 0930z and couldn't get back to sleep. In fact, I was wide awake. So I turned on the radio and operated. By 17z I had 78 multipliers, including VY1, (thanks for the call, Jay!), and VO1 via a quick foray to 20 on the tuner at low power. This was enough multipliers to make a new goal: clean sweep. Since I needed AK and WY, 20 meter operation was necessary, and at full power. So, I went outside and removed half the aluminum from the 40 vertical and telescoped it down to 20 meter resonance. Headed back in and operated 20 meters. Almost immediately, I stumbled on KL8C. What a signal! (Oh yeah, this isn't 160). Start CQing. After about 15 minutes, K9DR signals "WY". Clean sweep! That was easy, everyone will have one. Now I needed a new goal. Hmmm. 650 Qs and almost 10 hours to go. That's 35 per hour average to reach 1000 Qs. So, working 1000 Qs becomes the new goal. Boring story short, I worked 20 for as long as I could, and then went outside to put all the aluminum back in the 40 vertical. After more 40 and 80 and parenting, I finished somewhat short of 1000 Qs, but pleased that I had wound up working the entire contest (as much as an active parent can). Also worked PY8RO and 9G5ZS on 40, UT2II on 80, and SM7BIC on 160 when they answered my CQ SS. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K1PQS Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 77,404 The bands are improving. 20M was open for 2 hours after dark on Saturday. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K1RX Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 196,000 With a local start time of 5 PM (instead of the usual 4 PM time), seemed I had all kinds of time to do non-radio stuff with the family on Saturday - a good thing! Competition is killing me! During the CQ WW test, it was the World Series baseball final, then a good football game, and now with the big build up for the Colts vs. Patriots football game on Sunday afternoon, I knew I was in big trouble! Like Randy, K5ZD, just kinda lost my drive for the long haul on Sunday afternoon and night (of course having a few beers during the game did not help!) Worked a few during the half time break, and then returned to just hit a 1200 Q goal and call it done - wonder if Randy and I were in sync here? As for the SS, I had a ball in the first 12 hours or so. The last sections worked were NLI, then NL on Sunday morning on 40, and the last one that CALLED ME was Jay, VY1JA on 20 that morning - looked for others but never found them (Thanks Jay for the call - you made my morning and weekend!). Was really surprised to find them all so quickly. Must say - very good activity this year. Had plans for using a new 40 M antenna (Vee-Yagi by NW3Z/WA3FET) and managed to get it up at 70 ft. during the week with the help of K1PV and K1AC. Feed line issues, other weird stuff - killed that idea so ended up using the upper 40 M KLM 4 el. of a stack (bottom one was pointed south). This band, as usual, is the money band and one can do very well with just wires too! And as an added feature, I put up an 80 M dipole at 70 ft. just to see if my 4 SQ vertical system might of had an issue (it does - we did poorly on 80 M during the CQ WW SSB test) - think I have a feedline loss issue on this one - so ended up using the dipole 90% of the time and found the 4 SQ did much better for hearing the reports of the boys out west but did not TX much on that antenna. Another great CW event - did enjoy it for the time spent, great to see the Pat's win (9-0) and the beers were rather tasty after so many waters, diet drinks, etc.! Thanks everyone for the Q! 73, Mark, K1RX ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K1TN Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 48,000 Sorry I couldn't stay in the chair longer and hand out more Qs; been sick. Not yet adjusted to the air in South Jersey, I guess. Missed LAX, NE, NT, PAC, AK. Jim Cain, K1TN Near Atlantic City ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K1TR Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 93,912 IC-756PIII A3S and wires. Nice weekend overall: got to play some CW SS, see Michigan beat MSU, see the Patriots beat the Colts, and get a bunch of chores done. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K1XM Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 74,632 Station: Elecraft K2 Antennas: Tribander, 40 beam, 80 half-sloper No stacks, no SO2R. Sorry, Jim. I use the SS CW as a warmup for the CQ WW CW and to check out whatever equipment I'm bringing. My plans are to operate as QRP as 6V7D so I went QRP in sweepstakes. The K2 isn't connected to the automatic bandswitching so I had to switch antennas manually. I figured I was OK setting the switch to 10, 15, or 20, since the antenna is a tribander. Good theory, but ignores the Dunestar bandpass filter. I was off to a slow start this year... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K2PS Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 25,048 Fresh meat Sunday afternoon can be fun! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K2SX Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 112,000 Had to go out around noon on Sunday and never got back to the contest so not as much time as I thought. It was nice being in a perceived rare section (SC) and watching myself being spotted but still need some antennas. Nice to get a Sweep. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K2WK Class: Multi-Op HP Total Score = 175,040 Thanks for the Q's ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K3KU Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 54,600 Heavy family obligations these days, but family knows how much fun I have in SS CW, so I managed to patch together a half-time operation. Seven operating segments, length ranging from 0:17 to 3:27. My QSO/band breakdown is distorted because I could not be on during my usual 40M prime times, and also because of what seemed to be unusual condx. Unusual condx? I was getting answers to CQs on 80, where I usually get beaten down. And I have not done any analysis, but I feel like I did not work the usual hordes of Ohio thru Missouri people. Worked on calling CQ more and on improving S&P efficiency, and on copying and typing more accurately (LCR last year was horrible!). CQing was rewarded with ND, which I have missed the past few years. Could not bust thru for the KL7, even tho I heard him early. Heard a KH6 and VO1MP S&P, but could not raise them. Never heard NT or NE. Maybe family things will be better next year. HPE CU SS CW 2008 73, Art K3KU ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K3NCO Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 69,058 Must need better seating arrangements in the shack. Not only bothered my bottom, but also my back, took 4 days before my back stopped bothering me. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K3OO Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 32,800 Shaking out a new(used) amp and getting CW ears back. 73,Rick K3OO ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K3STX Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 87,848 Well, that was both fun and painful. I think most of the FUN was the anticipation; the pain was realizing that I have a third-rate station with a second-rate operator! Look at my score, you see anything missing? HIGH BAND QSOs!!! The dipoles just don't cut it, I was going crazy trying to hear either of the two VY1 stations and no luck AT ALL! So I'm left at 79, what a bummer. I can understand no QSO's on 15, after all there are no sunspots, but 20 should be a daytime QSO while I really didn't operate during the day (only 3 hours today), my 20M score really brought me down. It was fun, and really GREAT to run into the NCCC Sprint regulars. Instead of a "5NN", EVERY contest should require your NAME in the exchange, it makes it more fun. See ya in 2 weeks when I don my yacrophone (yuk). I'll be the LID who doesn't know phonetics. Doing this shows true love to my team. GO PVRC!!!!!! TS-850S/Al-811 amp (400 watts) 40 M dipole up 30 feet ladder-line fed 80 M vertical up 60 feet paul K3stx ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K3WW Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 120,000 Missed the first 5 hours. After sweep, just chased a few or called CQ while watching football. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4AQ Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 21,960 http://www.arrl.org/contests/rules/2007/novss.html Band QSO Sec ------------------- 80m 99 25 40m 69 28 20m 12 8 ------------------- 180 61 Best "DX" on 80m: San Diego Section MULTIPLIER LIST Worked: CT EMA ME NH VT WMA ENY NNJ SNJ WNY DE EPA MDC WPA AL GA KY NC NFL SFL TN VA WCF AR LA NM NTX OK STX WTX EB ORG SB SCV SDG SF SJV SV AZ ID MT NV OR UT WWA WY MI OH WV IL IN WI CO IA KS MN MO PR VI ON BC Missed: RI NLI NNY SC MS LAX EWA NE ND SD AK PAC MAR NL QC MB SK AB NT Eqmt: Yaesu FT-897D xcvr, 100 watts, 50-ft sloping bottem-fed No Counterpoise Antenna (80m; and first 25 Q's on 40m [0541z-0654z]) with Ten-Tec 238 L-Network Tuner, Hustler mobile antenna mounted on vehicle in driveway fed with 50 ft of Radio Shack RG-6 coax (40m & 20m), microKEYER, WriteLog 10.63h -- Matt Lee, K4AQ Atlanta, GA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4BAI Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 170,798 FT1000MP, Alpha 78, 1 KW output, TH6DXX, dipole, zepp, inverted vee. Thanks to KU8E for coming by after work and making a perfect throw with his rod and reel to get the north end of the zepp back up high in the tree. Obviously, I handled the off-time badly, slept too long, and missed an hour of operating. All bands were very quiet here. No signals at all on 10M. 15M was very good to the west coast, Caribbean, and Pacific. 20M stayed short and stayed open longer Saturday than usual. 40M was almost useless when I got there, with long skip, and I couldn't get a run going. But 80 made up for it with good rates and good signals from coast to coast. Turned out to be my best band. 40M was very good on Sunday up until the end of the contest period. 20M was pretty good here except during mid-day when the skip seemed long and most backscatter signals seemed to be under my power-line noise floor. Missed NT. Thanks for all the QSOs. Please look for us (K4BAI, KU8E, KZ5D, and K5OT) on Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles, Nov. 20-27. PJ4/home calls and PJ4A in CQ WW CW. QSL all five calls via K4BAI. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4EU Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 104,480 Thanks for the Q's. 73....//Steve K4EU ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4IX Class: Multi-Op HP Total Score = 95,200 Got the sweep early, no equipment failures, it was a fun time. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4OD Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 35,784 Breakdown is as follows: BAND QSOS SECTIONS PTS 160--------0-----------0------------0 80-------66----------14----------132 40-------99----------36----------198 20-------28-----------4-----------56 15-------59----------17----------118 10--------0-----------0------------0 ------------------------------------- Totals 252----------71----------504 CLAIMED SCORE: 35,784 Operating Time: 22.5 Hours Rig: Yaesu FT-897D 100 Watts Ant: All Wire Dipoles at 65 Ft. No animals were injured during this exercise. However, a large number of electrons were terribly inconvenienced. CW?.....Dead????? YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME! You have GOT to stay in the chair (which I didn't) and you absolutely MUST pay attention to the bands (which, again, I didn't). It would have been easier, I suppose, had I watched one of the "clusters" which would have spotted those needed sections for a clean sweep but, alas, once again, I didn't. What I did do, however, was have one more heck of a good time and wore my poor body and brain to a complete frazzle.(my two remaining brain cells actually stopping fighting for the duration) Actually heard my 5 year old grandaughter say to her sister during one of the times the headphones came off: "NO! Leave Grandpa ALONE! He's contesting today!" Thank God for understanding XYLs and grandchildren! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4RO Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 126,400 My most enjoyable SS yet. Everything went right this time. You see, the secret to winning QRP CW SS is picking a year when N6TR and AG9A are not at W5WMU or N0NI. :-) Now if KE3Q will only give some of the HP guys a chance someday.... N4OGW may still have me beat, but I didn't hear Tor after our QSO in the 200's, when he was about 35 ahead of me. So many highlights, it's hard to select any one to report. I was disappointed with my accuracy last year, and I worked hard to make it better this year. I lost the sweep due to a busted QSO with my only Newfoundland station last year. And speaking of last year, I was really impressed with AG9A's accuracy stats. I was also hugely relieved to received a "B" from N0NI. :-) I know that the hard end of a QRP QSO is with the receiving station, and I appreciate all of the patience that I received. K1PQS and VY1EI really hung in there with me for tough QSOs. Thanks guys! Once again, 80 meters was just amazing. I'm convinced that this ridge top really adds to my 80m success. I have nothing but a half sloper off the tower at 80 feet, a ground mounted vertical, and a Windom at 35'. It's the ability to change angles that seems to make the difference. That plus the Beverages makes me feel like King of the Hill on 80 meters. That is, until a "B" station pushes me away for the umpteenth time... Oh well. That's QRP SS... I still can't touch W4PA's TN record, let alone N5TJ. This remains one of my all-time favorite contests. Long Live CW Sweepstakes! 73 -Kirk K4RO ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4TD Class: Multi-Op HP Total Score = 209,120 This year we added partner mode for the run station, which worked well. In addition, we reconfigured the station antennas to allow us to beam in two directions simultaneously, which was also of significant benefit. Things started off at a great pace; we found ourselves well ahead of our previous year's statistics until right after sunset on Saturday. This "slowdown" persisted all evening, and when we shut down for the night we were 60 QSO's behind last year's numbers. The situation slowly rectified itself during the day on Sunday, and we managed to finish this year with a modest improvement over last year's numbers (if we get to keep them...). In addition, we had loads of fun, and that's the main objective anyway... Now we're off to enjoy a bottle of Scotch after the end of the contest... ;-) 73, Rick, Jim & Doug K4TD, VE7ZO & KY4F ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4XD Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 93,760 Spent some time on station setup Saturday - I wanted to have my AL-80B and THP 1.5K amps switch selectable so I could give the THP a break when running. Had to convert the AL-80B back to 120V so I could keep both plugged in, since I only have one 220V outlet in the shack. Had a few "oh no" moments during setup when it looked like I had inflicted damage on the ICOM 756PII (I'd never seen the display goofed up before - VFO 1 display was blank but VFO 2 was showing OK??!), and when my Ameritron RCS-12 antenna switch decided to show no antennas selected and the yellow XMIT LED on even when I wasn't transmitting. Wiggling wires and rebooting seemed to fix everything. One hour before starting I noticed intermittent high SWR on 80M. Went out in the yard and found half of my K1JEK Cobra Ultralight Sr. antenna hanging like a hammock. Shot a sinker over a branch and back in service with 20 minutes to spare, good because 80M was productive. My primary goal was a sweep (gotta get that mug!) but also wanted to improve on last year's score. OK on both, but in retrospect wish I had taken less time off and hit 100K. But that does give me a nice goal for next year. Only my second CW SS and still getting my CW ears. The MRP-40 code reader is a blessing (and maybe a crutch?). It doesn't always decode 100% but I know I couldn't possibly be operating at 25 - 30wpm without it. Also helps to have the exchange captured much of the time so I can start sending mine before I finish typing yours into WriteLog. I am in awe of the great ops in this contest. My S&P rate was only 30 - 40/hour, and I was getting serials in the 300's when I was still under 100! Kept me from worrying too much about winning anything ;-). Good omen getting VY1EI into the log in the second hour. No pileup either. Eric even took the time to compliment my "good signal." Thanks for giving Jay some help! Caught 4 hours sleep from 3 to 7 Sunday morning and back to the dials with lots of new stations to work. It really does make sense for Assisted to be a separate category -- having worked S&P by tuning up the dial vs. clicking on the "light blue spots" in the WriteLog bandmap, there's no comparison in rate. MB was the toughest section, saw a spot for a VE4 on 20 and got there just in time to hear his last QSO and then QRT!! Finally nabbed one at 1627 Sunday and put the Sweep to bed. Got tired of sitting and concentrating Sunday afternoon so took a few more hours off. People laugh when I say contesting is exhausting ("how can it be tiring to just sit in front of the radio?"). They should try it. Got back to the dials Sunday evening for final 3 hour push, including some good (for me) runs on 40M. Max rate was around 60/hr, I know that's not setting any records but it is addicting, in a pinball sort of way. Back to back Q's are a blast. Much better than listening to your own CQ over and over and wondering if everyone went to watch football or if a squirrel ate the coax. I'm also in awe of people who work "real" pileups. My befuddled moment was when VE3EJ and VE3EY answered my CQ simultaneously, both dead-on zero beat, at the same level, and starting within 2 dots of each other! I sent "VE3?" twice and they both came back synchronized like Blue Angels. I was really wondering what to do next when "J" came back in the clear. Thanks! Still learning WriteLog's nuances -- like "Enter Sends Exchange/QRZ." Great feature, but sometimes in my tired state I would try to get smart and move the cursor to the serial number field before hitting enter, and listen in horror as I sent "TU QRZ" instead of my exchange! Thanks to all who hang in there while I regained composure and went for "take two." Some amazing QRP signals out there. Always a bit surprised when I'm hearing a signal that is every bit as loud as the last HP station and then hear "Q" for precedence. And then, there are the "will I ever get this exchange?!" QRPers. Love you guys and your mettle, but it does make me feel a bit stupid to ask for the CK? five times! I've heard of "selective fading" but why is it always the part of the exchange you need repeated that selectively fades?! Thanks to the ops who wisely send their missing info several times - often would only hear one of the repeats but one is enough. All in all, great fun and thanks to all for the Q's. Thanks also to my family for tolerating my "missing in action" weekends. Although I hear a rumor that "shopping is the best revenge." 73, Rowland K4XD ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4XU Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 177,760 This was my best showing since moving to Oregon in 1997. Though the high bands were not there, 20m was the money band. I was able to hold a frequency from the start, 14015, and for the next four hours ran at 90 an hour. I switched to 40m at 01Z when the second rig’s rate equaled the run rig’s rate. I found a good place at 7024 and was able to keep it for two hours at about 80 per. Even though it is difficult fighting to keep a frequency, there are benefits beyond being able to call CQ. You can tell when you get spotted because the pile and number of U stations suddenly increases. Low band operation from this city lot has been growing steadily worse over the past ten years as my lot has been “incarcerated” into the city of Bend and as the surrounding land is devoured by developers at eight houses per acre. The LF noise level is usually a constant S-8. At exactly 10PM Saturday night the noise level suddenly went to nearly zero. S-3 stations that normally would have cussed me out for being deaf appeared perfectly Q5. I have not had this much fun on the low bands in many years. The only SO2R practice I get is in SS and the FOC Marathon. A new switchable BPF, a modified sidetone circuit in the old Omni 6 and a rebuilt homebrew six-pack were added this year and made a big difference. 18% of the total QSOs were made on the second radio. Many of the “tough” mults like NL and YT were either worked on the second rig or spotted there and worked with the primary rig with its better antennas. No matter what, the biggest benefit of SO2R comes on Sunday. Being able to do an alternating CQ was the salvation of my sanity. I beg forgiveness for about three unresponded CQ’s. I gave preference to the primary rig’s run frequency so when there are multiple callers on the primary rig, it causes a double wait at least. I’m not sure there is a way to prevent it. On Sunday evening NU6-- answered my CQ at about 20 wpm. I slowed to 21 wpm, gave my exchange and got a very sketchy “?”. I repeated the exchange at 15 wpm and got a 10 wpm “sorry” and silence. It appears this guy was using a logging program to send. All contesters will slow to whatever speed is necessary to make the Q. But the other guy either has to send at the speed he wants or to learn to ask for a QRS. Weather and conditions were good this year. The daylight savings change screwed up my schedule – the alarm clock was on new time and my sleep time calculation was based on old time – so I overslept by an hour. This meant that I did the contest in two12 hour sittings without the normal half hour breaks that make it manageable. Sunday was very very long. My thanks to all who gave me a Q, to my neighbors who allow those silly wires and strings in their trees every fall, to my wife who makes coffee and food, and to Mr. Murphy who, for once, went somewhere else for SS CW – the best contest in the world. 73, Dick PS. I missed Dayton this year. Was there a decision made among all the usual A ops to go to Q this time? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K5AF Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 51,376 Tough start! 20M was so packed with signals that it was tough getting traction with low power. My computer keying also seemed erratic, mysteriously speeding up and slowing down during the exchange. Missed Nl and MB and two sections in my own call area, Ms and WTx! Always fun, wish I could have made it a full-time effort. Thanks to all! Paul, K5AF ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K5GO Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 238,720 I really appreciate all of the hard work my dad did to get the station ready the week before the contest. It is a big task to convert a multi-multi station to a single operator station. Everything performed flawlessly during the contest. Since the ARRL DX CW contest we've worked very hard with a lot of help from our friends to completely redo our 20 and 40 meter antenna systems and replace all of our steel guy wire with fiberglass rod. For more information visit: www.k5go.com The weather was perfect and all bands were very quiet. My first four hours were 92, 89, 110, and 112. All on 40 meters. I wasn't feeling good after hours one and two about my rate, but the rate really picked up when everyone moved to 40. I found 11 new stations on 80 with the second radio the last hour while running on 40 which helped the rate tremendously. NA says that I made 206 second radio contacts. The latest version of NA really works well with SO2R in the sweepstakes and other contests. Congratulations to N2IC and all of the other big scores out there. We hope to have a special guest op next year. We probably only have a couple years left for optimal conditions in the sweepstakes from this part of the country (e.g. bad 10 and 15 meter conditions)for winning. We'll see everyone in the CQWW CW. 73 Kevin, N5DX ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K5KA Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 160,160 Very nice to see gud activity and some scores we have not seen in many years. Special thanks to our VE friends for making those rare sections available. Now we need to drum up some ops in ND and WY. 73, Ken K5KA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K5KG Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 93,132 With my yagis down for repairs, had to use my SteppIR Big Vertical for 40 thru 15. The vertical performed amazingly well, especially on 40m. With the vertical, I could really feel the advantage it gave to the long-haul low-angle signals, especially W6's, KH6's and KL7's. Closer-in stuff coming at higher angles, however, suffered at times. But, the really surprise band was 80. On 80, the antenna is an inv. vee. FL wx had been in a high pressure zone for the last few days, and the atmosphere was crystal clear. As a result, the 80m noise level was very low, and the band produced some really nice runs. I should have spent more time there, especially Saturday night, but hung it up around 0500z for some shut eye. The last two hours of the contest were spent on 80m, and the runs just kept coming, tnx to being spotted a few times. We missed WTX and NT for a sweep. Never really heard J loud enough to break his pile up, and WTX was totally non-existent! Our last mult was SC, which we worked at 0129z on Sunday on 80m. In the next four minutes, then, I worked three more SC's. I thought for a minute that the SC boys were messing with my mind! 73, Geo...K5KG ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K5NA Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 213,440 I didn't do a very good job of testing my setup the week before the contest because of out-of-town family obligations until Friday. When the contest started I discovered that my keying was intermittant and distorted. So my first hour of SS was very poor while I tried to fix things by re-booting the computer and changing keying configurations. You never get the first hour back in a SS. I never got the problem completely fixed and suffered the entire contest with choppy and intermittant CW sending from the computer. I found that if I never sent over 28 wpm, the sending could be readable most of the time. Above 28 wpm, it got really bad. I still don't know what was wrong with my Writelog/Microham MK2R+/desktop computer combination. It seemed that the computer was stealing cycles from the CW sending. But it worked fine the last time I SO2Red during the WPX CW Contest in May. I had best fix this problem before the 2007 CQWW CW Contest. I thought conditions were down from last year, but it may have been just me in my de-moralized state as I kept on slugging through the contest. 15 meters was almost non-existant for running from here and I can never get much going on 80M, regardless of conditions. So it was a two band contest, 20M and 40M. Multipliers were numerous and I worked at least two in each section. I found and worked VY1JA on the 2nd radio and later a VE4 started a pileup right next to my run frequency. But on Sunday I had VY1EI and another VE4 answer my CQ. This is the first time I remember having a sweep with every section answering a CQ. That was nice. I was disapointed with my results even though this was my second best SS CW score ever. Maybe I was expecting too much. It was my fault for poor preparation. 73, Richard - K5NA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K5NZ Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 184,320 First time to "STAY" in the chair and complete a SS !! Are you happy now K5GA and K5TR ?? But boy did I want to quit several times Sunday, stopped to grill and have lunch with my wife Sunday noon and almost didn't come back! Thanks "J" for finding me on 20 right at the start, then I had to sweat NL but worked 2 Sunday. Great job everyone, and thanks to all the new guys... was glad to turn down the keyer to 18 several times! Please try another CW contest again soon! nz Cabrillo Statistics (Version 06g) by K5KA Callsign: K5NZ Contest: ARRL-SS-CW Category: SINGLE-OP ALL LOW CW Operators: K5NZ -------------- Q S O R a t e S u m m a r y --------------------- Hour 160 80 40 20 15 10 Rate Total Pct -------------------------------------------------------------------- 2100 0 0 0 67 5 0 72 72 6.2 2200 0 0 32 45 2 0 79 151 6.8 2300 0 0 40 14 1 0 55 206 4.7 0000 0 6 41 5 0 0 52 258 4.5 0100 0 47 13 0 0 0 60 318 5.2 0200 0 12 53 0 0 0 65 383 5.6 0300 0 0 69 0 0 0 69 452 5.9 0400 0 2 73 0 0 0 75 527 6.5 0500 0 6 58 0 0 0 64 591 5.5 0600 0 29 23 0 0 0 52 643 4.5 0700 0 7 20 0 0 0 27 670 2.3 0800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 670 0.0 0900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 670 0.0 1000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 670 0.0 1100 0 20 23 0 0 0 43 713 3.7 1200 0 21 9 0 0 0 30 743 2.6 1300 0 0 5 11 0 0 16 759 1.4 1400 0 0 14 30 0 0 44 803 3.8 1500 0 0 9 21 5 0 35 838 3.0 1600 0 0 0 33 1 0 34 872 2.9 1700 0 0 0 16 2 0 18 890 1.6 1800 0 0 0 24 12 0 36 926 3.1 1900 0 0 0 32 1 0 33 959 2.8 2000 0 0 20 7 2 0 29 988 2.5 2100 0 0 7 29 0 0 36 1024 3.1 2200 0 0 0 32 0 0 32 1056 2.8 2300 0 0 11 23 0 0 34 1090 2.9 0000 0 7 19 2 0 0 28 1118 2.4 0100 0 8 26 0 0 0 34 1152 2.9 0200 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1152 0.0 ------------------------------------------------------ Total 0 165 565 391 31 0 1152 Gross QSO's=1160 Dupes=8 Net QSO's=1152 The best 60 minute rate was 92/hour from 2121 to 2220 The best 30 minute rate was 98/hour from 2151 to 2220 The best 10 minute rate was 114/hour from 2156 to 2205 The best 1 minute rates were: 3 QSO's/minute 6 times. 2 QSO's/minute 208 times. 1 QSO's/minute 718 times. There were 247 bandchanges and 113 (9.8%) probable 2nd radio QSO's. Number of letters in callsigns Letters # worked ----------------- 3 1 4 711 5 337 6 97 7 3 8 3 ------------ 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 ------------------------------------------------------------- Va 0 7 16 26 0 0 49 4.2 Il 0 9 25 14 0 0 48 4.1 Oh 0 7 22 16 1 0 46 4.0 Scv 0 1 26 15 2 0 44 3.8 Mdc 0 6 16 19 0 0 41 3.5 Mi 0 5 21 14 0 0 40 3.4 WWa 0 0 28 10 1 0 39 3.4 Mn 0 6 21 11 0 0 38 3.3 Ep 0 5 14 17 0 0 36 3.1 Wi 0 5 18 8 0 0 31 2.7 Az 0 3 18 9 0 0 30 2.6 Nc 0 6 12 11 1 0 30 2.6 Sv 0 0 14 9 2 0 25 2.2 Em 0 3 4 15 1 0 23 2.0 On 0 2 7 14 0 0 23 2.0 In 0 5 10 7 1 0 23 2.0 WNy 0 6 6 10 0 0 22 1.9 Tn 0 3 16 3 0 0 22 1.9 Or 0 1 9 10 1 0 21 1.8 Co 0 4 13 4 0 0 21 1.8 Org 0 0 12 9 0 0 21 1.8 NNj 0 3 6 10 1 0 20 1.7 Sjv 0 3 8 4 2 0 17 1.5 Ga 0 7 10 0 0 0 17 1.5 STx 0 8 8 1 0 0 17 1.5 WPa 0 2 2 11 0 0 15 1.3 Nh 0 3 5 6 1 0 15 1.3 Eb 0 1 7 7 0 0 15 1.3 NTx 0 7 5 2 0 0 14 1.2 Wv 0 1 7 5 0 0 13 1.1 Mo 0 3 9 1 0 0 13 1.1 Sdg 0 0 8 5 0 0 13 1.1 SNj 0 1 5 6 0 0 12 1.0 Ct 0 0 4 5 3 0 12 1.0 NLi 0 1 6 3 2 0 12 1.0 Lax 0 1 8 2 1 0 12 1.0 NFl 0 4 4 3 0 0 11 0.9 Bc 0 0 4 6 1 0 11 0.9 SFl 0 0 6 4 0 0 10 0.9 ENy 0 3 2 5 0 0 10 0.9 Ut 0 0 4 6 0 0 10 0.9 Ia 0 1 9 0 0 0 10 0.9 Ok 0 5 4 1 0 0 10 0.9 WMa 0 1 1 4 3 0 9 0.8 Al 0 2 7 0 0 0 9 0.8 Ks 0 3 6 0 0 0 9 0.8 Vt 0 2 3 3 0 0 8 0.7 Ew 0 0 4 4 0 0 8 0.7 Ky 0 2 3 2 1 0 8 0.7 Sc 0 1 5 2 0 0 8 0.7 Nm 0 0 7 1 0 0 8 0.7 WcF 0 2 4 2 0 0 8 0.7 Sf 0 0 4 3 1 0 8 0.7 Nv 0 0 3 3 1 0 7 0.6 Mt 0 0 7 0 0 0 7 0.6 Sk 0 0 2 4 0 0 6 0.5 Sb 0 0 6 0 0 0 6 0.5 Nd 0 0 4 2 0 0 6 0.5 De 0 2 2 1 0 0 5 0.4 Pac 0 0 3 0 2 0 5 0.4 Ar 0 3 2 0 0 0 5 0.4 La 0 3 2 0 0 0 5 0.4 Wy 0 0 4 1 0 0 5 0.4 Ri 0 1 2 1 1 0 5 0.4 Mar 0 0 2 1 1 0 4 0.3 Qc 0 2 2 0 0 0 4 0.3 Me 0 0 1 3 0 0 4 0.3 Id 0 0 2 2 0 0 4 0.3 Sd 0 0 2 1 0 0 3 0.3 Ak 0 0 2 1 0 0 3 0.3 Ab 0 0 2 1 0 0 3 0.3 Ne 0 0 3 0 0 0 3 0.3 Vi 0 0 2 1 0 0 3 0.3 WTx 0 1 2 0 0 0 3 0.3 NNy 0 0 1 1 0 0 2 0.2 Ms 0 2 0 0 0 0 2 0.2 Pr 0 0 2 0 0 0 2 0.2 Mb 0 0 2 0 0 0 2 0.2 Nl 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 0.2 Nt 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0.1 ------------------------------------------------------ Total 0 165 565 391 31 0 1152 Callareas Worked Area QSOs Pct ------------------ 0 103 8.9 1 96 8.3 2 111 9.6 3 125 10.9 4 133 11.5 5 67 5.8 6 169 14.7 7 133 11.5 8 101 8.8 9 114 9.9 Sweepstakes Precedents Precedent QSOs Pct ---------------------- A 552 47.9 B 248 21.5 Q 100 8.7 M 39 3.4 U 208 18.1 S 5 0.4 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K5OT Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 166,374 Thanks Tom (N5TW) and Judy for letting me play radio at his fine QTH. The station played great. The operator played out early. This year's lesson learned: Don't delay good opportunities. I was too complacent with VY1JA, thinking I'd catch J a bit later. Later never came ... well, unless you count next year. Congrats to N2IC and others for some super totals! 73, Larry K5OT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K5QQ Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 95,116 Using wire dipoles @ 35 ft for 40 and 80 and two mobile fiberglass whips @ 35 ft in a dipole configuration for 20. Although I have no pretenses about being a contender in the low power category, I'm always amazed with how well I do without beams and using these subterranian antenna's My house is right next to a flood control area so not only are the antenna's low to the ground, my lot is the lowest elevation in the neighborhood!! I am in an antenna restricted neighborhood but the good news is no one ever looks in my back yard and none of the antenna's are visible from the street!! My award goes to W8EGI who was sounding good on the key and licensed over 76 years ago. QRZ shows he is a mere youngster at 93 years old and he's my inspiration. I wish him many more years of enjoyable operating!! 73 Jim Baremore K5QQ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K5TA Class: Multi-Op HP Total Score = 196,800 Run rig: TS850 + Titan S&P rig: IC765 barefoot 80: 1/4 wave wire vertical 40: Dipole @ 75' 20: Dipole @ 60' 15: 3L trap 10/15 duo-bander @ 30' TNX to everyone for the Qs. We're trying to win the local club category for the third year in a row -- not the greatest start... 73, Scott K5TA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K5TR Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 237,440 A fun weekend - with activity like this who needs sunspots? Less decisions to make about what band to be on!!! Thanks to George K5TR for the use of his FB station and for busting his tail to fix the extensive wind damage he incurred this past summer. No small undertaking. Congrats to N2IC on the outstanding job. And --- thanks to all of you guys for the QSO's. 73, Gator ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K5ZD Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 184,228 After a full effort in CQ WW Phone, didn't have enough motivation left to do a full effort. My wife talked me into operating (she has been putting up with this for as long as she has known me) and once I started, the fun of SS pulled me in. This is my 31st year in a row with over 1000 QSOs. But, the first in that time that I did not do the full 24 hours (only 18:45 this time). Stopped early Sat night and on Sun afternoon when things got slow and not fun. See everyone next year! QSO/Sec by hour and band Hour 80 40 20 15 Total Cumm Off D1-21Z - 51/25 13/10 10/8 74/43 74/43 D1-22Z - 1/0 91/21 - 92/21 166/64 D1-23Z - 9/0 79/6 - 88/6 254/70 D2-00Z --+-- 19/1 54/1 --+-- 73/2 327/72 D2-01Z 8/0 41/0 22/0 - 71/0 398/72 D2-02Z 22/1 60/1 - - 82/2 480/74 D2-03Z 15/0 37/1 - - 52/1 532/75 D2-04Z 61/0 3/0 - - 64/0 596/75 30 D2-05Z 45/0 13/1 - - 58/1 654/76 D2-06Z 34/0 20/0 - - 54/0 708/76 D2-07Z 10/0 5/0 - - 15/0 723/76 31 D2-08Z --+-- --+-- --+-- --+-- 0/0 723/76 60 D2-09Z - - - - 0/0 723/76 60 D2-10Z - - - - 0/0 723/76 60 D2-11Z 2/0 19/1 - - 21/1 744/77 40 D2-12Z 20/0 45/2 - - 65/2 809/79 D2-13Z 15/0 33/0 1/0 - 49/0 858/79 D2-14Z - 39/0 5/0 - 44/0 902/79 11 D2-15Z - - - - 0/0 902/79 60 D2-16Z --+-- 19/0 13/0 --+-- 32/0 934/79 16 D2-17Z - - - 3/0 3/0 937/79 52 D2-18Z - 22/0 8/0 1/0 31/0 968/79 24 D2-19Z - 10/0 35/0 - 45/0 1013/79 D2-20Z - - 1/0 - 1/0 1014/79 59 D2-21Z - 12/0 12/0 5/0 29/0 1043/79 15 D2-22Z - - - - 0/0 1043/79 60 D2-23Z - - - - 0/0 1043/79 60 D3-00Z 2/0 13/0 4/0 --+-- 19/0 1062/79 32 D3-01Z 14/0 39/0 - - 53/0 1115/79 D3-02Z 15/0 36/0 - - 51/0 1166/79 Total: 263/1 546/32 338/38 19/8 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6AM Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 158,080 As you may have read in Dan's (N6MJ) posting, our usual effort with N6KI at W6YI was cancelled this year due to complications from the recent fires in San Diego. The ststion and Jim's ranch are fine and we will be back at it soon. Congrats to Dan for his great score and I'm looking forward to being on the same team again soon. The station played well this time, but the very modest antennas on my city lot are nothing compared to the W6YI blast factory. Was shooting for 1000 Q's, but just missed it. We got word that J, VY1JA would only be on for a couple of hours in the evening. I heard him working another CA station and began caling him frantically just up the band. Amazingly he heard me and we ended up with the sweep. I heard him later with a much better signal running a pileup so I guess things worked out for him. My last mult came just before the end when KE5OG called in with my only WTX. CU in SS SSB and CQWW from ZF1A John, K6AM ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6DBG Class: SO Unlimited LP Total Score = 16,874 First attempt at SS, first time using N1MM to key. Didn't get started until late Saturday evening, and stuck around on 80m until just before the DST time change. Also the first time using two antennas - my trusty 6BTV and a new shortened Windom. Both need retuning on 80, which is always amusing - but I had a great deal of luck switching between them to work the skip as needed. Good fun. I had a semi-goal of 200 Qs, but beating my old number of 102 (for a full weekend) was good enough. Next time I'll pay more attention to going for a sweep, though I'm not sure I can pull it off with my setup. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6GEP Class: SO Unlimited LP Total Score = 31,824 I claim to not be a CW contester, and not a big fan of SS. For the second year, I've told people I'm not going to operate Sweeps with much effort. But- that alluring Scavenger Hunt aspect of Sweeps is what draws me into the fun. It will probably happen to me again in the Phone weekend. 78 Sections is a new personal record for me. We will see what sticks in the scoring. I missed VE4 and VO1. Seems like they both disappeared about 2200z. I really couldn't hear the VO1's on 20. Tnx to all the KP2 and KP4 stations especially on 15. I also appreciated all the ND stations this year, including the K0RC expedition. That fills some holes in my WAS states. Condix was OK on 15, pretty good on 20, and fair to poor on 40 and 80. 80 seemed better right before the close. Note for the SS Phone: When doing packet spots, please include the section on the station you are spotting, like WV or NLI etc. That way the software can alert that a needed section is on. And put spaces around them. Someone spotted SC! and my software missed it. Rig: FT-990 Antennas: 80 meter dipole sloped from 50 feet 40 meter inverted vee at 50 feet 20 meter dipole (1 element) at 25 feet 15 meter dipole at 25 feet Software: N3FJP Sweepstates Log - It really shines with packet spotting! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6III Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 50,086 WINDOM Wire in trees. 400-watts. Mostly did spotting for the users. Tried to get a sweep but missed NL as I am not home during the opening to that area. First QSO was MAR section... got off to a good start! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6JS Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 48,822 Where was LAX! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6LA Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 137,760 MURPHY KO's K6LA!!! Exactly 12 hours into the contest (yup, just after DST changed over) I was entering my hourly total into a text file showing last year's rate, and the computer froze. I figured no problem, since I was getting ready to take my 1st break. Reboot the computer - uh oh, it won't reboot. After 2 hours of playing with the Bios, WinXP repair CD, etc. I realized my C drive had died. Well, I realized it long before two hours, but I kept rebooting, changing the boot order, hoping against hope. But it was not to be. The only good news was that I had made a Ghost backup on Friday. Now I've got to send the hard drive in to some recovery company just to get my log back so I can get my sweep cup. I am VERY bummed out. CW SS is my favorite contest - OK, its tied with CQWW CW for my favorite. 73, Ken, K6LA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6LL Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 212,480 Congrats to the big scorers out there. You guys are unreal! This was my first time using N1MM in SSCW. It worked well, but I need more so2r practice with it. I think I pretty much got the hang of it after a few hours, but still made a few fumble-finger mistakes. I guess I can finally remove the DOS second hard drive with TRLog on it. That program sure has served well over the years. Thanks, Tree, and thanks to the N1MM crew for what is obviously the product of a TON of work! When I got back in October from my 4 month long summer vacation, I found that the background noise on 80 meters had jumped to 20 over nine with the receiver in AM mode. It's not power line noise, either, because there are tonals and lots of sound variation across the band. I spent a lot of time the week before the contest erecting receiving antennas (pennant, low wires, etc) but never found anything that provided a better s/n ratio than the shunt fed tower. Consequently, I stuck mostly to S&P on 80, which was workable with the 250 Hz filters. I think I will avoid SSB contests for a while though, until the noise goes away or we get some sunspots for the high bands. I used N2IC's formula for off time (0900Z-1230Z, then many short breaks) and I think it was an improvement over my previous years' 0930-1330. I did take the final 90 minutes off, which was probably not optimal. There were lots of stations to work on 40 from 1230Z on Sunday morning, and the rate did perk up after my short breaks, so more of those short breaks are in order for next year. Once again this year, K6RIM and I ended up in the same "packet pileups," and, once again, he beat me every time! I just looked up his antenna, which is an M2 7/10-30 log periodic, but he's on a 1000' ridgetop. That combo obviously works. The weather was the hottest I can remember in November, in the 90's, and the shack got really hot. If this wx trend continues, I've got to put some kind of superscoop in the shack's air condx vent to get more air in here. Thanks for all the Q's, and for another enjoyable event in the SS tradition. Dave Hachadorian, K6LL Yuma, AZ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6LLK Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 65,052 Thanks all for the run on 80 meters early Sunday morning! http://www.k6llk.com telnet://dxc.k6llk.com k6llk@arrl.net ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6MM Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 116,800 You gotta love this contest. After bashing my head for 10 minutes around 16:20 UTC today on 20M trying to get through to Bob, VO1HP for my Sweep,I decided to let the crowd feast for awhile and come back later. Tuned up on 15M at 21053 MHz and gave a big CQ. Guess who comes right back on the first call? Yep, John, VO1SA. I couldn't believe it. You gotta love this contest. :-) Thanks for the Qs and see you on SS Phone soon. 73, John, K6MM. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6NA Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 194,400 Late Sunday, just prior to sunset, I stopped CQing and combed twenty carefully with my beam north, looking for a NWT station. Sure enough, six minutes later, I found a very weak and fluttery VY1EI on 14027. He was sending pretty slow CW, had just finished up with a station and he came right back to me with a low serial number. I never heard anyone else call him when we finished. After 45+ years of the Sweepstakes (well, some off-years too) there is still a magical feeling when you tune the band with your HF receiver and find that elusive, fluttery VY1 or VE8 for a Clean Sweep. Recommended therapy for those packet addicts out there...! Thanks to all for a fun weekend. Glenn K6NA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6SU Class: Multi-Op LP Total Score = 78,848 Mark, K6OWL, started the contest on 20 meters while I operated the W6YX station a few feet away on 15 meters. Chris, W6KNS, joined Mark for part of the afternoon. Dave, AA6XV, started in the early evening Saturday and operated until 0916Z. Dave returned for the final 6 hours of the contest. Unfortunately this was a low power M/S effort as several amps were undergoing repairs. The guys did a great job, missing only NL, QC, and MB. VY1EI was the last mult worked at 0055Z on 14028 where he continued to call CQ with no answers. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6TA Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 187,840 Thanks to Ken (K6TA) and Kay (K6KO) Anderson for their outstanding hospitality hosting me again for SS CW. Conditions were very low, since this is the bottom of the solar cycle. But 40 meters really played well, even if 15 meters was the pits... When I took my sleep break I was cautious going out to the apartment behind the garage. There were reports of a hungry mountain lion in the vicinity -- it has attacked and eaten several pets in the area. I certainly didn't want a report of an SS op chewed up by anything other than QRM during the contest! 73, Dean, N6BV ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6TD Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 47,716 Condx seemed pretty good on Sunday. At least, didn't experience strong QSB. Sunday only operation. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6YT Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 161,120 My antennas were off the tower on the ground for repair when I was called out of town on a family emergency. Returning two days before SS CW, I tried to get everything back up. I almost made it but had to temporarily lash the 20 Yagi on the side of the tower for the weekend. I came off the tower 30 minutes into SS and went straight to the shack to see what bands were working. Miraculously, 160 through 10 were good, so I worked a couple SS contacts. That led to a few more and I didn't get up until 08Z. I was physically beat from all the tower work the previous 48 hours. This is not recommended preparation for a contest weekend, although no antennas would have been worse. It was a treat to be able to sit in a chair rather than continuing to scramble up and down the tower countless times. There is a receive intermittant on 40, so I often couldn't hear. I was very impressed that most stations gave just the fill I asked for and nothing more, often only once which is all that is needed 99% of the time. The pair of K3 radios worked great. They did have trouble with S9+40dB signals 200Hz away, but that was rare. Will be interesting to see how they do in the phone weekend ... ugh, do we have to do that?! 73, Ed - W0YK ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K7ABV Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 49,494 first day did all s and p...sunday called a few cq's and had fun with the pileup...had bad qrn on 40 on and off...plus horrible wind of 50 MPH saturday night, made for horrible conditiions on my 7 MHZ beam as connections must be loose, and signals would drop in and out..oh well, something to do, or pray for no wind ha...good time as usual... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K7BG Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 173,440 The station worked better than it ever has this year. I was able to run on 20 using two beams into a StackMatch and S&P up the band with the other rig down to within 10KHz of my run freq with absolutely no problems. Very little stray RF running around the shack this year. I had the 765 spread all over the basement floor for a month until only just last week when an internet plea for a failed part got me back in business thanks to K1RC’s kind efforts. Mentally I just never seemed to get in the groove. I had the worst rate in years the first hour. Part of it was a non-ham visitor that showed up taking away some of my concentration, but I took some time to evangelize radiosport to him. Yeah, I think I’ll blame that guy. By the time I worked Randy, K0EU, he was about 80 Qs ahead of me and the gap only widened as I heard him a few more times. By the time I went to bed I was already over 100 Qs behind my own last year’s effort. My off time strategy is to go to bed and get a good night’s sleep. I probably need to re-visit that strategy as I slept over 5 hours leaving little time to take off on Sunday. I have always thought there were some pileup hungry guys that showed up near the end just to hand out Qs and have a DXpedition style pileup, but the last few years have been dreadfully evident that this is not the case. My last two hours up to 0300 were excruciatingly vacant of Qs, more so than it seemed like it used to be. Congrats to Dick, K4XU, he was ahead by a fair amount when I worked him and then I heard him with several hours to go and he was only ahead by three Q#s. I had 16 dupes in my log so even at that point I figured it was probably a lot more than a three Q gap if his log was free of dupes. He was a dozen or more ahead near the end as he seemed to be finding fresh meat better than I was. Nice job Dick. It looks like my run of 11 straight NW division low power plaques has come to a conclusion. Congrats to all the nice “A” power efforts out there. I was running on 40 late Saturday and heard a weak station calling….”what’s that?...1J…V_1J_...” Son of a gun if it was J. up there on top of the world. I swung the antenna around in 50mph winds and worked him. Thanks for the patience and the time it took to turn the antenna J. I heard VY1EI later but didn’t work him. The last mult worked was Rhode Island. I worked 7 Idaho stations and 3 NDs. That was sure a refreshing change. On Sunday, 15 kept pretending to be a nice band, but it had an attitude problem so I made it go sit in the corner and kept going back to 20. My new neighbor just down the road 150 miles loaned me his StackMatch so I gave it a work out on 20. With one antenna fixed on W6 (a brainstorm this same “neighbor” had) it really helped me work some guys I usually don’t or only catch on the low bands. Thanks Dr. Pat, N9RV. You may not get it back. Good to hear and work all the guys on from here in the Big Sky Country of Montana and a nice QRP effort from a hard contesting KB7Q down state. Nice job Gene. P.S. On the subject of dupes, I often work them just because so many stations never send the call of who they are working and and I think assuming stations are in the log has cost me some Qs in the LCR reports. I’ll usually ask B4? as a question instead of B4 as a statement of fact. Sometimes they say “no” which means they could have worked a station under me that I couldn’t hear the first time I thought we worked or else they logged me as K7DG or such. Sometimes if I work a station and have any doubt at all if I was the guy they were working I will ask for the check again. I usually don’t bother with giving the Q number of when I have them in the log unless asked as that takes as much time as just working them again. Matt--K7BG ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K7HBN Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 85,120 First sweep in quite awhile, I'm feeling my age, but this is still my favorite contest by far. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K7JA Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 196,160 Don't see SOHP SO1R SCARCL Category (Single Operator One Radio Southern California Antenna Restricted City Lot) category, but what the hey. . . Rig: IC-7800 Amp: Alpha 87A Antennas: C19XR at 50' EF30/40 (2 el 40) at 45' Bent/curved/deformed wire for 80, starting height of 45' and bent around roof Had a good time running some rate from the PEQ location. Went to bed around 720 QSOs after getting Sweep at QSO #421 (Arkansas, 0224Z), thinking I would be lucky to get to 1000. But Sunday morning on 20 moved extraordinarily well at over 60/hour for a long time, probably because I was still fresh meat for a lot of people. 40 was just miserably tough. We had a great NVIS antenna but no NVIS prop. But we did have Ouzo, which eased the pain inflicted by the low bands. Twenty played well although it closed very early both days, and 15 just plain needed some sunspots. I got excited when I got called by a KZ5. But then I sighed when I realized it wasn't multiplier #81. I miss the Canal Zone. I still think CAC should reconsider the proposal for a Sunday 8-hour Sprint category within SS. It would not materially change the contest any more than having a half marathon materially changes a full marathon in running. Many people have to work Saturdays now, and if they could get on and fly on Sunday we would all have more fun on the 2nd day. CAC. . .PLEASE think about this. Congrats to N2IC and all those who did battle, whether your score was big or small. It was wonderful to work many old (and new) friends, as always. Almost shed a tear when RECEIVING the SS exchange from W7RM. SS is! Thanks to Dan (N6PEQ) and Kristin (K6PEQ) for the great hospitality, ample Ouzo, and a fun time. And thanks especially to my wife Janet (KL7MF) for the winning shoulder rubs right when they were needed most! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K7NV Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 169,920 WHAT A HORROR SHOW! I haven't had a single equipment failure here for 4-5 years...but my number came up this time on Murphy's list. I had been seeing a naging intermittent loss of receive signal on 80m for a while, so I got into finding it last week. I finally traced the problem down to a failed relay in the Six Pak on the 80m circuit. So, I recabled the 80m antennas to go directly to a station #2 antenna switch (rig #2 is normally the 80m rig)which could then select the Six Pak (to get either tribander, high tribaner is the run antenna, the low one is for S&P) or the 80m antennas. All was fine. Also in last weeks NCCC practices, I started hearing some incredible distortion of signals on R2. I opened up the TS930 and fooled around with the RF connections and thought I had it working. So, the contest starts and I elected to start running on 15m. It was ok, but not real great. I'm tuning around on R2 on 20m trying to pick up extra Q's, but I can't copy much of anything. The S meter is whailing away telling me they are there but I can't copy anyone but the very loudest signals. I make 6 R2 qso's on R2 in the first 1 1/2 hours (that sucks!). Being the genius I am, I figure out that the rig is still hosed! So, I sit there for the first 1 1/2 hours thinking about "what am I gonna do?" while running R1 on 15m. Pack it in, go for SO1R on rig 1, or get out of the game for a while to see if I can fix it and be able to have more fun running SO2R for the rest of the contest. During this time I was constantly fiddling with the R2 rig and found that when I moved the wide/narrow cw filter switch the rig would go from dead to sometimes hearing, but always distorted signals, so there was something wrong with the switch. When it was time to be forced off of 15m due to a sick rate, and go to 20m, I elected to go offline and try to fix the radio. I had it all apart on the bench and checked everything I could think of. I found a dangling wire broken off the xverter jack where you can tap into the recv signal line. I cleaned the cw filter switch by dripping some solvent into it and blowing it out with compressed air, twisted all of the 20 or so RF connections in the thing. My shack is in the garage, a very dusty and dirty place with the high winds we get here, so everything gets a big dose of crap. Well, this seemed to work! The rig sounded lots better, but still not really right. I got back on the air around the time 20m was going away, running on the fixed R2. Why am I not getting many callers? The band is not dead yet? I look up at the R2 amp and see that it is not at all happy, I know it is set right for the antenna (TH7). I stop running and check the swr straight thu, bypassing the amp and bandpass filters. Crap, the SWR is pegged! Must be time for another unplanned break....... I grab the dummy load and go down the line from the rig to see where it is. Guess what? It's another relay in the Six Pack, this one is the R2 input relay. So, I mix and match some cables to get the TH7 off the Six Pak and onto a manual switch in the shack, so R2 gets the 80m antennas and the TH7. R1 gets the low tribander (@25')and the 40m antennas still on the Six Pak. So, I'm back in the contest......running on 40 with R1. R2 still is not sounding right on 80m! I finally realize that when I R&R'd rig 2, I put it back into the op position with the noise blanker switch activated. Duh! I turn the NB off and the rig sounded perfect, and I get a 70 hour on 80m. I act like I'm still in the contest having fun, but I know I'm totally hosed, and am feeling pretty depressed. When I take the big break at 08:30 (instead of 08:00) I'm 220 q's behind my previous lowest qso count at that point, 280 behind my best. Sigh! Well, just soldier on and see if I can get some of it back. I've never quit, but it crossed my mind Sat night. The unplanned off times shorted me on my available sleep period, so when I got back into it way early Sunday morning, I was a little grumpy. That part helped when I got pressed into the usual freq fights with the "carnivores" ;-) I actually had some fun periods on Sunday with some kinda both stations working, so I'm glad I chose to try to fix things. I had to use R2 with the TH7 to swap running bands between 20 & 15 a few times, but 15m sucked so bad on Sunday I ended up just staying on 20 using R1 to S&P on 40. I had one more problem Sunday evening......the 80m inv vee went intermittent. I just used the vertical and it wasn't a big deal. Found & fixed it tonight(I think). This station and op will never get a big score, but it should get a better one.....'twas not in the cards this time. I've been doing two QTH efforts in SS for the past 4 years, so it's hard to know where I should have been this time with this little toy. There is always a next year....... Next summer if I'm not working 7 days a week, I'll rebuild this thing, it appears to be about time ;-) Thanks for the q's as always, always fun to work so many friends in the contest! 73, Kurt ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K7RL Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 154,240 Only planned to work the contest a few hours, but conditions were pretty good so I hung-in there a little longer. Thanks to all for the Qs. 73 de Mitch ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K7WA Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 68,888 Foiled again in my pursuit of a Clean Sweep - usually hard ones came easy and usually easy ones were tough! 15 meters tried a few times, but never really openned for us in the northwest. Took three 30 minute breaks to change the antennas from daytime to night configuration. Enjoyed another SS with three other members of the WWA CW SS Class of 1959 (K7SS, K7HBN, and K7CW). IC-735 with microKeyer and N1MM software 80: Top loaded wire 40: Force12 40-XK Vertical 20: Force12 40-XK Vertical and Hamstick Dipole 15: Hamstick Dipole ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K7XC Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 95,200 IC-746, Alpha 78 (800W), 2ele Tribander 20', 80/40/10M Inv Vee 30', 20M Inv Vee 20', 160M Inv L 35'. 80M Was Increadible! Finally Found NL Sunday Morning For My First Sweep In Over 10 Years. Had To Stop Sunday AM Due To The Headache From Hell, Operating Only Sporadically For The Rest Of The Day. My Best SS CW Effort In Quite A while. GO NCCC!! KB & K D !! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K8AZ Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 63,602 Missed: NL, AK, PAC. Usually I end my SS weekend at K8AZ's superstation, but this year Tom was heading out to a 4 pm Browns game, so I made K8AZ my Sunday morning stop. We had a bad start, as we in real time discovered issues with the newly installed WinTest. We couldn't figure out how to make it send serial numbers. Although WinTest is sort of like CT, a # character was not how it is done. When we finally did find the answer ("$SERIAL") it still would not send a number. I think it turned out to be a result of the same stupid way CT handles numbers - if there is nothing in the callsign field, it sends the previous qso's number. Since we were testing it with no previous qso, it would not send a number. I finally made a few qsos sending the call and number by hand, and the rest starting with "B" with the computer. After a dozen or so qsos I for some reason tried the S&P exchange, which sent a number! So I reprogrammed the main exchange and was off to the races. But we had only six qsos in the first 17 minutes. Once in the groove things went well. But the excellent hardware at AZ was a bit of a waste for midday SS conditions, when a 50 foot high dipole can do just about all you need to do. Nevertheless, a good six hours of fresh meat operation. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K8BL Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 128,000 Last Section was NT (as usual). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K8FH Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 62,560 First time to get a sweep.........time spent was 99% S&P. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K8GU Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 81,168 First SS operating SO2R. Sorry about the mistakes! I lidded a couple of QSOs. New dipole on 40 worked great. Thanks for the QSOs... 73, --Ethan, K8GU/9. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K8IR Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 59,040 Too many things going on to put much time in the chair this year. I was pleasantly surprised to make the sweep. ND was the last, but VO1 was the toughest, with marginal propagation Sunday morning on 20. I spent an hour in the pileup before finally getting through to VO1HP, but the time was well spent starting the club newsletter, one of those tasks that had to be done this weekend. Conditions weren't too bad for no sunspots. Thanks for all the contacts. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K8MFO Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 12,800 Just an old dog having fun. I recently put some of the good old gear back on the air - Johnson Viking Ranger II, Collins 75A-4, and Drake 2-B. All gear was set up in a barn/workshop about 150 feet from the house. Put up a Buxcomm Windom in a tree at the site. Decided to play 80 QSOs in 80 sections with that setup. Was amazed how well things went with 30 to 40 watts, as I quit at 0330Z with only NL and NWT not in the log. Found VO1HE Sunday morning at 1329Z, and then had to go away to help my mother in law put away her lawn furniture, out to breakfast, and a bunch of shopping. Turned the 75A-4 on when we got home at 1700Z, and could not believe that the first signal I heard was VY1EI. And there was no pileup! One call and the sweep was done! I have done the "express sweep" many times, but probably not in any less time, under 8 hours. This was great fun. I love my TS-930 radios and really look forward to the arrival of my Elecraft K-3 (soon, I hope!), but CW never sounded any better than it did this weekend with the 75A-4 and 2-B. The transmitted signal from the Ranger also sounded good to me. So, no records, no awards, just some plain old fashioned fun with some old radios. Hope everyone else had as good a time. 73 Don K8MFO ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K8MM Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 81,440 This was my first time QRP in SS. Condx seemed good on 80 and 40 and there were several times I held down a frequency for more than a hour. Finding VY1JA on 15M and cracking that pile-up was really cool with 5W. I was really surprised how well my K2/100's receiver performed, in a major cw contest. Looks like it beat out my TS-450 to become my main rig. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K8MR Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 63,802 The last stop on the K8MR SS tour - home sweet home. I was set up to do SO2R, but the rates were pretty good on a single band, and the differences between the IC-746 and TS-830S second radio make it a mental challenge to switch between the two. Missed: ME, WTX, SB, ID, MB, AB, NT. Rates peaked out in the upper 130's as I hit the NCC U-class packet masses. Never knew there were so many loud stations in SV! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K8ND Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 120,588 Part-time effort, with visit to a customer site during prime-time Saturday evening. Not very focused even when I was on the air. Operated on 15m with the 2L40, never realizing that I had the switch in the wrong position! Missed sweep by WTX and NL - never heard either. Good warmup for my upcoming trip to PJ2T for CQWW CW and ARRL 160 Contests! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K9CT Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 168,160 Good conditions! Wish more people were on the last few hours. I was available to work more. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K9GY Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 49,640 a) Missed WY, ND, LAX, SF, PAC, NL, NT b) How in the world did I miss LAX? Duh! c) Heard VY1JA on 15m @ 22z Sunday but unable to get his attention. d) CQing is only fun when people answer your CQ's e) Good to test out equip before WW CW trip to YS f) Too many non-ham things intruding on any attempt at a full time effort g) At one point I said to the XYL "I'm working a contest" and her reply was "I'm working the house"...oh boy...not enough points in the family bank for this contest I guess, hah! FT-990 80m dipole at 25-30 feet Cushcraft R8 WriteLog Best of health to all, Eric ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K9MMS Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 51,636 Ninety percent of QSOs via S&P. TS-940 quit transmitting after 80 QSOs. Had to set up old TS-430 to continue operating (receiver had high noise floor). Used external audio filter to help copying stations with the '430. Still no K3 -- now shipment may not be until December, or later. Sure could use a new radio. Equipment problems and being tired caused low motivation. Missed NL (heard but never caught VO1MP) and NWT (never heard). Quit 2 hours before the end of the contest -- tired of tuning for, and not finding, NL and NWT. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K9MUG Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 96,096 20,40,80 all seemed in good shape.My best runs were on 80. Wish I had more time and stamina. Thanks to all who Q'd. 73, darrell ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K9NW Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 173,120 80m was certainly in great shape.....west coast stations were like locals in NE Indiana. No storms around so bands were quiet. Had all sections but NL by around 0300z (KY next to last!) and VO1TE went into the log at 1308z. Multiple QSOs in all sections.....thanks to all the guys that get on in the "rare" ones! Still haven't figured this contest out but I couldn't think of anywhere else to be the first weekend in November. 73, Mike K9NW ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KB7Q Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 95,480 We're certainly are at the bottom of the sunspot cycle. Couldn't run on 15 meters at all. So I did lots and lots and lots of S&P. Stayed in the chair and slowly made a decent score. Thanks to Bob, W7LR for the loan of his antenna farm i.e. 90' vertical on 80m, lazy V array for 40m and a TH-7 at 70'. Rig: K2 of course. ;-) 73, Gene, KB7Q ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KB9OWD Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 83,616 An hour to go and calling it quits early... Lost alot of ambition in this one when the "sweep" went out the door. Heard VY1 briefly, very quiet here, with a huge pileup. Missed NT and Manitoba for the sweep. Only heard one VE4 and that was about 1600Z Sunday morning, very weak around 14.060. Called and called with no luck! Never heard or ran into another. Overall, my first time putting a good amount of time into SS CW. Main reason is SS phone in a few weeks is opening weekend of deer hunting here. Normally, this would not interfere and I'd do a little hunting and a full effort, but this year hunting about 3 hours from home, so won't be possible. Congrats to Steve, N9CK on his excellent LP score from WI. He had me by a few hundred QSO's when I worked him on 80 early Sunday morning. I knew his count was high when I heard him about 0500Z Saturday night/Sunday morning and he kept a good rate going to at least take WI LP unless I missed something drastic. Alot of good scores out there! Alan, KO7X had a great score going Saturday evening when I worked him and was my only WY! Thanks for being there. Largest number worked in a section: Ohio with 27. Followed right up with the never ending string of SCV with 26 and MDC with 24. Did manage to work one ID but now looking at the posts, wish I would have run into Chris, KL9A/W7! Good to run into Dan, N6MJ as always along the way running wild along with many others! I don't know what's up yet for CQWW CW. Anyone need an opeator hi hi...???? Until then, 73 to all! Ryan KB9OWD ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KC4HW Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 18,840 Never intended to be anything but a part time effort. Still working on the station. Got the Rohm 45 plumbed up to 76'. Pulled out the 20m antennas and began going through them, plus the 2L40m. Probably will spend the next couple of weekends working onthose. Got the Tribander set to North. At 42' it played pretty good in SS. The delta loop for 40m played very well also. Don't have anything on 80m yet. Listened on 160m a little but never really heard anything. All in all a pretty good weekend. Thanks for everyone for the contacts. hope to hear you in SS SSB later this month. Jim/KC4HW ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KC5R Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 121,920 For some reason I felt less enthusiastic about this years SS than I usually do. I had a soccer game in the morning in which our team I coach won handily, pounding out goals for a change (we ended up with a record of 3-6, winning 3 out of our last 5) and then the team had our end of season breakfast until noon. Frankly, that turned out being much more fun that playing QRP and getting squashed calling in half the time. Then, after N4OGW called me with over 800 Q’s late Sunday afternoon as I was sitting in the high 600’s, I guess I could just kiss winning it for a change (or even to win the division) goodbye. After all, I have a descent station, but I can’t win in a brawl. Three out of the last five years have been that way. If you big guns want to experience QRP, then leave the stacks, 4-squares, etc. and grab some wire and maybe a tribander and go operate QRP – you’ll learn more than just turning off the amps or turning down your radio. The bands were long from here. The weekend prior (CQWW), 15 was smoking to the east and west coasts. This weekend it was long when it was open, with no northeast and only the west coast coming in. That is not a big deal usually, but I could not get a run on 15 mtrs all weekend. Seemed like there was little to no west coast “pouncers” out there and the pool of CQers was limited, so it turned out to be a waste of time CQing on 15 at anytime. This hurt my Q totals. If it weren’t this way I know I could have mustered over 800 Q’s. Even 20 and 40 got long here early. So I ended up spending more time fighting larger QRM on 20 and 40. Also, while I enjoyed my best 80 mtr QSO total in a while, being this far south and QRP does makes it tough versus being the middle parts of the country like TN or northern MS locations that have more stations in their "radius". In all, I worked (2) or more of every mult except WY, AK, QC, MB, and NT. I worked relatively low numbers of IL, OH, NC, NTX (less than 20), and record high numbers of MI, MN, WI, SCV, SV, MDC, and VA (more than 30). Basically this tells the propagation story. Funny, I also worked more ND, PR, PAC, and VI than I ever recall. Also interesting is that I worked 62 other QRP stations (Q to Q Qsos – say that 10 times fast). I enjoyed sending extra GL & TNX messages to those guys for their efforts. So in the end I managed to tie my score from last year with 15 less Q’s, but 2 more mults, thanks to some good 20 mtr runs Sunday after a slow start on Saturday. Also, overshadowing it all is that I got my first SS CW sweep ever. My last 5 sections were (in order) SFL, NL, NT, AK, and QC. I got SFL before I went to bed around 2 AM (and then worked 5 more early Sunday morning). The rest of the multiplier story to me seems too good to not tell: Around 1605 UTC, I almost jump out of my seat when VO1HE called me on 20. 3 more to go. So I turned the beam more NE to finish this QSO. The very next QRZ, netted a call from VY1JA. So I turned the beam back NW and work J. Bang…now 2 left. About 2-3 calls later, VO1TA calls in for NL #2. After this omen and still missing AK and QC, I decide about 10 minutes later to start searching. I slide down the band and find VO1HP for NL#3 (boy, when it rains it pours), and nearly next door I run into KL8C for AK. Now 1 left. So, needing only QC, and with visions of missing it, I move the beam NE and listen for VE2AWR or someone towards QC (he usually waits till late to CQ), and about 10 KHz down find VE2CWT calling CQ…so I hit the chip shot and a sweep. In about 40 minutes I got my last 4 mults, plus 3 NLs. Having a sweep by 1645 was not in the game plan, but did allow me to think about rate a bit. We’ll see you in two weeks in Shout-Stakes. -Al ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KD2HE Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 10,148 While my rig is on the bench I used the QRP rig that usually gets used on field day with a short whip as an antenna. It amazes me that I am able to work as much as I do. 73, Victor KD2HE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KD2MX Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 56,684 More Q's and sections than last year so I'm feeling quite satisfied, although somewhat frustrated with my missing sections. AK, NWT, LAX, WTX, KY, and, most amazingly, NLI which is just down the road. AK and NWT were no surprise. I got PAC late Sunday on 15M without any trouble. I kept trolling for LAX and WTX, especially LAX. I worked many, many 6s. Most of them were even in CA. I figured sooner or later a LAX would come along...and it did. Just when 20M was about ready to shut down for the night, I hear N5DO in WTX working a station in LAX! Argh...Tried working N5DO but no luck. I only heard two KYs. The first had the biggest pileup that I heard all weekend. I had no luck breaking it so I decided to wait awhile. Bad decision. The KY must've gotten more than he bargained for and disappeared. Late Sunday evening, I heard another doing S&P on 80M. No luck getting a CQ in his way. NLI is another story. Figured I'd run into one on 80M sometime on Sunday. I had missed most all of Saturday and maybe a chance at NLI. Oh well...I had a few good runs and nearly a 100 more Qs than last year when I ran qrp. Two years ago I was struggling to copy a single exchange. I had been away from cw for a number of decades and, newly returned to HF I thought SS might be a good chance to get back to CW. I tried (actually did) make some contacts with a straight-key. I can imagine the consternation of those ops who had to sit and listen to me try and send at a reasonable rate. This year's SS is the first contest in which I really felt comfortable running stations. Someday I might be a real cw op. A fine contest, even without sunspots. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KD4D Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 192,160 Thanks again to John Evans, N3HBX, for letting me use his great new station in Poolesville, MD. I'm very lucky to be able to play with the toys. The new antenna configuration allows splitting power in two directions and rapidly changing between two antennas on the same band. The new "Lazy-H" seemed to always outperform the 80 meter dipole. VY1JA called me on 40 for my only NT. Thanks, J! I got excited when I worked a KL7 only to find out he wasn't in AK, but I eventually got one for the sweep. Fifteen opened on Sunday afternoon and, like the idiot I am, I spent an hour trying to generate a run - I should have taken an hour off and operated at the end of the contest, picking off new stations S&P. Great activity on 40 and 80 late. I never remember this from year to year. When doing S&P, I MUST remember to tune faster. Sometimes I try to find every available QSO and it takes too long to sweep a band. 2007 SS CW - KD4D HOUR 80CW 40CW 20CW 15CW TOTAL ACCUM ---- ------ ------ ------ ------ ----- ----- 21 0 7 67 0 74 74 22 0 48 21 0 69 143 23 0 52 12 0 64 207 0 8 53 3 0 64 271 1 26 31 0 0 57 328 2 56 15 0 0 71 399 3 69 8 0 0 77 476 4 61 11 0 0 72 548 5 44 14 0 0 58 606 6 25 19 0 0 44 650 7 12 28 0 0 40 690 8 15 18 0 0 33 723 9 0 0 0 0 0 723 10 0 0 0 0 0 723 11 5 0 0 0 5 728 12 41 12 0 0 53 781 13 28 17 0 0 45 826 14 2 39 6 0 47 873 15 0 23 15 0 38 911 16 0 4 17 0 21 932 17 0 4 28 7 39 971 18 0 0 2 30 32 1003 19 0 0 20 1 21 1024 20 0 0 34 3 37 1061 21 0 0 18 1 19 1080 22 0 14 11 0 25 1105 23 0 10 32 0 42 1147 0 0 9 18 0 27 1174 1 9 18 0 0 27 1201 TOTAL 401 454 304 42 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KE1FO Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 76,950 Had a great time. New tower, so I had a tribander up at 30 feet. This was a wonderful improvement over a dipole for 20M. As usual, 40M was "the band" for this contest. I spent almost all day Sunday CQing on 40 and S&P on 20 (SO2R) or vice versa. I was surprised how well it went as this is the first contest I've really had my hardware and antennas all set up. Missed AK, PAC, NL, QC and NT. Never heard AK or PAC. Heard VY1JA working S&P on 20 so found a spot and called, but with no success (at least on working the mult). All through the contest I felt like I was going to miss a few. My ability to pick out the weak ones from amongst all the adjacent loud stations is not great. I did notice several times the "desensing" of my reciever around loud signals. Since nobody seems to be coming out with roofing filters for the 940's, maybe it's time to think about upgrading. Too bad, because I really like these two rigs. About 0100z all the CW started to sound alike, 40M started to sound like a bowl of soup, and nobody was new for me on 20 or 80, so at around 0200z I packed it in. I did some quick net surfing around 0130z looking for how to turn on "dueling CQ's" in Writelog (which probably would have kept me in the chair longer). It appears this feature is no longer part of Writelog! I made my goal of 500q's claimed (513). I hope after my bad copy is removed from the log I'm still over 500 q's! Special thanks to those who sent lots of repeats on Sunday afternoon as I was fighting local AF QRM from my two children and their friend who decided after being curious about CW for 2 minutes, that they would play loudly directly outside the shack. See everyone in two weeks. 73 de Al, KE1FO ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KE6ZSN Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 40,328 Thanks for the Qs ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KG4CUY Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 48,450 My biggest contest effort so far. First contest for my new old radio, TS-850, which performed very well. Two dipoles, a vertical, and an inverted L were just right for the job. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KH7Y Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 87,626 Ended up sick so QRT early. See you all in ssb Aloha, Fred ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KI9A Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 72,000 Split the weekend between a multi at K9SD Saturday, and here Sunday. Just getting used to a new Pro 3, that I picked up Friday. 1st QSO at 2100z saturday, so had a bit of time messing around with the settings. If I would have known condx were this good, I would have spent a full effort. Last section was KY. I called CQ SS KY, and WB4OSS returned with 001. had to walk him thru the report, which is tough on cw. Then, of course, 3 other KY called within 30 min. I still can't believe how many VE7, VE6, VE5, VE4's I worked!! Never worked that many before...nice job fellas. Will have everything ready for SS SSB. CU then! 73-Chuck KI9A ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KK0HF Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 11,610 Had too many "irons in the fire" over the weekend, including a regional SET, but wanted to support CW SS. It was actually a lot of fun to jump in during the last hour and 45 minutes of the contest. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KL8C Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 128,160 Greetings from Alaska and the Last Frontier Contest Club, where I de-virginized KL8C in SS. Here's a pix of the KL8C SuperStation antenna farm: http://www.k6vva.com/kl8c The tiny fixed-mobile antenna worked okay on 20m, but I got beat up a lot on 40 & 80 even with a 9ft Buddipole shockcord whip added top at night. When VY1JA said he might not be QRV for SS, I emailed J and said if his station were available I might boogie on up to make sure everyone had a chance at a clean sweep. I was not really interested in doing SS from my own RF hole QTH this year. Well, here's the rest of the story... J ended up being able to stay at home, so I got a wild idea to grab some stuff and run back up to KL7 for SS. Fortunately, there was one freebie mileage plan seat left on one of the flights, so I took it on Thursday - in spite of the WX forecast calling for rain, snow and wind gusts up to 60MPH. OUCH!!! My pal W6SC drove me and all my *stuff* to the airport on Friday. The plan was to operate as "U" category, since my hosts said the Wireless Internet was now working here. Unfortunately, after setting up the antenna in the rain, I came in and realized I had forgotten the Packet module in WriteLog had taken a dump, so ended up using DX Summit manually maybe 10 times total during the contest. That was easier than changing all the message settings. Each time I saw a VE1/VOP spot I couldn't hear anything, so what a monster thrill when VE1OP later called me for #80 and a clean sweep. I was fumble fingers on the keyboard I was so excited. Tnx again, OM !!! When VE2AWR called me for a previous remaining mult, I sent TU QC, to which he responded with TU AK. Those kinda things were fun moments. It was really nice to get a lot of TU TU TU AK from many of you, so I hope I made your day and contributed to a Clean Sweep. My last minute dream before making this spur of the moment trip was to hopefully bag at least 800 Q's and a Clean Sweep. Mission accomplished in spite of many hours of torture trying to copy QRP signals. In college, I had a GTO with the infamous 3 duces and a 4 speed - a real chick magnet. My antenna here turned out to be a Q-category magnet, and often mini pileups of Q1 signals almost zero beat on each other swarming like bees down in the rain noise. Had some really bad static problems on 40m Sunday evening. Several stations did not include their callsign in the exchange, and I really wish one of these days that some folks would read the rules to understand what PREC means. Personally, I find the new trend of cut numbers in the SS CK quite irritating, especially in QRM. Tnx to all for pulling me out of the soup. If you want a cool place to take your XYL on a 2nd Honeymoon, check out this QTH - The Waypoint Inn - about 10 miles outside Ketchikan. Dick and Barb are awesome hosts, and I had the Mother of all Salmon Dinners" here last night after SS. http://www.waypointinn.com 73, Tnx for all the SS Q's, and GLITCOMs... Rick, K6VVA * The (Alaskan) Locust ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KL9A/W7 Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 10,914 K2/100 + indoor 20m dipole Playing around here and there on the indoor 20m dipole. Really surprised I could work as many sections as I did. Even managed to get VY1. For those of you who heard me on 40, nicely done! One station was a solid s9 on 20m and didn't even try, just got a "SRI TOO WEAK... CQ SS..." Lame. You could really tell who the good ops were. KL9A/W7 is not an easy call to get through when you are weak. Make them work for the QSO, I always say! Interesting hearing all the KL7's on. KL7WV was about 10 over 9, KL8C was s9, AL9A was about s8. AL1G was barely, almost, sorta kinda copiable. Best overall signal goes to K9NW, closely followed by N0NI. 73! -Chris KL9A ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KN3A Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 35,100 I spent more time operating than anticipated. This was my best CW Sweepstakes score by far. Only missed NL and NWT. I saw NWT spotted a couple of times but I just had no path to work them. Didn't hear anything from NL whatsoever. Also, a sincere apology when I tried running on 40 meters for a few minutes. I saw WPA needed spotted so thought I'd give it a try. My program was just not set up for running since all I do is S&P. I think at least 3 people had to suffer through my unreadiness for running but it was fun and I will try to set up so I can run more in the future. 40 and 80 meters yielded most of my sections: 80 - 32 Sections 40 - 32 Sections 20 - 12 Sections 15 - 2 Sections I was a little disappointed in 15 meters not opening up better and 10 meters was non-existent. See you in the ARRL SSB November SS. I think I'm going to do QRP again. Kenwood TS 450SAT G5RV @ 35 Ft. 75 Watts N1MM Logger ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KO7AA Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 195,520 Same score as last year, N1MM logger said 142 2nd radio Q's. I thought I was off to a good start, but it was like cold water in the face when I worked the leaders and they were 100+ Q's ahead of me just 8 hours into the test! Lot's of great ops at big stations.... I think I have maxxed out on what I can do with 1 tower, 1 yagi and 1 vertical. Murphy took out the 2nd radio linear, first the fan started making noise, and then the T-R relay gave out 2 hours into the test. So my 2nd radio was just a barefoot XCVR. Thanks for all the Q's! 73, Bill KO7AA in Tucson ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KO7X Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 186,240 Another interesting CW SS in the book. I went to bed with two sections missing - NT and NL. I figured I would catch up with Jay sometime on Sunday and was not sure about NL. Got into the slugfest Sunday morning on VO1HP and finally got him. Later on 20 a very weak VY1JA called me - I had to turn the beam north with a very strong wind blowing to pull him out. Thanks again Jay. That took care of the sweep. Wouldn't you know it - several other VO stations called me. In fact, for the first time that I can recall, stations in all 80 sections called me and except for VY1/VE8 there were several calls from each in the log. So I kept at it off and on all day and into the evening and ended up with a personal best score. The activity was definitely up this year. So much for CW being dead... Will be multiop in the phone SS with a new operator. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KR2Q Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 83,622 First, congrats to Tor and Kirk. WOW! And VFB to the other guys in the top ten! Awesome job! I was pretty psyched for this one. Last year was my first serious venture into SS and I had a pretty good learning experience. This year was definitely going to be better! I got some nice input on time strategy from many you and I really thank you for that! N2NC and K5ZD even sent me their previous logs for scrutiny! I spend nearly 30 minutes on the LL with W2GD while he was driving around, telling how to win...or at least what had worked for him. N2NC pointed me to an article he wrote about winning strategies for SS. Short but sweet. It was clear from the above that 40m would be key, but "all I had" was 2L at 80 feet and everybody was telling me to put up something "low." N2NC even called me a few hours before the start to tell me that he had modeled my 2L and 80 feet and that it had a "bad" null for high angle. So on Saturday afternoon I set about to put up a "low" 40m antenna. I did and it was WAY louder than the yagi on the locals in mid-afternoon. Yup...I was going to rock on this one! As the SS started, I just didn't feel anything special...quite the opposite of what Kirk experienced. It just seemed like a real slog. And that's pretty much how it felt for the entire time. Of course, it didn't help that I couldn't stay awake as per all of the great tips I had received (my last Q before going to bed was as 0559). And even worse, I didn't get back into the chair until 1254! :-( But I could still put in a LONGER effort than last year, where I only did 18 hours. As you can see from my score posting, 40m just did NOT play here. I made exactly ONE qso on the "low" 40m antenna (because it was louder). Compared to the other QRP scores, my breakdown just doesn't make any sense. So, despite putting in 5 more hours than last year, I almost made the same score as last year (yuck). I only made a few more Q's and worked 2 fewer mults. :-( Here is what I experienced when working other QRPers. Not very uplifting. DATE TIME SENT WKD RX'ED Q's BEHIND 11/3/2007 2140 26 KB7Q 27 1 11/3/2007 2145 30 N4OGW 45 15 11/4/2007 0436 225 K4RO 344 119 11/4/2007 0503 237 K3AN 247 10 11/4/2007 0525 243 KC5R 296 53 11/4/2007 1512 323 N4JF 327 4 11/4/2007 1806 382 K0PC 384 2 11/4/2007 1927 410 N7IR 444 34 11/4/2007 2025 419 W6JTI 470 51 All very familiar calls. And I'm sure there are still some others who passed me by. I worked 35 other QRPers...I'll be VERY lucky to make the top ten (and I doubt that it will happen). Working Kirk 7 hours in was downright depressing! I missed NL, NT, and AK (never even heard NT). Again, congrats to all the winners! de Doug KR2Q ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KR4F Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 32,400 Sure glad the 40m antenna is working again! Mostly S&P. Lot's of fun! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KT1D Class: Multi-Op HP Total Score = 180,320 Many thanks to Jim (K1IR) for the use of his wonderful station. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KT3Y Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 56,700 73 Phil KT3Y ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KT4PD Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 6,480 Force12 Flagpole Vertical S9+20 line noise throughout event ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KT4Q Class: SO Unlimited LP Total Score = 15,552 Rig: Yaesu FT-1000MP MV Ant: Cushcraft R7 Vertical up 30' Logging:Writelog V10.58 This was a quick setup of my station since the recent move to NFL land. HAd a few hours to operate throughout the weekend. 73's de Steve, KT4Q Tavares, FL - Lake County ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KU1CW Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 216,960 Not too big of a SS person - worked it once in 2003 and did not care too much. Have decided to give it a try another time. Had kind of slow start and never recovered from it. Not too bad after all. Thanks everyone. Alex KU1CW. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KU4A Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 4,880 I entered this contest using my FT-817 not thinking about the fact that I don't have a CW filter. Big mistake - hi. Still lots of fun for the few hours I got on. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KU5B Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 13,320 Got on mainly to give CTDXCC some points. Had a bit of time in-between football games (poor Bama), Taylor Swift concert (!), and other activities to get on. 40 Saturday night was fun...had some good minutes. Got on Sunday morning for an hour or so but just didn't feel motivated to S&P. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KU8E Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 155,788 IC756PRO - AL811H - 600 watts 130 ft center fed zepp @ 35 ft, 20 meter dipole @ 30 ft, 40 meter wire vertical Missed VY1 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KV8Q Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 123,552 80 meters was very quiet and open everywhere at once Saturday night. It sure increased my QSO rate on that band. Had a nice run there for a change. Not much on 15 and nothing at all on 10. 20 and 40 were typical for my station and location. Overall, very quiet conditions this weekend. Why do people use cut numbers in the exchange? The check of 99 sent as NN through me for a loop. Call me old-fashioned, but I would rather not copy cut numbers in this exchange. And, isn't the callsign part of the exchange. That also sounded strange. Heard one WTX early in the contest working someone else and never heard him again. Missed WTX and NT, which I never heard at all. N1MM again performed flawlessly. That sure reduces the fatigue for this old man. Remember when we used those big, taped-together dupe sheets? Kudos to W8CAR and K8BL. Sounds like they will be ahead of me one more year in Ohio, low power CW. But, I still had fun. Then there is always next year. Thanks for all of the QSO's and I look forward to seeing you all again next year. Rig: TenTec Jupiter @ 100 watts Antenna: 102' G5RV @ 45' Software: N1MM ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KX7L Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 24,570 Was expecting 80 and 40 to be the money bands given the sunspot level, and my lack of a "real" 20m antenna, but 20 was still where the high rates were, at least for my QRP signal. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N0BUI Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 77,000 It was fun. A little practice with a cw program sending just numbers and d, b,u, v, etc sure helped. After sitting in a chair for 17 and a half hours I think my back side is flat. I put three new Inrad filters in the TS-850 and that sure helped. Thanks for all the qso's, see you in the next one. 73, Mike N0BUI ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N0KE Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 72,800 Lost interest after getting a sweep and plus it was really nice WX for November. Maybe next year it will be cold and nasty and I'll do the whole contest. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N0NI Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 231,360 Thanks again to Toni and Colleen for opening their home and station to me. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N0UR Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 94,720 Fifteen plus years and my first sweep! First SS at our new QTH in the country, plenty of room for long antennas. Power supply failed half way through, ended up using just my K2, single radio last half. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N1DC Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 60,000 This continues to be one of my favorite contests. After 39+ years trying I still can't get the elusive sweep. I did manage to work every section I heard. Sections that were hard last year were in the log in the first 4-5 hours this time. I never heard ME until late Sunday on 80M. I also found CT stations very scare this time compared to past years. At 2115 Sunday I spent about 30 minutes on 15M looking for some multipliers. The band appeard to be empty but I was surprised to hear some west coast stations coming through S9+. Couldn't hear anything else until I found KH7Y calling CQ. Worked him just before the band went silent. I ended up missing WTX, ND, AK, NWT and MB. My new OMNI 7 performed falwlessly and the receiver was put to the test with heavy QRN and QRM at times. Station Ten Tec OMNI 7 100W HP Pavillion running CT Antennas 4 element Yagi 10/15/20 @ 30 ft, 80/40 dipoles at 35 ft Thanks for all the QSO's. 73 Rick N1DC Braintree MA (EMA) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N1LN Class: SO Unlimited HP Total Score = 160,000 Let me start out with the required "why I did not score what I should / could / wanted to." Due to the building of the new antenna farm my SixPak is not wired in so NO SECOND RADIO. I couldn't use the big amp due to shack renovations SO ONLY RAN 600 WATTS. My current antennas leave a bit to be desired, especially the 40 mtr vertical delta. NOTE THE 40 MTR Q COUNT. I was working out in the antenna field Saturday from 07:30 to 14:00 EDT and no pre-contest nap so I was TIRED. Time to stop with excuses but need one more. You can probably tell from the N1 call.... but hey - the PATRIOTS game was on Sunday....and they WON! OK, now the serious stuff. Conditions seemed pretty good and there was lots of activity. I finally broke down and, as I was running in the "U" class anyway, jumped from my run frequency to work VY1 (early in the contest at 22:36 UTC) and VO1 for the sweep (Sunday morning about 11:30 UTC). As 40 mtrs was VERY difficult for my QTH I went to 80 early on Saturday evening and was glad I did. As you can see from the band totals, 80 was my money band. Not bad for 600 watts into an inverted-V withe the apex about 50' up. It continued to amaze me all weekend right up to the last Q. My goal was to beat last year and work 1000 Qs. When I worked the 1000th Q - I quit. Well, OK - I quit at 02:54. This weekend work will continue in the antenna field and with lots of good weather and no items on the 'honey do list' I just might have the 20 mtr and 40 mtr towers on-line for ARRL-SS. That would also give me back Radio 2. I hope so. One more comment. I noticed many CK dates greater than 2000. Some of those OPS were working at slower CW rates. EXCELLENT. I always slowed down! I hope others did the same. If everyone looks at their logs and specifically the CK dates, the majority will be before 1970. We are aging! Mine is 1964. New CW OPS are needed. They need some time to get their speed up. Let's give them the support and respect they deserve. SLOW DOWN FOR THEM!! 73, Bruce / N1LN (aka: NC4KW) -------------- Q S O R a t e S u m m a r y --------------------- Hour 160 80 40 20 15 10 Rate Total Pct -------------------------------------------------------------------- 2100 0 0 0 58 0 0 58 58 5.8 2200 0 0 0 67 0 0