2004 ARRL 10 Meter Contest
12/13/2004 |
N4SL
From Washington State, USA:
2002: 1435 QSOs
2003: 635 QSOs
2004: 331 QSOs
I thought conditions LAST year were bad. Dang, this was nasty!
N-S propagation was the rule, everyone else was S2 - good practice pulling out the weak signals and testing all the filter options of my receiver. My highest QSO rate was 40/hour, plenty of time to experiment. I made ONE QSO with my 2nd radio (SO2R). Up here in the NW, I worked mostly FLA and TX besides SA. E-W prop was nearly non-existent.
The casual guys probably just spun the knob once and turned off the radio (I know I would have!) so participation was low, too.
I did have a nice run of JA's from 2200-2300Z on Saturday (nearly all were sending QSO numbers like 7 and 16, 22 hours into the contest) and folks were very good about sticking with a QSO to completion.
Ended up working FIVE new sections in the last hour of the contest, that was a big surprise! My score LEPT UP from "pathetic" to just "loserly"!
73, Steve, Snohomish, WA -- N4SL
2002: 1435 QSOs
2003: 635 QSOs
2004: 331 QSOs
I thought conditions LAST year were bad. Dang, this was nasty!
N-S propagation was the rule, everyone else was S2 - good practice pulling out the weak signals and testing all the filter options of my receiver. My highest QSO rate was 40/hour, plenty of time to experiment. I made ONE QSO with my 2nd radio (SO2R). Up here in the NW, I worked mostly FLA and TX besides SA. E-W prop was nearly non-existent.
The casual guys probably just spun the knob once and turned off the radio (I know I would have!) so participation was low, too.
I did have a nice run of JA's from 2200-2300Z on Saturday (nearly all were sending QSO numbers like 7 and 16, 22 hours into the contest) and folks were very good about sticking with a QSO to completion.
Ended up working FIVE new sections in the last hour of the contest, that was a big surprise! My score LEPT UP from "pathetic" to just "loserly"!
73, Steve, Snohomish, WA -- N4SL
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