2005 ARRL International DX Contest (Phone)
03/07/2005 |
K0TV
This year's phone contest was another great time here at K0TV. We had a few interesting guest operators and a decreasing amount of equipment difficulties.
A couple of days before the contest I started coming down with some kind of illness that robbed me of my voice for most of the weekend. I apologize to the DX stations that had to try to copy anything I said into the live microphone. I probably sounded like auroral audio even before it got into the microphone. Thank goodness for voice keyers!
Also a couple of days before the contest a message went out on one of the contesting reflectors that Luca, IK2PFL was in Manchester, NH and was looking for a place to operate. I sent an immediate invitation to Luca to come operate with us. He came over starting on Saturday morning and proved to be one of the best operators here. Watching him work the Italian stations in Italian was beautiful! He spent the weekend here and we are very glad to have hosted him here. Luca, you can come back anytime. Everybody enjoyed his presence. He got a chance to try contesting from this side of the Atlantic. Poetic justice was that I had planned the menu before he was invited. Cold cuts with Italian bread; Meatballs in tomato sauce; and Italian wedding soup were among the items I had selected.
Conditions were very strange. Most of the openings on 10 were only to SA and the Carribean. KH6 and CN were the only 10 meter contacts outside The Americas this year. Next year will be really tough. The six band stations here this year were CN2R, J68RI, HI3CCP, TI5A, V31TR, V47KP, VP5B, VP9/W6PH, PJ2T, PJ4G, FY5KE, and P40W. Thanks for toughing it out guys!
Two new operators came up to spend some time in the chair here. New hams and 15 year old twins KB1LQC and KB1LQD came up to visit the station. After having a chance to observe contest operations they spent some time in the operating chairs here. We had one of them on 15 and the other on 20 Saturday afternoon. If I'm any judge of their level of excitement, I'd say we have two new budding contesters on our hands. I may plan on getting on for some of the other contests that I wouldn't normally operate so I can get them some chair time here.
The top QSO generator was N1ICE. It doesn't really make sense to list the top multiplier generator because the operators at the beginning of the contest have an unfair advantage. I've started a new tradition here being that of giving an MVP award. This award goes very subjectively to the operator who contributed the most in terms of general morale, spirit, hard work, and most of all fun. This year's winner for theyear's ARRL DX SSB contest goes to IK2PFL. Come back anytime Luca!
Thanks to everybody who called in to give us a point. It was a fun year once again!
73, Jerry K0TV -- K0TV
A couple of days before the contest I started coming down with some kind of illness that robbed me of my voice for most of the weekend. I apologize to the DX stations that had to try to copy anything I said into the live microphone. I probably sounded like auroral audio even before it got into the microphone. Thank goodness for voice keyers!
Also a couple of days before the contest a message went out on one of the contesting reflectors that Luca, IK2PFL was in Manchester, NH and was looking for a place to operate. I sent an immediate invitation to Luca to come operate with us. He came over starting on Saturday morning and proved to be one of the best operators here. Watching him work the Italian stations in Italian was beautiful! He spent the weekend here and we are very glad to have hosted him here. Luca, you can come back anytime. Everybody enjoyed his presence. He got a chance to try contesting from this side of the Atlantic. Poetic justice was that I had planned the menu before he was invited. Cold cuts with Italian bread; Meatballs in tomato sauce; and Italian wedding soup were among the items I had selected.
Conditions were very strange. Most of the openings on 10 were only to SA and the Carribean. KH6 and CN were the only 10 meter contacts outside The Americas this year. Next year will be really tough. The six band stations here this year were CN2R, J68RI, HI3CCP, TI5A, V31TR, V47KP, VP5B, VP9/W6PH, PJ2T, PJ4G, FY5KE, and P40W. Thanks for toughing it out guys!
Two new operators came up to spend some time in the chair here. New hams and 15 year old twins KB1LQC and KB1LQD came up to visit the station. After having a chance to observe contest operations they spent some time in the operating chairs here. We had one of them on 15 and the other on 20 Saturday afternoon. If I'm any judge of their level of excitement, I'd say we have two new budding contesters on our hands. I may plan on getting on for some of the other contests that I wouldn't normally operate so I can get them some chair time here.
The top QSO generator was N1ICE. It doesn't really make sense to list the top multiplier generator because the operators at the beginning of the contest have an unfair advantage. I've started a new tradition here being that of giving an MVP award. This award goes very subjectively to the operator who contributed the most in terms of general morale, spirit, hard work, and most of all fun. This year's winner for theyear's ARRL DX SSB contest goes to IK2PFL. Come back anytime Luca!
Thanks to everybody who called in to give us a point. It was a fun year once again!
73, Jerry K0TV -- K0TV
Back
