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2005 ARRL November Sweepstakes (CW)

11/27/2005 | KB0VVT SS CW 2005

Note: The photographs will open to a larger size if you click on them with your mouse.

Much has happened since last years Sweepstakes when the KBVT SS CW 2004 Multi-op team placed 5th in the Nation.

My family and I traveled to Hawaii to vacation in late December 2004. I had planned to operate Kids Day (1.) in January, 2005 from KH7X (2.) but my sponsor had to cancel. I still hope to operate at KH7X during an actual contest someday. My mother, KGT (3.), and I operated Kids Day aboard the USS Missouri (4.) a few years ago using the callsigns KH6BB (5.) on phone and KBVT/KH6 (6.) on CW. It was so cool because I am from Missouri and do not live too far from the Truman Library (7.).

(1.) http://www.arrl.org/FandES/ead/kd-rules.html
(2.) http://www.qsl.net/ct1boh/kh7r.htm
(3.) http://www.qrz.com/kg0ut
(4.) http://www.ussmissouri.com/WebCam_live.html
(5.) http://www.kh6bb.org/
(6.) http://aditl.com/ham/harc/harcnl/harcnl0301.html
(7.) http://www.trumanlibrary.org/

During the 2005 Dayton Hamvention (8.), I volunteered at the ARRL EXPO Youth table and operated the N8D special event station at the ICOM booth. Dayton is always a lot of fun and it is great to spend time with all of my amateur radio friends from all over the world. I especially love participating in the KCDX Club CW Pile-Up competition (9.).

(8.) http://www.hamvention.org/
(9.) http://www.qsl.net/k0vbu/pile2005.htm

Field Day is one of my favorite events of the year. I am a member of the Raytown Amateur Radio Club that only has about a dozen or so members. Even so, we were able to finish 4th place nationally in the two-alpha category using the club callsign KQ (10.). Steve Lufcy KU and I made about 1400 Qs operating the HF CW station.

(10.) http://www.arrl.org/contests/soapbox/index.html?con_id=90&call=k0gq

Over this past summer, Stan, K5GO and Kevin N5DX (11.), invited me to their station to help operate during the IARU HF World Championships contest using the call W1AW/5 (12.). The station is located about 2000 feet above sea level on top of Gaither mountain that overlooks Harrison, Arkansas. It was great to operate with the others from such an awesome station. More information about the W1AW/5 CW operation can be found in my write-up of W1AW/5 CW (13.) and from the write-up done by Rob Underwood W8YRB (14.).

(11.) http://www.ncjweb.com/marapr05feat.pdf
(12.) http://lists.contesting.com/_3830/2005-07/msg00403.html
(13.) http://www.arrl.org/contests/soapbox/index.html?con_id=91&call=w1aw/5+cw
(14.) http://www.arrl.org/contests/soapbox/index.html?con_id=91&call=W1AW/5

In case you have not heard, during the summer, I was honored as the recipient of the annual ARRL Hiram Percy Maxim Memorial Award (15.). I received the award for, among other things, my accomplishments in academics, participation or leadership in organizational affairs, amateur radio operating activities, public relations activities, and for community service and involvement.

(15.) http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2005/07/20/3/?nc=1

I am now a senior in High School so it is time for me to decide which college I plan to attend next fall. I am interested in studying Mathematics and Engineering. In early August, my family and I traveled from coast to coast visiting the University of Missouri-Rolla, Caltech, MIT, and took a road trip to ARRL Headquarters in Newington, Connecticut. I am guaranteed a spot at UMR but I am still entertaining the thought of attending MIT. After the campus tour, I was able to locate the MIT Amateur Radio Club antennas along with the building that houses the station. The building was being remodeled, but I still entered and climbed the many flights of stairs. All I was able to see was the frosted glass door with the radio club logo. I am not sure where I am going to attend college next fall, but whichever college it is, I hope to put their Amateur Radio Club back on the contesting map!!

Early this school year, I convinced Dr. Overfelt, the Principal of Raytown South High School, to sponsor the newly formed Raytown South High School Amateur Radio Club (RSHS ARC). I decided to mix things up a little bit for Sweepstakes since it is my last year of high school. A fellow RSHS ARC member, Joe Watts KCNB, and I ran Sweepstakes under the SCHOOL Category!!!!

The RSHS ARC does not yet have a club callsign or club station. The Sweepstakes rules state that, A club may operate from a member's station only if no on-campus station exists. This being the case, we operated from my station using the KBVT callsign. The station is located on a 100 by 100 city lot with my parents house located in the center. There is a KLM KT34A tri-band Yagi and a Alpha-Delta DX-A sloper on a 50 Universal self-supporting tower in the backyard. We used a beat-up R7, that I have used since I was 8 years old, and a Cushcraft A3S that is up about 25 feet. We also tried to use the new Cushcraft MA8040V that I put together. It worked fine on 40 meters, but it kept faulting the amplifier when used on 80 meters. The reflected power would start creeping up until it would flash over and fault the amplifier. I wasted several minutes of the contest fooling around with this antenna. It is a good thing I had the Alpha-Delta Sloper, or we would have been in real trouble. I sure wish I had 2 or 3 elements on a 40-meter beam along with some listening antennas for the low bands.

I ran for 24 hours, and Joe came over to my station a few times during the weekend to help. For the first time ever, I had to operate the radio the whole day without the help of a multi-op team. I stayed up until 2:00AM Central Standard time and got back up to catch the morning rush at 6:00AM Central Standard time. I spent Sunday afternoon working the contest and studying for my Advanced Placement Biology test that I would take the next day over the Lac Operon and Hox genes (I got 100%). During the contest, I also decided to adopt the Multiplier Bell System (the system where you ring a bell every time you get a new multiplier) at my station.

Joe does not really know CW, but with the help of the Writelog CW Decoder, he was able to squeeze-in 20 contacts on the 100 Watt ICOM IC756 PROII, including a few new sections that we needed. I made the remaining QSOs by running high power.

I also submitted my write-up on the 3830 reflector (16.).

(16.) http://lists.contesting.com/_3830/2005-11/msg01415.html

Well, that is a Sweep!!!

It was nice to hear you all on Sweepstakes CW I hope to see you at Dayton. Until next year

I Am Proud To Be a Know Code Ham,
73,

Rebecca Rich -- KB0VVT


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