November Sweepstakes is always a fun time.  Its great to meet old friends on the air for a brief hello and hear many of the “usual suspects” that bring this event to life every year.   2012 was a particularly fun contest for me to be able to operate from my own shack.  While our home is comfortable it is nestled in a subdivision on the edge of town in a valley.  To please the neighbors I have put together a semi-stealth antenna farm consisting of one vertical antenna on the chimney and a 40M dipole in the attic.   The setup works okay to get on the air and meet folks but does create a bit of a challenge for contests.  

I have been waiting over twenty years to get a sweep from operating at my limited station at home.   In my mind the usual hurdles of ND, WY, MT, and NL would still be there but what about the new sections in Ontario?  Would I come up short once again? 

Some may call it a visit from Murphy, but twenty minutes before the start of this year's contest I discovered that one of the connectors on the feedline for the 40M dipole was bad.   In spite of the repair delay I quickly had some of the tougher sections including NT in the log.    By the time I turned in for the night there were sixty-two sections in the log already.

I did not get on the air the next morning for quite some time but when I did the sections fell rapidly.  By noon I only needed a handful of sections to get the first ever sweep from here.   I found the last two sections I needed completely at random with WV and VE4 closing the gap.   It was a huge relief to finally get a sweep at home!

Many thanks to all of you who took time to get on the air and represent your section for this event. You folks make this event a great time for everyone!

73,

Matt