2002 ARRL November Sweepstakes (CW)
12/02/2002 |
K3KU
Summary -- 80: 22 40: 364 20: 344 15: 5; Total: 735 QSOs, 78 Sections; Score = 114,660
Club: Potomac Valley Radio Club
That was fun!! The best result ever for the K3KU vintage express: Drake T-4X and R-4B, with a 35-foot high asymmetric dipole whose short end is almost vertical; paper logs and dupe sheet; no memory keyer. OK, it's only the second real effort, but I think I've gotten back to the level where station improvements will yield more than operator improvements.
The rig spends most of the year packed away, coming out for SS CW. I set it up two weeks before SS this year. During the first week, the antenna tuning seemed weird, so the Sunday before SS I lowered it from the tree and checked the feedline continuity. Both sides of the window-pane ladder line were open between the house and the dipole! The station played much better after I replaced that part of the feedline. (I wonder what condition it was in for SS last year!)
This form of two radios -- separate TX and RX is definitely not what they mean by SO2R. Not having transceive is a real hindrance, but my footswitch spotting mod in the T-4X made it tolerable (thats spotting as in zero beat, not as in packet, kids).
Speaking of SO2R, I finally realized what a benefit it is for little pistols like me that all you big guns have it. Your using the second radio to scrounge for QSOs makes my CQing more effective.
I got started Saturday after nightfall, at 2343Z. 40 sounded good, so I started there. I stayed there until 0834Z. I had 338 QSOs and 75(!) sections. 40 had slowed, so I gave 80 a try. 40 minutes, 13 QSOs. Quit for 4 hours (tried to do only a brief nap, but it didn't happen). Started on 20 at 0913Z, and spent most of Sunday there, with the 21Z hour on 40 and a brief try at 15 (21 minutes, 5 QSOs, no NWT or KL7). Mixed CQ and S&P throughout the contest (Duh! That's what you have to do in SS). My signal stinks on 15 and 80. Never heard a signal on 10 this year, so I have yet to find out how bad my signal is there (last year all I heard on 10 was K6LA calling CQ).
As the contest wore on I felt surprisingly alert. I never got into the "What am I doing, and what are all these numbers??" mode. I was conscious of what number I was sending, and of the significance of what I was hearing. I kept the R-4B set on the 1.2KHz bandpass. I found that the filter between the ears worked better than the narrower setting on the R-4B, and it let me hear better what was going on around me.
Yeah, yeah, the Sweep is not all that important -- if you always get one anyhow. I'm still trying. Section #74 was WPA (QSO #339; K3CR answered my CQ on 80 just before my break; blasted me awake for a few more minutes). #75 was RI, 2 QSOs later (K1AM; nice QRP effort). #76 was ME (QSO #390, on 20). (I'm just remarking on the strangeness here. I suspect the left-coasters think we east-coasters start the contest with these easy sections hard-wired in the log.) #77 was AB (QSO #506, VE6BBP, who I think answered my CQ on 20; I couldn't break the pile-up on VE6JY Saturday evening, but I did get him later). Section #78 was one of the more satisfying moments of the contest. I heard VO1HE give a report on about 14.020, but he was S&Ping. I squeezed into a small hole at 14.025 (small signals don't need much room) and called CQ. YES!!! And thank you very much (my QSO #564). Never heard VY1JA this year (and I doubt that I could have beaten the pile-up), and I think I have yet to hear any KL7 in the four SS CW from this station.
Snagging the VO1 was my best move of the contest. The second best was when I moved the Drake power supply from the counter-top to under the table, so I could warm my feet on it at 5AM. Man, do I get cold when my metabolism slows down. I felt like I was working Field Day.
Always nice to see the old friends in SS, and to see the few newcomers. And for those of you who are complaining that you don't like SS CW, and every year you swear that you'll never do it again...
TNX FER THE QSO ES CU NEXT YR
73, Art -- K3KU
Club: Potomac Valley Radio Club
That was fun!! The best result ever for the K3KU vintage express: Drake T-4X and R-4B, with a 35-foot high asymmetric dipole whose short end is almost vertical; paper logs and dupe sheet; no memory keyer. OK, it's only the second real effort, but I think I've gotten back to the level where station improvements will yield more than operator improvements.
The rig spends most of the year packed away, coming out for SS CW. I set it up two weeks before SS this year. During the first week, the antenna tuning seemed weird, so the Sunday before SS I lowered it from the tree and checked the feedline continuity. Both sides of the window-pane ladder line were open between the house and the dipole! The station played much better after I replaced that part of the feedline. (I wonder what condition it was in for SS last year!)
This form of two radios -- separate TX and RX is definitely not what they mean by SO2R. Not having transceive is a real hindrance, but my footswitch spotting mod in the T-4X made it tolerable (thats spotting as in zero beat, not as in packet, kids).
Speaking of SO2R, I finally realized what a benefit it is for little pistols like me that all you big guns have it. Your using the second radio to scrounge for QSOs makes my CQing more effective.
I got started Saturday after nightfall, at 2343Z. 40 sounded good, so I started there. I stayed there until 0834Z. I had 338 QSOs and 75(!) sections. 40 had slowed, so I gave 80 a try. 40 minutes, 13 QSOs. Quit for 4 hours (tried to do only a brief nap, but it didn't happen). Started on 20 at 0913Z, and spent most of Sunday there, with the 21Z hour on 40 and a brief try at 15 (21 minutes, 5 QSOs, no NWT or KL7). Mixed CQ and S&P throughout the contest (Duh! That's what you have to do in SS). My signal stinks on 15 and 80. Never heard a signal on 10 this year, so I have yet to find out how bad my signal is there (last year all I heard on 10 was K6LA calling CQ).
As the contest wore on I felt surprisingly alert. I never got into the "What am I doing, and what are all these numbers??" mode. I was conscious of what number I was sending, and of the significance of what I was hearing. I kept the R-4B set on the 1.2KHz bandpass. I found that the filter between the ears worked better than the narrower setting on the R-4B, and it let me hear better what was going on around me.
Yeah, yeah, the Sweep is not all that important -- if you always get one anyhow. I'm still trying. Section #74 was WPA (QSO #339; K3CR answered my CQ on 80 just before my break; blasted me awake for a few more minutes). #75 was RI, 2 QSOs later (K1AM; nice QRP effort). #76 was ME (QSO #390, on 20). (I'm just remarking on the strangeness here. I suspect the left-coasters think we east-coasters start the contest with these easy sections hard-wired in the log.) #77 was AB (QSO #506, VE6BBP, who I think answered my CQ on 20; I couldn't break the pile-up on VE6JY Saturday evening, but I did get him later). Section #78 was one of the more satisfying moments of the contest. I heard VO1HE give a report on about 14.020, but he was S&Ping. I squeezed into a small hole at 14.025 (small signals don't need much room) and called CQ. YES!!! And thank you very much (my QSO #564). Never heard VY1JA this year (and I doubt that I could have beaten the pile-up), and I think I have yet to hear any KL7 in the four SS CW from this station.
Snagging the VO1 was my best move of the contest. The second best was when I moved the Drake power supply from the counter-top to under the table, so I could warm my feet on it at 5AM. Man, do I get cold when my metabolism slows down. I felt like I was working Field Day.
Always nice to see the old friends in SS, and to see the few newcomers. And for those of you who are complaining that you don't like SS CW, and every year you swear that you'll never do it again...
TNX FER THE QSO ES CU NEXT YR
73, Art -- K3KU
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