07/08/2002 | KG0US Icom IC-775DSP KLM KT34A at 40 feet. My good friend Tom AE9B decided to give his amplifier a rest and compete against me once again in the ARRL 10 meter contest running low power and mixed mode. Tom used his trusty FT1000MP with his Force 12 C4SXL at 60 feet. I think our radio's are fairly equal except that I can run mine at 150 Watts while Tom is limited to 100 Watts. I am not sure what difference there is on 10 meters between the KT34A and C4SXL along with the 20 foot height advantage at Toms location. Tom lives about 20 miles away in rural Lone Jack, MO while I live in Raytown, MO a nearby suburb of Kansas City, MO. This friendly competition played out just like a chess game. In the opening, after the band closed on Friday night, I had slightly more than 100 QSOs while Tom had slightly less than 100 QSOs but he had more multipliers. In the middle game, after the band closed on Saturday night, Tom and I had somehow both ended up exactly tied at 734 QSOs apiece with Tom still ahead in multipliers. In the end game, after the contest ended on Sunday night, I learned that Tom had made an additional 794 QSOs on Sunday and had completely blown me away by more than 261 QSOs. Remember, we were tied on QSOs starting on Sunday morning. Somehow he managed to make more QSOs on Sunday (a shorter contest day than Saturday) than on all of Saturday and Friday night combined. Incredible! Tom made 1528 mixed mode QSOs with 100 Watts in Missouri. Way to go Tom! Well, maybe next year. Best Regards, Dave KG0US -- KG0US