2003 ARRL November Sweepstakes (CW)
11/21/2003 |
N9CO
CW Sweepstakes has been my favorite contest, and it continues to facinate and challenge me. It is a totally unique and ultimately rewarding experience in contesting, and I hope that it never changes.
I was fortunate this year to be able to operate from the QTH of W0AH in Woodland Park, Colorado. Doug has assembled a fine station at 9000 feet ASL just north of Pikes Peak. Having monoband yagi's available on 40 through 10 sure made a noticeable difference over the 140 foot all-band dipole at 30 feet that I used last year!
As much as I hate putting up antennas right before SS, this year it turned out to be worthwhile. Around 1900z, Doug and I decided to assemble the old Hy-Gain 105BA that was laying next to his garage and put it up on a small 30 foot tower that will eventually support his 432 MHz array. Doug wasn't even sure that the antenna would work, as he had never used it. It was "donated" to him some time ago. We found some missing hardware, and we weren't sure of the dimensions (we didn't have a manual), so we just "eye-balled" it until it "looked right".
It was 2030z when we finally got it assembled and up on the tower. Not much time left to sit down and tune the bands, much less plan strategy. It turned out that 10 was HOT and signals were 20 to 40 over from the east coast. It didn't take me long to stake out a frequency before the starting gun went off. I was rewarded with a 81 hour that included numerous power-downs of my TS-930 due to what I would eventually find was thermal shutdown. I'm sure that I could have had an even better first hour.
I ended up missing WY and NT for the sweep. This was no fault of the station; strictly operator error. I found out after the contest that VY1JA was working the western states around 0400z on 20m; I had abandoned 20m some 2 hours earlier for the promise of rate on 40.
I want to thank Doug and his wife Judy for being such gracious hosts and for giving me the chance to experience CW SS from a fine station.
As always, it was great to hear so many friends on the air. Thank you for the QSO's.
73,
Charlie N9CO -- N9CO
I was fortunate this year to be able to operate from the QTH of W0AH in Woodland Park, Colorado. Doug has assembled a fine station at 9000 feet ASL just north of Pikes Peak. Having monoband yagi's available on 40 through 10 sure made a noticeable difference over the 140 foot all-band dipole at 30 feet that I used last year!
As much as I hate putting up antennas right before SS, this year it turned out to be worthwhile. Around 1900z, Doug and I decided to assemble the old Hy-Gain 105BA that was laying next to his garage and put it up on a small 30 foot tower that will eventually support his 432 MHz array. Doug wasn't even sure that the antenna would work, as he had never used it. It was "donated" to him some time ago. We found some missing hardware, and we weren't sure of the dimensions (we didn't have a manual), so we just "eye-balled" it until it "looked right".
It was 2030z when we finally got it assembled and up on the tower. Not much time left to sit down and tune the bands, much less plan strategy. It turned out that 10 was HOT and signals were 20 to 40 over from the east coast. It didn't take me long to stake out a frequency before the starting gun went off. I was rewarded with a 81 hour that included numerous power-downs of my TS-930 due to what I would eventually find was thermal shutdown. I'm sure that I could have had an even better first hour.
I ended up missing WY and NT for the sweep. This was no fault of the station; strictly operator error. I found out after the contest that VY1JA was working the western states around 0400z on 20m; I had abandoned 20m some 2 hours earlier for the promise of rate on 40.
I want to thank Doug and his wife Judy for being such gracious hosts and for giving me the chance to experience CW SS from a fine station.
As always, it was great to hear so many friends on the air. Thank you for the QSO's.
73,
Charlie N9CO -- N9CO
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