2006 ARRL November Sweepstakes (Phone)
11/20/2006 |
K0HW
WOW, what a different world. I thought I would try the QRP Power this year in SweepStakes Phone as I had good luck in last year's 10 Meter contest.
It was really a battle most of the time. I had spent the last 3 Phone SS contests in the Unlimited category with the ability to use the Internet for multipliers and the amp to burn a hole in the frequency. My objective for the contest was to break the record for Phone QRP in South Dakota. I didn't realize how hard QRP is. Every QSO in S & P mode seemed like it took several calls to make and S & P mode is the norm. It seemed that if stations were in run mode you had to wait until a CQ without an answer befor making an attempt to call.
I had the best luck on 15 meters and really had good signal reports from the stations I worked. They seemed to think I was strong but you don't have a very strong signal when anyone else was calling. I was surprised to work as many multipliers as I did but I was also disappointed to miss what should have been the easy ones I heard but didn't work ND, IA, MB and MS. I never heard any WTX but usually work several, but not this year.
I had a really good run on 20 meters from 0206 to 0244 on Saturday evening. 75 and 40 meters were really tough and 160 was great for QRP but there were no SS stations there. You at least could hold a frequency on 160 and call CQ but with no responses you know it was not the place to be. On 75 and 40 if you found a frequnecy it was while one of the SO2R operators was away on the other radio and they would take it back when they returned.
Thanks to all those stations that I worked and thanks to those many stations that I called but was not able to make it work. I gave up a couple of hours early on Sunday evening as we had out of town guests and I missed a couple of hours on Sunday morning while at church. -- K0HW
It was really a battle most of the time. I had spent the last 3 Phone SS contests in the Unlimited category with the ability to use the Internet for multipliers and the amp to burn a hole in the frequency. My objective for the contest was to break the record for Phone QRP in South Dakota. I didn't realize how hard QRP is. Every QSO in S & P mode seemed like it took several calls to make and S & P mode is the norm. It seemed that if stations were in run mode you had to wait until a CQ without an answer befor making an attempt to call.
I had the best luck on 15 meters and really had good signal reports from the stations I worked. They seemed to think I was strong but you don't have a very strong signal when anyone else was calling. I was surprised to work as many multipliers as I did but I was also disappointed to miss what should have been the easy ones I heard but didn't work ND, IA, MB and MS. I never heard any WTX but usually work several, but not this year.
I had a really good run on 20 meters from 0206 to 0244 on Saturday evening. 75 and 40 meters were really tough and 160 was great for QRP but there were no SS stations there. You at least could hold a frequency on 160 and call CQ but with no responses you know it was not the place to be. On 75 and 40 if you found a frequnecy it was while one of the SO2R operators was away on the other radio and they would take it back when they returned.
Thanks to all those stations that I worked and thanks to those many stations that I called but was not able to make it work. I gave up a couple of hours early on Sunday evening as we had out of town guests and I missed a couple of hours on Sunday morning while at church. -- K0HW
Back
