2006 ARRL November Sweepstakes (Phone)
11/20/2006 |
N5ZGT
What a fun time! I've never been much of a contester, only getting serious for Field Day.
This year I decided to take a stab at Sweepstakes, for real.
Running only a mediocre inverted vee (the tower and beam haven't been reinstalled since moving to a new QTH) and taking frequent breaks to help my XYL with our 8 week old harmonic, I did better than I thought!
My main goal was to nail a Clean Sweep, and not worry so much about a competitive QSO count. I ended up working 209 leisurely Qs, figuring that a good strategy would be to use Saturday to focus on sections and Sunday for racking up the QSO count. 75 out of the 80 sections were worked -- though SC, EMA, NWT, QC and NL kept me from claiming a Clean Sweep. Despite the antenna, I managed to work 20 Qs on 80 meters, 86 Qs on 40 meters, 96 Qs on 20 meters, and 7 Qs on 15 meters.
I really enjoyed using the N1MM contest logger for this event (free at N1MM.com, if anyone is looking for an excellent logging program).
Kudos to all of the operators this weekend. Everyone I worked or listened to were very pleasant and courteous.
So the bug has bitten me. I'm excited to take another run at Sweeps next November. Until then, see you on the air!
73, Brian N5ZGT (ARRL Vice Director, Rocky Mountain Division) -- N5ZGT
This year I decided to take a stab at Sweepstakes, for real.
Running only a mediocre inverted vee (the tower and beam haven't been reinstalled since moving to a new QTH) and taking frequent breaks to help my XYL with our 8 week old harmonic, I did better than I thought!
My main goal was to nail a Clean Sweep, and not worry so much about a competitive QSO count. I ended up working 209 leisurely Qs, figuring that a good strategy would be to use Saturday to focus on sections and Sunday for racking up the QSO count. 75 out of the 80 sections were worked -- though SC, EMA, NWT, QC and NL kept me from claiming a Clean Sweep. Despite the antenna, I managed to work 20 Qs on 80 meters, 86 Qs on 40 meters, 96 Qs on 20 meters, and 7 Qs on 15 meters.
I really enjoyed using the N1MM contest logger for this event (free at N1MM.com, if anyone is looking for an excellent logging program).
Kudos to all of the operators this weekend. Everyone I worked or listened to were very pleasant and courteous.
So the bug has bitten me. I'm excited to take another run at Sweeps next November. Until then, see you on the air!
73, Brian N5ZGT (ARRL Vice Director, Rocky Mountain Division) -- N5ZGT
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