2008 ARRL November Sweepstakes (Phone)
11/27/2008 |
KU0G
It's been 25 years since I last got a Clean Sweep! In fact, it's probably been about that long since I operated in any contest!!! ARRL SSB Sweepstakes has always been my favorite contest and I truly had a blast this year.
Hear so many on-air friends from the Century Club as well as some of my old contesting buds from years past!
I nearly let this contest go and really only decided to give it a whirl for certain on Saturday morning! Very little prep time and also a crash course is using the N1MM logging program (a little on-the-job training goes a long way!).
Had all but 6 multipliers by the end of the first 12 hours when I turned in for the night. Then several things (including oversleeping Sunday morning and a quick church service!) kept me from getting the four hours I had planned to work on Sunday morning after a power nap.
As it was I got back on the air by 19z which allowed me to work to the end of the contest. Had a couple of forced breaks during the afternoon to deal with trying to move the 20m antenna to search for my last multipliers. I do NOT recommend trying to climb towers and hand crank a big tri-bander more than once a day! (I did it five times!!!).
The result was that by 01z I had all but ONE multiplier left to work (I was amazed that it was Santa Barbara!) and had just about resigned to missing the clean sweep by one. Just when you think things are looking darkest the gates opened on 40 and there was SB calling CQ!!! After that it was a coast home to 03z and racking up 603 Q's with all the mults.
I love my 75m quad-loop antenna and apparently so did a lot of people as I started calling CQ on 3909 around 05z and had a nearly continuous run until 08z! Thank god for a good, quiet band on 75 during the contest!!! One of these days I need to build a quad-loop for 40m, too! Worked a LOT of stations with amazing signals who were running Windom antennas (another one I've GOT to build up, especially for PSK on 20m).
I've only been back on HF since just after Christmas of 2007 and SSB Sweepstakes was definitely the most fun I've had on-the-air in the past year (Field Day at WV0T's was a VERY close second, though!). I'm looking forward to doing more contesting again and to running up the DX countries, too!
73 to all and thanks for the SS contacts! I also want to invite everyone to join us on 3905 kHz starting the evening of Jan. 1, 2009, on 3905 kHz for the rebirth of the North American Traffic and Awards Net! More info at www.northamericantrafficandawards.net!!! Free awards for your certificate hunters out there!!!
See everyone on the next contest!
73 de Jim, KU0G -- KU0G
Hear so many on-air friends from the Century Club as well as some of my old contesting buds from years past!
I nearly let this contest go and really only decided to give it a whirl for certain on Saturday morning! Very little prep time and also a crash course is using the N1MM logging program (a little on-the-job training goes a long way!).
Had all but 6 multipliers by the end of the first 12 hours when I turned in for the night. Then several things (including oversleeping Sunday morning and a quick church service!) kept me from getting the four hours I had planned to work on Sunday morning after a power nap.
As it was I got back on the air by 19z which allowed me to work to the end of the contest. Had a couple of forced breaks during the afternoon to deal with trying to move the 20m antenna to search for my last multipliers. I do NOT recommend trying to climb towers and hand crank a big tri-bander more than once a day! (I did it five times!!!).
The result was that by 01z I had all but ONE multiplier left to work (I was amazed that it was Santa Barbara!) and had just about resigned to missing the clean sweep by one. Just when you think things are looking darkest the gates opened on 40 and there was SB calling CQ!!! After that it was a coast home to 03z and racking up 603 Q's with all the mults.
I love my 75m quad-loop antenna and apparently so did a lot of people as I started calling CQ on 3909 around 05z and had a nearly continuous run until 08z! Thank god for a good, quiet band on 75 during the contest!!! One of these days I need to build a quad-loop for 40m, too! Worked a LOT of stations with amazing signals who were running Windom antennas (another one I've GOT to build up, especially for PSK on 20m).
I've only been back on HF since just after Christmas of 2007 and SSB Sweepstakes was definitely the most fun I've had on-the-air in the past year (Field Day at WV0T's was a VERY close second, though!). I'm looking forward to doing more contesting again and to running up the DX countries, too!
73 to all and thanks for the SS contacts! I also want to invite everyone to join us on 3905 kHz starting the evening of Jan. 1, 2009, on 3905 kHz for the rebirth of the North American Traffic and Awards Net! More info at www.northamericantrafficandawards.net!!! Free awards for your certificate hunters out there!!!
See everyone on the next contest!
73 de Jim, KU0G -- KU0G
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