2008 ARRL November Sweepstakes (Phone)
12/03/2008 |
NK7J
Well, first time opertaing in the SS. Operated a few contests in the past, but deicded to give SS a try. My wife just got her ticket (KE7WZF, now W7SMF) about 2 weeks prior to the SS and she said she would like try this contesting thing... Wow do I love this gal or what.
So we set out the first hour, a little dumbfounded by the exchange format, but soon got the rythym down. At first I did almsot all the work, but soon she got a handle on the way things operate and she got brave and took the hot seat. She did great! We had a few runs on 40 and 20 meters, but only running 100 watts was hard to keep a freq for more than 15 minutes.
We got a great chuckle when we seen someone spot us, I think the comment was YOUNG HAM LOOKING FOR CONTACTS.... Well it was Toni (XYL), but boy did the contacts rack up for a while after that. I think it is great that if someone spots a young ham on the air, that so many go to make a contact with them.
We wound up operating truthfully around 12 hours or so, I think the log said 18 or something (need to remember hit the LOG OFF button). We had 370 QSOs, and a CLEAN SWEEP... That was great. Late on sunday we were lacking 2 sections, SC (how in the world we were missing SC is beyond me) and PR of course. Well I told Toni, lets try to make a run on 20 meters, so she starts calling CQ and low and behold the first station to come back? K3AN from SC! Perfect! Toni about jumped through the roof! So now the hunt was on for PR... we had to get the sweep... Well we seen a spot for one station in PR who didnt seem to have a grasp on his first year he was lic. So we tried half hearted to get him in the log but to no avail. Then we see a spot for WP4SK, so we jump over to have a hear. Nice signal into Oregon, so make sure I got the C31XR turned just right, and I try calling for about 30 minutes... no go. I get Toni on the mic, and say you give it a go, maybe he will pick out your sweet voice. Sure enough in about 10-15 calls he is in the log.
We had a great time and look forward to next year!
Equipment: Icom 756PRO3. 10/15/20 meter C31XR at 105ft, 40/80/160 Meters, Fan Dipole at 100 ft. -- NK7J
So we set out the first hour, a little dumbfounded by the exchange format, but soon got the rythym down. At first I did almsot all the work, but soon she got a handle on the way things operate and she got brave and took the hot seat. She did great! We had a few runs on 40 and 20 meters, but only running 100 watts was hard to keep a freq for more than 15 minutes.
We got a great chuckle when we seen someone spot us, I think the comment was YOUNG HAM LOOKING FOR CONTACTS.... Well it was Toni (XYL), but boy did the contacts rack up for a while after that. I think it is great that if someone spots a young ham on the air, that so many go to make a contact with them.
We wound up operating truthfully around 12 hours or so, I think the log said 18 or something (need to remember hit the LOG OFF button). We had 370 QSOs, and a CLEAN SWEEP... That was great. Late on sunday we were lacking 2 sections, SC (how in the world we were missing SC is beyond me) and PR of course. Well I told Toni, lets try to make a run on 20 meters, so she starts calling CQ and low and behold the first station to come back? K3AN from SC! Perfect! Toni about jumped through the roof! So now the hunt was on for PR... we had to get the sweep... Well we seen a spot for one station in PR who didnt seem to have a grasp on his first year he was lic. So we tried half hearted to get him in the log but to no avail. Then we see a spot for WP4SK, so we jump over to have a hear. Nice signal into Oregon, so make sure I got the C31XR turned just right, and I try calling for about 30 minutes... no go. I get Toni on the mic, and say you give it a go, maybe he will pick out your sweet voice. Sure enough in about 10-15 calls he is in the log.
We had a great time and look forward to next year!
Equipment: Icom 756PRO3. 10/15/20 meter C31XR at 105ft, 40/80/160 Meters, Fan Dipole at 100 ft. -- NK7J
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