11/27/2009 | AI4RF Total Operating time : 21 hours

Number of Contacts make: 313

Operated from : Fixed, Multioperator

Section : NC

Team participants : Nancy Kopenec KB5NIA, Frank Kopenec, AI4RF, Bob Jenkins KJ4EDH, Richard Walker KB4LTZ, Jamie Dale (potential new ham)


Decision was made by the team about halfway through the contest to, instead of going after a high score, go after a "Clean Sweep. Making extensive use of some spotting software, we scanned the frequencies trying to work each section. With about 4 hours of the contest left, we finally pulled off the coveted "Clean Sweep". We had the toughest times with Alaska, the Northern Canadian territories, and believe it or not, southern New Jersey. As one of the team members exclaimed, "What a rush!!!"

While we spent most of the time "Pouncing and Searching", on Sunday morning we got our own run going and even created our own mini-pileup. We were most surprised however to find out that the reason for the pileup was that our station (and calling frequency) was now added to the spotting list. As we are all fairly new to contesting, this was everyone's first "Clean Sweep". We plan on showing off our new mugs proudly and hope to add to it in next year's contest. We also found that, without exception, all the operators we talked to during the contest were polite, and willing to work with us as we fumbled with the long exchange. -- AI4RF