11/18/2014 | K2KR Sweeps 2014, another one in the books. Mike, K2KR; Carol, KC0MOM; Kristin, KC0INX; and Mike, Kristin’s hubby, all got together again this year for Sweepstakes SSB. We missed last year as we all ended up with moves in our lives and everything was in a box somewhere. Mike is in the Air Force and they moved him and Kristin to Las Vegas so that is where we operated Sweepstakes from this year. We use Sweepstakes as our chance for a Field Day-like event. We have worked from Colorado, West Texas, Missouri, and now from Las Vegas, Nevada. We observed that some Ops noticed we had changed sections, you have to be careful with auto-fill, as things do change. With time commitments we did not have time to find a campground to work from so we just set up our operations from Kristin and Mike’s yard. This did limit us to just a triband beam for 10, 15 and 20 meters as there was not enough room to put up anything for 40 and 80. That was ok since it meant we got some sleep that way. We had our Mosley TA33 jr up about 25 feet and we fed it with an Icom 756 Pro III into a Elecraft KPA 500. We logged everything with N3FJP’s software and it worked perfect with our trusty old laptop. Everything worked well this year. Unfortunately, we did not get a sweep again this year as we could not find the Northwest Territories and they did not find us. We also missed out on some close in sections. We heard some at the noise floor but we were just too close and with no 40 or 80 antennas we missed them. It was really nice to finish out sweeps for several of those looking for Nevada. We also enjoyed working the W1AW stations. The fact that we didn’t get a sweep is ok because we had a lot of fun and we always have next year to chase the elusive sweep. Speaking of next year, where will be? Maybe Nevada again, but we are real close to California, Utah and Arizona. So if you hear us next year make sure you pay attention and get us logged correctly. 73 until we meet again Mike, K2KR -- K2KR