Score: 1061 QSOs x 78 sections (missed Yukon) ----> 165,516
Station: TS-930/SB-220
TRLog 6.15
Antennas: 80 - W9LT-style 4-element lazy-vee parasitic array
40 - Force 12 C-4 at 100 ft; inverted vee at 35 ft
20-10 Force 12 C-4 at 100 ft
Moans: Never have I worked so hard, only to come out 6 QSOs short of last
year and miss a sweep to boot! This year was almost a different contest --
I came out in the same place but got there by a completely different route.
Last year 40,80 and 20, in that order, were the bread and butter. This
year 80 accounted for over half my QSOs, 20 was more productive than 40,
and 15 challenged them both. I'm going to be interested to read whether
others found the same things.
I started on 20, only to discover that everyone was up on 15 - duhhh.
Moved down to 40 later and found that my antennas weren't working very
well. The low dipole was no help at night, and the high antenna just
didn't seem very loud. Severe static on both 40 and 80, and then a nearby
electric fence started shorting to some wet foliage, making things even
more fun...
Went to 80 very early by my standards, because the directional array let me
hide from the worst of the noise to my Southwest. It really plays, even in
domestic contests, which I wasn't confident about, so I sat on 80 and ran
for 7 hours, more or less. After the 0900-1300 break, a terrific rainstorm
blew through -- no lightning but very highly-charged raindrops, generating
an S-9+ roar on all my antennas, even the low one. After that, it was just
slog slog slog.
Heard VY1JA exactly twice, both times in S&P QSOs and couldn't find him
again. Worked exactly one VE2 and 2 NLs.
73,
Pete N4ZR
In Wild Wonderful, fairly rare WEST Virginia
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