ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, SSB - 2023
Call: K0HC
Operator(s): W0BH
Station: K0HC
Class: School Club HP
QTH: KS
Operating Time (hrs): 23.7
Summary:
Band QSOs
------------
160:
80: 75
40: 252
20: 827
15: 129
10: 117
------------
Total: 1400 Sections = 85 Total Score = 238,000
Club: Hesston College ARC
Comments:
Our 2023 Hesston College ARC Sweepstakes team this year included two unlicensed
engineering students. Ashleigh said she loves to talk and Jaycie is quick on the
keyboard, a great combination!
Neither Ashleigh or Jaycie knew the phonetic alphabet, so we introduced it
during our first practice session. We practiced the Sweeps exchange using old
logs, then they practiced spelling signs and words during the week. Later, we
added a logging computer and recordings of previous Sweeps operations. One short
on-air practice in the SSB Sprint a week before was all we had time for this
year, so it would be on-job-training once again!
Ashleigh and Jaycie came about an hour into Sweeps. They listened for a bit,
then Ashleigh talked and I logged. Next, I talked and Jaycie logged. Finally,
they teamed up and we were off. Other than a break for supper, they operated
until around midnight. It was fun trying to find the last sections we needed for
the Sweep. We ended Saturday with 735 contacts and 84 sections (mostly on 20m),
missing only Puerto Rico.
We had sunny weather on Saturday, but rain started overnight and continued most
of the day on Sunday. Several hours in, one Puerto Rico station gave us #1 for
the Sweep, and another called us later. Our last five sections were NE NM AR NNY
and PR. We also kept a "Sunday Sweep" map, missing only TER (not
heard), IA (heard but a dupe) and PE (heard but a dupe). Ashleigh and Jaycie
came out Sunday afternoon and operated until close.
We usually work 10 or so other School stations. This year we only worked three:
W0AXE, W9JWC and W8EDU. Ashleigh had fun chatting with them. As usual, the
"S" precedence confused lots of ops, but they eventually figured it
out. Like last year, we took time to resolve dupes instead of just working them.
That resulted in only five dupes in our log and some fun conversations.
In previous years, I would take over and prompt the ops who didn't know the
exchange. This year, I wrote down the questions and Ashleigh got really good at
getting the information we needed. It was worth our time. We would often get
more callers right afterwards who now knew how to participate! Some complemented
Ashleigh on her patient instructions.
Ashleigh and Jaycie really enjoyed the experience and are already looking
forward to their next time on the radio. Thanks to all for the Qs! We hope to
work you again in 2024. Our log has been uploaded to LOTW and submitted to the
ARRL.
73, Bob, w0bh
trustee, k0hc
Hesston College ARC
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
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