November Sweepstakes
A little late in on my posts about the CW and SSB editions of November Sweepstakes ... so figured I'd go ahead and combine the two.
The CW weekend wasn't too bad. 15 could have been better, as it only seemed to be open to the West Coast (not that there's anything wrong with that!). A very loud WP3R from Puerto Rico, was the only signal on for a while Sunday Morning.
Got to 78 mults Sunday morning (1545Z), which left VE4, Manitoba, and VE8/VY1, Northwest Territories/Yukon, as the last two needed. Frustrating to hear KE0Z/VE4 calling other stations, and never heard VE8/VY1. Started giving up hope for the sweep and the cool coffee mug ... when VY1EI called me (2322Z) with a big signal. Didn't work anyone else on my run frequency after that (found VY1EI running a few kHz away!), so decided to give 20 another sweep. i found VE4GV low in the band giving out low numbers and got him in the log - working the last 2 mults right after each other!
Noticed quite a bit of activity from Alaska, which was nice to hear.
Final numbers, 687 QSO's, 80 Sections, 109,920 points.
The SSB weekend, wasn't as good. Kept getting some reports of audio problems, but couldn't figure out why. Seemed to be a problem only on 20 Meters. Later, I seemed to have some problems with the logging computer locking up when I was on 40 Meters. Thinking they might be RFI related problems (which I've never had before), I wrapped an RF choke around the microphone and USB adapter cables, and that seemed to have cured the problems. Had hoped to put in some kind of serious effort, but with the problems, and it being an SSB contest (which for some reason, I just can't get into), it turned into more of a "part time" effort.
Final numbers, 138 QSO's, 57 sections, 15,732 points.
Getting ready for CQWW CW this weekend. Planning to put in as much time as I can.
The CW weekend wasn't too bad. 15 could have been better, as it only seemed to be open to the West Coast (not that there's anything wrong with that!). A very loud WP3R from Puerto Rico, was the only signal on for a while Sunday Morning.
Got to 78 mults Sunday morning (1545Z), which left VE4, Manitoba, and VE8/VY1, Northwest Territories/Yukon, as the last two needed. Frustrating to hear KE0Z/VE4 calling other stations, and never heard VE8/VY1. Started giving up hope for the sweep and the cool coffee mug ... when VY1EI called me (2322Z) with a big signal. Didn't work anyone else on my run frequency after that (found VY1EI running a few kHz away!), so decided to give 20 another sweep. i found VE4GV low in the band giving out low numbers and got him in the log - working the last 2 mults right after each other!
Noticed quite a bit of activity from Alaska, which was nice to hear.
Final numbers, 687 QSO's, 80 Sections, 109,920 points.
The SSB weekend, wasn't as good. Kept getting some reports of audio problems, but couldn't figure out why. Seemed to be a problem only on 20 Meters. Later, I seemed to have some problems with the logging computer locking up when I was on 40 Meters. Thinking they might be RFI related problems (which I've never had before), I wrapped an RF choke around the microphone and USB adapter cables, and that seemed to have cured the problems. Had hoped to put in some kind of serious effort, but with the problems, and it being an SSB contest (which for some reason, I just can't get into), it turned into more of a "part time" effort.
Final numbers, 138 QSO's, 57 sections, 15,732 points.
Getting ready for CQWW CW this weekend. Planning to put in as much time as I can.
posted by Ron at 10:21 AM
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