[NLRS] January 2004 VHF Sweepstakes Claimed Score

[John P. Toscano]

Subject to log scrutiny and error correction, here is the claimed score 
for W0JT (SOLP) in the January 2004 VHF Sweepstakes:

Band   QSO's   QSO Points    Mults
   50     68        68          13
  144     96        96          16
  222     37        74          10
  432     56       112          11
  902     21        84           9
1296     27       108           9
-----  -----   ----------    ------
Total   305       542          68

Grand Total Score = 542 x 68 = 36,856

At a glance, this appears to be my best score ever in any contest, so 
the contest must be rated a success in that my scores are improving. 
The equipment I had in service performed almost flawlessly, only had one 
sticky coax relay giving me grief on 222, so I climbed up into the attic 
of the garage and bypassed it with a N barrel connector, and no more 
trouble (the 223.5 FM beam was not badly missed, the 222 SSB beam was 
far more important).

The bands were awfully flat.  No E-skip heard on 6 meters, made one 
aurora contact that probably would not have been made otherwise.  Heard 
a few East Coast stations early on Sunday morning (scatter?) but could 
not make them hear me.  So total number of grids was pretty low.

Score would have been dismal without the rovers.  MANY MANY thanks go 
out to W9FZ/r and W0AMT/r in particular, also KC0OIA/r and W0IS/r, as 
well as KC0IYT/r.  Also many thanks to the family stations and the 
casual FM operators -- among this group, N0OA and W0KF get the award for 
persistence to get me one more 223.5 FM QSO.

Thanks also go out to all the locals who ran the bands with the rover 
stations in exqusistely polite and efficient manner.  It goes to show 
that pacing yourselves appropriately maximizes EVERYONE's points and 
enjoyment.  You folks are a great bunch, I'm proud to be part of the group!

All in all, I had a great time.  I hope you did also!  Let's do this 
again sometime.  (Not till August for me, how dare my daughter get 
married on the June contest weekend?).

73 de W0JT EN34