[NLRS] KC9BQA Contest wrap-up

[Todd Sprinkmann]

  First the basic short story...  
  Claimed score  49,994
  50 --- 133 Q's and 60 grids
144 ---  85  Q's and 28 grids
222 ---  32  Q's and 19 grids
432 ---  52  Q's and 22 grids

  Details and thoughts...

  Opped 25 hours of the contest.  Caught Es on 6 to TX (and just a little bit of FLA) from 2300-0030 on Sat. aft/evening.  Made 22 Q's in about 10 different grids during that time.  Highlights here were KD5SFK from DM90 and XE2OR in DL98.  

  Then the Aurora...  noticed AU starting just after 19Z.  Worked 45 AU contacts between 19Z -- 00Z.  All but 2 or 3 were on 50.  Not having applied myself to CW yet cost me big-time here.  144 and even 222 were *full* of CW.  I bet those ops had an absolute ball.  It sure sounded exciting, as well as a lot easier on the ears!  No CW rah-rah is necessary here -- I fully appreciate its usefulness and until I "Just Do It" I am only hurting myself.  I will get to a point where I'm motivated and apply myself.  (W9FZ's cross-mode contacts on 50.190 have already clued me ears into grid numbers, hi!)  The odds of this good an aurora hitting at contest time are just huge.  Can't wait to see how many ops scored new grids and states on 144 and 222.

   Because of the AU activity, my scores on 144, 222 and 432 were down considerably.  Last September, I had at least 70% more Q's on 144, 222 and 432.  I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but there's no telling where I would have ended up with CW and the ability to work so many DX grids up thru at least 144.

   Big kudos to W9FZ's rover effort.  I swept my 4 bands with him in 7 of his 8 grids.  Down here in SE Wisconsin, stations with good antennas were able to hear him almost all the time, in any direction, far up into northern Wisconsin.  He was easy to find and track and best of all, easy to work.  Missed K0PG and K9ILT this contest... with them and Bruce both on the road, it would have been a roverfest.  I did run into some of the various rovers that were out and about, but not nearly as much as I would have liked.  If I missed you, I'm sorry.  I really, really admire the work that goes into roving.  Can't wait for the August UHF contest and hearing about all the Rovermania plans.

  Speaking of August, this station will be bigger and stronger by then.  New tower is going up 70' here to accomodate stacked beams on 903 and 1296.  As well as a 76 el blowtorch for 2304.  And I will add some other goodies as well.  Vertical beams for 223.5 and 146.  As well as separate horizontal beams for 144 and 432.  I'm very eager to see what being able to hear in two different directions on 144 and 432 will yield.  Also eager to be able to work stations up thru 7 bands, instead of 4.

  I wish I had taken more time to think ahead about the possibilities the CVVHF and NLRS ops had with us down here in Wisconsin.  By this I mean that when W9FZ was traveling closer toward the Twin Cities, some of us down here near Milwaukee were able to hear both Bruce and the stations calling him.  We all had a mutual interest in working  Bruce thru his grids and bands.  While I was grateful for a handful of good contacts up into CVVHF and NLRS land, I heard just as many stations that could have been worked, even with sideband.  It could have been a very interesting last hour of the contest, with us being able to keep one ear on Bruce's progress and taking quick little trips up or down 5 kc to work each other as well.  Our rotors would have barely sneezed at the 40-50 degree adjustments.  ;)

  Ken -- W9GA and the CVVHF folks did plan ahead for some activity times between our areas, and this was a great idea that paid off.  Think of how many times you hear a strong local signal working someone that is either weak or you can't hear.  Then you figure out what's going on and you're able to pop in and work the distant station.  That's what plans like Ken's promote.  If you have a few good stations working each other, then others join in and everybody wins.  I've seen this in action with tough grids like Ed -- N8LIQ up in EN56.  One of us down here will find 'LIQ and then before Ed knows it, he has a mini pileup.  To me, that's about the best feeling there is.  

  Basically, I just want to reassure the NLRS'ers that there's plenty of possibilities down here in Wisconsin.  Sure, it's not armchair copy, but with more coordination we could definitely clean up on each other. 

 I am surely not trying to point any fingers here.  I'm trying to keep weak signal ops thinking creatively.  Every contest, I work some stations that are amazed they can be S2, 3 or 5 at distances of 200-300 miles -- under ordinary conditions.  I don't really subscribe to the arbitrary 175 mile radius the ARRL mandates for clubs.  To me, if I can work your station, then you are in MY club, LOL.  A little food for thought as we head into August Rovermania and the Sept. contest as well...

73,
KC9BQA  EN63ao