[OKDXA] ARRL 10 Meter Contest/Ice

[Terry Hackworth]

Good frosty morning,

Piedmont has had quite a bit of ice.  The guy wires are over an inch in 
diameter, so far everything is holding.  Nothing like 2000 or 2002 for me 
when it was 3" to 5" inches in diameter.

The recent past ARRL 10 meter contest was strange.  I did not expect to make 
very many QSO's at all.  But the band keep trying to be open somewhat.  It 
was like a long 6 meter opening, with the E-cloud moving around all the 
time.  Getting larger, smaller, going south, etc.  Conditions were tough. 
Signals faded up and down very fast.  Made for some difficult copy at times. 
The noise seemed very high too.  When the band finally faded out Sunday 
afternoon, the noise did too.

Here are some stats:

Gross QSO's=420        Dupes=3        Net QSO's=417

Unique callsigns worked = 417

The best 60 minute rate was 85/hour from 0135 to 0234
The best 30 minute rate was 98/hour from 0138 to 0207
The best 10 minute rate was 108/hour from 0139 to 0148

The best 1 minute rates were:
 3 QSO's/minute   14 times.
 2 QSO's/minute   88 times.
 1 QSO's/minute  199 times.

Hope this stuff turns to rain soon.

Terry R. Hackworth, K5HP
Piedmont, OK
USA