[PaQSO] PAQP 2011

[Larry Lilly Sr]

GREETINGS ALL......First,  THANK YOU Nittiny ARC.  Awesome contest.   Missed the shower of Mn Wi Ill In Mi  on 40m 80m and 160m.   Ron W3WN your comments are right on the mark.   I can't agree with all of "Naughty Guys" heated comments.   I think there were less stations on 160m and 80m this year.   Ron,  I must have terrorized you often in years past with my previous call but it was all in the spirit of the contest.  My hero,  KA3YJU /cli ....thank you .  Obviously not a seasoned contester but took on the challenge of putting a rare Clinton County on the air using a paper log!!  Thanks to all for your patience working him and helping put several sweeps on the wall.   That is a big task.  
 
As for K3NG comments.   In a pileup you have to give your call regularly or you will be ask for it.  I noticed several intentionally held their call until the pileup thinned out some.  But then it grew all over again.   Band Plans are guidelines and that is all.  Nets on a weekend on 40m /80m  are nearly impossible.   PAQP weekend.....Totally impossible and more aggravating than productive.   I don't know why they try.   Rare counties were heard in search and pounce mode but it appeared few called CQ.   It was hard to hold a frequency if you could manage one.   With all the new radios with filters and digital filtering you can operate against another station and many do.   You would never do that with a Heathkit!!!  Remember them??   I myself was a little skittish going above 3800khz.  I felt out of place.  But when the band fills you gotta do it.   I heard few stations between 3800-3900khz.  That is respect for those who
 wish nets and ragchewing.   I heard stations operating between broadcast stations on 40m.  Try that without that ssb filter!   
 
MOBILES/Rovers/Portables......THANK YOU.   You made all the difference in this contest.  Your effort is appreciated from this station.  WU3U I can feel your frustration in an effort to put a hard one on the air.  The Philly Museum stations never allowed contesting .   Maybe that would be some sort of solution but difficult.  I would believe that goes for college stations as well if any are active.  Homeland Security has really changed things and not all for the better for the ham community.   I, myself,   in years past have offered my frequency for a mobile station to run contacts,  rare county or not.   I always forget about the window and any half clear frequency is open game when the Q's are running and signals are up.   This is one contest I run with the attenuator on all contest long.   By 7pm Saturday,  I had 60 PA counties.   I had to go for the sweep.   I left a couple stations get by me.  My last county was LEB
 Lebanon.  I still don't know why.   I was happy to be able to work all the mobile / rover stations at least once or twice.  With my antennas pulled to 50-60ft I had an awesome receive system going.    The 40m Delta Loop failed to work again and the 80m Quad Loop reeled them in .    The tribander needs a new balun.   40m turnstile next year???  That should give me some radiated signal!!   I have a half acre of trees!    10m was alive but it was all DX south and southeast.   I worked a few 20m stations .....more PA than other states.   Worked the same ME CT NH Emass WV stations on both 80m and 40m  ....Thanks!!  Wish I could have worked more stations on 160m.   Conditions and stations just were not being heard.
 
Closing Comments.    This was my best solo effort.   Clean Sweep.  27 sections.  Was supposed to be Mult-One but that didn't happen.   The computer glitched when trying to printout and save log data after the contest.  The diagnostics are showing hard drive failure.  I am still trying to retrieve data to put on the desktop but it is not finding sectors to allow the transfer.   I may have to manually type in all the contacts on the desktop log program.    The WB3W program worked great.   I got a couple dupes but found the wrong band/mode was the problem....op error.  I will have a problem putting the log on the master log.   It likes ADIF over Cabrillo.   The 160m  Z antenna worked good and makes an awesome AM radio dx antenna.  Listening to WSM AM 650 Nashville as I write this (5x9).  Heard the fowl language,  failed IDs on 80m 40m and maybe a pirate or two on 40m.  Missed the 10m Q's....states on 20m..Still one of the best
 contests in years.   The friendly contest.  Nice to meet everyone again.   Thanks for it all!!   73s de Larry  N3CR   ex KA3- - -...........SOLP  EPA  CAR