[PaQSO] Doing it Digital

[W3BC]

Hello all... I apologize for taking so long to get around to this. I
have not been well lately.

For everyone who asked for a breakdown of my unspectacular attempt to go
all digital, here it is.


Band	PK Qs	PK QTH  RY Qs	RY QTH
======= ======= ======= ======= =======
15	0	0	2	1DX,1S
20	25	2DX,23S	2	1S,1PA
40	9	5S,4PA	14	9S,5PA
80	12	8S,4PA	2	1S,1PA
------- ------- ------- ------- -------
	46	2DX,36S	20	1DX,12S
		8PA		7PA

Maybe I wasn't hearing, maybe the bands were dead at my QTH, maybe my
antenna fell down, or maybe I need to spend some kilobucks and put up
some real antennas on towers instead of the junky wire garbage I'm
using, but  the result of 22 hours of active contesting was a puny 66
Qs. I was constantly tuning all the bands on the R-71 while CQing, but
didn't observe much PA QSO Digital activity on any band. However, I did
observe a good bit of CW activity, and a whole lot more SSB. It was
extremely tempting to abandon the digital lost cause and it took all the
willpower I could muster not to grab the mic and join the crowd.

Out of a paltry 66 digital Qs, I contacted only 15 other PA stations;
the other 51 Qs were with out of state and DX stations. A number of
those stations said they were looking for PA QSO activity but I was the
first or only PA QSO Party station they worked on digital modes this
year.

How about next year, somebody who has the money to put a big signal on
the air and a QTH without S9+20 power line hash trying for a 100%
digital Clean Sweep? If I was a gambling man, I'd bet 1,000 bucks it
can't be done! But I'm neither rich nor a gambler, so don't get your
hopes up! :)

Reviewing the past few years' results, though, I think I might have
accidentally set a digital-only record, even with this pathetically low
score! Go figure :)