[PVRCNC] ARRL - SS - CW (N1LN)

[Bruce Meier]

This was my first serious contest effort from my new QTH in North Carolina.
I can tell that the old TX QTH must be in many hams Super Check Partial (or
the equivalent) as I was asked for many repeats on the section.   I usually
don't like to participate in the "U" class, but being still classified
"antenna challenged" I thought having a strong enough signal to actually
hold a frequency might be an issue.  It turned out to be that way on 15 and
20 as the Q count shows.  I never felt loud.  I was running SO2R and the
quick S/P Q on radio 2 was out of the question for both 15 and 20.  I was
rarely the first station called which resulted in many repeated attempts as
well as the loss of the run frequency on radio 1.   Conditions on 80 and 40
were just great.    I was quite surprised at how many of the ultra weak "Qs"
I was able to pull out.   Suggestion:  IMHO when sending the sequence
number - don't insert leading ZEROs.   If your signal is weak the leading
zero adds to the confusion (could be a 1??) as well as adding useless
additional data to an already long exchange.

I must thank "U" for my sweep.  Manitoba was my last section ( thank you
VE4VV) and the only one I got from the cluster.   The sweep occurred at
17:50 UTC on Sunday.   ONE BIG PILE UP and my little 20 meter dipole (up at
about 20') had quite a time breaking through.   I must have jumped in the
pile at least 5 times, each time (again) losing my run frequency by the time
I got back.

I did not quite make the full 24 hours, with my final op time of 21 hours.
The smell of Sunday dinner and the soon to follow Colts - Patriots game
seemed to stop my SS at about 23:00 UTC Sunday evening.   Yup, I know....
wrong priorities :-(

Stats:   SO2R - High Power - Unlimited

Band    Qs    Mults
80         315    4
40        371    23
20        225    32
15         65     21

Totals   976    80        = 156,160

Station:

FT1000-MP (2)
AL-80B
AL-1500
Top Ten - DX Doubler
Array Solutions SIXPAK
WriteLog
80 Inv-V @ 56'
40 dipole @ 30'
20 dipole @ 20'
15 - used the 40 dipole (3:1 SWR)

See you in a couple weeks.   I will be back in the "M" class for SS-SSB with
my wife (N1YXU) joining me.  See you then!!!

73,
Bruce - N1LN