[PVRCNC] SS SSB K4OV (ex-KA1ARB) Multi-op HP

[Robert Katz]

Call: K4OV (ex-KA1ARB)
Operator(s): K4OV N1BA

Class: Multi-Op HP
QTH: NC
Operating Time (hrs): 24

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
  160:     
   80:  404
   40:  787
   20:  603
   15:   63
   10:   29
------------
Total: 1887  Sections = 80  Total Score = 301,920

Club: Potomac Valley Radio Club

Comments:
This was my first contest two weeks after getting my new callsign, K4OV, and
we got our best score ever.  Must be the new call.  I did get one
³K-4-Oy-Veh² from a PVRC member.  It made me laugh so hard that I forgot who
it was.  Though we didn¹t reach our goal of 2000 QSOs, we beat our personal
best by over 100 Q¹s , and we learned that we need to be much stronger on
the high bands, particularly 15m.  Hello sunspots!

We had a great start to the contest, averaging over 100 Q¹s/hour until we
went to bed with almost 1100 Q¹s.  Lee N1BA (ex-WB1ADR) camped out on 40m,
while Rob worked 20 and then 80.  Our best hour was 145 in the 5th hour at
01:00Z.  We called it a night at 07:26Z, about an hour earlier than usual.
Sunday we were fairly consistent around 60 every hour, using our remaining
time off when things slowed down around 2:00 PM and 5:30 PM local.  But,
Sunday was all about the high bands where we were much weaker for SS with
just a too-high tribander (see below).  With under 5% of our QSO¹s on 15/10,
we left a lot of contacts out there.  Hello sunspots!

I got heckled on 80m by someone who recorded my CQ and played it non-stop.
I QSY¹d on this one, but noticed that my heckler got spotted!  Another guy
fired up 500 away up for his ³good buddy Sunday afternoon schedule.²  I was
nice and commiserated about the crowded bands and he went away.  I also got
several carriers that I just ignored and worked through. Was it just me, or
did it seem like there were more pig farmers this year than usual?

I also forgot about the Maritime Mobile Net and fired up CQing on a ³clear²
14.300.  I think they used a new tactic ­ several people called me by giving
me my own call.  I had a pile-up of 4-5 people answering ³K4OV² before I
figured it out and QSY¹d.  Running an ³emergency² net in the middle of the
ham bands just doesn¹t seem too smart, even without contests.  I hope that
sailors don¹t actually count on that frequency for true emergencies.  I
would want my life and safety to rely on an FCC-dedicated emergency channel
and not an unofficial frequency amidst a bunch of amateur hobbyists!

My big station plans for this year were waylayed by family issues, so I got
little new work in.  We did get to rebuild the 40m wire beams.  I have one
pointed NW that breaks from wire fatigue every year.  And we finally got the
NE beam working after redesigning it to match the spacing of my tree
supports.  This paid off with a great showing on 40!  All we had was a
tribander for the high-bands, and it was too high for domestic stations (I¹m
up on a high ridge).  I took time out Sunday morning to finish a 20m wire
beam at 30¹ that we had started, and then put up a 15m dipole at 25¹ as
well.  Both of these out-performed the KT34XA at 70¹!  This was the first
year we had our audio routed through the computer for voice keying, but the
audio transformer boxes had problems and we finally unplugged them with 3
hours to go.  There¹s nothing like doing our beta-testing ³under-fire.²

Thanks for all the Q¹s.  It was great to talk to so many PVRC members!

73,
   Rob, K4OV