ARRL 2023 SS SSB SOLP - K4TMC - 1st Clean Sweep

[Henry Pollock - K4TMC]

Call: K4TMC
Operator(s): K4TMC
Station: K4TMC

Class: Single Op LP
QTH: NC
Operating Time (hrs): 17

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
  160:    0
   80:    0
   40:   45
   20:  325
   15:   90
   10:    8
------------
Total:  468  Sections = 85  Total Score = 79,560

Club: Potomac Valley Radio Club

Wow…My first ever Clean Sweep without even trying hard!  This trip to the
Atlantic Beach, NC sand dune was still 50/50 until Wednesday afternoon
before the contest. With the recent change by ARRL to use a 250-mile club
circle, it made the decision to do more ARRL contests from the sand dune
site an easier decision.  So, with the XYL and dog Zoe, off to the beach we
went mid-day Thursday.

Sage advice from fellow PVRCers and a review of the Sweepstakes map on page
3 of the Nov PVRC Newsletter made it clear that I needed to have antennas
oriented to the NE and NW.  But I could not ignore the hotbeds on the west
coast and the smaller scattered areas in the SE. So I quickly decided to
deploy two BuddiHex triband antennas, making them instantly selected via a
manual coax switch on the operating table between the rig and laptop. Based
on reported results from the CW portion of the contest, it was clear that
20M was going to be my money band, but I wanted to quickly keep a check on
10 and 15, which turned out to be a wise decision.

I spent all day Friday erecting the two BuddiHexs and a 40M EFHW inverted-L
and running coax to the operating table.  Even though it was only 70
degrees, the humidity was high, and some of the summertime biting insects
were still around.  It did not take long to break into a sweat and retreat
to the inside for a cool-off period. Thank goodness for the blessing of the
wind gods…there was no wind Friday, Saturday or Sunday.  Push-up masts are
no fun when top-loaded and winds are creating side loads. My luck ran out
on Monday morning as I took down the antennas.  But taking them down in
winds is easier than trying to raise them.

The contest started a little slow…trying to find a good spot on 20. Plus I
had powerline-like noise of S-5 to 8 on 20 and S-9 on 40M, which plagued me
most of the contest. It stopped for only brief times.  I ran on 20 around
14.245 until 0100 with only a few excursions to 15 and 10 to see what I
might be missing…not much.  Some time on 40 made me go back to 20 where the
line noise was slightly less. And, I kept racking-up mults.  Sometime late
Sunday morning I realized I had 70+ mults.  I looked at the list of mults
needed and realized I needed more West Coast-area mults.  So, I made a
strategic decision to move to 15M where I was hearing more West Coast
stations, and a brief time on 10.  I did a combination of running and S&P.
I quickly added ID, EB, PAC, BC, SCV, SB, SV, & AK. Then back to 20 and
snagged ONN and MB.  Another shift to 15 and got SF and SDG…and that was
it, at 2039 Sunday afternoon. No assistance, no self-spotting, just pure
BIC running and some mixed-band S&P.  Now if I can just get N1MM+ to score
this correctly. The Multipliers window shows all 85 mults worked; however
the Score shows only 84 worked.  A cross-check of the log mults versus a
list of sections note all 85 sections worked. I feel confident that I
worked all 85 sections, although some were only one QSO per section.  So, I
continued until 2330 Sunday evening doing S&P, trying to add more duplicate
contacts in some of the rarer sections.

Thanks for all of the fellow PVRC contacts.

Rig: Elecraft K3+/100w with Heil HC-4 mic element

Antennas: Two Buddipole BuddiHex (tri-band wires only), one at 32 ft AGL
oriented W/NW and one at 20 ft AGL oriented NE; PAR end fed half wave
(EF40) inverted-L with base at 9 ft AGL on 33 ft fiberglass pole.

73,

Henry – K4TMC