[TVARC] 10 Meter Contest Update II

[Robert Schwer]

Nice results. Pete. I didn’t have nearly the time to spend between Nancy’s Birthday, the ARRL 10M and the SKCC WES contests. Not nearly as much time in the chair as I would have liked,  but, I managed 57 contacts with 28 mults. States worked were – all CW: 

VT, NJ, MD, PA, AL, NC, FL, TN, VA, AR, LA, TX, CA, AZ, ID, MT, NV, UT, WY, OH, IL, WI, IN, KS, MN, ON, SK and BC.

Happy to have connected with you early in the contest!

73, Bob, K3ZGA

Sent from Mail for Windows 10

From: K2PS Pete Stafford
Sent: Sunday, December 9, 2018 7:29 AM
To: 'TVARC MailList at QSL.net'
Subject: [TVARC] 10 Meter Contest Update II

More TVARCers called in: N0SMX, N4FP, WB2YVK, N8RW, and KB8SB.  Frank, KA1AF, had a written excuse, so I’ll accept that, but just this time!  That makes nine total.  Thanks to all.

Saturday wasn’t nearly as good as Friday night, but still not too bad.  Didn’t make my first QSO until about 815a when the band opened to the Midwest, and a slow stream of MI, OH, MN, KS called in.  It got really slow around 930, and I’d shift back and forth to SSB.  Found GA on SSB, which is a tough multiplier, since it’s so close to us.  Still looking for GA on CW and SC, AL, MS on both modes.

1000a saw the sporadic-E cloud shift a bit south, and so all of a sudden the only stations heard and worked were from TX, AR, and LA.  During that time, I scanned the band after CQing got too slow, and heard a very weak “..6RAI” working a pileup.  I recognized the partial callsign as probably that of DL6RAI, in Germany.  Oh boy, a European opening!  But he was tough to hear and even with the antenna turned to about 45 degrees I couldn’t pull him through, much less fight the rest of the east coast.  I’ll check back later.

I then swung the beam south and worked a couple of South Americans on both modes: Colombia, Argentina, and then – there was DL6RAI!  But he was really P4/DL6RAI in Aruba. ☹  So no EU opening.  I should have known better.  With no sunspots, the likelihood of F2 propagation was pretty nearly nonexistent.  But he was still a multiplier, and a whole lot easier to work.  Picked up some more Midwestern, mid-Atlantic, and Southwestern stations but it was pretty slow going.  So I figured I’d take a nap at about 1245p.

Woke up an hour later to a lovely Western opening.  Started calling CQ and was answered by a station in UT, then another, and Alberta and CA, and more UT, Manitoba, and more UT.  There can’t that many stations in that whole state!  Picked up ID, OR, NV, MT in short order, and with loud signals.  Very nice.  Worked some of them on SSB too.  WA and NM followed, but where was AZ?  At about 245p they appeared, and had four in a row call in.

The South Americans came up too, with Uruguay, Trinidad, Chile worked in between a bunch of CA.  Jumped over to SSB hoping to grab those SA mults, and was greeted by Brazil, Peru, Chile, with strong signals.  Back to CW to finish them off.  13 S/A in a row.  But, sadly, that pretty much finished the day off, as the band totally died at about 4P.

Just as well, since the XYL had dinner plans for us, so I didn’t feel as if I was missing anything.

Finished off the day with 348 QSOs:
CW: 277, 29 states/prov, 8 countries
SSB: 71, 29, 7

Sunday will probably be slower, since most of the active stations will have been worked already.  Hoping for an opening to New England, and for the Eagles to beat Dallas.  I’ll record the game if the band is still open at 425p kickoff, but I have a feeling I won’t need to do that.

73, Pete, K2PS

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