I decided on a single-band 40-meter effort for two reasons: the flagpole/6-BTV works really well on 40, and with 40 only open during darkness (more or less), there’s less impact on family activities. Of course, the downside is that I don't get any sleep. Apparently my contest strategy continues to be "trade REM cycles for multipliers."

My approach this year was a little different. I planned to use the flagpole/6-BTV on Day One and a modified MFJ Big Ear on Day Two. I was curious how the two antennas would compare, so I set up the Big Ear late Saturday afternoon. Although the Big Ear works great on 20–10 meters and was never intended for 40 meters, I discovered that if I hang a 17-foot piece of 16 AWG copper wire from the tip of each whip, the resulting contraption tunes on 40 remarkably well.

How well?

At the conclusion of Day One, using the flagpole, I had logged 150 contacts. By the end of Day Two, using the Big Ear, I had added another 500! Granted, this is hardly a scientific comparison—especially when you factor in a little operator luck—but the difference was impossible to ignore. The Big Ear seems to provide another 1–2 S-units of signal and, more importantly, it is much quieter. And as every contester knows, hearing them is often more important than them hearing you.

The online contest scoreboard is also a nice touch. It adds a little extra motivation when you're chasing—or being chased by—friends and fellow competitors like Jim, N7US, and Grant, WA3AAN. Nothing says "friendly competition" quite like checking the scoreboard at 3:00 a.m. and discovering that someone else is apparently even less interested in sleep than you are.

In the end, the station survived, the antennas stayed standing, and I managed to put a few more prefixes in the log than I expected. That's a successful weekend in my book.

Happy contesting!