11/09/2005 | K4JPD This was my first SOHP entry into CW Sweepstakes. My goal was to maximize my score as much as possible for the South East Contest Club. K4JPD and I spent the past summer assembling a 100' tower with a KT36XA and 4 el on 40. I also had dipoles on 40 and 20 which helped me copy stations that the beams could not pick up due to height or direction. K4JPD was kind enough to allow me to use his station for this contest.

My strategy was to run since I knew I would be loud. I mixed S&P on occasion until I found a new run frequency. The last sections were SC, DE and MB. It was a thrill to have a loud VY1JA call me on 40 early in the contest. I missed him in the past few Sweepstakes.

I exceeded my goals for this contest. In the future, I hope to hit the 1000 QSO mark. I have come a long way after my first CW SS where I made a little over 300 QSOs with a TS-520SE and no CW filter. How did I do that in this contest? But I still have a lot of room for improvement. Many thanks to the strong stations who were patient with me when I needed fills, to the QRP stations for repeats due to QSB, and all of the fine operators who work this contest. -- W4ATL