2005 ARRL 10 Meter Contest
12/18/2005 |
AF9J
I had a blast participating in my first ARRL 10m Contest 5 or 6 years (I just got back into contesting after a 4 year layoff). The setup was an IC-703 plus at 4 1/2 watts, fed (via a roller inductor T-match) into a 190 foot loop that was basically 6 turns (vertically arrayed in about a 30 plus foot perimeter) around my 2nd story apartment's balcony.
I've done the 10m test in the past (In the mid 90s) during the bottom of the solar cycle, and frankly it was about as exciting as watching paint dry on a wall! Not this one! It was happening in a way similar to a good June VHF QSO Party. In other words, you had to be there to work the openings when they came up.
I forgot that this was a 48 hour contest, so I didn't get on until late Saturday morning (after I'd reread the rules, and learned that it started on 0000z). As it was I learned from some other local hams in the Milwaukee metro area, that not much really happened on Friday night anyway, and that when I got on, is when things started to happen.
My first QSO was KG4WW (Guantanamo Bay) on SSB. Nice! That kept me going. I heard a few Carribeans and South Americans, but didn't work them. But, then the stateside started to open up. It had to be Es (remember there is a secondary peak in Sporadic E at this time of the year), because the openings were very specific geographically. In the next few hours (taking a 2 hour break during a lull to run some errands), I worked stations in California, Texas, Oklahoma, Virgina, and Florida, with the odd station in other locations (K7BG in Montana, and VA7LC in British Columbia, come to mind). By 0100z, it seemed like things were over with for the night. I rag chewed with some of the locals, and they and I went QRT. I worked on a Warbler kit (for 80m PSK-31) I bought recently from Small Wonder Labs, read, and watched TV.
I was all set to go to bed around 11pm local time (00500z). Just for a laugh, I turned on the IC703, and could hear that the band was open again! As a result, I stayed up till almost 2am local adding to my score. I worked stations in South Carolina, Virginia, North Carolina, Maryland, and New Jersey, along with a few more Florida stations. When I finally called it a night at 2am, it seemed like the band was still open, but there was nobody else to work. This was reflected in a brief QSO I heard between two W3 stations I'd worked earlier. One of the W3s said he was calling it a night, but that he was actually kind of depressed to do so, considering that he'd worked a South Dakota station only 15 minutes earlier, that he heard at 50 over 9! But, he coudln't find any other stations to work.
By the time I got back on Sunday Morning the Sporadic E was gone, I did manage to work a few more stations in the Carribean (the most enjoyable was P40K on SSB - YL to YL QSOs are so enjoyable for me). I had to go QRT for 4 hours in the afternoon so I could help out at a cat shelter I do volounteer work at. So, I wasn't able to get on again, until about 2130z. Things slowed down to a crawl by then, and by 2230z, it seemed like it was all over with. But, 10m being full of surprises, gave me mini opening into New Mexico, an hour before the end of the contest.
I didn't set the band on fire (going head to head with my QRP signal against KW stations in pileups, I almost always came out on the losing end, and my antenna is a compromise at best), but I did better than expected - 64 QSOs, 18 mults, and 4830 points. The ratio of CW to SSB QSOs was about 70/30. I hope others had fun in this test too.
73,
Ellen - AF9J -- AF9J
I've done the 10m test in the past (In the mid 90s) during the bottom of the solar cycle, and frankly it was about as exciting as watching paint dry on a wall! Not this one! It was happening in a way similar to a good June VHF QSO Party. In other words, you had to be there to work the openings when they came up.
I forgot that this was a 48 hour contest, so I didn't get on until late Saturday morning (after I'd reread the rules, and learned that it started on 0000z). As it was I learned from some other local hams in the Milwaukee metro area, that not much really happened on Friday night anyway, and that when I got on, is when things started to happen.
My first QSO was KG4WW (Guantanamo Bay) on SSB. Nice! That kept me going. I heard a few Carribeans and South Americans, but didn't work them. But, then the stateside started to open up. It had to be Es (remember there is a secondary peak in Sporadic E at this time of the year), because the openings were very specific geographically. In the next few hours (taking a 2 hour break during a lull to run some errands), I worked stations in California, Texas, Oklahoma, Virgina, and Florida, with the odd station in other locations (K7BG in Montana, and VA7LC in British Columbia, come to mind). By 0100z, it seemed like things were over with for the night. I rag chewed with some of the locals, and they and I went QRT. I worked on a Warbler kit (for 80m PSK-31) I bought recently from Small Wonder Labs, read, and watched TV.
I was all set to go to bed around 11pm local time (00500z). Just for a laugh, I turned on the IC703, and could hear that the band was open again! As a result, I stayed up till almost 2am local adding to my score. I worked stations in South Carolina, Virginia, North Carolina, Maryland, and New Jersey, along with a few more Florida stations. When I finally called it a night at 2am, it seemed like the band was still open, but there was nobody else to work. This was reflected in a brief QSO I heard between two W3 stations I'd worked earlier. One of the W3s said he was calling it a night, but that he was actually kind of depressed to do so, considering that he'd worked a South Dakota station only 15 minutes earlier, that he heard at 50 over 9! But, he coudln't find any other stations to work.
By the time I got back on Sunday Morning the Sporadic E was gone, I did manage to work a few more stations in the Carribean (the most enjoyable was P40K on SSB - YL to YL QSOs are so enjoyable for me). I had to go QRT for 4 hours in the afternoon so I could help out at a cat shelter I do volounteer work at. So, I wasn't able to get on again, until about 2130z. Things slowed down to a crawl by then, and by 2230z, it seemed like it was all over with. But, 10m being full of surprises, gave me mini opening into New Mexico, an hour before the end of the contest.
I didn't set the band on fire (going head to head with my QRP signal against KW stations in pileups, I almost always came out on the losing end, and my antenna is a compromise at best), but I did better than expected - 64 QSOs, 18 mults, and 4830 points. The ratio of CW to SSB QSOs was about 70/30. I hope others had fun in this test too.
73,
Ellen - AF9J -- AF9J
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