QSO/Band Breakdown:
80: 80
40: 245
20: 227
15: 216
10: 164
Final Score: 932 X 79 = 147,098 21.5 Hours
Rig: TS-850/100W
Antennas:
80M: Inverted Vee @ 30'
40M: Inverted Vee @ 50'
20/15/10M: TH-7 @ 55'
Hope I contributed my fair share to the club score.
Everything was fine until Sunday about 20:00Z. Then it started
getting really dark outside. I stayed on as long as I could, but
when I started hearing thunder I disconnected and was off at 20:23.
I had 2 hours of break time left and figured the storm would pass in
that time. The thunder stopped about 22:00 and I re-connected and
was back on at 22:16. I wasn't counting on the squall line stalling
over us and continually sending waves of thunderstorms over. Rain
static built until 23:30 and made it impossible to copy. I worked
only 10-15 Q's through that. Started hearing thunder again and was
off at 23:42. Went outside to disconnect and saw a cloud-cloud
lightning flash right over my tower and an instantaneous clap of
thunder-scared the hell out of me. That was my signal that it was
all over for this one. Lightning and thunder continued until the end
of the contest, so no chance to re-connect.
Probably could have broke 1000 Q's and gotten the VE1 I needed to
complete the sweep if not for the storms (yes, VE1 not VO1) . I
continue my tradition of missing an easy multiplier (AL, MT, WTX etc.
in years past) and missing a sweep.
Overall, I thought the station performed well. I was especially
proud of the $6 80M inverted vee that I put up right before the
contest. I picked up several mults with it that I didn't work on
other bands. My 40M inverted vee seemed to work well, too, but
there's room for improvement. I hope to get up a 2-el beam before
next season to help out on that band.
I was disappointed a little bit in 10M. I always think this is going
to be the money band in this contest and it always disappoints me.
