Hello, everyone:
Well, this year's NAQP SSB contest was a very unique operating event in a
number of respects, owing to very strange band conditions.
10, 15, and 20 meters were in extremely poor shape for me up here in
Central Lower Michigan, and I probably stayed on those bands too long. My
main disappointment, though, was 40 meters. I usually do quite well on that
band with my Alpha Delta DXCC antenna, but that was not the case yesterday.
I usually make the mistake of getting to 40 meters too late, and that really
hurt me this time around. By the time I got there around 6:30 Eastern time,
the band had really gone long, to the point that there were actually very
few stations to work.
After about 9 and a half hours of operating, I ended up with 226 qsos and
88 multipliers.
My breakdown by dand was as follows:
160 meters--9
80 meters--117
40 meters--27
20 meters--43
15 meters--21
10 meters--9
I did mostly hunt and pounce, but tried some c q ing on 80 late in the
evening.
I did have a bit of a good run between 11:30 and 12:30 Eastern time, which
is what raised my qso count so much on 80 meters.
To show you how strange things were for me up here, I only worked one
Michigan station, and that was KE8FT on 160 meters at the very end of the
contest. I heard some Wisconsin stations, but my efforts to contact them
were unsuccessful.
I did manage to work Steve (KW3A) on 80 meters. I also heard Lloyd on 80
meters, but we were both doing S and P, so couldn't work him.
I am trying to decide whether to submit my log. I submitted my log for last
week's CW contest, not because I thought I would win anything, but because
it was a much better showing.
I'll see how I feel about that later this evening.
Tom Behler: KB8TYJ
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