The last time I worked a full 24 hours in this contest Eisenhower was president. Okay, that’s an exaggeration, but it felt like it. It was actually six years ago in 2013.
I had forgotten how mentally fatiguing the unrelenting hurricane of QRM becomes in my sleep deprived state. In addition, there was an ever present stress lurking around every corner by potential interlopers calling “CQ contest” on my frequency when weaker stations fumbling with their exchange created dead air pockets. If I wasn’t transmitting after 15 seconds, the risk skyrocketed.
Don’t even get me started on QSB.
20m was absolutely insane. Here’s a screen shot of my panadapter:
80m was also wall-to-wall from 3.6 to over 3.8. Don’t know if it’s always like that, but it was sure impressive.
Didn’t get the best start. QRM really slowed me down. Perhaps the biggest mistake was not following the tried-and-true west coast plan of taking six hours off in one big chunk. Thought I could catch the east coast sunrise on 40m and increase my rate. Several hours in I regretted that decision.
From 11:00z to 13:00z (normal off time) yielded 88 Qs. From 21:00z to 23:00z I worked 151 Qs with the rate picking up as the evening went on. Don’t fix what ain’t broke.
One other issue I considered is antennas pointed south. I usually point east and fire away. Areas 5, 6 and 7 typically yields the fewest stations out of all the other call areas. That seems backwards to me.
In an effort to try and increase volume in these call areas, I tried something different this year. Rather than pointing east, I pointed southeast around 115 degrees and left it there. This was not a wise move. Historically speaking, it resulted in the lowest numbers I’ve seen on SSB. Once again, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
To avoid dupes and possible penalties for the other station, I took extra time to read their exchange to confirm we already worked. 100% of the time they logged my call incorrectly so it was worth it. Only one guy complained when I told him we can only work once in the contest. He got upset, so I asked if he need me on this band for some award. He said yes, so I worked him again. Maybe lead with that next time?
242 checks from 2009 to 2019. Much better than the previous period from 1998 to 2008 with 110.
Congrats to KH7XS, VY2TT and W7RN on the Unlimited side. Congrats to W7WA and K5TR on the Bravo side, and K2PO on the Alpha side.
Thanks to all for the Qs. 73, Mitch
Post contest numbers to chew on:
Cabrillo Statistics (Version 10g) by K5KA & N6TV
http://bit.ly/cabstat
CALLSIGN: K7RL
CONTEST: ARRL-SS-SSB
CATEGORY-OPERATOR: SINGLE-OP
CATEGORY-TRANSMITTER: ONE
OPERATORS: K7RL
-------------- Q S O R a t e S u m m a r y ---------------------
Hour 160 80 40 20 15 10 Rate Total Pct
2100 0 0 0 130 0 0 130 130 8.5
2200 0 0 7 98 0 0 105 235 15.4
2300 0 0 65 32 0 0 97 332 21.8
0000 0 3 78 2 0 0 83 415 27.2
0100 0 16 61 0 0 0 77 492 32.3
0200 0 15 91 0 0 0 106 598 39.2
0300 0 39 34 0 0 0 73 671 44.0
0400 0 50 7 0 0 0 57 728 47.7
0500 0 56 13 0 0 0 69 797 52.3
0600 0 20 18 0 0 0 38 835 54.8
0700 0 28 30 0 0 0 58 893 58.6
0800 0 5 3 0 0 0 8 901 59.1
0900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 901 59.1
1000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 901 59.1
1100 0 12 23 0 0 0 35 936 61.4
1200 0 8 30 0 0 0 38 974 63.9
1300 0 7 8 0 0 0 15 989 64.9
1400 0 0 49 2 0 0 51 1040 68.2
1500 0 0 10 38 0 0 48 1088 71.3
1600 0 0 0 41 0 0 41 1129 74.0
1700 0 0 0 54 0 0 54 1183 77.6
1800 0 0 0 44 9 0 53 1236 81.0
1900 0 0 0 45 3 0 48 1284 84.2
2000 0 0 0 60 0 0 60 1344 88.1
2100 0 0 0 64 0 0 64 1408 92.3
2200 0 0 5 34 0 0 39 1447 94.9
2300 0 0 47 1 0 0 48 1495 98.0
0000 0 1 29 0 0 0 30 1525 100.0
0100 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1525 100.0
0200 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1525 100.0
Total 0 260 608 645 12 0 1525
Gross QSOs=1526 Dupes=1 Net QSOs=1525
Unique callsigns worked = 1525
The best 60 minute rate was 134/hour from 2108 to 2207
The best 30 minute rate was 140/hour from 2101 to 2130
The best 10 minute rate was 156/hour from 2111 to 2120
The best 1 minute rates were:
4 QSOs/minute 2 times.
3 QSOs/minute 81 times.
2 QSOs/minute 320 times.
1 QSOs/minute 634 times.
There were 201 bandchanges and 90 (5.9%) probable 2nd radio QSOs.
Number of letters in callsigns
Letters # worked
4 643
5 598
6 279
7 2
8 2
10 1
------------ M u l t i p l i e r S u m m a r y ------------
Mult 160 80 40 20 15 10 Total Pct
IL 0 3 24 60 0 0 87 5.7
MDC 0 12 28 36 2 0 78 5.1
VA 0 9 20 42 0 0 71 4.7
OH 0 8 34 26 0 0 68 4.5
WI 0 5 14 32 0 0 51 3.3
MI 0 9 17 23 0 0 49 3.2
MN 0 12 14 22 0 0 48 3.1
EPA 0 5 11 30 0 0 46 3.0
NC 0 6 16 21 0 0 43 2.8
MO 0 3 14 17 0 0 34 2.2
CO 0 2 26 6 0 0 34 2.2
ENY 0 6 10 16 0 0 32 2.1
NTX 0 6 15 10 0 0 31 2.0
IN 0 7 11 11 0 0 29 1.9
SV 0 16 13 0 0 0 29 1.9
TN 0 0 15 10 3 0 28 1.8
NH 0 8 5 14 0 0 27 1.8
WNY 0 3 8 16 0 0 27 1.8
GA 0 3 13 8 1 0 25 1.6
CT 0 4 5 16 0 0 25 1.6
NFL 0 3 17 3 0 0 23 1.5
IA 0 1 9 12 0 0 22 1.4
AZ 0 3 11 8 0 0 22 1.4
WWA 0 12 6 3 1 0 22 1.4
NNJ 0 3 7 10 1 0 21 1.4
ME 0 1 2 16 1 0 20 1.3
WPA 0 4 9 7 0 0 20 1.3
KY 0 3 6 10 0 0 19 1.2
KS 0 5 4 10 0 0 19 1.2
SNJ 0 0 9 10 0 0 19 1.2
ONS 0 1 7 9 0 0 17 1.1
OK 0 2 7 8 0 0 17 1.1
NLI 0 0 4 13 0 0 17 1.1
AR 0 3 7 6 0 0 16 1.0
WCF 0 0 12 4 0 0 16 1.0
STX 0 4 8 3 1 0 16 1.0
SCV 0 6 9 1 0 0 16 1.0
OR 0 13 1 1 0 0 15 1.0
UT 0 4 10 1 0 0 15 1.0
EMA 0 1 4 9 0 0 14 0.9
SC 0 0 6 6 0 0 12 0.8
SFL 0 1 8 3 0 0 12 0.8
AL 0 1 10 0 1 0 12 0.8
DE 0 2 2 7 0 0 11 0.7
RI 0 1 6 4 0 0 11 0.7
SDG 0 3 6 2 0 0 11 0.7
MT 0 5 6 0 0 0 11 0.7
NE 0 0 9 2 0 0 11 0.7
NM 0 2 5 3 0 0 10 0.7
WMA 0 0 1 8 0 0 9 0.6
ONE 0 2 3 4 0 0 9 0.6
NV 0 3 6 0 0 0 9 0.6
SJV 0 2 7 0 0 0 9 0.6
LA 0 3 4 1 0 0 8 0.5
WV 0 1 4 2 1 0 8 0.5
ND 0 1 2 5 0 0 8 0.5
LAX 0 0 7 1 0 0 8 0.5
AB 0 1 7 0 0 0 8 0.5
EB 0 5 3 0 0 0 8 0.5
ORG 0 1 4 2 0 0 7 0.5
WY 0 3 4 0 0 0 7 0.5
GTA 0 1 6 0 0 0 7 0.5
SF 0 3 4 0 0 0 7 0.5
VT 0 2 2 2 0 0 6 0.4
QC 0 1 1 4 0 0 6 0.4
SD 0 1 3 2 0 0 6 0.4
ID 0 4 2 0 0 0 6 0.4
MB 0 0 2 4 0 0 6 0.4
MAR 0 1 1 4 0 0 6 0.4
NNY 0 1 2 2 0 0 5 0.3
EWA 0 3 0 2 0 0 5 0.3
SK 0 1 3 1 0 0 5 0.3
PAC 0 1 1 3 0 0 5 0.3
AK 0 2 0 2 0 0 4 0.3
BC 0 4 0 0 0 0 4 0.3
SB 0 2 2 0 0 0 4 0.3
ONN 0 0 0 3 0 0 3 0.2
NT 0 0 2 1 0 0 3 0.2
WTX 0 0 2 1 0 0 3 0.2
NL 0 0 0 3 0 0 3 0.2
MS 0 0 2 0 0 0 2 0.1
VI 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0.1
PR 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0.1
Total 0 260 608 645 12 0 1525
Sweepstakes Checks
Check QSOs Pct
00 11 0.7
01 5 0.3
02 13 0.9
03 14 0.9
04 10 0.7
05 11 0.7
06 10 0.7
07 9 0.6
08 12 0.8
09 15 1.0
10 12 0.8
11 9 0.6
12 18 1.2
13 16 1.0
14 23 1.5
15 23 1.5
16 41 2.7
17 35 2.3
18 31 2.0
19 19 1.2
20 2 0.1
21 0 0.0
22 0 0.0
23 1 0.1
24 1 0.1
25 1 0.1
26 0 0.0
27 0 0.0
28 0 0.0
29 0 0.0
30 1 0.1
31 2 0.1
32 0 0.0
33 2 0.1
34 0 0.0
35 0 0.0
36 1 0.1
37 1 0.1
38 0 0.0
39 0 0.0
40 0 0.0
41 0 0.0
42 0 0.0
43 0 0.0
44 0 0.0
45 0 0.0
46 2 0.1
47 0 0.0
48 1 0.1
49 2 0.1
50 1 0.1
51 1 0.1
52 8 0.5
53 6 0.4
54 12 0.8
55 14 0.9
56 13 0.9
57 30 2.0
58 28 1.8
59 34 2.2
60 25 1.6
61 32 2.1
62 29 1.9
63 49 3.2
64 30 2.0
65 24 1.6
66 31 2.0
67 35 2.3
68 24 1.6
69 34 2.2
70 30 2.0
71 36 2.4
72 33 2.2
73 24 1.6
74 33 2.2
75 27 1.8
76 59 3.9
77 46 3.0
78 32 2.1
79 28 1.8
80 21 1.4
81 11 0.7
82 14 0.9
83 12 0.8
84 11 0.7
85 14 0.9
86 17 1.1
87 15 1.0
88 14 0.9
89 31 2.0
90 22 1.4
91 33 2.2
92 32 2.1
93 24 1.6
94 24 1.6
95 16 1.0
96 12 0.8
97 11 0.7
98 20 1.3
99 9 0.6
U.S. Call Areas Worked
Area QSOs Pct
0 178 11.7
1 139 9.1
2 141 9.2
3 165 10.8
4 196 12.9
5 113 7.4
6 105 6.9
7 114 7.5
8 132 8.7
9 164 10.8
Total 1447 94.9
Sweepstakes Precedents
Precedent QSOs Pct
A 699 45.8 B 325 21.3 Q 31 2.0 M 102 6.7 U 356 23.3 S 12 0.8
