Commentary
SS CW is my favorite contest! Although I recall it being much more fun
from NTX than from WMA!
Contest started very slowly. Was CQing on 40 and tuning on 20. 15 was
near dead. Went to 80 early just because 40 didn't seem to be producing
too well. When I finally went to 40, quickly realized I may have been on
the wrong band! Was just going through the motions until 40 opened. My
back was constantly reminding me that I had just done 44+ hours of DX
contesting only six days earlier (another sign I am getting old, never
used to notice this!).
Great condx on 40 Sat night. Good signals from coast to coast. Skip
zone was ONLY about 200 miles. This made for some good rates that got me
mentally back in the contest.
Did 2 radio stuff the whole weekend. But unlike past years, didn't find
as many QSOs on the 2nd rig. Many times I would tune for up to 10 mins
without finding a new station to work. Meanwhile, the CQing radio would
continue a steady 40/hr rate.
Operated non-stop to 0940z. Decided I would go until the rate dropped.
Could have stayed on, but 12:40 hours is a long stint in the chair without
getting up. Back on at 12Z for a much better than expected hour.
I have about decided that the rates on Sunday just keep going down. So
my strategy was to operate as long as rate stayed above 40/hr. Second off
time was at 1800z. So I operated 18:40 of the first 21:00 hours! This left
me the luxury of being able to kill lots of off time all afternoon and
evening. It becomes a game of hoping that the competition doesn't catch
up.
Found the KP2 on 15m Sunday morning while tuning with the 2nd rig. Got
him on the first call. Didn't think anything of it until I heard all the
horror stories later about the pile-up. Was worried about VE5 until got 3
of them Sun afternoon. Worked about 6 ME stations on 40 Sunday.
The last section was NWT. Found VY1JA at 14001 (tnx to tip from KR0Y)
but it was a mess and he was very weak. Didn't expect to make a sweep
anyway so decided to concentrate on QSOs. A little later I was CQing on
14051 and very happy to have VE8NC call in. My first sweep in 3 years!
This is a challenging contest from W1. First you get to listen to the
W5 and west guys run way ahead. Then they seem to disappear on Sunday
morning so you almost catch up (and visions of Top Ten dance in your
head). But then Sunday afternoon the bands go long and its over. Gotta
find a way to squeeze another 50 QSOs out of the first 6 hours in order to
have a chance.
Congrats to KZ2S at N2NT for top Northeast score. And to K1TO for
pushing me all the way. New Division Record makes it worthwhile.
Here's the numbers...
Rate Sheet
