GMCC active contesters to be submitted
for club competition:
as of January 4, 2002
WØAH Doug Allen
WØAJ Larry Ball
WØCBH Floyd Campbell
KØCL Larry Gerbaz
KØCOP David Walker
WØCP Walt Stinson
KØDU Jerry Fleck
WØDET Don Taylor
WØETT Ken Anderson
K8FC Joe
Wilkowski
NØFCK Bob Nickels
KØFX Don Weiss
KJØG Bob
Schaeffer
KØGAS Connie Schaeffer
KCØGBC Mark Anderson
KCØGKZ Ron Rich
NØHF Dan
Norman
WA4HND Al Acker
N2IC
Steve London
KIØII
Ron Zoerb
KVØK Patrick
Fitzgerald
NØKE Phil
Krichbaum
NØLP
Nicholas Hanks
NØLYW Lee Armitage
ABØMV Merri Crawford
K9MWM Bob Ludtke
KIØNO David Allen
NØPOH Wayne Heinen
AEØQ Glenn
Pladsen
KVØQ Bill
Johnson
WØRUN Gordon Hardman
KØSX Steve
Grewe
WØTM Gary Yantis
KØUK Bill
Brown
KØVK Fred
Scully
W1XE
George Noyes
N4VI
Chris Adams
NØZA
Dr. Ross Harrell
WØZA Greg
Dunn
WW1M Bruce Herrick
NØIO
Mark Lewis
KCØLEF Michael M. Lewis
WVØH Myron
Schaffer
KCØDKX Chris Engelsgjerd
NØSXX Gary Slagel
NØSG
Jason Nochlin
KAØCT Craig Turner
NZ4DX Dana
Gertsch
Contest Scores of GMC Members
GRAND MESA CONTESTERS OF COLORADO Scores:
2002 ARRL Sweepstakes CW -
Single Operator High Power:
N2IC
Total: 1419 Sections = 80 Total Score = 227,040
N0NR (@KV0Q) Total: 1057 Sections = 80 Total Score = 169,120
KJ0G
Total: 395 Sections = 79 Total Score = 62,410
Single Operator Low Power:
N0HF
Total: 636 Sections = 80 Total Score = 101,760
W0ETT
Total: 535 Sections = 73 Total Score = 78,110
K0FX
Total: 438 Sections = 79 Total Score = 69,204
N0SG
Total: 194 Sections = 60 Total Score = 23,280
NZ4DX
Total: 41 Sections = 28 Total Score = 2,296
Single Operator QRP:
N0SXX Total: 580 Sections = 76 Total Score = 88,160
KI0II Total: 144 Sections = 62 Total Score = 17,856
From Steve, N2IC
Hi Gang !
By popular demand, here's a blow-by-blow account of my SS CW experience.
Preparation:
After the disappointing conditions last weekend, I was determined to focus
my energy towards Sweepstakes. That started immediately after CQWW
last
Saturday morning by climbing the towers to point the 10 meter monobander
east, and swapping coax on the remote antenna switches. The basic
problem
is that I have more antennas than coax feedlines and positions on the
remote
switches. This causes me to make different compromises and
optimizations
for each contest. Having 4 major contests spread across 5 weekends
keeps me
quite busy climbing the 2 towers. The station itself was in
fine shape -
nothing needing repair. Mentally, I was competing against my
long-time
buddies Ralph, N5RZ and Dave, K5GN. Ralph is located in Midland, TX,
and
Dave is in Houston. We usually have comparable propagation, and SS
CW is
also their big event of the contest season. Ralph has also made
extensive
antenna improvements over the past few months.
The Contest:
Deciding which band to start on is always a tough decision. Ideally,
I
would like to start on the band where I have the dominating signal to the
high population areas of W1,2,3 and 8. This year, that meant 10 or
15
meters. 15 had the right propagation, but it was a little too open -
there
would be too many loud signals competing for attention. 10 meters
seemed
too long - at the start it was open from PA eastward - missing W8. I
flipped a coin and chose 10 meters:
HOUR 80CW 40CW 20CW
15CW 10CW TOTAL ACCUM
---- ------ ------ ------ ------
------ ----- -----
21 0
0 0
8 105 113
113
22 0
0 0 36
60 96 209
The 113 opening hour was my best ever in SS ! I spent the
first 90 minutes
on 10, before darkness hit the east coast, and the band cooled down.
I
moved down to 15 meters, but kept the 2nd radio active picking up
stragglers
on 10 meters.
A side note about 2-radio operation....I am practically an evangelist
about
using 2 radios in SS CW. After the first few hours, it's just too
boring to
sit there pressing the CQ button on the computer (or memory keyer).
Why not
put that "spare time" to use by listening on another radio on a
different
band, looking for new QSO's ? It doesn't have to be anything
fancy - for
years I used a borrowed Drake TR-4 and a trap vertical for the 2nd
station.
Until recently, you needed to build a switching box to move the keying and
audio between the 2 radios, but now you can even buy these off-the-shelf
from Top-Ten Devices, WX0B and several others. Even if you're running QRP,
there's no better way to improve your score and energy level than to have
a
2nd radio for doing search-and-pounce, while the "main" radio
CQ's on a hot
band.
Okay...back to the contest...I followed the MUF down - first to 15,
then to
20....
Time 80 40 20
15 10 Total Cummulative
QSO's
23 0
0 2 64
15 81 290
0 0
0 90 5
0 95 385
1 0
1 84 3
0 88 473
2 0
21 62 0
0 83 556
I love this time on 20 - Compared to any other band, my station really
plays
on 20 in a stateside contest. I found VE1RGB on 10 meters (using the
2nd
radio) at 2344Z, just as the band was closing, for the rare MAR
multiplier,
then VY1JA at 2355Z for my only Yukon QSO. Neat ! I knew
the cleansweep
would happen when VO1MP called on 20 at 0222Z for my only NL QSO.
Once 20 closes, it feels like all good things come to an end. I have
a
choice of 2 sub-optimal antennas on 40 - a 3 element beam at 120' and a
dipole at 45'. The beam is just to high and directional for a
stateside
contest. The dipole became the antenna of choice for most of the
evening...
Time 80 40 20
15 10 Total Cummulative
QSO's
3 5
57 12 0
0 74 630
4 17
48 0
0 0 65
695
5 14
55 0
0 0 69
764
6 13
52 0
0 0 65
829
7 16
39 0
0 0 55
884
8 15
19 0
0 0 34