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I really appreciate Richard K5NA and Susan K5DU being such fantastic hosts. The last time I guest operated from their farm, there was an emergency trip to the hospital before the weekend was over. This weekend was thankfully less eventful. Even the traffic on the highways was not bad considering that the Formula One United States Grand Prix was being held just about 20 miles away.
With a toddler at home, I haven't had much time for amateur radio lately. This was my first time on the radio since CQ WPX Phone eight months ago, so I wondered how well I would do. I got off to a slow first hour, and I don't know if it was because I was rusty, or because I started on the wrong band. I guess 15 meters was a bit long at the time, so maybe I shoulod have started on 20 meters. I wasn't really worried about working all the new Ontario multipliers, and as it turns out I was called by at least one of each in just the first two hours of the contest. I did manage five hours in a row of over 100 contacts, and I felt like my transition to 40 meters on Saturday night went much better than it has in recent years. Still, my weak starting hour meant that I was playing catch-up with last year's running QSO total all night. I ended up just a few QSOs short when I decided it was time to sleep. By that point, all but two of the multipliers (PR and NT) had called in. AR was my final close-in multiplier on Saturday night.
Sunday went much the same as it always does. Despite not doing as much on 10 meters this year, I ended up just passing my QSO total from last year at the very end of the contest. Every multiplier called me at least once, with NT being the final one to enter my log. One of my more interesting QSOs was with a VO2 station - you just do not work very many stations from Labrador. I continue to be surprised at how few contacts I make with Alberta - I made 80% more contacts with Montana this year than I did with Alberta. There are supposedly 4X as many amateur radio operators in VE6 as there are in VE4 and VE5, but I always work at least as many stations from Saskatchewan and Manitoba as I do from Alberta.
I think there was significantly more activity from Ontario this year. By the end, I had worked at least eight stations in each of the new Ontario multipliers. ONS was the most common (19), followed by GTA (14), ONE (11), and ONN (8). 52 contacts is close to double the number of VE3 stations I worked last year. Had Ontario been a single multiplier this year, it would have been the 10th most worked multiplier in my log (compared to 23rd last year).
I had fun.
10 Meters 5 element Cushcraft monobander @ 152', rotatable 5 element Cushcraft monobander @ 115', fixed NE 5 element Cushcraft monobander @ 78', fixed NE 5 element Cushcraft monobander @ 100', fixed NW 15 Meters 5 element Cushcraft monobander @ 170', rotatable 5 element Cushcraft monobander @ 128' fixed NE 5 element Cushcraft monobander @ 86' fixed NE 5 element Cushcraft monobander @ 44', rotatable from 315 to 140 degrees 20 Meters 5 element Cushcraft monobander @ 190', rotatable 5 element Cushcraft monobander @ 128' fixed NE 5 element Cushcraft monobander @ 70' fixed NE 5 element Cushcraft monobander @ 45' fixed SE 5 element Cushcraft monobander @ 104' fixed NW 9 element Cushcraft X9 tribander @ 82', rotatable 40 Meters 2 element Cushcraft XM240 @ 200', rotatable 2 element Cushcraft XM240 @ 128' fixed NE 2 element Cushcraft XM240 @ 70' fixed NW Inverted Vee @ 35'. 80 Meters NE - Two element phased vertical array NW - Two element phased vertical array SW - Sloping dipole @ 170' 160 Meters Full sized Rohn 25G vertical with insulator at 30' and raised radials Receiving Antennas Nine Beverages: SW, W, NW, NNW, N, NNE, E, SE Radios: ====== Radio 1: Elecraft K3, Elecraft P3, Acom 2000A Radio 2: Elecraft K3, Elecraft P3, Acom 2000A SO2R Controller: microHAM MK2R+ Headset: Yamaha CM-500 Software: WriteLog V10.84D
Contest Logging was done with Writelog contest logging software. The following reports and log were created using K5KA (SK)'s CBS post-contest processor.
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Last Updated 26 June 2020 wm5r@wm5r.org |