The 40th Annual ARRL 10m Contest is now in the books. Condx were similar to 2010, but a bit better…very little Europe heard/worked unfortunately but band was open at least 12 hours each day to somewhere…mostly NA/SA! Scores and stories can be posted here.
Bill W1WBB
SOLP-CW: 353 QSOs/79 mults/111,548pts
CW only *UN*assisted effort. Disappointed with return to 2010-like conditions ;>(( but attemted to ‘make lemonade with the lemons’ given to us! Bill W1WBB
Not as good as last year, although I had only 7 Qs less than last year and was in the chair 3 hours less this year. But I had 23 more mults last year. I think that was because I didn’t run into any good openings to EU this year. The only EUs I got were after it got dark over there on Sunday afternoon. Good SA prop and the US was pretty active. I got one new country (Marianna Island). Thanks to K1SD for sending a couple of spots my way.
Call: KA1GEU
Operator(s): KA1GEU
Station: KA1GEU
Class: SO SSB HP – Assisted
QTH: Charlestown, RI
Operating Time (hrs): 12
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
——————-
CW:
SSB: 437 90
——————-
Total: 437 90 Total Score = 78,660
Club: CT RI Contest Group
I was only able to spend about 6 hours in this contest (according to N1MM Logger). It seemed like longer than that. I was SO(A) HP.
Had about 35 DX Qs from A45 in the east to a couple of ZL to the west; CE to the south and one JA. Several Alaska spotted, but I never heard them. Long path Qs with JA5, A45, and F5. Not many between 100 and 1000 miles, but lots of CA and WA. When I checked at about 1500 local on Sunday I didn’t hear much and decided to do some runnin’ and gunnin’ and picked a spot and started calling CQ. An hour and 15 minutes later with a 10 minute break in that period, I accumulated about 115 Qs… including a strange call in RI… NY1Q. 🙂 Also heard and worked W1XX and W1WBB from the club.
Call: W1XX
Op: W1XX
Class: SO CW HP
QTH: RI
Op Time (Hrs): 5.2
summary
——————————–
QSos = 386
DomMults = 47
DXMults = 20
——————————–
Score = 103,448
Club: CTRI Contest Group
Comments:
This was a get on the band for a few minutes contest…go away…and come back later for another short spurt. Was I on at the wrong time or did Europe seceed from the earth? I think I worked 3 EU stations: EA, I, and F. XV1X, VietNam, working split was a nice one LP. Also the BD7 and HS0ZIA who called me. Musta worked 500 California stations. And almost as many RI stations. Worked the usual suspect CTRI stations: W1WBB, K1DM, K3IU, NG1G, and probably forgot some. Condx weren’t great but 10 meters always pulls some surprises. 73! — John, W1XX
Call: K1SD
Class: SO(A) HP SSB
QTH: RI
Summary:
QSOs Mults
——————-
CW:
SSB: 251 72
——————-
Total: 251 72 Total Score = 36,144
Club: CT RI Contest Group
Worked more RI than NY, NJ, and PA combined! (0). Had some fun but more frustration. I’ve got to get this antenna higher. 73 James K1SD
Excellent effort by Chris KA1GEU with the new beam/tower combo leading the way with the most QSOs and mults for the club so far, all on SSB! While the hoped for opening to Europe never really happened all weekend the rapidly changing propagation on the band kept things interesting for me… and is one of the reasons I really enjoy this event (as long as there’s *some* sunspots and decent solar flux).
Still managed to work all continents but we’ll have to hope for a rebound on conditions on 10m in the December 2013 event. DX/Domestic mult breakdown further below in my 3830 post. Interesting that I always seem to work more states during the annual ARRL 160m contests than in this event!
Some recent transceiver issues causing loss of RX audio in lower part of band had me operating at a real disadvantage unable to make contacts much below 28030. The problem worsened this past weekend while ‘running’ as well so rig will need service before it’s again contest-ready.
ARRL 10-Meter Contest
Call: W1WBB
Operator(s): W1WBB
Station: W1WBB
Class: SO CW LP
QTH: RI
Operating Time (hrs): 18.5
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
——————-
CW: 353 79
SSB:
——————-
Total: 353 79 Total Score = 111,548
Club: CT RI Contest Group
Comments:
The long distance conditions were not ideal… it was more like 2 yrs ago in
2010 — with very similar solar flux levels (just below 100) and sunspot
numbers below 40 — than last year’s **great** DX blockbuster.
As many as 57 fewer DX (CW) mults this year compared to last year due to almost
total lack of propagation to Europe.
Mult breakdown: 42 USA, 7 VE, 7 Mex, + 23 DX = 79 total
23 DX mults by continent: 5 Eu, 5 NA, 9 SA, 2 AFr, 1 AS, 1 OC
Missed states: NJ, DE, KY, AR, MS, WY, ND & SD
Had 203 Qs/61 mults (just 13 DX mults) and about 50k pts thru Sat eve. Slow
going Sunday with fewer good CQ rates and much S&P for new mults and new stns,
but stayed at it to hit the 100k pt mark. Happy to have the XE mults who
*were* active on CW…hope for more activity in future years as many XE mult
slots go unfilled.
Highlight QSO was with A45XR via Long Path on Sunday AM @ 1515Z…well past
sunset in Oman. Also, cool to be called by KL7RA after hearing just ‘AK’ in a
nearby exchange, then quickly moving up band to call CQ hoping he’d call
in…and he did for new mult!
Excellent Es openings all 3 evenings out to ~ 1200 miles (Nebr. and OK were
furthest worked) lasting more than 2 hrs each with interesting and different
spotlight propagation each day… ie. – only 1 FL in log until late Sunday
when the band just opened up to there with lots in the log; plenty of AL, TN &
MO each eve but no nearby MS or AR; many WI, IL and IA but no MN until late Sat
eve when a bunch were suddenly worked in a string; and Fri eve had short Es to
VA, WV and OH and later out to TN, GA and AL but skipped over the Carolinas!
Hampered significantly by recent loss of Rx audio/Tx capability in bottom
20-30+ kHz (varies) of band due to misalignment problem in rig PLL system. I’m
sure I lost some Q’s and mults because of *that* big problem. Doublet antenna
suffered high SWR during weekend rainy periods and was used only Sunday.
Rig/ant: ca. 1992 Icom IC-737 (due for repair!) @ 100w; 5-band Hexbeam with
10m elements at 33′ above ground; 88′ wire doublet @ ~ 45′ with gain lobes to
multiple areas of S/A, S. Afr. and WNW (primarily used for quick-change for DX
mults); N1MM Logger.
Many thanks for the contacts on 10m! The rapid propagation changes on this
band always makes this an interesting and fun event.
73, Bill W1WBB
I wasn’t able to get on until Sunday afternoon. Linda spent Friday night in the hospital again. It was another adjust the medications visit. Plus, I was driving back from Virginia when she called me and told me she was in the hospital. I got back and into the hospital about 2300 local.
With her visiting the hospital so often, I have learned ways to get in after the normal doors are locked, so I was able to get in to see her for a few minutes, then came home and went to sleep. On Saturday, I went back to the hospital, but this time to bring her home. She was released about 11:00 in the morning. When we got home, each of us was pretty tired – you know how it goes trying to sleep in the hospital – so we each took a nap. By the time I got dinner and everything else done on Saturday evening, it was too late to try the radio. Sunday after church and lunch, I sat down at the radio, and started listening around. I decided to call a few stations – using my 80-m inverted V antenna. Surprisingly, people could hear me, but that’s 10 meters.
I spent just under 5 hours searching and pouncing. I worked W1XX, but didn’t hear anyone else. I managed 88 QSOs 34 multipliers (6 five-pointers including two EU stations) and 11,968 claimed points – Single operator NON-assisted low power. As always, there’s plenty of room for improvement. Part of my motivation was working some new states and new countries on 10 while there is opportunity. As of yet, I haven’t sorted out just how many new entities I added, but that will come!
73, Mike, K1DM
ARRL10M Score Summary Sheet
Start Date : 2012-12-08
CallSign Used : NY1Q
Operator(s) : N1HRA, KB1LCQ
Operator Category : MULTI-OP
Band : ALL
Power : HIGH
Mode : MIXED
Default Exchange : RI
Gridsquare : FN41CL
Name : William Champagne
Address : 105 Main Street
City/State/Zip : Ashaway RI 02804
Country : USA
ARRL Section : RI
Club/Team : CTRI Contest Group
Software : N1MM Logger V12.9.3
Band Mode QSOs Pts Mul
28 CW 144 572 53
28 USB 424 848 68
Total Both 568 1420 121
Score : 171,820
Rig : FT-1000D
Antennas : TH5
Soapbox :
Jay and I worked the 10M contest and had lots of fun. Jay worked most of the Phone contacts and I the CW. Jay worked a few nice pile ups and is still talking about it. (Gee these newbies HIHI) No really he did a great job and is going to be a nice addtion to the the club.
Jay,
With Bill’s help, it sounds like you are going to become a world-class operator. May I encourage you to get your General Ticket as soon as practical! You will have lots more fun at home! If you need any additional help, please ask.
73, Mike, K1DM
Aha! So dat’s who was ‘New Yawk One Queen’ from Rho Dilund. Youze guys did pretty swell on 10 meters…nice goin’! (Actually only worked you all on CW so never did hear the phonetics). Very nice effort Jay and Bill. 73, Bill W1WBB
I really want to get my general soon. Hoping before Puerto Rico.
I also forgot to say this… I was too busy trying work a small pile-up along with getting only the station I wanted to work to talk, and bill walks into the room with the camera on his phone going. Have to pass it around at the next meeting.
73
Jay KB1LCQ