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SS CW From Nebraska - KX9X Recap

Nov 7, 2008 14:02 ET
Sean E. Kutzko, KX9X

Saturday morning breakfast with the Pioneer ARC in Fremont, Nebraska. Left to right, front row (closest to camera):WØGAJ - Carl; KX9X - Sean; KØSW - Larry; KØVLA - Mel; KFØMS - Steve; KBØARZ - Rich. Back row, left to right: WØUVQ - Roy; WNØL - Lance; WØICE - Bob; KCØYRR - Linda; KAØVXK - Bill; Bill's XYL - Kathryn; KBØZUN - Jane

Jane, KBØZUN presents me with a 1-year honorary membership in the Pioneer ARC. Thanks!

Larry, KØSW, hosts the 80 Meter Cornhuskers Net Saturday afternoon before the contest. My traveling mascot Jarvis can be seen on top of the rig; he's been with me on all of my Amateur Radio expeditions since the mid-1990s.

The KEØRC shack...and it really IS a shack!

Lance WNØL, my host, with Larry KØSW in the background.

Sunday morning at KEØRC.

Part of my enjoyment of Amateur Radio is to operate from "the other side of the pileup." There's nothing like making QSOs in rapid-fire succession from a rare country, state, grid square or county. I've been to the Caribbean a couple times for HF Contests, and activated several rare grids for VHF contests, but haven't been anywhere recently. I was starting to get "the itch."

With 2008 being the 75^th running of November Sweepstakes, it seemed like the perfect year to mount an expedition to a rare section. Planning for SS had been going on for months here at ARRL HQ, and I wanted to make sure all sections would be active to ensure as many Clean Sweeps as possible. I knew I'd be at W1AW for Phone SS, so CW SS was wide open for me. I'd been thinking for a while about going to Quebec, as it's only a 4-hour drive to the Canadian border from my apartment in Connecticut. My boss Dave, NN1N quickly convinced me there would be plenty of VE2's on and I should look elsewhere.

About a month ago, word spread that our long-time SS QSO from the Yukon, VY1JA, was not going to be active this year. VY1 immediately became my target, and I checked airfares to Whitehorse. $1000 round trip was pretty steep for my budget, but I was willing to do it for The Cause. However, several emails failed to find an available station for me to operate from in VY1; this meant I'd have to transport an entire station -- rig, amp, power supply, computer, and all antennas -- with me and find a lodge or cabin to rent. With the cost of lodging now in the equation, and extra baggage costs being what they are today, an already-lofty price tag quickly shot out of my reach. Fortunately Eric, VY1EI had said he would step up to the plate and provide the much-needed Yukon multiplier in the CW event. (Thanks, Eric!).

I began thinking back over all my SS participation; what sections were the toughest? Wyoming and North Dakota were rare, but there had usually been a Big Gun operation from those sections that was relatively easy to work. VO1HP and others in the East Coast Canada Contest Club have been activating the NL Section in northeastern Canada pretty reliably for some time, too. After some thought, I recalled always sweating bullets over working Nebraska in the CW event. I looked up the participation levels over the past few years; WYØL's Multioperator effort (with N9JF) had been a fixture for a while, as had KØDI's Single Operator, Low Power efforts, but I still recalled grumblings of Nebraska being a tough one to snag. I checked airfares; coincidentally, there was a price drop from Hartford to Omaha; I could make the trek for a mere $230. I had found my target. Now, where the heck do I operate from?

I put out a couple feelers for stations that might be willing to let me be a guest op at their QTH. Somehow, my query made it to the Heartland DX Association's email reflector. I shortly received an email from Lance, WNØL and his wife Darlene, NØLOP, who said I was welcome to use the Fremont (Nebraska) Area Radio Transmitting Society's club station, KEØRC. It was located on his property in rural Colon, Nebraska, and had a Kenwood 850 with CW filter, a small tribander at 60 feet, and various wire antennas for 40 and 80. During some ensuing email and phone conversations, he'd assured me it wouldn't be a bother, the QTH was quiet, and I was more than welcome. With that, I purchased my plane ticket and was off to the races.

It's common knowledge that for a serious effort in Sweepstakes, a 40 Meter dipole at 30-35 feet is a critical antenna to have in your bag of tricks. While the KEØRC shack had good half-slopers on 40 and 80, they didn't have a horizontal dipole broadside to the east-west. I shipped out a 40/80 meter dipole and Lance added it to the antenna farm before I arrived. There were other plans being worked on as well; Darlene had announced my visit to the area in the newsletter for the Pioneer Amateur Radio Club, KØJFN, and arranged a Saturday morning breakfast with the club. This was getting better all the time!

I was trying to decide what category to enter when Ward, NØAX, challenged me to a low-power duel. He would be in Missouri for his first CW SS from the Midwest in a long time, operating from WØFF's place. The stations being similar in equipment and the gauntlet being thrown, I would enter Single Op Low Power, with a killer spicy Thai dinner on the line.

I flew in to Omaha on Halloween evening. On the flight, I started crunching some numbers. I had printed out the record scores for CW Sweepstakes from Nebraska, as well as the Midwest Division. The Nebraska SOLP record was 180,000 points, set by David, KØDI in 2004. Mark, AG9A, held the Division record with his 2003 operation from NØNI, at 193,550. I decided I wanted the Division record and would shoot for the moon. 200,000 points would be 1250 QSOs and a Clean Sweep. That would require an average of 52 QSOs per hour over the 24 hour allotted time...tough, but not impossible. I wrote out an hour-by-hour progress chart, planned my off-times, and had my battle plan: Project 1250 was born.

Lance picked me up at the Omaha airport a little after 9pm and we made the drive to his rural QTH, where he, Darlene and I stayed up talking until about midnight. Saturday morning we all got up and met members of the Pioneer ARC for breakfast at the local café. About 15 folks showed up, where I was presented with a one-year honorary membership in the club. It was a real treat and I'm glad to have met all the members and been made to feel so welcome.

After a quick stop at the grocery store, we went back to get the shack ready to go. The KEØRC station is a small outbuilding on Lance's farm, about 100 yards from the main house. After doing some ergonomic adjustments on the equipment and operating desk and a little antenna tweaking, I took a nap for a couple hours and woke up at 2000z with an hour before the contest and was treated to some of Darlene's real Midwest cooking; pot roast with potatoes and carrots, bread and butter. Having grown up in Illinois, it was so nice to get a good old fashioned home-cooked meal. After stuffing myself on lunch until the buttons on my shirt were popping off, I waddled out of the house and into the shack with about fifteen minutes to spare. I put my hour-by-hour battle plan in front of me and put the headphones on.

I tuned 20 Meters to find a frequency to call and found VY1EI on 14.050 listening up 1. When the contest started, I tried to call him, but he was already getting swamped by a pileup. I spent 4 minutes trying to get through, but decided I couldn't afford to waste time and get behind right out of the starting gate. I opted to fight the VY1 battle later and chose to call CQ instead.

The first hour netted 53 QSOs...not a bad start. I continued calling with the beam to the west and made another 54 QSOs in the second hour, including getting called by VY1EI at 2234z; a significant load off my mind. My Boss NN1N's advice on avoiding a trip to Quebec was proving wise; I worked 3 QC stations in the first 2 hours. I was on pace with my numbers, but needed to gain ground to fend off the inevitable "Sunday Doldrums," where the rates drop significantly. With 107 QSOs in the log after 2 hours, I decided to switch to 40 Meters at 2300z.

The 40 meter dipole I'd shipped out to Lance played VERY well. I quickly racked up another 54 QSOs in the third hour, picking off some of the close-in sections as well as stations from New England, south Florida and even out west in Wyoming and Arizona. 40 Meters is definitely the Money Band from the Midwest, and I stayed there for three hours, getting my QSO total up to 224 after 5 hours. At 0200z I made the decision to switch to 80 Meters.

Lance and Larry spoke highly of the 80 Meter half-sloper aimed toward New England they have, and they were correct. The band was quiet, packed with signals, and surprisingly long. As a former QRP'er in Sweepstakes, 80m was the bane of many an effort; this was completely different. The QSOs and multipliers kept coming in all night long, from both coasts. I had been worried about the middle Canadian sections, VE4, VE5 and VE6. In one of those great Sweepstakes moments we all experience, I was called by KEØZ/VE4 in Manitoba, VE5SF in Saskatchewan and VE6MRV in Alberta within 6 QSOs of each other in a five minute period!

Signals kept coming in and I was working them at good rate. I worked N2IC at 0431z; he gave me #744. Impressive, Steve. I was at # 404 myself, which was the fastest I'd ever reached the 400-QSO mark. At 0526z, I worked KØDI, the current holder of the Nebraska SOLP record. I gave him # 465, and he gave me #397. This was the first clue I'd had of any direct competition, and a 67 QSO lead means nothing with an entire day left in the contest. I also worked Ward, who was at WØFF, and was only 9 QSOs ahead of him. Thai food is always good, but it's even better when somebody else is buying! These two events gave me even more resolve to hunker down. By the time my first off-time came up at 0700z, I had 553 QSOs and 77 of the 80 needed sections, needing only Newfoundland/Labrador, the Virgin Islands and the Pacific. I was 33 QSOs ahead of my pace, and went to bed happy.

At the WØDXCC Convention in Rochester, MN this past August, I sat in on a talk by Bill, ACØW on contest planning. One of the things he touched on was sleep patterns. The human body has, roughly, a 90-minute sleep cycle. He said that if you can plan you sleep schedules in chunks of 90 minutes, you can avoid the grogginess you experience if you wake up in the middle of a 90-minute cycle. I aimed for a 4 ½ hour off-time, and set the alarm for 1115z. The guest bedroom in Lance and Darlene's basement had no windows, and had the most comfortable bed in the world. I was out in no time, and woke up with the alarm and felt surprisingly refreshed.

I started on 80 Meters at 1130z, and got a good run going, working stations from both coasts. My rate seemed to slip with the sunrise, and I opted to move up to 40 Meters at 1220z. By 1400z, the rate was again slowing down, and I decided to give my first band sweep of 20 Meters. 98% of my effort this far had been calling CQ; it was time to start looking for my needed multipliers.

In a time of more sunspots, 15 Meters would be the place to find most off-continent sections. I assumed 20 Meters would fulfill that role this year, especially early in the day. I started at 14.000 MHz and worked my way up the band, working anybody who wasn't already in the log. Around 1425z, I found VO1HP in Newfoundland/Labrador, already working a thick pileup. My logging software told me a multiplier was worth eleven minutes of my time; after eleven minutes, I still didn't have VO1HP in my log. I reached to spin the dial and had almost made up my mind to do so when something told me I needed to spend more time on this multiplier now. Sweepstakes is not like a DX Contest, where multipliers are practically endless; you have 80 to get in your log, and that's it. I figuratively rolled up my sleeves and became determined to work him. I finally worked him at 1441z, an investment of sixteen minutes. I never did hear another NL station. 78 sections worked, 2 to go.

I found a spot on 20 and started calling, but there just wasn't a lot of rate to be found yet. I began a second sweep of 20 Meters, and found KP2M in the Virgin Islands. I got him on the first call, and bagged him at 1527z. Only the PAC section remained, and I was not worried about that one. If 15 Meters opened at all, there would be several of them to be found a little past their local sunrise.

The contest now being a matter of rate for me, I dropped back down to 40 and started calling CQ. I had 725 QSOs in the log, but my time going for VO1HP had dropped my margin; I was only 8 QSOs ahead of my projection. Things were slowing down, and I didn't like it: by 1600z, I had fallen below my hourly projection for the first time, with 746 QSOs in the log, 8 below my pace. The Sunday Doldrums had hit; I wouldn't regain a QSO total higher than my pace for the remainder of the event.

At 1700z I switched back to 20 Meters, hoping to get something going. I'd find a frequency and call CQ, but had few takers. Spinning the dial looking for stations yielded lots of folks I'd already worked. I was running out of people to work. At 1800z, I had 827 QSOs, 29 down from my pace of 858.

It was Noon local time. I decided now would be a good time to check 15; it was open, with loud signals banging in from the west coast. Unfortunately, I'd worked all of them on lower bands already. As I was scanning 15 Meters, I found KH7Y running stations. Two calls later and I had them in my log, getting the Clean Sweep at 1810z. It would be my only QSO on 15 Meters.

The remainder of the 1800z hour was spent QSY'ing everywhere, trying to find a rate. First 40 Meters, then 20, then back to 40, and finally back to 20. I was in the middle of Sunday afternoon, and the well was drying up. Around 1900z, my blood sugar took an intense drop, and I hit a wall. I started getting shaky, and was soon shoveling food in as fast as I could in between QSOs. After about a half hour of this, I started to feel a little better, but I was tiring out. I kept at it, pushing myself through the desire to go to bed. I made it to my last scheduled off-time at 2100z with 925 QSOs, 94 down from where I'd hoped I would be at this time.

I was able to get some of Darlene's homemade chicken noodle soup, grab a shower and a power nap in my remaining 90 minutes. I hit the bands again at 2230z and went straight to 40 Meters. A combination of CQ'ing and hunting got me to 976 QSOs by 0000z. At that time, I made a conscious decision to go to 80 Meters for the remainder of the contest, hoping that some New Blood would find its way to the bands and there would be people to work. Unfortunately, it was a little early, and I only worked 24 stations that hour, my lowest hourly total of the entire event. I had been holding out hope that I would have had a good rate once going to 80, but that hope died when I only had a 24-QSO hour. It was clear at this point that not only would I never make it to 1250 QSOs, but I wasn't going to match KØDI's state SOLP record. I did, however, cross the 1000-QSO threshold at 0058z, working fellow Nebraskan WØKT.

The last two hours were fun, but still very slow. I tried calling up high on 80 meters to get some Generals in the log, and that didn't work well, so I went low, and that didn't work either. I eventually parked it in the middle of 80 Meters and just rode the F1 button on the computer. My last QSO was, interestingly, W4/G4BUE in West Central Florida. Thanks, Chris!

I had 1067 QSOs in the log, along with a Clean Sweep, for 170,720 points. This was certainly my best effort in SS CW. I turned the rig off, took the headset off my head, and shook Lance's hand; it had been a good time.

Darlene had homemade meat loaf with cheesy potatoes and green bean casserole waiting for me. I told her that if she kept feeding me like that, I'd never leave! I was very tired, and the food hit my stomach and was like a warm blanket on a cold night. I was soon waddling off to bed. Darlene had to work in the morning, and it seemed unlikely I would be awake before she left, so I said goodbye and thanked her for everything.

Lance got me to the airport with plenty of time to spare. It had been a great weekend; I'd made some new friends, visited a new state and did my personal best in one of Amateur Radio's best events. I had clear skies and warm temperatures for my flight. It was the perfect cap of a great weekend.

I talked to Ward while waiting for my flight out of Omaha; the Thai food will taste even better than normal, as he's buying. In a couple of weeks, we'll be working side by side at W1AW for SSB Sweepstakes, in between trips to the local Thai eatery.

Thanks for the QSOs, folks.