I looked back and realized I have not participated in a November Sweepstakes contest since 2010. It is not My favorite contest but it is probably the most challenging domestic contest I participate in.The exchange of Serial number, precadance , call sign ,Year first licensed and Section to both send and receive is a challenge.During the contest I was constantly amazed at how easily the big guns could listen and fire back with their exchange. I tried not to hurry and I think it helped to keep the "shotgun" exchange at a more even pace.
This weekend as usual ended up being a lot more busy than I had anticipated so I was in and out of the shack quite often.This really made it hard to get an exchange rthymn going so at the start I really struggled and at the end of My BIC time it seemed rather easy . The higher bands like 10m were in excellent condition while the lower bands,even 20m seemed noisy and difficult to hear the exchanges. I did not stay on much after 7:00 pm either night but tried to be on the air when 10 and 15m were open.I still find 10m the most fun because of the antenna options of vertical and horizontal (yagi) I can use.I found the Yagi to collect the better signals although occasioningly the vertical won out.
As usual I only did an S & P contest and didn't waste much time trying to break thru the pile ups. I heard VE8EV on 15m but He was very weak and the pile was immense. Alaska and Hawaii were also working big pile ups so I passed them by but amazingly I had 3 Montana contacts! I was hoping to break 10,000 points which I did and had 49 sections out of 83 which wasn't too bad. Sometime I would like to be able to devote enough time to have a chance at a sweep. A coffee cup would be ordered for sure.
Glad I participated . Sad to think that each Year the band conditions will diminish till they bottom out at the end of this cycle. Enjoy it while I can!
73--Tim
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