I had several issues with software and equipment which kept Me from participating in the RTTY part of this contest in September so I was anxious for the October SSB contest. I updated N1MM logger and also made sure My TSQL certificate for LOTW was also up to date. My equipment is My old standby Yaesu FT-950 at 100w into a Butternut HF-6v ground mounted vertical for 40,20 and 15m and a 10m mono bander at 25 feet for 10m.
I started this contest at 0000 UTC but only was able to operate for a while before Our kids showed up. We haven't had a chance to catch up on their work life and other subjects so after a very enjoyable several hours it also was time for shut eye for Me. I would have on and off times thru the weekend to contest and luckily conditions were good with 15m and 10m open most of the contest.
I soon decided 10m was My band of choice- a directional horizontal antenna in the air offered a more enjoyable contest effort. My vertical antenna has good ears but for most of the contest it was a struggle to be heard. It might be because of high powered stations at the far end and My small 100w signal return to try to make contact but a bean and 10m propagation levels the playing field.
Sunday found me trying to fill in some easy north american zones on 40m and other bands which get forgotten during the DX zone chasing. I don't think any new DXCC were added and I missed several like South Africa I heard but couldn't break the pileups but that was okay.Maybe next time. I ended with 117 contacts,33 zones between the bands worked for a score of 26,292.
I'm looking forward to the ARRL 10m contest in December and hope propagation is as good as it was this weekend.
73--Tim
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