WAS

Well, I bit the bullet and applied for WAS today. I had to, because now I had no excuse. I have had the application paperwork for some time and have been eligible since the time I worked Alaska in the winter. I had just been dragging my feet. It was on my to do list, but I just had not done so. Today, I was downloading my LoTW returns and I found that a fellow PVRC member AJ1M had confirmed me so I did not have to send in that single WV card. I immediately went online and sent the application in to ARRL. So, I anticipate seeing that certificate roll in here in a few weeks. Now, if I could just get so lucky for my DXCC award!!!! But, I have the cards separated out and I just need to spend some time working on that one.

So, I now have one major award down and the other in progress......

November Sweepstakes

This is the year that the PVRC is going to take back the gavel for Sweepstakes from the Northern California Contest Club. Larry and I planned to give our all for the PVRC. Unfortunately, Larry cannot do a full 24 hours. I had planned on a full 24 hours, but then I had to go to Pennsylvania because Allyson's aunt Shirley has terminal cancer and is only expected to live a couple more weeks. Allyson was going to go with her sister Christie, but then she would not make it home in time for John's baptism on Sunday. So, I went and had a good time. Of course, I did have my 2m with me and made a few contacts while on the drive. I was hoping to catch Jim (WX3B) on the Thurmont, MD repeater and say hello to him as I was driving through. Jim is the president of the PVRC and was very helpful in getting me voted in as a member earlier this year. I have found everyone in the PVRC very helpful and more than willing to help us small guns make an even louder noise during contests!

I was able to leave Lancaster, PA about 4:30pm on my way home. I was thinking that I would only miss about 4 1/2 to 5 hours of the contest that way. But, travelling with my 3 year old and my wife, it was not as easy as getting in the car and driving straight through. I will say that Allyson did not ask to stop often and for a while Emma was asleep, so I was able to get some drive time in. After a stop in Thurmont for a quick dinner, we were back on the road again.

I wound up getting home at about 10pm. I was hoping to be on the air by 10:30pm but I found that when I turned on the radio, the audio did not sound right. I checked everything in the shack and then headed outside where I found the feedline had broken over the past day in the storm that we had been having. So, solder gun in hand, I did a repair of the antenna and got on the air about 11pm. Fortunately, not everyone had gone to bed, so I worked as many by S&P as I could on 40 and 80. After about 2am, things started slowing down a bit and my rate was suffering. But, I hung on through the night until things got so slow that I decided to take a quick shower. Refreshed and ready to do battle again 20 minutes later, I got back into the fray. I walked away from the radio later in the morning long enough to wake up Allyson and go back to the hunt. When it got close to time for us to leave for church, I stopped and got dressed. John was going to be baptized and there was no way that I was going to miss this.

Right after church, I came straight home. Allyson had driven separately so I could get home quickly. Things went well up until the time I had to go back to church again on Sunday night. Again, right after church, we hurried home and I was able to get back into the hunt. I was very happy at the end of the contest when I realized that this was my personal best for Sweepstakes, even though I had operated much less than the alloted 24 hours.

ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, SSB

Call: W4TMN
Cass: Single Op LP
Summary: Band QSOs
160: 0
80: 241
40: 83
20: 58
15: 10
10: 0
Total: 392 Sections = 73 Total Score = 57,232

So, my first contest as an Extra Class was better than my previous best, even though I did not work as long as I have in the past.

It was great to work a lot of the "big guns" during this one such as N4PN (always a wonderful QSO and a great contester), K0GAS, W6YI, KZ1O, KC1F and others!

I could not believe that I did not work a SC, SB, ND or AK this time. I can understand not working some of the Canadian provinces (I missed 4), but I normally get SB & ND. I heard only one SB and one SC and they were S&P like me. I heard an Alaskan, but they had a pileup that a stick of dynamite would have a hard time breaking. I heard not a peep of any ND station.

But, I must say it was fun, even though I was wiped out all day Monday!!

Equipment upgrades

I have added a couple of Kenwood TM-271A radios to my equipment list. They are for the vehicles. I have started programming them for the various areas that I travel in.

I have added a Buddipole for Larry (W3MGL) and I to do some portable operations in the future.

I will be purchasing an aluminum tower soon from Universal Towers to put the tri-bander on so I won't have to deal with any more failures.

So, the contest/DX station is coming together nicely. I hope that this trend continues.

Extra Class exam

On November 4th, I passed the Extra Class Exam. It was a real squeaker as I had not had the opportunity to study much over the past couple of weeks due to work, contests and family committments. I was ready to take the exam 3 times, if necessary. I told the lead examiner, W4NYY (Mike Conte) to just keep bringing me the tests as long as the money held out. I was not very confident of my ability. The more I studied, the more it seemed that I did not know. After I finished my exam, I just just sat there and closed my eyes (actually hoping I could sleep since I had to go to work that night!!!). They finally called me up and congratulated me. Needless to say, I was shocked. Joe (K4JJS) asked me if I knew how hard it was for the VE's to keep a straight face. Well, I was so excited that I nearly left the EOC without my jacket. I called Larry (W3MGL) to let him know and he was almost as excited as I was.

Now, I have all of the ammo that I need to pursue the DX and contest contacts that I need, frequency wise.

CQ WW DX - Phone

What a weekend!!!! Allyson was very helpful in keeping distractions down to a minimum for me. I was able to spend lots of time working on the radio, but conditions were lousy. Saturday was pretty good, but Sunday was hard work.

CQ Worldwide DX Contest, SSB

Class: SOAB LP

Summary: Band QSOs Zones Countries
160: 0 0 0
80: 1 1 1
40: 76 42 14
20: 219 71 20
15: 100 54 17
10: 1 1 1

Total: 397 169 53 Total Score = 236,652

It was my personal best for CQ WW DX, but it could have been better if I had the tri-bander up, my Extra Class ticket and more sunspots! Next year will be better. I did get a couple of new countries out of it: China, New Zealand and Dodecanese so it was not all bad!!

Pennsylvania QSO Party

Pennsylvania QSO Party
Call: W4TMN
Operator(s): W4TMN
Station: W4TMN
Class: Single Op LP
QTH: VA

Summary:
Band Ph Qs
160: 0
80: 132
40: 143
20: 0
15: 0
10: 0

Total: 275 Mults = 63 Total Score = 19,725



It was a lot of fun, as always. The special call stations (N3SH) were everywhere. I racked up a lot of bonus points because of them.

Catching up

I have not been able to do some catching up on the blog, so I am going to give the short and sweet version and then give more details later........

I have done the PA QSO Party, CQ WW DX phone, and November Sweepstakes contests.

I have purchased a couple of Kenwood 2m radios for the vehicles.

I am buying a Universal Aluminum tower for the back yard to put the tri-bander on.

I am still married, in spite of all of the above!!!