NAQP

There were some real doubts about me being able to be in this one. I went to work on Thursday night and I was so sick that they sent me home. I stayed in bed for what seemed forever. I was taking everything that I could get my hands on to see if I could shake this head cold. It had affected by breathing and hearing. Of course, you have to be able to hear to contest, so I was worried. Saturday morning, I still felt like death warmed over, but went out and loaded up the logging program and fired up the rig. There was a Hungarian DX contest going on so I got N1MM configured and jumped in for a little while. I worked 7 or 8 and decided that was enough. I decided to be conservative and laid down again until about 20 minutes before the contest started. After a quick loading up of cold medications, I went to the shack. I was amazed that I heard the west coast on 15 meters and started there. After a while juggling 15 and 20 meters, I had to take a break. Then 15 died on me, so 20 was the band of choice. Then I started juggling 20 and 40. I was amazed how well people were managing on 40. There were tons of stations crammed into the little gaps between broadcast stations. After 20 died on me, it was just a matter of juggling 40 and 80 meters. I did take a few short breaks (that I did not count) and my required 30 minute ones. I even decided to give a try running stations on 80 meters for a bit, but I kept getting QRMed and had to creep up the band a bit until I ran out of room. During my run period, I was able to add a few mults that I needed on 80, so it was worth it. But, as with everything, it could not last and I was struggling during the last hour. I was alloted 10 hours, but I could only do 9.5 and that was probably too much as I feel really terrible this morning.

By comparison, in the August NAQP, I had 239 QSOs, 80 multipliers for a score of 19,120. This one was 366 QSOs, 100 multipliers for a score of 36,600. So, I achieved my goal of beating my last score. I actually passed the goal after about 6 hours in the contest, but I was feeling good enough to keep going (adrenaline rush, I think).

Those contesters who know me by my real name were confused last night by my using the name of Lee for the contest. Lee is so much easier to spell and less confusing than trying to give everyone the name of Hershel. Not only that, it is easier to hear when the band conditions are really terrible or there is lots of QRM. So, I did have a couple of people going for a minute or two like Jim, WX3B and Bob, W4MYA. But, they quickly recovered and all was well. I even heard Elvis on the air last night!!!