[table]
Name,Call,Worked Member,CW QSO,Power,QSO,Mult,Score
John,K1VOI,Y,N,L,32,11,704
Earl,KD1UU,Y,N,L,39,17,1224
Matt,W1MSW,Y,Y,L,153,62,31124
Frandy,N1FJ,Y,Y,Q,54,20,4120
Chuck,KB1JFQ,Y,N,L,12,2,44
Ed,KB1NWH,Y,Y,H,61,26,3068
Jim,KK1W,Y,Y,H,445,92,146096
Marty,W1MJB,Y,Y,L,117,44,11000
Rory,N1RNR,Y,N,L,25,9,450
,HCRA Totals, , , , , ,197830 [/table]
Soapbox
KK1W: I had high hopes going into the contest this year. 10 meters was open just a few weeks earlier in the CQWW contest – how could we go wrong? Well, it didn’t quite live up to expectations but was still pretty exciting. I started a little late Friday but that evening I had my best rates on CW during a nice opening to the west just before midnight. Saturday wasn’t bad but Sunday started slow and quietly died to almost nothing by the time the contest ended. Next year, that’s it – next year! High points were working the HCRA members and there were a lot of them! Also posting scores in real time to the getscores.org web site was fun. It was interesting to watch how others were fairing as the contest progressed. I ran high power this year with spotting. The spots, though plentiful were not terribly helpful but the amplifier was!!! I have to say the nicest thing this year was the excitement among our members. Phone, CW, roundtables – HCRA members were everywhere. The scores don’t tell the whole story, it’s the number of participants that does. Thanks to everyone, HCRA members and all the others out there playing radio, for a fun filled weekend. Now… just wait until next year :>)
W1MSW: Minus a few times when signals were caught in the propagation doldrums, the contest this year was without a doubt a lot of fun. It was really my first opportunity to make a somewhat serious effort at a contest from home and considering the fact that my setup is a series of compromises, I think I did pretty well. Although I had tested, tested and re-tested my setup between the computer, rig and keyer before the contest, right at the beginning the entire system failed and it took me another 30 mins to get online during which the band was busy. Saturday and Sunday openings to South America were fun and Mexican stations were really booming in on CW on Sunday. Speaking of CW, I finally feel confident in my ability to operate CW during a contest and man is it crucial in this contest to maximize your score. Really great to see how many club members are using the mode. I also used the spotting network, which ended up being a compromise as well. Because there wasn’t an overwhelming number of signals, the spots weren’t as helpful and using them classified me with the Multi/Single stations who are typically running high power and have much nicer setups. However, it did allow me to leave the shack when things were quiet, spend time with the better half and monitor propagation and spots on my smart phone in case something came up. Was the system perfect? No, but it will probably guarantee more contest weekends in my future. It was also really great to hear all the club members meet up on .375 on Friday when things started slowing down. It really made it feel like a club effort and it was fun to make sure you’d worked everyone in the round table for contest credit. Thanks to everyone who participated and I’m looking forward to next year.
HCRA Totals 197,830