2016 ARRL Sweepstakes CW K5ZD

ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, CW

Call: K5ZD
Operator(s): K5ZD
Station: K5ZD

Class: Single Op HP
QTH: W1
Operating Time (hrs): 22.7
Radios: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
  160:    0
   80:  389
   40:  357
   20:  402
   15:  114
   10:    0
------------
Total: 1262  Sections = 83  Total Score = 209,492

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club

Comments:

My 40th consecutive year with over 1000 QSOs in SS CW!
(http://k5zd.com/scores/sweepstakes-cw-personal-records/)

Not very motivated to put in a full effort, but when I saw this was going to be the 40th year, I had to give it a run.

Have had an bad SWR on my 40m beam for over a year. Was motivated Sat morning to diagnose the problem. On trip #1, found a bad coax connector at the top of the tower. I strung together 400+ feet of extension cords and on trip #2, I carried up the soldering iron and put on a new connector. Nice to have 40 working again.

My best start ever. Great runs from the start of the contest until 06Z. Then it was like someone turned off the activity.

Stopped early and took most of my off time all at once. Have never done that before. Sure removes the pressure on Sunday since there is no escape except to keep CQing and tuning.

Sunday was never great for rates. Seemed to hover around 30-35 with a few hours in the 40s.

Now I know why I have tried to save offtime to avoid the Sunday evening 00z and 01z hours. Ugh. Almost quit it was so bad. 15 mins of CQing with no answer. Last hour was good.

Worked at least 2 of every section. My traditional difficult ones were out in plenty. Was nice to go to sleep with a sweep in hand. NE was the most difficult and last section.

Operating quality seemed to be better. Almost everyone seemed to send the right thing when I sent NR, PR, CK, SEC!

Way too many checks in the late 50s and early 60s, without enough in the last few years. The traffic handlers that make SS special for me are all getting old.

QSO/Sec by hour and band

 Hour      80      40      20      15     Total     Cumm      Off 

D1-2100Z    -       -     18/10   78/33   96/43     96/43  
D1-2200Z    -      1/0    77/15   16/2    94/17    190/60  
D1-2300Z    -     37/3    50/4      -     87/7     277/67  
D2-0000Z  35/7    52/4    --+--   --+--   87/11    364/78  
D2-0100Z  72/2     6/0      -       -     78/2     442/80  
D2-0200Z  80/1     3/0      -       -     83/1     525/81  
D2-0300Z  70/1     8/0      -       -     78/1     603/82  
D2-0400Z  44/0    16/0      -       -     60/0     663/82  
D2-0500Z  24/0    25/1      -       -     49/1     712/83  
D2-0600Z   8/0     7/0      -       -     15/0     727/83     36
D2-0700Z    -       -       -       -      0/0     727/83     60
D2-0800Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0     727/83     60
D2-0900Z    -       -       -       -      0/0     727/83     60
D2-1000Z    -       -       -       -      0/0     727/83     60
D2-1100Z  15/0     7/0      -       -     22/0     749/83     28
D2-1200Z  15/0    25/0      -       -     40/0     789/83  
D2-1300Z   5/0    21/0    11/0      -     37/0     826/83  
D2-1400Z    -     17/0    27/0      -     44/0     870/83  
D2-1500Z    -     13/0    30/0      -     43/0     913/83  
D2-1600Z  --+--    3/0    26/0     6/0    35/0     948/83  
D2-1700Z    -     23/0    33/0      -     56/0    1004/83  
D2-1800Z    -      5/0     5/0      -     10/0    1014/83     43
D2-1900Z    -      2/0    32/0     5/0    39/0    1053/83  
D2-2000Z    -       -     33/0     8/0    41/0    1094/83  
D2-2100Z    -      4/0    24/0     1/0    29/0    1123/83  
D2-2200Z    -     11/0    20/0      -     31/0    1154/83     37
D2-2300Z   2/0    13/0    14/0      -     29/0    1183/83  
D3-0000Z   1/0     3/0     2/0    --+--    6/0    1189/83     50
D3-0100Z  10/0    27/0      -       -     37/0    1226/83  
D3-0200Z   8/0    28/0      -       -     36/0    1262/83  

Total:   389/11  357/8   402/29  114/35