2015 ARRL Sweepstakes CW K5ZD

writeup 
                    ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, CW


Call: K5ZD


Operator(s): K5ZD


Station: K5ZD




Class: Single Op HP


QTH: W1


Operating Time (hrs): 21.5


Radios: SO2R




Summary:


 Band  QSOs


------------


  160:    0


   80:  207


   40:  432


   20:  492


   15:  104


   10:    0


------------


Total: 1235  Sections = 83  Total Score = 205,010




Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club


 


Comments:


Sat down at 15 minutes before the contest and discovered my 15m Yagi wouldn’t turn.  It was pointed at Europe.  Had to use the TH7 at 40′ for the whole contest on 15m.  The 40m beam seems to have a trap problem – the SWR is moving up the band implying that I really have a dipole with a broken director.  It was also intermittent on receive.  Time to get some work done by WW CW!


Great start.  First 3 hours on 14031.  40m was a wasteland until after midnight.  It got good, but everyone seemed to be staying on 80m.


Decided to get 4+ hours of sleep rather than manage the offtime. I felt better on Sunday, but ended up with no off time to escape the slow rates.


Sunday morning was ok, but by lunch time, the bands were almost worked out. Not enough new activity coming on the air so it got really slow.


VE6 and NWT were my last two sections.  Was happy to find VE6EX late Sun morning. When I heard auroral buzz on stations 15 meters, I gave up hope for ever finding VE8.  Lucked out and heard someone working VY1AAA at the bottom of 20m.  He was at whisper level, but managed to get a QSO.  My usual nemesis is VE5 and VO1.  Worked lots of both.


When I called CQ for 10 minutes without an answer on 40 and 80m, decided to end the contest early. Off to catch an early flight at 6am Monday morning.


Thanks to everyone that got on and enjoyed the spirit of traffic handling. This was my 39th consecutive year of SS CW with more than 1000 QSOs in the log.


 


 


QSO/Sec by hour and band




 Hour      80      40      20      15     Total     Cumm    OffTime




D1-2100Z    -       -     94/37   10/8   104/45    104/45


D1-2200Z    -       -     83/15   16/3    99/18    203/63


D1-2300Z    -      2/1    73/5    11/3    86/9     289/72


D2-0000Z  --+--   12/0    71/2    --+--   83/2     372/74


D2-0100Z  28/0    29/1    12/0      -     69/1     441/75


D2-0200Z  45/3    23/0      -       -     68/3     509/78


D2-0300Z  22/0    58/2      -       -     80/2     589/80


D2-0400Z  58/0    23/0      -       -     81/0     670/80


D2-0500Z   9/0    58/0      -       -     67/0     737/80


D2-0600Z  13/0    23/0      -       -     36/0     773/80     16


D2-0700Z    -       -       -       -      0/0     773/80     60


D2-0800Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0     773/80     60


D2-0900Z    -       -       -       -      0/0     773/80     60


D2-1000Z    -       -       -       -      0/0     773/80     60


D2-1100Z   8/1     5/0      -       -     13/1     786/81     41


D2-1200Z  12/0    34/0      -       -     46/0     832/81


D2-1300Z   2/0    36/0     7/0      -     45/0     877/81


D2-1400Z    -     34/0    10/0      -     44/0     921/81


D2-1500Z    -     33/0    11/0     1/0    45/0     966/81


D2-1600Z  --+--   21/0    11/1    12/0    44/1    1010/82


D2-1700Z    -      7/0    29/0     8/0    44/0    1054/82


D2-1800Z    -       -     27/0     9/0    36/0    1090/82


D2-1900Z    -       -      4/0    19/0    23/0    1113/82      4


D2-2000Z    -       -     10/0     6/0    16/0    1129/82     60


D2-2100Z    -       -     22/0    12/0    34/0    1163/82


D2-2200Z    -     19/0    12/0      -     31/0    1194/82


D2-2300Z    -      5/0     9/1      -     14/1    1208/83     14


D3-0000Z  --+--    4/0     7/0    --+--   11/0    1219/83     60


D3-0100Z   8/0     3/0      -       -     11/0    1230/83     36


D3-0200Z   2/0     3/0      -       -      5/0    1235/83     50




Total:   207/4   432/4   492/61  104/14