Due to a glitch in my macros, I sent U as my exchange, but I actually operated unassisted (A).

Went hybrid: HW-9 CW XCVR, RGiii (RainGutter Ver. 3) antenna, LDG
remote ATU at antenna feedpoint (bottom of the dowunspout),
aluminum lanai enclosure counterpoise, N1MM, and a Winkeyer USB
interface to key the rig. Great fun at 5 watts!

Thanks for sponsoring the contest.  Enjoyed it!!

SPENT 1 WEEK AND 12 ANTENNA SPUD GUN MISSILES TO GET TRAP DIPOLE READY FOR SS!

QRP with one EFHW wire antenna up 12 feet.
TNX to many great operators for persistence when digging me out of the mud.
Much QSB made QSOs very difficult at times!49 sections worked+83 QSOs...good fun!

Operated as a dabbling mobile on Sunday afternoon and evening only
during this year's contest from the 2012 Tacoma using the IC-7100 at
100 watts. Antennas were Hamsticks  on 10, 15, 20, and 40 meters and
a
vintage Webster Bandspanner on 80.  Great conditions while the bands
remained open on 10, 15,and 20. Conditions on 40 and 80 were poor on
Sunday night, apparently due to the moderate geomagnetic storm that
hit us late in the contest. Had good fun, looking forward to more
mobile contesting insanity in the upcoming December ARRL 10 meter and
160 meter CW contests, the December 160 Big Stew, and January's CQWW
160 CW contest!  Of course, I am not so insane as to attempt working
CW contests while mobile in motion, all contacts were made while
parked/stationary!  As a mobile contester, I really appreciate the
introduction of the new limited antenna overlay category. 73 de Chris
AJ1G Stonington CT.

( 930 * 2 ) * 85 = 158100 IN 21:05
SWEEP WITH NP3Y at 1201Z
HESSTON COLLEGE ARC
Submitted 7 Nov 2023

Good conditions. Fun contest

Great band conditions.

Used two indoor fan dipoles and 80 Watts.

All wire antennas here. Couldn't get on until close to 3pm Sunday but still had fun! Nice to see
some check years after "00". The more the merrier! K2SE

25 watts to a Mag Loop antenna.

K3CCR is the club station at the Collington continuing-care
retirement community at FM 18OW in MD, just east of DC. For 2023
SS CW, I (N3UM) did SOHP U, as the only CW op. I hoped to beat
the 655 Qs and 110 K claim I got in 2022 SS CW. But, I was held
to 0.98 X the Qs & 0.99 X the score by Kp of 6 to 7 in Sunday
daylight. I was glad to ~match last year and get a sweep despite
bad condx. First 7 hrs were great, Kp=4,3,2. On 20 M I ran at
58/hr for 114 of 120 Qs 2103-2313Z. On 40 M 2322-0118Z I ran for
102 of 115 Qs at 53/hr, then for 30 Qs at 64/hr by 0212Z. Then
36 20-M Qs & 13 40-M Qs to total 314 Qs & 75 sects at 0337Z QRT.
Back at 1214Z, Kp=6, 40-M sigs few and weak; 18 Qs cleared band
map by 1239Z. Tried 20 M, 1Q! On 40 M agn 1257-1406Z, 38 Qs. Ran
on 20 M at 48/hr for 72 of 79 Qs, 1410-1608Z. Got LA and QC for
84 sects by 1449Z. One 15-M & 2 40-M Qs by 1618Z & broke to eat.
After lunch Kp=6; got 61 20-M Qs 1903-2034Z, & only 15 15-M Qs
2041-2101Z. A last run 2104-2146Z on 20 M; 34 Qs at 50/hr, and
broke to eat. After supper Kp=5,4; got 58 40-M Qs 2351-0119Z. At
0040Z got K9DX/3 in DE for a sweep! His # 221 B, sure to go up;
huge pileup. Last 21 Qs on 80 M, 0124-0201Z QRT; ME out to TX.

"Disturbed band conditions made operating QRP even more difficult this year."

Ol' Sol is two for two this season.  Hope he can leave CQ WW CW alone.
Took a long nap this afternoon - didn't make 24 hours this time. SS is
such a different animal.  Congrats to those guys who ran away on
Saturday.

What an absolute blast.   I guess I'm going to have to hide the contest calendar from my 7 yo
granddaughter.  She spent the weekend with us and takes priority over radio, and she knows it! 
Anyway, she went home today after church and a visit to the local Mexican restaurant that she loves
to eat at, so I managed to finally get in a few hours operating after all that.   Fun fun fun. 

FTdx101
3 ele @ 75' on 20
dipole @ 65' or delta loop on 40  
dipole @ 65' on 80
K8RA paddles
73 everyone

First day was fun.  Great conditions.
Sunday was a challenge due to solar storm and
it felt like I had worked everyone.

Great Conditions, Joy, Joy, Joy!

My first SS since moving back to Texas a year ago. I am living in a 55+ HOA community now. I
operated with an Outreach Antenna mounted on a grounded fan stand and a few 40-10M wire radials. I
had a good time and enjoyed handing out points. I wanted 100 casual QSOs and accomplished the goal.
73

Working W1CW and W1YL sent a shiver down my spine.

What a great time! Wires at 30' and to get a sweep and this score is amazing! Thanks Chris!

my first contest was ARRL SS CW in 1959... in a nod to that event, 
where as a novice it took all weekend to accumulate 75 QSOs, i decided
to do this one with a 1930s Mac-Elroy bug.

good fun..  thanks for the Qs and for the sharp ears able to decipher the 
SS exchange as the QSO number got higher !  A lot different from the start to the end. The cw seemed
to deteriorate...commensurate with the band conditions :-)

73 

Danny K7SS
(ex KN7JCA)

As always the one of the best and most fun contests of the year.
I  wanted to do my part for PVRC.  Missed QC ONN and VI sections.
Bad flare on Sunday really messed up conditions.

I LOVE this contest!  Thanks for all the QSO's.  Missed two sections
(MB & NL) and the elusive (for me) clean sweep.  See you again next
year ... can't wait.

fun contest but the bands wern't the best on Sunday for sure.

I operated QRP from Philadelphia using a stealth end-fed. I had a great time despite the geomagnetic
storm. See you next year! Hopefully by then I will have moved to the quieter suburbs.

First time operating in the ARRL Sweepstakes, in the final hour, after lear
ning CW this year. Looking forward to operating many more next year.

All wire and only wires here at that this QTH but decided to forego entering the overlay for limited
antennas. Both of my antennas are higher than 50 ft in places due to ground slope.  It looks like I
would have done well. Maybe I'll lower the ends next year, lol.
Accomplished one of two goals; new all-time high score but failed to break 1000 Qs.


The activity from non-contesters or just those with limited time is greatly appreciated. I wish
there was a way to incentify(sp) even more folks to just hand out a few QSOs.

See y'all next year or maybe I'll be one of those handing out a few in SS SSB.

73,

Gary KC9EE

The sun giveth and the sun taketh away.....
Great propagation followed by terrible.  Was not able to put in the time I thought I would.  Still,
score better than last year.  There were a lot of MT stations active this year which is a good
thing.  I really liked the new category of "wires only" for those of us who can not put up beams. 
See you next year!

First time in Sweepstakes. Fun!!

First SS contest with my new call - KE4SC!
Great Contest, I look forward to it every year.

5W and some wire

Tried 20 WPM for the first time in a domestic contest. Still had to ask for some repeats, but I
improved my skills as the contest went on.

House guests all weeekend, stole a little time  for SS

Big thanks to Jeff N0MII for coming up to the farm to help me get my downed antenna back up in the
air.  Redefines QRP assisted!

Also thanks to the ops who got the new RAC sections on the air -- I was surprised at how many I
worked early in the contest.

Couldn't do the full 24 hours, but still had a lot of fun.  Got my second Clean Sweep in a row!

Luckily, the weather wasn't too cold Saturday night, so I didn't freeze to death in the tent.  The
coyotes were polite and didn't howl all night, either.

First ever SS!!! 🍻 es 7️⃣3️⃣

Not a lot of hours spent but had fun.  27 mults lets me know my signal gets out well all over North
America.

First QRP effort. Conditions were excellent on Saturday, but Sunday
brought auroral effects that affected results, especially on 20. 5
Watts and a wire were just enough to work 79 sections, including
several KL7 and KH6 stations, plus VY1. I even made a non-SS contact
Saturday with A25R Botswana on 20 meters. Go FRC!

I'm recalling 50 years ago in 1973 when I first came to my present QTH Butte
MT. condx were poor then but in the 50 years that followed I have never seen
a crazy year like 2023 for prop on almost every contest weekend. This one
was the worst K = 7 A = 57 G was 3 with radio blackouts and strong space wx.
Its a wonder all the bands were not dead, yet 20,40 & 80 had life but erratic.
I noticed a few stns had over 1k qsos but I have my doubts any records were
broken this year.

Had a ton of fun even with the poor conditions on Sunday
afternoon with the K-index over 7!!!  I had some great runs (for
me and this station) on 40 meters, especially Saturday night.
Never heard anyone I hadn't already worked on ten so no Q's
there.  Surprised I never heard KP2M anywhere.  That's how it
goes sometimes.  Glad that 40 held together for me.  It was the
money band this time.   Thanks - 73  tom    Rig = TenTec Eagle @
100 Watts.  Antenna = an Isotron-80 for 80 meters, a mag Loop (40
thru 15), and a 10 meter dipole, all in the attic above the
garage.

At the peak of the cycle, propagation can sure change suddenly.
Saturday afternoon was amazing: 10 was wide open, everyone was
strong.  Sunday not so much, struggled to be heard.  Thanks for
all the QSO's!

This contest weekend had really nice weather for a portable operation.  Temperature was 70 Deg F on
both days of the contest.  I operated from a nearby park using a ground-mounted vertical (29 feet
tall with 12 15 foot long radials) and the Icom IC-703+ set to 5 watts.  I engaged the 18 dB receive
attenuator and focused my operation to working stations that were strong enough to give a good
S-meter indication.  My CW working speed is rather slow; around 15 wpm.  I would listen to the
stations for many of their contacts to get comfortable with their contact information before I
called them.  All the operators I made contact with slowed down to my speed.  Thank you very much
for being so considerate.  10 meters was in good shape on Saturday, so that is where I started the
contest.  When I arrived at the park on Sunday 10 meters was noisy and not really open, so I moved
my operation to 15 meters.  I stayed on 15 meters for the rest of my time in the contest.  72 to
all.

I had been preparing for the 2023 CW Sweepstakes for a couple months, working on increasing my copy
speed, setting up equipment to run SO2R, and setting up a new antenna a few days before.

I’m new to SO2R, so this was my first real contest using two radios. I had only done SO2R three
times before the Sweepstakes: in the SST, MST and CWT the week before. Everything was working great.
The only limitation was my novice SO2R skills!

I also knew I should test everything shortly before the contest to make sure everything was working,
although it seemed unnecessary, since I had just been using one of the rigs that morning.

So about an hour before the start, I tested my gear. And I found that when I used N1MM to do any
sending, it would send once, and then I couldn’t send anything else! Arrgh!! Both rigs behaved the
same: the transmit indicator stayed on after sending. So N1MM thought the rig was still transmitting
(even though it was not) and therefore wouldn’t send.

I spent two hours working on it, but couldn’t figure it out… I even switched settings back to
just one rig, and still had the same problem. I left the shack, racking my brain. I went back down
to the shack a couple times with ideas, but still no luck. I was just about to give up, but a little
later tried a third time, and suddenly it was working fine… I have no idea what was wrong.

So I started about three hours late. 

I started out on 15 and 20, then 80 and 40 for a few hours. I had the most success with running on
one band, and doing S&P on the second band, but sometimes I ran dueling CQs. Things got really slow
Sunday in the early evening, so I eventually decided to finish early after 17:42 of operating time.

I managed to get a clean sweep, with SB and TER taking the longest to get into the log. TER took
several tries on each piece of the exchange!

It was lots of fun, and I’m looking forward to next year.

I was privileged to be able to operate VY1JA's station from TER, remotely, using VY1JT.  Because of
an aurora there were long periods of virtual blackout.  So I operated also as N3JT (using my
Virginia station from Florida). It got somewhat complicated at times, but it seems to have worked
out okay.  Some operators realized they had worked me twice, which was amusing at times.  All okay
under the SS rules, however, as long as the call signs are different.

I used an improper precedence during the SS.  I misunderstood the rules.
I should have used U instead of A.

Great condx. 20M hot.

Barely made my minimum goals - 100K and a Sweep. Missed Saturday evening after about 9 PM EDT -
always prime time, but the body wouldn't allow it this year.  Still good fun.

Relatively new to CW and had lots of fun. Still working on code
speed, so thanks to all ops for the repeats and accommodation.
Rig here is an IC-7300, running 100 watts into a 44 foot doublet
on an apartment patio, fed by 25 feet of 580 ohm open wire line.
An auto tuner sits in the kitchen at the base of the open wire
line. Paper logging was used, and a Bencher BY-1 was the key.
A big thanks to George, K5TR, and Derek, AA5BT, who introduced me
to this contest, and encouraged me on two separate occasions to
try it.
Sam, N5EIF.

From Tree People park overlooking Studio City. My KX3 running 5
watts fed a 44' doublet made of CAT5e single twisted pair on a
19' mast. I got more RBN hits than answers to my CQs.

Not fair having the 7O and TJ expeditions start during SS!
Missed a couple hours due to that.  K index of 6+ didn't help
either.  But managed a sweep again!!!

Year after year since 1995, and still no Sweep. Looking forward to my next effort.

First CW contest in a few years, had fun even though my keyer was acting up.

Elecraft K3, KPA1500, 5BTV + 80m dipole at 40'

My 65th year in this game (missed some years in between). At age 14, I won the
1958 WI Novice division with 103Q's in 38 sections. Setup then was a DX-20 with
a handful of xtals, a war-surplus BC779A receiver, and a 80M dipole fed with 300
ohm line. Setup this time was a K3 @5W to dipoles and verticals. Band conditions
were good, especially on 10-15M compared to years past. Someone turned off the
lights late Sunday afternoon (CME?), and I struggled to make Q's for the next
few hours. Back, rotator cuff, and hip surgeries made sitting a challenge. I
missed PR, MB, and ONN (I never heard ONN). Thanks to all who pulled my QRP
signal out of the aether! Hope to be around for the 2024 'test. 72 Todd Amherst,
WI

Personal best for this single element little pistol. Dug in for as many
hours as it would take to break 500 Qs. Accomplished WAS, but missed the
sweep by 3. Was able to hold frequencies several times for some decent runs
which doesn't happen often. Once I broke 500 Qs, 100k was in sight, but I
just ran out of stations to work to crack that bar. Maybe next time.
Happy to see a category now for single element contesters. May have been
part of the motivation to push a bit harder. Maybe this category will spread
to other contests (DX), in the future Lots of fun! 73 Gene, N9TF
100 watts to 6BTV ground mounted. No other wires dipoles or RX antennas.

Very happy to work TER and totally floored to work a second one! Sunday was a work day for me,
o'wise a Sweep may have been a real possibility for me. Knocking off 82 of 85 sections was great for
me.

This was a camping operation from a Florida State Park.  Managed to get up a low Inverted V antenna.
 Never heard many low-power stations.  Worked KH6 but the KL7 never heard me.  20 was open late and
that helped with a few more West Coast sections. About 6 hours on the bench all S&P.

BIC time is getting tougher for me. Total time on was less that 9
hours and I suffered from cramps a lot. Anyhow I tried running
low power unassisted for grins. I still don't understand how so
many get the sweep... I've never been able to find it, even with
assistance. We'll see on sideband weekend. See you then!

SEND QSO #3 A FEW TIMES ON FIRST S&P QSOS. PUT 3 INSTEAD OF # IN S&P MACRO.
MY LOG SHOWS SEQUENTIAL NUMBERS AT THE START. PLEASE GIVE THE OTHER OP CREDIT
FOR THE QSO. I MIGHT BE THEIR NNY MULT.

Just a little fun Sunday Afternoon.
Nothing on 10m or 15m,
just worked a pass of the loud ones on 20m.

NN7SS (K6UFO)
3el yagi at 72 ft.
Flex 6600 at 5 watts

Blind ham running Kenwood TS590SG with 100W in to a tripod-mounted Alpha FMJ antenna

Thank you Annie N6ACL for the best birthday  - a new radio and a weekend of CWSS. It doesn't get
much better!

This was my first ARRL Nov. CW Sweepstakes contest. Got off to a late
start. I was non-assisted and used S&P scrolling up and down the bands
to work stations. Rig was Icom IC-7300 at 100 watts. Logging was via
N3FJP contest logger with K1EL WinKeyer USB. Keyer was a Vibroplex
single-lever Vibrokeyer although with S&P I found myself mostly using
programmed function keys to send CW and rotating the Winkeyer speed
dial to change sending speeds. Glad to see that there was a Limited
Antennas overlay since that is how I operate all the time anyway. My
wire antenna was and old-style Windom antenna cut for 40 meters with
a single wire feeder/down-lead fed by a Chameleon Emcomm III base 9:1
unun. Top wire is up 25 feet AGL supported by a tree and is 66 feet
horizontal fed 45 feet from one end. Down-lead is 23 feet long.
Antenna ends are supported by house chimney at 27 feet AGL and the
other end slopes down to a fence on a hill at about 15 feet AGL.
I have just 3 radials 59 feet long and lying on the ground. The 9:1
unun is fed by about 40 feet of RG-8X and choked off just before
entering the house wall. Coax braid also acts as a 4th radial.
I'm working on an improved radial system to fit into my small yard.
I use a Palstar AT2K manual T-tuner to tune up on 160 & 80 meters thru
the 9:1 unun. On 40, 20, 15 & 10 meters I can bypass the AT2K and use
my IC-7300 internal 3:1 tuner to tune around the bands. 73 de VA3RSA.

My favourite contest of the year. Had fun as usual.
have thought that PR and AB would be the last two multipliers
required for the sweep. But they were. Thanks for all the Qs and
I look forward to next year.

Licenced in 2020. Started studying CW in March 2021. Flexradio
6600, 80-10 ZeroFive vertical was used for all bands at 100W.

FT-950, DIGI KYER II, AL-811H, AT2K, 40m full wave horizontal loop

Fun contest.  Bands kind of caved on Sun I thought. My beam antenna got wrecked so am down to wire
antennas, dipoles, but had as much fun with wire antennas anyway, hi. Thanks to the many folks who
make these events work.  73s.

Conditions good on Saturday local time, but turned very poor from Saskatchewan on Sunday morning and
afternoon.  Only started to recover on Sunday evening local time.  Thanks for all the QSOs.

Sam

SS was a lot of fun. I got most of my qso's on my FTdx-10 but it
was a lot of fun using my vintage Heath SB-101 for a few.

Tough going after conditions were virtually wiped out after the solar event early Sunday. Still
managed to tough it out. Bud, va7st, hung in there like a champ. ONN only one we missed for the
sweep. Thank you for the contacts.. 

Scott and Bud...a real, boots on the ground station in Yukon.

It was great fun operating VY1JA's station remotely as VY1JT.  Of course, the aurora and typical
conditions from so far north made it a challenge.  On Sunday during such times I operated my home
callsign N3JT in the contest, making 505 Qs there, in addition to the 400 from VY1.  It might have
been confusing to some to work me twice, once as N3JT and once as VY1JT!

Thanks for the contacts. Nice to work the CW SS Sweep again.
Thanks to the ARRL for sponsoring the contest and proceessing the
logs. 73 - Dan, W1QK

Antenna: a single element 88 ft doublet up near 40 ft high,
between trees.

This was a special operation in memory of Ellen White, W1YL (SK).  Ellen was one

Great contest. Operated from a rental house with a 33 ft
wire strung into a tree with an SDG Tuner at the base and
minimal ground! Thanks to all who copied my signal.

Glad to give DELAWARE on 40 meters

W3TB in Franklin TN -- Tennessee Contest Group

Good conditions here.  Wish I had operated rather than watch The LSU-Bama game.
20m was unusually good for my lame antennas on that band.  Was hoping for
more activity on 10m, but so it goes.  All bands had low noise.  80m action seemed lower
but with 40 thru 15 so good not a surprise.  Tnx fer fills.  Will probably get hosed
for busting serial #'s, but it was fun.  Also, sent 'A' for
prec, but used spots on sunday and didn't think to fix it...til now.
CUL es 73.

Antenna restricted HOA so just used a simple 40 Meter EFHW. No Q's on 160 or 80. I'm always amazed
at how well this simple wire antenna works. FTdx1200 @ 90W. The new simple antenna overlay prompted
me to participate. I'm glad I did.
Age 76, CK=64, NC
73
Marc, W4MPS

Seems like the bottom fell out about 1730z.  Signals went down and noise level came up.  Must have
been a solar event.

I got to play intermittently in this year’s SS CW. I ran barefoot, rather than QRO, as conditions
have been good enough for LP.
Unlike for last week’s CQ DX SSB, 10m was quite poor this time, so I started on 15m. 40m seemed to
work best for me this time out. 80m has been useless, which is frustrating. It is a difficult band
to have an efficient 80m antenna on such a small lot.

I fell a bit short of my goal of 100 Qs, but I am happy that I made it into the shack, and got to
keep up my CW skills. 

Thanks for the Qs. See you again soon.

73,

JR

Station:
Elecraft K3/100 & P3
RT-3000
WinKeyer3 USB
HF-2V
Dell Optiplex 990 i5 WIN10
N1MM+

I was actually in the SO Unlimited class but mistakenly sent "B" as my
precedence.  It was great to work so many old friends in this contest.

Another CW SS done. Token effort. Nice 15m opening Saturday. Love the mini display on the K4D for
S&P. Hopefully see you next year.

This was a shakedown test for a new antenna, a 20meter Hamstick on a
mag mount attached to the roof of a Chevy HHR (stationary) with the
station moved out to the garage to keep the feedline short.  The
antenna passed with flying colors.  All transmissions on 20 meters
only.  With some very patient listening I managed to work Alaska, and
2 Hawaii stations back to back to finish the contest!  Was going to
throw in with Heartland Hams ARC but I guess we're affiliated but not
registered as a contest club.

Rate dripped after one amplifier stopped working early early Saturday
evening, a major distraction for an SO2R op. :-(

Somthing abt the lure of Sweepstakes. It's the best contest of all. I always have fun playing
sweeps. W8GG

Had several goals for this contest
One goal was to clean sweep, another was to
get at least 500, and try to beat my best
of ~700.  I did have some personal things to take care of,
so didn't get in the full 24 hours.

Slow in my location at the start and called for other techniques too late.

Get rid of the ridiculous long exchange!  Who cares about tradition.

IC-7610 at 100 W, 88' dipole and 134' inverted L

Clean sweep! Lot of fun.  Lot of work too!

Operated remote from Tokyo, Japan

Abdominal pain forced me to bed Friday.  I missed the elusive Clean Sweep again.

Propagation was pretty good especially on 20 meters. The new Cobra Senior antenna worked very well.
The comradery from other stations was great. Overall, a lot of fun. Thanks to all stations who
contacted me. This contest is memorable to me because of my first QSO on Amateur Radio was with
K7NHV/(now a SK) out of Pocatello, ID during the 1973 CW SS at WB6WSL. I had received my General
license earlier in May of that year. Until next year 73. Kelly/WB6AAJ

OK to send CW with the flu but logging was messy
TNX FER END FED LONGWIRE CLASS

Flex 6300, Hamsticks or Mad Dog coil antenna

HAD A GREAT TIME THIS YEAR! DID NOT GET A CLEAN SWEEP BUT STILL REALLY ENJOYED THE CHALLENGE.
LOOKING FORWARD TO THE SSB CONTEST IN A FEW WEEKS!
JEFF

Tried to go for a serious effort this year, but was put off by the sun acting up in the middle of
the contest.  SO MUCH NOISE and weak signals were a disaster.

I was going for a sweep as well, because the last time I got a sweep was back in 2008.  Alas, I
missed VI and PR.  I thought those would be easy on 15 or 10, but I never came across them (bummer).
 I got all of VE, AK and PAC on Saturday, so I thought the rest should be a cinch.  Nope.  I only
worked my last section DE with about 30 minutes to go at the end.  Then I worked two in a row.

I started on 20M, right on time and had a great rate of 60/hr.  I thought this could be a great
year.  Rates were up and down, but generally I was pleased, given my dinky, low antenna setup and
100W.  My K4 was fantastic.  So many times I needed to crank the bandwidth down to 50Hz, but never
lost a beat.  What a great radio.  No equipment issues at all.

I had fun anyway.  Oh well, there's always next year.

Rig: K4
Antenna's: LOW dipoles (20-25 feet) for all bands.
Software: N1MM+

This is the 1st-ever WQ6X SS-Cw GiG running QRP from the S-West Division.
Researching Section/Division records it was noticed that the SOA QRP
record for the Southwest Division was easily surpassed.  Accomplishing
that goal and putting in approximately 8-hours in the remote chair for
NX6T made for an exciting Sweepstakes weekend.
Conditions on Saturday were quite good.  On Sunday the solar storms plagued
us creating noise everywhere and weird fast-fading of signals that fooled me
into thinking they were coming in from Europe, but were in fact N. America.

An unusual pain-in-the-ass was the DOZENS of purposely FAKE internet spots
being submitted to the 40-meter bandmaps on Sunday morning.  When I saw NX5T
constantly being spotted on the NX6T run frequency, I knew it was NO accident.
Another issue is the deliberate FT8 signals in the Cw portions of the bands
when those signals NEVER occur during non-contest periods.  These IDIOTs need
grow-up and get a life.  If they spent as much time operating legitimately
as they do disrupting others, the bands would be a different world.

However, overall this weekend was a success and WQ6X seems to have
over-doubled the previous high-score record for the ARRL S-West Division.
Read more about this at: http://WQ6X.Blogspot.com.

Great time!!! Tks to ARRL for this fantastic OLD contest!

As I was a bit nervous starting, I took a benadryl to calm down, inserted plugs in both ears before
putting the headphones on to reduce the XYL QRM, and then just to make it challenging, I decided to
run QRP. Later in the contest, just to keep everyone honest with their copy skills, I decided to use
spots to reduce what I had to copy, so I changed my precedence from Q to U. I even experienced a
pileup on my frequency when the guy I was working made 7 Q's in between my requests for fills.
There's nothing like SS! The courtesy of hams is simply amazing.  Many asked if they could QRQ to
get me to copy their exchange faster and move on. I knew I was starting to get the hang of it when I
saw the rate meter hit 10 Q's/hr. When 0300Z hit I headed for the sofa to unwind and relax my brain
a bit by working on 5 Sodoku's at once while guzzling a Red Bull. I'm already feeling anxious about
next year.