W4LT Sweepstakes SSB 25 Prelim Report

[Lu Romero (mobile)]

ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, SSB - 2025

Call: W4LT

Operator(s): W4LT

Station: W4DUG

Class: Single Op LP (Assisted)

QTH: WCF

Operating Time (hrs): 16

Remote Operation

Summary:

Band QSOs

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

160: 0

80: 11

40: 306

20: 399

15: 209

10: 13

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

Total: 938 Sections = 85 Total Score = 159,460

Club: Florida Contest Group

Comments:

Rig: Flex6400 / Maestro

Ant: 2x C31XR @ 108 ft and 60 ft, EF240x @ 118ft, OCF Sloping dipole at 90ft

Not my worst score, not my best score. BIC quotient getting difficult as I age.

Very good condx after the big CME's, especially high bands! Little QRN but

lots of QRM as usual. The high C31 was great to the west coast sections while

the low C31 rocked into the Eastern Seaboard... And the EF240x was wonderful

EVERYWHERE!

I crashed into the limits of my 10 year old PC... Some choppy DVK playout while

refreshing spots. Running the internet connection, 3 monitors and watching the

Contest On Line scoreboard web page plus managing Flex audio and port

virtualization software caused some stuttering while playing the DVK messages.

It hit 100% processor utilization and stayed there for literally minutes.

Sad, I like this PC, its served me well. Time for a new computer and a move to

(gulp!) Windows 11!

The "hard" mults were "easy" this time: several called me

during my runs!

Spent way too much time looking for a sweep, but what the hell, that is what SS

is all about, isnt it?

Hardest mult this time was the insane lidfest for N6WM in Santa Barbara! What a

brutal pileup, especially for a LP like me! This pileup was a great example of

how turning the knobs up to 11 really doesnt help. Some guys sounded like

aliens with square wave modulation! But eventually, I was able to work him for

the sweep.

Go figure... Santa Barbara!

SS is my favorite contest and the first one I operated by myself in my own

station as a novice 49 years ago in 1976 when I worked all states in a

weekend with a HW17 and a 40m dipole. Next year will by my 50th Sweepstakes

and, God willing, I will revert to my own home station. I have enough wood for

the wall... Time for other goals.

As always, thank you all for the points and for the fun pileups for our WCF

section. I was told we were "rare" this year.

And as always, thanks to the Tampa ARC membership, especially the members of our

Remote Operation Group, for my exclusive use of the station over the weekend.

It is the legacy of W1GUD (SK), KZ1Z (SK), K4LAW (SK) and all the other TARC

members throughout the years who continue to invest and maintain this wonderful

facility.

73

Lu Romero - W4LT

[Chris Blake, NX4N]

Congrats on a terrific score and effort Lu!

73,

Chris, NX4N 

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