All That Antenna Work Pays Off

I am on cloud 9! My mail contained a large envelope from the ARRL containing a certificate awarding me 1st place, QRP division, in Michigan and 10th place, QRP division, in the U.S. in the 2007 ARRL International DX Phone Contest! I guess all that antenna work paid off. And that was before I did last Summer and Fall's improvements and additions. Now I'm wondering how I did in the 2007 Fall contests (I know I did at least as well as in '06 on most or all ...).

It only proves -- you CAN be competitive in the contests without a tower or directional antennas, and operating from a city lot. Granted, I do have a bunch of tall trees, and I did buy a house on the 2nd highest spot in town, but it's not all peaches and cream -- I do have a noisy freeway right off the side yard, and some crippling-ly high property taxes.

So, take heart, you budding contesters. It can be done! I hope to have more good results to report in the future.
Best rx & 72 de kt8k - Tim

Submitted by kt8k on Wed, 01/30/2008 - 20:58. kt8k's blog | login or register to post comments
additional information
Submitted by kt8k on Thu, 01/31/2008 - 18:36.

I should have added that I was in the "single op" category, and unassisted by spotting, etc. I have to think a big factor was that I just spent more time on the contest than past years. It's tough, when the QSO rate gets down to one every ten minutes or so, but you just have to bear down, change bands, change tactics, or something ... and just not give up. Sometimes a small increment of perseverance and time on the key/mic separates those who tried hard from those who tried harder and made the top 10.
Best rx & 73 to all de kt8k - Tim

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