Soapbox Comments: November '11 Spartan Sprint

K7TQ
Started out on 15 m and worked TX and OH in 2 minutes then no one else seemed to be around.  On 20 m K4BAI found me, worked him, and moved him to 15 where he was weak, but readable.  So for the first 10 minutes, 15 m was open.  Went back to 20 m and had good time until 0225.  After that I could raise no one on either 20 or 40.  Finally, gave up at 0245.  Got K4BAI and WB5BKL on both 20 and 15.  A good, but short, time in the Nov. SP.


WB5BKL
K3/10 @ 5w to a 20m wire delta loop or the 40m extended double Zepp.  Not a good night here.  7 Qs on 20m and 2 on 40m. Worked WB4MNK and K7TQ on both bands.  K7TQ had the strongest signal on 20m by far.  Nothing heard on 80m.  Thanks to all.  Had fun.


AB1AV
ATS-3 to 88' doublet up 55'.  Fun to get back into the Sprints, though participation seemed very light this time.  3 contacts on 40m, 1 on 80m.


WA5BUC
10 and 15 were dead at the start. Cruised 20 and 40, but heard no SP station. Called CQ on 20 a couple of times. Nada. Oh, well . . .


K4BAI
Not much activity this month.  15M was open at least to K7TQ in ID.  20M was long and I worked only MT and ID.  40M was also long.  80M was relatively quiet and open everywhere, but very little SP activity.  W5ACM couldn't hear me on 40M.  Heard AB1AV on 80M, but he was QRL and we had no QSO.  Worked everyone I heard in the Sprint and got several calls from others not really in the contest.  Thanks for all QSOs and let's have more activity next month!


NQ2W
An OHR 100-A running 5W to a mini-beam at 25 ft for 1 Q on 20 meters and a Ten-Tec 1340 at 5W to an inverted vee at 40 ft for 4 Q's. Worked WB5BKL on 20 and WA8PGE, W4VHH, K3RLL, and WB4MNK on 40. Heard K4BAI on 40 a few times  but he couldn't hear me. Hoping for better conditions and/or more participation next month. Thanks to everyone who gave it a go.


WB4MNK
Didn't hear many sprinters but still had some fun. Lots of DX on 40.


NY4G
I thought I would try the KX1 for a change.  It seems like there was not as may of us Spartans out there,  I did better in August with the K2.  The band noise was really terrible on 80m but I heard K4BAI calling CQ.  7030 was full of stations trying to call out to a DX station and so half my contacts were on 20m.  I thought the KX1 held its own - though wiithout a separate spot tone - zero beating was a chore but doable.  Thanks to all who participated.


K3RLL
Where was everybody?  40 Meters was hot but only heard 5 Sprinters.  Running early K2 to indoor dipole.