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Another “Clash of the Titans” is in the books, as Trey Garlough N5KO chalked up his first Sprint victory in the recently run NA Sprint CW contest.
For many operators who love the rat-a-tat high speed CW, instant call-sign recognition, and constant QSYing and band-changing that make up the North American Sprint, this contest is considered the toughest competition on a fairly level playing field.
Familiar call-signs made up the top scores once again with Trey Garlough N5KO, operating from W6NL’s Bay Area mountain top home, taking a narrow HP win from Dan Craig N6MJ who was at W6YI in Southern California, 16,555 to 16,422.
Following the two West Coasters were N2NT (NJ), N6TV (CA), N3BB (TX), N2IC (NM), N6TR (OR), K5ZD (MA), N4OGW (MS), and W9RE (IN).
The equally competitive LP top ten included winner Steve Franzen N9CK (WI), followed by KU5B (TX), K1HT (MA), WQ5L (MS), NA4K (TN), N8EA (MI), KU8E (GA), K9AA (IL), N4PN (GA), and N8NA (DE).
It was the fourth straight victory for N9CK in the Low Power category of the CW Sprint, dating back to September of 2008, as he won by more than a thousand points over KU5B.
Scott Neader KA9FOX took the QRP category, his third straight Sprint CW victory, as he captured both QRP titles in 2009 by more than 3k over NA4BW.
The entire Atlantic Coast was buried under a historic snow storm and other parts of the country were frigid, and that might have been the cause for fewer state/province multipliers than usual.
Forty three Mults were the highest number reported. N2IC missed his own state of NM this time around as Steve was the only one on.
There were several other “one station” Mults including RI (W1WBB), DE (N8NA), VA (W4AU), MT (N9RV), WY (KO7X), NE (WW2Y), and BC (VA7ST).
A broad “time zone” analysis for the two top-tens indicates EST 9, CST 6, MST 1, PST 4, so while the winter Sprint often is considered an advantage for the West Coast, twenty meters stayed open long enough for the Easterners and Midwesterners to do well.
Heavy QRM from the XE RTTY contest battered the Sprinters on 40 meters, forcing the action lower in the band.
A perfect log is very difficult, especially with the QSYing and QRM, however numerous operators achieved this achievement, including K5ZD, K5GA@NR5M, K5MR, N9CK, K3WW, K9BGL, K7ZSD, N2GC, WQ5L, and NA0N.
One popular aspect of the Sprint is the team competition, which is fun and also increases activity. The Austin, TX based Ditters topped the NCCC #1s and the SCCC #2s followed by the SMC, AOCC, YCCC, and SSC teams with 80K points or more.
radio-sport.net wants to thank Jim George N3BB for writing up the CW Sprint results! If you are interested in writing any stories or submitting material for the web site, please get in touch with NS3T!
Contest director Larry "Tree" Tyree reported in his contest writeup that over 2000 stations were active, up over 300 from the 2008 test.
The High Power winner was Vlad Gumennikov UA2FF, who bested Vern Van Buren K7CA, who was again at his vacation retreat in Chile.
UA2FF tapped out 766 net contacts to just 345 for Van Buren - but the distance advantage for CE1/K7CA made the points race much closer.
While the High Power category featured a majority of Europeans, the Low Power battle was almost all American, as Tony Radebaugh N0NI edged Jerry Rosalius WB9Z by just one hundred points.
The Iowa versus Illinois battle was decided on multipliers, as N0NI had four more mults than WB9Z, making up for an eight QSO advantage by Rosalius.
The QRP winner actually had the high score overall in the 2009 Stew, as Jeff Briggs K1ZM added another notch to his big belt of ham radio contest titles.
Briggs said in his soapbox that most of his 14 hours on the air was spent in S&P mode, as he totaled 412 net QSO's and 199 grids, as he easily defeated UU0JM.
UA2FW - Single Op High Power
N0NI - Single Op Low Power
K1ZM - Single Op QRP
W2GD - Multi Op
N5KO - Single Op High Power
N9CK - Single Op Low Power
KA9FOX- Single Op QRP
