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After ten straight years of winning the ARRL November Sweepstakes SSB Contest from WP3R in Puerto Rico, Rich Boyd KE3Q is staying home again this weekend, letting his winning streak come to an end on his own terms.
"Frankly, it's amazing I've been able to get away these 10 years!" said Boyd, who is the father of eight year old twins.
Last year, Boyd used the 2007 SSB Sweeps test to erase some of the pain from a few weeks earlier, when he had his nine year CW winning streak broken by Steve London N2IC. This year he'll be on close to his home in Maryland.
"At home it's two days and you still know you're "home" even during those two days. So, do that for 10 years straight, and at some point you start asking yourself, "Am I having fun?" Boyd told radio-sport.net.
With Boyd out of the way, it's not to say that WP3R won't be competitive. Alex Avramov LZ4AX showed that during the CW Sweeps by finishing with the second highest claimed score behind defending champ N2IC. And WP3R will be active again for SS SSB.
If you are looking for a favorite to win in 2008, it might be George Fremin K5TR, who finished second behind WP3R the last three years.
Fremin's station was front and center in SS CW, as N5RZ put it in third, just one QSO out of a tie for second place.
"It worked fine - you can tell from his result," Fremin said last week.
"It also appears that activity was up this year I hope that is true for SSB as well. The last time that the ARRL put some effort into promoting SS and added the mugs and pins it made a boost in the scores," said Fremin.
As for a battle plan in Sweepstakes, Fremin clearly is someone who knows what he wants to do, and has a powerful station to back up that effort.
"I do not really have what I would call a strategy. You get on and call CQ for 24 hours and work everyone you hear as fast as you can. You pick the band that produces the best rate."
One lesson from the 2007 SS SSB test is that it pays to have a clean log, as two of the titles from last year were determined after the contest in log checks.
Multi-Op winner W6YI vaulted its way to victory after the contest when it made up an over 8,000 point difference on Team K5NA.
K5NA lost 164 contacts, which led to an overall score reduction of almost 8 percent. W6YI meanwhile lost just over 3 percent of its claimed score.
Log checks also resulted in a score change in the Unlimited ranks last year, as Mitch Mason K7RL overtook defending champ Dave Hachadorian K6LL for the victory.
"I work hard to ensure a correct exchange," Mason told radio-sport.net. "This is especially true with weak stations, or stations with rapid QSB."
"Experience has taught me that it's better to take those extra few seconds with marginal signals to confirm what I think I heard the first time," Mason added.
"K6LL is a great operator and competitor," said Mason. "I am confident he will make adjustments and be ready for another outstanding effort."
K6LL comes into the SS SSB contest in an odd position, as it looks like his seven year winning streak in the CW test has come to an end. N6RO leads the CW "U" category by over 5,000 points.
WP3R (KE3Q) - High Power
NN5K (AA5B) - Low Power
KC5R - QRP
K7RL - Unlimited
W6YI - Multi
K0HC (W0BH) - School
The full results of the 2007 SS CW are available at the ARRL website.
The photo above shows Jim Johnson W6SC on the left and Eric Hilding K6VVA on the right celebrating their 'Clean Sweeps' earlier this month in the CW Sweepstakes.
"A nagging left hip and leg problem made it painful to sit for very long, so I had to repeatedly get up and stretch and took several early time off periods," Hilding wrote on his website about his CW effort.
"I'd pretty much written off the possibilities of a clean sweep, but kept thinking about the nifty special 75th Anniversary mugs," Hilding added.
"Sure glad I hung in long enough to qualify."
Post contest, "The Locust" as he is known to many, called up his buddy W6SC and they met for a celebratory slice of pizza and beer in Johnson's driveway, where W6SC's wife then took their broom photograph.
"This fun time help mitigate the myriad of Murphy strikes," said Hilding, who had planned a DXpedition during SS CW, but had to cancel it because of bad weather.
"I was almost going not going to operate," he added.
Don't forget about the 75th Anniversary November Sweepstakes SSB Contest. Send us your contest reports, photos, rate sheets and more here at radio-sport.net.
