5X1T cqww ssb (on6tt op)
single op, high power, 15m.
3405 qsos, 35 zones, 145 countries, total 1,812,780 pts
club: rrdxa
team: neiger's tigers team #3
eqt: ft900, tl922, r7 vertical @ 6 meter and th11 @ 9m
(plus 5 kva generator to cover the power outages hihi).
remarks:
this was my first cqww since 1994. It reminded me again how much this
contest brings out the best in each band. I found openings on 15 I had
never thought to be possible even after being here for 20 months.
KH8, KH6, ZL, VK2, JA long path in evening. wow!
I missed 1995 contest as we were in Perth trying to go to Heard. The
1996 contest was lost for me as we were air-evacuating our people from
Eastern Zaire (see CQ Contest article). Was good to be in the heat of
the tests again.
Greatest moments: being called by 4U1VIC, finding HB0 underneath 2
other pileups on his frequency, and... working VR6PAC (pitcairn) who
seemed to have shown up for a few QSOs...
Brought smiles on my face: people in pileup told the DX that I was
calling also, and enabling me to get through to parts that had S9+ USA
or EU signals, but with marginal conditions to Africa. Without your
courtesy, I would not have made it guys (despite 1 kw and 11 el yagi.
hi)
Biggest disappointments: not getting through to both CP and two HC's,
for zone and country mults, though I called for hours (heard no other
stations anyway). The CP caught the '5' and the '1T', but that was it.
Lessons learned: first time I had a vertical as 2nd antenna and that
was a real help. Sometimes people called on the side/back of the yagi
(and i have to turn the yagi manually), and were vy weak. Switch to
vertical brought them in with 3-5 Spoints difference. Also CQing
alternating 2 antennas was great. I am sure that all stations could
use a small all band vertical in addition to all the (motorized, I
hope) yagis they have.
Propagation: vy low to JA, excellent to EU, and long to USA (with good
peak for 2-3 hours). propagation 2nd day lower to JA and EU than first
day.
Nicest rates: EU first day (250 q/hour, several 6/minute runs), NA
second day (240q/hour, several 7/minute runs).
Lessons for the others: many are missing many multipliers in Africa!
Typically EU turns AM to east and PM to west. Eastcoast turns to EU in
AM and west in PM. Many guys in other DX locations should stop the
mainstream pileup once in a while and ask for DX. In many pileups I
heard africans calling in without being heard. In the evenings I
actually tuned to other people's pileups and worked the Africans who
were calling in vain to the one in the pileups! Remember, guys, there
are loads of mults in Africa!
73-Peter
ON6TT/5X1T
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