CQ WORLD WIDE DX CONTEST -- 1998
Call: K5ZD (W2SC Opr) Country: United States
Mode: SSB Category: Single Operator
BAND QSO ZONES COUNTRIES
160 59 11 30 GP with raised radials
80 338 19 77 Inverted Vee
40 317 24 83 402CD @ 110'
20 1060 35 116 5/5 100'/50'
15 1070 32 110 5/5
10 264 25 76 TH7 @ 90, TH7 @ 45
---------------------------------------------------
Totals 3108 146 492 => 5,683,304
Equipment
FT1000D, IC765, Alpha 76, L4B
Early this year Randy asked if I was interested in defending my CQWW
SSB title from his station and it did not take long to say yes as last
year's CQWW was probably the best contest I had ever operated. The
station worked well as usual, I made good decisions, and used the
second radio as well as ever. In the end, I finished with a big lead
in Q's and multipliers. This year K1AR would be on and I was looking
forward to the challenge. Unfortunately, as it turned out, the
weekend proved to be full of poor preparation, operating blunders and
I ended up not much of a match for K1AR.
Living in Kansas without a station makes it hard to get a feel for the
bands. My only operating this year was ARRL CW as 8P9JG and about an
hour in the NAQP. The last DX QSO from the US was at 2359Z in last
year's CQWW. I had been told that 10 meters would be open but had
little other insight into what to expect.
This year I needed to be in California for a full day meeting on
Tuesday so any possibility of arriving on Wednesday night was
eliminated. In addition, Randy had a trade show in Texas and would
not be home until Saturday night so it was not appropriate to arrive
any earlier than necessary. Randy's wife Connie was remarkably
accommodating and I really appreciate her tolerance of my operating.
I arrived Thursday night and began the setup. I had built a two radio
switching box over the summer that I had sent ahead for Randy to
setup. When I arrived, Randy had the computer set up and most of the
switching was ready. After a minor cable change to get the two radio
switching to work with CT, it appeared that everything was ready. I
also spent some time learning the new antenna switching scheme. We
had added a second TH7 this summer for 10 and Randy bought a WX0B box
to allow any antenna to reach either radio. His station had been
relatively intuitive and now it was even easier.
I eventually cycled through all of the antenna/radio/amp combinations
to check for RF and interstation interference especially now that
there were several new combinations. Every combination seemed to work
OK except that the secondary antennas on 80 and 160 would trash the
audio. Randy called that evening to see if everything was all right
and I let him know the issues. I also had a minor computer problem
and, having had a bad experience with this in the past, I let that go
and focused on the RF issue. Randy had a couple of ideas but we
agreed to wait until morning to finish the job.
After several hours of troubleshooting I managed to solve the problem
by isolating the grounds and using Randy's audio transformers.
However, once I had everything fixed, the audio on the second radio
was trashed on every band. This time is was not RF or switching
related and would work great when the compressor was off. I was
getting tired by then and I was concerned at the energy I had been
expending and decided that I would just go without the compressor on
radio 2. I also spent a fair amount of time debating whether to drive
to my old house and get my AL1200 to replace the L4B as the second
radio amplifier. I eventually decided not to add anything new and
just take a nap. In the end, I never used the secondary 80 and 160
antennas but I had major problems all weekend working guys on the
second radio.
I had a good nap and was well rested. I had a number of issues at
work to resolve so I spent the next couple of hours on the phone.
Despite being a great HF location, Randy's place is not very friendly
to cell phones. Around 6PM local time I told the people at work that
I had to go and I would be "in-communicado" the rest of the weekend.
I smiled at the irony at that statement and resumed my focus on the
contest ahead.
Around 23Z Randy gave a final call to see if everything was ready. I
told him about my plan to not use the compressor on the second radio
to which he replied "that sounds like a bad plan." He said that the
765 has good but very thin audio with absolutely no punch and I would
have a problem in the pileups. He was right. I hung up with Randy
and settled in to radio room. I was listening to K1AR warming up on
20 to get some sense for the propagation, which was not good. I
eventually gave John a call. He was his intense self and told me that
we may be tied for now but it would not be that way for long. I kind
of felt like Rocky before a fight when Apollo Creed said "You're goin'
down."
0Z finally rolled around and I was CQ'ing on 20 and trying to pick up
mults on 15 with the second radio. I ran off a few stations but the
rate went zero after 10 minutes. I did not have any luck with the 0Z
15 meter pileups last year and this year was no better. After about a
half hour I went to 40 to run and managed to get some calls in the log
and worked 20 with the second radio. After an hour I had 60 Q's on 40
but it was slowing down so I went to 80 earlier than usual. 80 proved
to be the money band all night long with a 78 hour at 3Z (plus 8
second radio Q's on 160 and 20) and over 250 Q's the first night. 160
was a disappointment. I was hoping for a good European opening since
this was the one band where I had a major advantage over K1AR but it
was not to be. I cycled back through 40 and waited for the high bands
to open. I was reasonably pleased with the first night, with the
exception of 160, but I was a little behind last year's multiplier
total.
In the 10Z hour, 20 became runnable and I was working guys but the
on-frequency QRM was unbearable. On the second radio I heard 'AR
CQ'ing on 15 and getting answers so I decided to QSY for a better
frequency. It took a little while to get going but the rate finally
picked up. At the time, I was angry that prematurely left good rate
on 20 for lesser rate on 15 but the breakdown shows a 139 hour at 11Z.
I was very concerned about missing the 10 meter opening so I listened
intently on the second radio. Twice I convinced myself that the
stations were loud enough to be runnable and made the band change to
10. Unfortunately, each time I worked a few stations but could not
get anything going and had to go back to 15. Finally, around 14Z the
band did open but I could manage no better than a 98 hour. The two
TH7's at 90/45 feet did not seem to be even remotely dominant.
Eventually 10 ran out and it was back to 15 for two unremarkable 90
hours. At this point I was pretty disappointed in my poor decision
making and inability to get big rate on 10 and 15. To compound
things, I was having a very difficult time breaking the 10 meter
pileups with the second radio. All things considered my frustration
level was very high.
In the 17Z hour I went back to 20, the money band at K5ZD, and the
rates went back up to 148, 151, and 128 in consecutive hours. It was
this period that QRATE measured a best 60 minute rate of 182. In the
next few hours, I completely botched the JA opening. When running JA
on 20 I heard JA's on 15 on the second radio so I decided to QSY to 15
to capture the opening. When CQ'ing on 15 I heard JA's on 10, an
opening I did not expect so I tried CQ'ing on 10 for a while.
Basically, I was not expecting a JA opening on 15, let alone 10 and I
ended up working the bands in reverse. When it was all over I could
not help but be concerned about how many multipliers I probably
missed.
I finally reached the halfway point with 1990 Q's but a multiplier
total that was far less than last year. The halfway point is always a
low morale point for me and requires a full mental effort to maintain
my motivation. In assessing my performance, I knew that I had made a
number of bad decisions and had a poor multiplier total so I gave up
hope of competing with K1AR. I knew I would have to be perfect to
compete and I certainly was far from perfect. As it turns out, after
looking at K1AR's breakdown post contest, I was actually ahead of him
by 77Q's but he had 70 more multipliers. My multiplier fears were
well founded.
At 0Z, I had a 54 hour on 40 and settled in for the inevitable slow
hours that lie ahead. The next 9 hours consisted of rapid band
changes and determination to squeeze out every QSO. 160 was much
better the second evening but was never runnable. I picked up some
good multipliers but it was clear that I would not get full benefit of
my 160 advantage. Around 8Z I took my traditional 10 minute nap and
the 9Z hour produced the only sub 10 QSO hour of the contest, but with
6 multipliers.
Determined not to repeat the previous day's mistakes, it was time for
the high bands to open but this day was to be more bizarre than the
previous. 20 was very slow to open in the morning, the 10Z hour was
generally unproductive and 11Z was not much better, but 12Z finally
produced a 139 hour. It was clear that the bands were down from the
previous day and 10 meters never was really runnable.
After an 89 hour in 14Z, the bottom started to fall out or 15. The
stations seemed to be getting weaker and it was getting more difficult
to pull them through the QRM. All the while 10 was swimming in
African multipliers which I just could not work with the second radio.
With rate failing on 15 I gave up and took the main radio to 10 to
pick up 5A, 9J, and FR which I had been trying to work for a half
hour. Upon returning to 15, I could not build any rate so I tried 20
but it was too early.
At this point, I totally lost my grip and tuned the bands for a while
trying to figure out the propagation. In the 16Z hour, I relinquished
my QSO lead which I had held for nearly 40 hours. I went back to 15
and simply CQ'd at slow rate while I sought multipliers on the second
radio. During this period, K3LP/J6 actually moved *me* to 10. I
simply could not buy a QSO as the rate plummeted. Looking at the post
contest results, is does not seem as though anybody else suffered to
the same degree. In retrospect, I wonder if fatigue took over or if
the propagation simply did not favor any of my available antenna
combinations. I wish I had this period on tape for review.
Ultimately, 15 never recovered for me and I ultimately QSY'd to 20 at
the normal time and some semblance of rate returned. I tried one QSY
to 40 later on but it was not productive and I mostly ran out the
string on 20.
When it was over, I knew I was desperately short of multipliers
particularly on 10. On 3830 I listened to the multi scores trying to
figure out how I did but nothing made me feel positive about 10.
Randy had food on the stove upstairs and was running down to hear the
scores. Finally it was time to report single op scores and with the
confusion, K1AR slipped in ahead of me to report his score. As he ran
through his breakdown I was doing OK until he got to 20 meter mults
and it was downhill from there. He took me by about 100 Q's and 1
million points. I dumped my score in next and I am sure he sweated a
little over my lowband scores but he got the last laugh in the end.
Contemplating the results, there was a lot of fault to be found. My
preparation was poor. I should have swapped amplifiers, I should have
fixed the audio problem before going to bed Thursday, and I should
have prepared myself better for the 10 meter openings. Likewise my
operating technique was not good, many bad decisions and not enough
use of the second radio. It was going to take a super effort to
compete with 'AR and I did not even measure up to last year. No
excuses, I did not do what it took to win and the better operator
prevailed. Congratulations John!
The next morning I left early for the airport just to be sure. Upon
arriving at the counter, I was informed that my flight had been
cancelled but I had been rescheduled on an earlier flight and they
would still honor my free upgrades. I muttered that I finally caught
a break this weekend and it is after the contest is over. The guy
behind the counter did not understand but I just shook my head without
giving an explanation.
Once again I would like to thank Randy for the use of his fine station
and for allowing people the privilege of guest op'ing. I especially
wish to thank Randy's wife Connie for allowing me to hang around the
house and operate the radio even though Randy was away. Their
collective hospitality takes the stress out guest operating and makes
me look forward to the next one.
BREAKDOWN QSO/mults K5ZD CQ WORLD WIDE DX CONTEST Single Operator
HOUR 160 80 40 20 15 10 HR TOT CUM
TOT
0 ..... ..... 35/17 21/14 3/3 ..... 59/34
59/34
1 . . 44/11 20/15 . . 64/26
123/60
2 . 46/23 22/4 8/5 . . 76/32
199/92
3 1/1 78/17 . 7/3 . . 86/21
285/113
4 4/3 53/4 . 13/6 . . 70/13
355/126
5 22/10 . . 2/1 . . 24/11
379/137
6 2/2 48/4 1/0 4/2 . . 55/8
434/145
7 3/1 10/8 22/8 4/0 . . 39/17
473/162
8 1/1 8/6 26/9 ..... ..... ..... 35/16
508/178
9 2/2 12/6 12/9 . . . 26/17
534/195
10 . 1/0 1/0 70/18 12/7 . 84/25
618/220
11 . . . . 133/22 6/5 139/27
757/247
12 . . . . 88/7 14/4 102/11
859/258
13 . . . . 54/3 62/18 116/21
975/279
14 . . . 5/5 3/0 98/10 106/15
1081/294
15 . . . . 91/5 4/4 95/9
1176/303
16 ..... ..... ..... ..... 92/8 11/7 103/15
1279/318
17 . . . 121/14 26/1 1/1 148/16
1427/334
18 . . . 151/7 . . 151/7
1578/341
19 . . . 119/6 9/9 . 128/15
1706/356
20 . . . 80/3 9/8 . 89/11
1795/367
21 . . . 66/1 7/4 4/4 77/9
1872/376
22 . . . 64/8 4/1 6/3 74/12
1946/388
23 . . 15/1 5/1 23/2 1/1 44/5
1990/393
0 ..... ..... 54/6 8/0 ..... ..... 62/6
2052/399
1 6/4 11/0 13/2 2/0 . . 32/6
2084/405
2 2/1 4/0 18/3 4/2 . . 28/6
2112/411
3 2/1 6/2 7/1 . . . 15/4
2127/415
4 2/0 15/1 5/2 . . . 22/3
2149/418
5 9/5 23/2 . . . . 32/7
2181/425
6 3/2 12/1 3/0 2/0 . . 20/3
2201/428
7 . 4/2 21/6 . . . 25/8
2226/436
8 ..... 4/2 8/2 1/0 ..... ..... 13/4
2239/440
9 . 3/3 5/3 1/0 . . 9/6
2248/446
10 . . 4/2 29/0 . . 33/2
2281/448
11 . . . 13/0 55/7 1/0 69/7
2350/455
12 . . . . 139/5 1/0 140/5
2490/460
13 . . . . 92/2 3/3 95/5
2585/465
14 . . . . 86/1 3/2 89/3
2674/468
15 . . . . 38/1 15/6 53/7
2727/475
16 ..... ..... ..... 8/0 14/0 5/2 27/2
2754/477
17 . . . 3/0 40/1 14/2 57/3
2811/480
18 . . . 2/0 20/4 10/3 32/7
2843/487
19 . . . 60/2 6/4 . 66/6
2909/493
20 . . . 43/1 . 4/3 47/4
2956/497
21 . . . 71/2 4/3 1/0 76/5
3032/502
22 . . 1/0 22/2 13/4 . 36/6
3068/508
23 . . . 31/3 9/2 . 40/5
3108/513
DAY1 35/20 256/68 178/59 760/109 554/80 207/57 .....
1990/393
DAY2 24/13 82/13 139/27 300/12 516/34 57/21 .
1118/120
TOT 59/33 338/81 317/86 1060/121 1070/114 264/78 .
3108/513
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