KL7Y WW CW M/S Results:
Q PTS Z C
160 26 60 14 12
80 396 958 26 41
40 838 2125 36 105
20 1726 5030 37 124
15 1472 3512 35 119
10 1334 3111 29 60
5792 14796 177 461 ===> 9,439,848
OPS: KL7Y, WL7E, WA2GO
Comments:
Conditions weren't bad. It took only 22 hours to beat the old KL7 M/S
record. Our combined mult total is the best ever from Alaska, including M/M
efforts. There was a brief time there where the aurora must have vanished:
all bands seemed to be open, we were breaking huge pileups on the first call
and generating our own pileups wherever we went. I kept thinking, "This is
how it should always be...."
Unfortunately, the euphoria did not last when conditions returned to normal.
On the bad side, propagation dropped off right after the start of the second
day and didn't get better again for several hours. (No big stateside run on
20, for example, and our chance to break 6000 QSOs faded.) Also there was
virtually no over the pole on 10 m, which means no chance at all those
numerous EU and AF mults. We did pick up some EU mults on 15, but never
could generate any runs. With the flux numbers as high as they were, it
should have happened. The day after the contest both 10 and 15 opened over
the pole!
Three hours before the contest started I went up one of the towers to
re-install the low 15. Temp was -2F (-19C) with a breeze. Two hours and 20
minutes later the job was done. It is a proven fact that antennas installed
at subzero temperatures are always excellent performers.
Hats off to WL7E and WA2GO who did most of the running. WL7E had the best
hour at 194 on 10 m late in the contest. Both guys had the 100 QSO CT
rate-o-meter above 200 numerous times.
Another high point was finding FR5ZQ/T wandering around on 15 with not much
else coming in. Working the A61 on 80 was another adrenaline surge. We
then tried it on 160 and I heard him calling me at S4 to S5 on a quiet band.
Alas, VK3AJJ couldn't wait and QRMed any chance of a QSO with incessant
calling. There I was, finger poised over the ENTER key to record a historic
QSO and I had to hit F11 instead.
All in all it was a pretty great contest. Good rates, lots of Qs, plenty of
DX, no equipment breakdowns. Let's do it again next year!
Dan KL7Y
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