W4PA ARRL DX CW SO/HP/AB
1394/304 = 1,270,416 claimed in 26 hours of operation.
Ugh. What a mess. You can plan for every possible circumstance
that might occur during a major DX contest except for the ones
you have no control over. After finishing in the top 10 for this
one last year I was hopeful and eager to make it two in a row.
It was not to be!
I keep a notepad on the table while operating to write little notes
to myself during the contest. One of them reads "1513Z 15M SOLAR
FLARE?". During the Saturday morning European runs I heard the
noise level in the receiver go from nil to about S7 and the station
I was working at that moment drift into the noise. ACK! I thought
it was another solar disturbance like the one we had on Thursday.
After a few minutes, though, the noise subsided and operation
continued as normal. I heard the same thing occur a few more times
during the afternoon; noise level goes up, signals go down, never
thought a thing of it.
0000Z goes by and I am rolling. 24 hours straight on the air and
I am not even sleepy. The JA's are booming in on 10 meters. I do
a quick score projection based on the halfway results and am looking
at 2,570,000 - better than last year. I am very motivated. I decide
to stick it out and go all 48 hours without taking a break.
....and then. Well, the noise came back. At 0130Z I was running loud
JA's on 15 when I heard "crackle, kuhcrackle, crackle, grrrrrrrrrrreeerr
bazzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzrrrrrrrrrbbbbbbbbrrrrzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz"
in both headphones. I was S&Ping Europeans on 80 at the same time and
instantly I had a 20 dB over 9 EMI noise level on 80. S7 on 15m.
I was a little surprised, but I recognized this was the same sound I
had heard briefly earlier in the day. Figuring it would go away, I
continued to CQ on 15 and abandoned 80 for the moment.
Well, after 30 minutes it hadn't gone away. At 0200Z, I took off the
headphones and went upstairs to get something to eat, and when I
returned 20 minutes later it was still buzzing as loud as ever.
I continued to check on and off over the next hour and the noise
would not subside. 160, 80, and 40 were completely useless. 20
and 15 were audible but all I could hear through the racket were
loud USA stations.
Fine, then. No reason to get upset, I'll just sleep for a couple
of hours. Go to sleep, get up, go downstairs. Noise is still
there. Go back to sleep for 60 to 90 minutes. Repeat. No better.
Then, I wake up at 0715Z (2:15 am local), go down to the ham shack.
IT'S GONE! Thank goodness! I immediately switch the amp off of
standby and start CQing on 80. Europeans immediately start coming
back - great, I'll be able to make up some lost ground and I was off
the air during the not-so-hot-time-and-I'm-doing-fine-and-great-and-
let's-get-the-160-antenna-hooked-up ag a i n . .. .. . .
After less than 10 minutes, it was back. 20 dB over 9 on 80 meters.
I tried in vain for the next 30 minutes to S&P through it on 40m but
there was nothing that could be done. I elect to again get some more
sleep. I keep getting up, hoping the noise would be gone and I could
get back in there and call CQ some more.
Well...it didn't go away. The moment of truth came at 1200Z, when I
could hear the east coast pounding out Europeans and I was sitting
in the radio room with an S7 buzzsaw on every high band, unable to
copy anything. I realized that I had basically been off the air for
10 straight hours, my score was no longer competitive and I was an
odd combination of sleepy, awake, frustrated and hungry. The "noise"
had no sign of leaving, so with great reluctance I turned off the
computer, unhooked all the equipment and called it a weekend.
Postscript: I went downstairs to check on the noise level in late
morning to find that it had disappeared. I tuned to 80 meters to
check to make sure, and after a couple of minutes right before my eyes
I had a repeat of the "buzz, grrrr, crackle" syndrome and it was back at
20 over 9 again. Two quick checks in mid-afternoon indicated no noise
level, but by this time I was thoroughly decompressed from competition
mode and didn't even bother trying to work anyone.
I have not the foggiest idea what this noise was or what it could have
been caused by. I have spent many, many hours on the air at this QTH
since I first ran the 1996 CQ WW CW from here and I have never heard
anything like I heard this weekend.
WAIT TILL NEXT YEAR!
Scott Robbins, W4PA
TCG Facilitator
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