CQ WW RTTY WPX Contest
Call: VA7ST
Operator(s): VA7ST
Station: VA7ST
Class: SOAB LP
QTH:
Operating Time (hrs): 25
Summary:
Band QSOs Pts
-----------------
80: 79 302
40: 79 314
20: 215 502
15: 190 434
10: 21 49
-----------------
Total: 584 1601 Prefixes = 264 Total Score = 422,664
Club:
Comments:
N1MM Logger + MMTTY
FT920 (100w)
3 ele. CL33 @ 45'
40M delta loop
80M delta loop
Score history (claimed, naturally)
Year Qs WPX Score
-------------------------
2005 584 264 422,664
2004 225 114 67,009
2003 344 149 147,212
Quite an improved result over previous years. Thought the weekend was going to
be a washout after going to bed Friday night with fewer than 100 Qs in the
log.
Got up for the early Saturday morning EU opening and had a great time for a
couple of hours. Then had to turn the beam into my broadband noise source (due
E.) to work stateside and had a terrible time of it. What a mess the RFI has
made of my contest time. I am now pretty sure it's a power line problem, as up
on 10M I can actually hear the random snapping of an arc, and plenty of
hashing.
I figure I must have lost 200 Qs or more to the noise, as I just avoided
pointing the beam into it whenever possible.
40M and 80M were great Saturday evening. Broke away for a couple of hours to
play CW Sprint -- 101 leapfrog Sprint Qs and I was cooked! Unwound a bit by
spending an hour with the kids. Returned to find 40M RTTY hopping. Was kinda
shocked to have UA0AYA and OH0Z call me when no one else was answering. Guess
some of the low angle stuff works on a delta loop after all.
Sunday morning EU was better than Saturday, opening earlier but not staying as
late into the morning. For some reason, I had about half an hour of nothing but
UA3/RW3 stations. Odd spotlight propagation but any over-the-pole contacts are
sure welcome! Went to 15 around 9 a.m. local and worked a few EUs for the first
time in a while.
Naturally, with low power I couldn't hold a run freq. for long, so I bounced
around quite a bit. Did about 40 per cent S&P this time.
As usual, I spent most of the last hour on 15M pointing at JA. That paid off
nicely with several valuable mults and a string of 3-pointers. Closed out on 20M
calling and working anyone who could hear me (and that I could hear through the
S-7 RFI hiss).
Was happy to break what I thought would be an unrealistic 500-Q goal, especially
after almost packing it in after Friday night's lack-lustre output.
All in all, it was a good weekend despite the $#@%& noise. Going to track it
down this week, now that I have a prime suspect. Could take forever to get it
fixed, even after I locate the source. Sheesh. What a hobby :)
Thanks for the Qs and see you in the next one.
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
______________________________________________
3830 mailing list
3830@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/3830
|