CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW
Call: K4RO
Operator(s): K4RO
Station: K4RO
Class: SOAB HP
QTH: TN
Operating Time (hrs): 36
Summary:
Band QSOs Zones Countries
------------------------------
160: 59 10 33
80: 180 15 66
40: 248 26 85
20: 554 31 98
15: 304 27 93
10: 33 9 20
------------------------------
Total: 1378 118 395 Total Score = 1,901,178
Club: Tennessee Contest Group
Comments:
I could have broken 2 million if I had pushed harder,
but I didn't do either of those things. After full
blown competitive entries in both modes of SS (single
op in CW and multi-op in SSB) I was in the mood for
some enjoyable DX radio operating for fun.
I didn't spent as much time running this year. Line
noise was terrible on 15 meters, and I took an hour
off Saturday morning to go locate the offending pole.
I found it, but the sledgehammer wouldn't quiet it.
It rained late Saturday night, so things were very
quiet on Sunday morning and I enjoyed a short 15m run
to Europe. Propagation just didn't support as much
running from middle Tennessee this year. I tried to
run whenever the band sounded like it could support it.
Had a 10 minute run to JA on 15 meters at sunset Sunday.
I put up two new antennas before the contest. One is
a gound-mounted full-size 80 meter vertical with too few
radials on the gound. It was the superior antenna to the
Caribbean and SA, but it did not beat the quater-wave sloper
at 80' to Europe. I probably couldn't run Europe from here
even with a four-square, but I wouldn't mind another dB or
two in the pileups on 80m. I could hear many stations
easily who were having much trouble copying my signal.
On 40m, I completely re-worked the wire beam which I put
up for CQWW 2003. This time I accounted for the velocity
factory of the insulated wire and pruned it very carefully.
I also added end ropes to make the wires truly parallel, as
it was a skewed mess before just trying to "eyeball" it.
Finally, I got it much higher in the air after three full
days of golf-ball casting and struggling with tree branches.
The thing is playing MUCH better. I can hear an entirely
new layer of stations from Europe, which are inaudible on
my other 40m transmit antennas. I am going to have to get
used to the idea of being able to run EU on 40 meters, as
that's not something I've really been able to do from here
with much success in the past.
160 meters was about as good as I've ever heard it the
first night. I was getting answers to my CQs from Europe,
and able to S&P a surprising number of multipliers. No
luck with JA either morning on 160 -- never heard a peep.
My cheap short Beverages continue to provide more QSOs per
dollar than any other piece of gear in the station.
Eighty meters was also delightful the first night.
Storms west of here made the second night a lot tougher.
There seemed to be an increase in the frequency of IDing,
but maybe I just got to the DX before the packet feeding
frenzy began. Some of the folks calling in pileups clearly
could not copy the DX at all. I wonder if they were calling
blind at a packet spot before even determining if they could
actually copy the station? I'm not intimidated by a raging
pileup, and will jump right in there myself and try my best
to crack through. What I don't understand is why anybody would
waste their time in a pileup if they can't even copy the DX?
How will they ever know if they made a QSO or not?
Nothing compares to scoring the rare double mults in the CQWW.
Saturday morning was very exciting with lots of incredibly
juicy multipliers on the band. Thanks to all of the ops who
put these rare locations on for CQWW -- both the natives and
the travelling DXpetitioner types. The CQWW is the most thrilling
DX contest because of you. I hope to operate from a choice DX
location for CQWW again soon. Maybe next year?
Thanks for the QSOs and the thrills.
73
-Kirk K4RO
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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