CQ Worldwide DX Contest, SSB
Call: NK7U
Operator(s): NK7U, K7ZO, KL9A, K7MK, W7ZRC, KC7RSO, N7ZG
Station: NK7U
Class: M/2 HP
QTH: Oregon
Operating Time (hrs): 48
Summary:
Band QSOs Zones Countries
------------------------------
160: 33 8 14
80: 407 26 58
40: 435 31 85
20: 1314 38 146
15: 444 29 81
10: 100 12 32
------------------------------
Total: 2733 144 416 Total Score = 3,647,280
Club:
Comments:
Now that the posting pileup has died down a bit I will throw in the NK7U story.
For the 13th year in a row NK7U fielded a multi-op team for CQWW SSB. This year
again a M/2, which has become our class of choice since it was instituted in
2002. We have found this to be an ideal class for us at is matches the number
of operators we can usually assemble. Though the NK7U station very much would
support a M/M operation we can rarely round up enough operators for such an
endeavor. (One memorable example on a NK7U M/M was in 1999 CQ WPX SSB contest
the story of which can be found on www.nk7u.com.)
Before getting into the story let me offer a few broad observations:
* First, as has mentioned by several others our score was down about 10% from
last year. Our total mults were actually up with some new band records
mentioned later. What got us was a 50% or so drop in 15M QSOâ??s. We also agree
that Saturday was a heck of a lot better than Sunday. Of course Wednesday,
Thursday, and Friday were better than either Saturday or Sunday for those of
you monitoring the bands last week. Why does it always seem that way? On Sunday
from the 0200 hour through the 1500 hour we did not exceed 50 QSOâ??s in any one
hour and actually averaged 22/hour during that period. For the five hours
starting in the 1000 hour we averaged 15/hour. Talk about dedication.
* Second, we commend the effort by many of the technology leaders out there to
design a standard realtime score posting methodology. And a special thanks to
W1VE who actually implemented it, put up a server, and wrote the WriteLog
utility. We had fun watching our battle with K0TV, the only other M/2 to post
their scores. We were pretty close all weekend. I think we were ahead once when
they had power problems related to the weather. Then they pulled ahead Sunday
morning -- we closed the gap for a while and then they sprinted to the finish.
Despite the postings to the contrary we gained no operating benefit from the
score postings. It was fun and motivating to see where our competition was at.
And, as in the past, at NK7U we are committed first to having fun and second to
competing. This is a hobby after all for 99% of us.
* Third, with respect to flurry of postings on zero point QSOâ??s I will echo
K1TTTâ??s latest posting -- CQWW DX â??Is what it isâ??. Enjoy it like it is or
do something else. When WPX added 1 point QSOâ??s a few years ago it made sense
-- it is a contest about working prefixes. CQWW DX is about working DX -- that
is why it is called a DX contest. And, for the record the % of stateside
QSOâ??s in our log this year was essentially the same as last year at 15%.
* Finally, each year as a M/2 we have compared our score with the top US M/2
score to see how we are doing. And, this year we are proud to see we continue
to gain on the competition.
Top Post NK7U NK7U as % of top post
2002 N3RS/12.9M 3.0M 23%
2003 K4JA/13.0M 3.6M 28%
2004 K3LR/20.3M 6.2M 30%
2005 N3RS/11.3M 4.0M 35%
2006 N3RS/ 7.4M 3.6M 48%
After a three years of â??gaining slowlyâ?? we made a major jump this year.
Because our 2006 score was down only 10% from 2005 while N3RSâ??s dropped a
whopping 35% we made up major ground. We have gained 25% in the past four years
for an average of 6% per year. At this rate we might win this thing in another
9-10 years. :) In last yearâ??s writeup I postulated NK7U should be able to get
to 50% of the top score by the top of the next solar cycle. Well, we have
arrived. The question now is can we hold on?
Now getting into the contest itself. This year I will do a band by band
summary.
10M
====
Was that a surprise or what? We made five times the QSOâ??s this year we did
last, and we didnâ??t even get the benefit of the Europe openings the east
coast did. As sunrise approached NK7U on Saturday morning we could see the 10M
spots on the cluster. The question was what kind of opening would we get in the
northwest corner of the US?
Our master band opening finder, KL9A, used one of the rigs we had to monitor
the band during the day. At 18:34 the first 10M QSO went into the log with
ZW5B. We managed a couple of Africans -- C52T and 6W1SE just after 1900. Our
big hour was the 2000 hour with 24 QSOâ??s. The band pretty well closed up for
us at 2200 with our last QSO of the day with LU7HN.
Sunday certainly was not as good but the band did open enough to extract 9 more
precious mults. The band opened right at 1800 with us working PY2MTV. The top
hour again was the 2000 hour with 16 QSOâ??s. And the band closed up at 21:45
though we managed one last QSO at 23:56 with CX2DE.
2006 QSOs 100, Zones 12, Countries 32
2005 QSOs 19 Zones 6 Countries 12
15M
===
This was the big transition band for us with our QSO count down 50% from last
year and mults down 1/3. This is even with the addition of a fixed stack of
three 6 element beams aimed at Europe. Last year I think we got away with a lot
more than we should have on 15M given the flux level was the same as this year.
I think we got what we deserved this year.
Despite being generally strong to Europe and JA during the days leading up to
the contest, 15M left us short. I know west coast stations further south than
us had pretty good openings we were just a bit too far north.
At the start of the contest the band was open to JA -- sort of. It slammed shut
at 00:45 with just 40 QSOâ??s in the log and just 18 JAâ??s. We snuck in one
last QSO at 3:41 with XX9C, but that was it.
On Saturday morning predictably the band opened to the Caribbean and South
America relatively early -- at 14:45 or so, about 45 minutes after sunrise. The
first European didnâ??t go into the log until 16:30 when CT4HA went into the
log. Over the next 2 hours we added just 16 Europeans to the log all from the
F, EA, CT area. At 18:40 OH8X dropped by for the usual afternoon opening into
Scandinavia. Over the next 45 minutes we work a dozen LA, OH and SM stations.
During the time the band also opened slightly to central Europe and we worked
some of the big guns -- DF0HQ, S50R, YT7Z, and IR4X. This opening was pretty
well gone by 2000 and it was back to tracking down Caribbean and South
Americans and then the South Pacific mults. The band opened Saturday afternoon
to JA at 22:25 which is reasonably early. However the opening was not strong
and we worked 50 or so JAâ??s over the next two hours. The band slammed shut
again at 00:45.
Sunday was pretty dismal by comparison. It once again opened about 14:30 to the
Caribbean and South America. We did not have a single Europe or Africa QSO all
day. We heard only one JA -- just a couple minutes before the end of the
contest. Total 15M QSOâ??s for this period -- 110 and 45 of these were zero
pointers.
2006 QSOs 444, Zones 29, Countries 81
2005 QSOs 808 Zones 33 Countries 92
20M
===
This band has always been a â??money bandâ?? at NK7U and Joe has invested a
huge amount of effort in building his 20M capabilities over the years.
Currently with a total of 46 total elements on 20M not counting a couple of
tri-banders, he has to have one of the biggest 20M antenna assortments around.
These are arranged as follows:
* Europe Stack 5/5/5/5
* JA Stack 6/6
* Caribbean 4
* Rotating 5/5
This year the station and its operators really showed how strong a 20M
capability NK7U has. We set an all time Country total record and our second
best total mults level. Looking at the mult totals from the big east coast
multi-ops:
Zones Countries Total
* K3LR (M/M) 40 165 205 What contest were they in?
* K1TTT(M/M) 35 139 174
* N3RS (M/2) 37 144 181
* NQ4I (M/2) 37 146 183
* KC1XX(M/M) 39 154 193
* W3LPL(M/M) 40 158 198
* W4RM (M/2) 35 118 153
* K0TV (M/2) 32 132 164
* NK7U (M/2) 38 146 184
What is also amazing is that NK7U missed Zones 29 and 30 and VK and ZK1/s as
countries because of the hills behind the QTH. (See the photo on www.nk7u.com
to get an idea.) If we didnâ??t have this hill we would have been 40X148 or so.
The band was open to JA, OH-Land and South America at the start of the contest.
Soon after we started working into Zone 18 and 19. Two years ago in our only
ever 40 Zone effort, Zone 19 was our last zone and by the end of the first hour
this year we had 4 of them in the log. Go figure. At 00:50 TU2/F5LDY called in
as a total surpise. A couple QSOâ??s later ZC4T was in the log for another good
one. The JAâ??s started slowing down after an hour but we continued to work into
Zone 18 and 19, OH-land, and then a few Zone 16â??s started calling in as well.
We did get a fairly good opening into deep Asia to work the â??stansâ??, though
not an epic opening as in the last couple of years. Calling in were HS, several
UNâ??s, EX, 9K, 4L, 5B and JT. A real surprise was 9N7JO who we caught CQing.
The band stayed open reasonably late with our last QSOâ??s around 0500.
The next morning the band opened around 12:45 toward the Caribbean. It was not
until 14:30 that Europeans were coming in and we started working them. The band
was not quite runnable and it took until 15:30 to get our runs going when W7ZRC
squeezed in at 14186. He managed to hold that frequency for 30 minutes and
worked a very respectable 54 stations in that time. It took us 20 minutes to
find another run frequency when K7MK settled in at 14161.In the next 40 minutes
we worked 74 stations. We S&Pâ??s and had short runs until the band closed up to
Europe about 2000. For the morning and afternoon we had 300 European QSOâ??s.
Just as the band closed to Europe it opened to JA and we settled into running
JA and Asia. The band closed down in that direction much earlier -- around 1:45
or so. For the next couple of hours we picked up a few South Americans but the
opening to Zones 16, 17, 18, 19 we had Friday night was just not there.
Following a similar pattern the band opened much later on Sunday morning as
well. Our first European didnâ??t go into the log until 15:50 more than an hour
later than Saturday and it was not runnable until 16:30 though thankfully it
stayed open just about as late - until 2000. During this dayâ??s opening we
added 155 Europe QSOâ??s to the log -- about half of the day before.
Each contest always has a couple of good stories in it. This year one occurred
at 15:20 Saturday with SF7WT called in on 20M. Stan said: â??I heard you last
night at 3AM local on 20M, you were the only stateside signal on the bandâ??
That kind of report we will take any time.
2006 QSOs 1314, Zones 38, Countries 146
2005 QSOs 1469 Zones 35 Countries 137
40M
===
This year another big improvement in NK7Uâ??s antenna arsenal is a 3 element
beam currently fixed on JA. By NK7U standards this is not a large antenna but
it is in a critically important location.
After the first couple of years of operation at the current NK7U QTH we began
to feel we were missing something on 40M. Comparing logs with other stations in
the area showed we just were not making the JA QSOâ??s we should. We then
modeled the rotating 4 element beam with N6BVâ??s amazing HFTA program and
found it had a major null at the main JA arrival angles. We then examined other
locations on NK7Uâ??s towers and found that even a small 40M antenna on his JA
towers would outperform the current 4 element beam by 10-15db. W7ZRC was kind
enough to donate an old 3 element KLM and up it went on the tower. We didnâ??t
get much of a chance to test it before the contest so it was in real life
contest conditions that we found out how well the design worked. And, it worked
just as planned. KL9Aâ??s comments were â??I have never had JA runs on 40M from
NK7U like this before. The 3 element beam is 2-3 S-units better than the 4
element beam.â?? K7ZO had several 59+30 and 59+40db reports from JA stations.
Our JA 40M QSO totals were well up from last year. We also set an all time 40M
QSO record this year. So, the project was a success.
This is one of the best testaments of using modern modeling software and seeing
the results I can think of. If you have not used N6BVâ??s HFTA get a copy from
the ARRL today -- it comes with the Antenna Book.
We also had another 40M spot story this year. Last year, checking out NK7U
spots after the contest we found this amazing entry.
LX1KC 7213.8 NK7U 59 , NOON HERE 1001 30 Oct 2005
We didnâ??t actually work LX1KC which was a bit disappointing. This year this
spot was found.
C52T 7187.5 NK7U QSX 7053 Booming in hr 0744 29 Oct 2006
This spot was about 45 minutes after C52Tâ??s sunrise. At the time we were
working JAâ??s so he was actually off the back of the 3 element beam. And, as
last year, we didnâ??t actually work him. Next year guys -- hang in there and
work us please!
2006 QSOs 435, Zones 31, Countries 85
2005 QSOs 398 Zones 31 Countries 88
This was our third year in a row with 31 zones
80M
===
We also set an all time QSO record on 80M this year breaking the 400 QSO
barrier. We also had our second best mult total ever.
NK7U added a beverage system this year with a 720â?? beverage toward EU and a
480â?? one East/West. This will certainly give us a broader listening range
when working into Europe as Joeâ??s beam has a very narrow bandwidth. However,
conditions that way were not so good this year and we had just 5 QSOâ??s with
some of the big gun stations in the south -- TM2Y, IR4X, etc.
Continuing, operating wise there was good news/bad news this year. On the good
news front the radar problem seems to have moved off this band. We noticed it
on the lower part of 40M on Friday night, but that was it. So, much better than
last year.
On the bad news sign is there appeared a new operating style by JA operators in
their small segment of the band from 3794 to 3804. In several cases stations
would fire up right next to us and then listen split just above or below this
band segment. This was very disruptive and led to some short nerves on our
end.
2006 QSOs 407, Zones 26, Countries 58
2005 QSOs 398 Zones 27 Countries 60
160M
====
A pretty uneventful year for us on 160M. We were working the day before the
contest to put up a four square 160M half-wave sloper system. We had everything
rigged and pulled up two of the four antennas to find out the center insulators
had various physical failures. So, we gave up on that project and operated the
contest with the good old ¼ wave ground plane.
Most DX were the Caribbean and South America multi-ops. We did manage to snag
ZL6QH for some real DX.
2006 QSOs 33, Zones 8, Countries 14
2005 QSOs 82 Zones 9 Countries 17
I could go on and on, but this is enough. Check out more good NK7U material on
our website, www.nk7u.com.
Scott/K7ZO
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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