ARRL DX Contest, CW
Call: N8II
Operator(s): N8II
Station: N8II
Class: SOAB QRP
QTH: WV
Operating Time (hrs): ~32
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
160: 11 10
80: 72 41
40: 155 65
20: 278 74
15: 182 61
10: 12 6
-------------------
Total: 710 247 Total Score = 521,664
Club: Potomac Valley Radio Club
Comments:
If you heard me struggling to get through a pile-up this weekend,
there was a reason, 5W does make a difference. QRP requires dogged
persistence for sure.
I started off on 20 and had reasonable luck getting thru the
Caribbean pile-ups considering the DX was new for everyone at that
point; I also broke KH7X which can be tough early. We were lucky to
have propagation to about KP4 south. Around 01Z it was down to 40M,
and I was able to work most of the EU/Carib stations I heard, but
generally had to wait in line a bit. I heard EA9EU on 40/20/15 during
the contest, but never managed a QSO. I was doing well enough to
stick with it. After a short break, I hit 80M at 03Z and to my
surprise, I could work the loud Europeans of which there were many.
However, KR2Q was moving up the band along with me and doing at least
as well. 160 netted KV4FZ and C6.
Saturday morning was frustrating somewhat, I couldn't run much of
anything on 20 even high in the band on a very clear freq. 20 was only
open to northern Eu and Russia well for about 45 minutes centered
around 13Z. My best rate was 44 Q's/hour mostly on 15M which was only
open well to the Balkans, I, EA, and F and at times even the Italians
were weak. Rates were in the 40's 12Z thru 15Z. By 17Z, 20M was
already well on its way to closing with quite a few open frequencies.
Western EU hung in there until about 2030Z, but time was better spent
on 15 getting stations to the south. I kept checking 10M, and heard
only 1 weak LU mid-afternoon, no QSO. By early afternoon, I had logged
CN, ZS, 5Z, and 5T5DY on both 15 and 20. 40 was wide open enough by
22Z to work a few; my best run, about a dozen stations, was around
2240Z on 7008 kHz, a morale boost. Day 1 ended with 460 Q's.
The 2nd day was basically scraping the bottom for the scraps all
the way thru. Signals from Eu were just about the same as the night
before, quite a few S9 or better, but I really struggled to work
anyone. There are a lot of poor listeners out there; to maximize
your score when CQ'ing, you need to listen CAREFULLY, a little tweak
of the RIT while listening for answers will increase your chances as
well. When I dump my call in once and the CQ'er has started again
before I finish, there is a listening problem. I must have called
30-40 stations with good signals from Eu/SA on 80 with no response.
160 was a pleasant surprise; I heard a few Eu + CN3A but nobody was
close to loud enough to get through. The Caribbean/SA stations I
heard were mostly worked; I hope I helped you with a mult for your
trouble. On 160 at 0030Z I worked V31YN (really loud), PJ4/KU8E, J7OJ
and at 0300 WP3C, HP1XX, ZF2AM, and P40W. Also at 1130Z worked KH7X
and NP4A. I thought I was pretty lucky breaking the pile-up on VK9DNX
on 15 Saturday afternoon (about S4), then I made it thru on 80 around
around 1145Z, great Rx set-up and ops, thanks! The 12Z hour netted
only 17 Q's on 20, S&P, I kept finding all the stations I had worked
already which was true all day. 15 never opened quite well enough to
run stations, but slowly yielded Q's and new mults in southern Eu. It
was better than Saturday and around 15Z, there was a brief opening to
northern Eu allowing me to catch SP, RK2FWA, SF0F, and YL7X. Around
1730Z, a few G's were finally heard with loud signals along with EI7M
and EI/W5GN about 300 Hz apart, and GW3NJW. Finally at 1850Z, 10M
opened, but to the west, not the south as expected. Bagged NH6P
working split and KH6LC was loud but too busy. W6's and 7's were heard
in abundance. Just after 19Z, the LU's started coming thru; I worked
5 in about 10 minutes. It wasn't until 1940Z, that HP1XX was logged.
Condx were best around 1930Z when there was a somewhat weak opening
to P40W, 2 PY's (loud), and PJ2T; HK couldn't hear me. In the early
afternoon polar condx were quite good. I logged SM2CEW on 15 and heard
KL7WV. JA8RWU was LOUD around 19Z and for some time after, but a
disturbance seemed to ruin things 21Z and later when the JA's got out
of bed, worked no more. There were loud OH's on 20 and I found TF3YH
for a mult. 21Z onward was painfully slow. At one point while scanning
40, I must have heard 15 or more stations in a row that were already
logged. I had no luck running.
Many thanks for the Q's and struggling to work me. 20M condx were a bit
disappointing, but 80 was in good shape both nights and 40 stayed open to
central and southern Eu all through the Eu night. I had to repeat
my exchange countless times (WV is still ringing in my head!); some
of the repeats were stations already logged on another band; trust your
computer, or least use it as an aide please. Operating in the S&P mode
allowed me to observe several bad habits which only slow things down
for everyone. First and foremost, don't keep calling if the DX has
replied to partial call. J37T was doing his best to work people when he heard
my N8 prefix calling; after 3 attempts to pull me thru the out of turn
callers, he QRT'ed. A local KI4 who couldn't send his call well at all kept
calling and calling on numerous stations. Don't send BK; that went out in the
70's. Don't repeat more than twice unless the DX has failed to copy at least
twice. A string of R's is also pretty wasteful of time. You can really separate
out the good ops from the poor operating QRP. High marks go to VK9DNX, P40W, and
DD2D who heard me well every time!
73, Jeff
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