IARU HF World Championship
Call: N1UR
Operator(s): N1UR
Station: N1UR
Class: SO Mixed LP
QTH: VT
Operating Time (hrs): 23
Radios: SO2R
Summary:
Band CW Qs Ph Qs Zones HQ Mults
-------------------------------------
160: 23 1 7 3
80: 189 15 18 22
40: 403 8 19 32
20: 377 297 25 35
15: 48 38 14 14
10: 13 11 6 2
-------------------------------------
Total: 1053 370 89 108 Total Score = 709,594
Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club
Comments:
The last time that I did IARU was 2005. I always enjoy this contest for the
combination of high rates for a low power station as well as the different
summer propagation and â??one shot at itâ?? 24 hour cycle. Even though CW is
my favorite mode, I also enjoy SSB contesting and like the MIXED category in
this one because it adds an additional strategic component that is unique for
most contests.
The station here at N1UR was up to the task. Everything was a go and I was
rested for the solid 24 hours stint. Propagation during the week was not great
and indicated that the only chance for JA from here was 20M from 1130 â?? 13Z
and that EU wasnâ??t overly strong (but was plenty workable) at the 12Z
opening. Also 10M E Skip to the South East and Texas was a regular
occurrence.
I was listening about a half hour before the opening gun. Never heard a JA.
EU was there but the general signals were not loud. I opened running on 20M CW
with split antennas (top to US/JA and bottom to EU). Itâ??s a tough decision to
â??splitâ?? 150W into two 75W signals but it is successful. I had a 100 opening
hour with 80% being US stations, no JA. I picked off some HQ mults on 15M at
the same time.
I still donâ??t have â??the formulaâ?? down for the IARU contest. Is it
domestic? Is it DX? The running of 1 and 3 point US Qs feels good but really
isnâ??t score productive like running EU (when its doable). And unlike WPX, no
mults call in when you are running the US. So I constantly waffled between
â??rateâ?? and better score.
After a couple of hours, I switched to 20M SSB run where I had a 90% US/VE run
of almost 180Qs in 90 mins. Felt great, but I eventually let it go in favor of
S & Ping at a good clip the 20M EU signals on both SSB and CW.
I know that there is supposed to be over 100 HQ stations. I basically worked
the same 30 or so on 80 â?? 15.
I had a great rate going on 40 CW from 23 â?? 02Z with over 50% of it being EU.
I decided to make one, and only one, pass at EU on 80 CW/SSB to grab all of the
mults and did so around 0245Z to catch the most â??darkâ?? sigs. With the
concentration required on the 100+ 40 CW running, it was going to be tough to
SO2R the 80 mults at the same time. I was quite surprised at the first call
grabs of just about every CQing EU station across the band from 0245 â?? 0330Z
using the 150W and 2 el wire array. Things were so good there that I even
tried a couple on 160 (without much success).
Rate was, again, quite easy on 80M CW. I should have tried a little 80M SSB
running as well but didnâ??t. But again it was exclusively W/VE at about 2
point average.
Took a 45 min nap at 0730Z since everything was slower and virtually all
running was 1 point W/VE. I hoped for the â??last blastâ?? from 11Z + but it
didnâ??t happen. Again, no JA. I did manage a few Asiatic Russians in the
last hour. Running on 20M was not producing EU and decided that constant mult
chasing was a better strategy for the last hour.
I actually feel good about the mult total (interesting note â?? very few mults
were not available on CWâ?¦the reverse was not the caseâ?¦mults would have been
lower exclusively SSB). And the Qs total is a record high for me in IARU Low
Power. But the points per Q resulted in a lower score than expected.
I was very happy to hear the solid number of new US hams trying â??this
contesting thingâ??. Sure, a number of them had to be coaxed through but many
stayed in the game after that. One of them duped me later. I was his first
contest Q about 30 mins prior. His second attempt was clean and crisp. I
didnâ??t tell him â??You a dupe OMâ?¦worked you at blah blah blah zuluâ??.
Why, whatâ??s the point? No, instead, he felt good and confident. Keep him
that wayâ?¦heâ??ll figure it out.
See you in CQ WW SSB!
Ed N1UR
Antennas:
160 â?? T Vert and Inverted Vee
80 â?? 2 el phased array and ½ wave sloper south
40 â?? 2el at 80 ft
20 â?? 4/4 at 70 ft and 35 ft (NE) and 2el South at 55 ft
15 â?? 3 el at 80ft, 5 el at 50ft South, 8 el at 30 ft NE
10 â?? 5 el at 70 ft and 3 el South at 50 ft
Beverages 900 ft NE and 600 ft W (on 80M, I literally canâ??t hear 25% of the
callers from W/VE on the NE Beverage meanwhile EU is Q5).
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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