CQWW WPX Contest, CW
Call: WX3B
Operator(s): WX3B, NG3K, ND3D, N8IVN
Station: WX3B
Class: M/M HP
QTH: MD
Operating Time (hrs): ???
Summary:
Band QSOs
------------
160: 6
80: 44
40: 544
20: 984
15: 196
10: 101
------------
Total: 1875 Prefixes = 777 Total Score = 3,972,024
Club: Potomac Valley Radio Club
Comments:
SURPRISE!!! 10 & 15 open!
Ok, I have to say I wasn't initially planning to operate this contest because
it usually falls on memorial day weekend, one I enjoyed spending a great deal
of time outside.
An inquiry was made about WX3B being on for this contest, and I figured...why
not? Very quickly we were a team of 4 planning to operate in the contest.
Bill, NG3K (who most of you know from his DX-Pedition calendars) had his first
experience at WX3B and did an excellent job handing out QSOs. Bill is a very
enthusiastic CW operator and is a great addition to our team.
Bob, ND3D is a veteran at WX3B and was commenting on getting some excellent
running practice with team W4RM during the ARRL DX CW contest. Bob enjoyed
that "sunrise" propagation on 40 meters and was the only "iron man" to stay up
all night.
Dennis, N8IVN came over to practice his CW skills! I am confident he gained at
least 5wpm of "contest" copy by the time he departed. Dennis is learning about
SSB contesting...and now...CW contesting. That's called "trial by fire!".
So the SURPRISE is...how about those 10 meter conditions on Saturday morning???
I got downstairs at about 6:30 and couldn't believe what the packet system was
saying...and then I couldn't believe my years. Lots of Europeans on 10! I
jumped on and worked a bunch of QSOs, many of which were rather loud Europeans.
I don't think I've heard 10 like that in many years.
The second surprise was 15 meters which had a good opening Saturday and was
still showing some signs of life at the end of the contest.
On Sunday night, I saw NR4M spotted (with an incredible 15m QSO total by the
way) by UU7J, saying he was "still loud". Sure enough, LZ9W, UU7J and S52X are
all 599+ on 15, another experience I haven't had in many years. Even the
stations responding to NR4M were still readable. Incredbile!
A highlight film of this operation would not be complete if I failed to mention
Cole and Keith next door. Cole (7) and Keith (5) helped me unroll and install
the 80/160 beverages (which I really didn't use).
Next, they entered the radio room and listened to their first QSO by a very
warm Mike, SV9CVY who instructed me to hug and kiss the kids for him and give
them candy. Obviously Mike is a grandfather! I took them back upstairs and
showed them were Mike's island is on the globe. Always looking for those new
young team members!
Two glitches unfolded at my station during this event: I noticed my 40m
station Saturday morning had a off the wall SWR and the amplifier wasn't
putting out much power. After I got over the panic of a possible
antenna/amplifier failure, I was delighted to see that I had only blown up the
Yaesu YS-60 wattmeter. Anybody have another one for sale?
The other glitch is a realization that there is a new appliance of some kind in
my neighborhood...and it creates a nice low level hash on 20 meters. Looks like
it's going to be time to do some more direction finding. It's amazing how many
signals are lost with even a low level noise source.
What a great time considering it was an unplanned event!
Looking forward to field day next...
73,
Jim WX3B
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