CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW
Call: 8P5A
Operator(s): W2SC
Station: 8P5A
Class: SOAB HP
QTH: Barbados
Operating Time (hrs): 47.5
Summary:
Band QSOs Zones Countries
------------------------------
160: 363 18 51
80: 793 24 92
40: 1807 32 102
20: 1628 30 101
15: 2233 26 102
10: 344 19 39
------------------------------
Total: 7168 149 487 Total Score = 11,300,000
Club: Northern California Contest Club
Comments:
Sometimes you push the envelope too far
In prior years, I tried to accommodate both Thanksgiving and CQWW CW. I would
head to Barbados on Monday before the contest to set up. I would return to New
York on Wednesday to be back in time for Thanksgiving. We would celebrate the
holiday with my wife Kathleenâ??s family and drive to a hotel by JFK airport
that night. On Friday, we would fly to Barbados arrive just a few hours before
the contest and then do the full 48 hours. The lack of preparation makes a
serious effort not realistic, so I do this contest just for fun and with
limited pressure.
This year we went a couple of steps further. I had a corporate event in New
York on the Friday a week before CQWW so we flew out a day early. Over the
weekend, we visited my sister and mother and once again I flew down to 8P on
Monday and back on Wednesday. However, my daughters wanted to find a way to
attend the New York Jets home football game on Thanksgiving night. We were
indeed able to make arrangements and had a great time. After the game we went
to the hotel at JFK, arriving at 1:30 AM. After a few hours of sleep, it was
back to the airport for my 8AM flight. This year I went to Barbados alone and
Kathleen and my son Alex flew back to California.
I got to the station around 19Z on Friday to make sure everything was still
working. The first test was the rotors and it turns out the one on my crankup
tower did not turn. I reasoned that I could conceivably crank the tower down
and climb up and point these antennas at Europe all weekend. Before I did
that, I connected the rotor to another control box and, fortunately, the
problem was the control box and not the rotor. I had a spare control box, but
I did not have a connector preinstalled so I had to move the one from the
failing control box. When I was done, the rotor still would not turn. As it
turns out, I put the connector back on the original box, not the replacement.
Clearly the pressure was getting to me and it all worked fine when I connected
the cable to the right box.
I next reconnected all the feedlines to the relay boxes and tested the amps and
antennas. They all looked fine. The last item was the receive 4 square.
Listening to an AM broadcast signal, I could see the directionality I expected,
but the signal would periodically drop out. After trying a bunch of things, I
went out and tightened the coax connectors. It seemed better but I could not
test it exhaustively without spending more time at the shack. It turns out it
was fine all weekend
I went to the house to get some rest, however I spent an hour longer at the
shack than I had hoped and I had burned a bunch of energy. I laid down for
about 90 minutes, but could not sleep. I then took a shower, ate a couple of
sandwiches I had made earlier in the week, and headed back to the station.
After the seemingly interminable countdown to the start, it was finally 0Z
After a rough first ten minutes, I got into a groove and averaged 200 per hour
for the first 4 hours on 40. 80 and 160 were similarly productive. My first
trip to 80 was pure bedlam as the pileup was overwhelming and the calling
stations had trouble hearing me through the pileup. I eventually resorted to
asking them to call â??UP 1.â?? After about 15-20 minutes the pile was worked
down enough to work simplex. After a good first night, I really struggled to
stay awake in the morning. I battled sleep for about two hours before the
urges went away.
At the midpoint, I was at about 4.9M points. Using the rule of thumb of double
the first day plus 10%, I should have finished at 10.8M, a new personal best for
me. To keep my intensity, I set a goal of 7K Qâ??s and 11M points.
The second night was similarly productive and I only had five hours under 100
all weekend, and one was at 99. I did get in two 15 minute naps to clear my
head. However, the fatigue factor in the morning was even worse than the day
before. A few times I had micro-sleeps where I would wake up and check the
time of the last QSO and the current time to convince myself that I had not
been asleep for a long time. Although the rates did not look bad on the rate
sheet, it seemed like every contact was a struggle. Once I again I just
fought through the fatigue knowing it would eventually go away.
The rates sustained through the afternoon and I was closing in on 7000 Qâ??s.
The one impact of high rate and the fatigue was that I did not push the second
radio as hard as I should. It was a shame since it seemed like I found new
mults almost every time I tuned the second radio.
Eventually, I pushed on to the end and did indeed break both of the goals and
had a new personal best for CQWW CW. In addition, the station performed
without incident, including a new ALS1300 amp that I used for the first time.
I quickly saved the files, unplugged the computers and headed back to the
house. Feeling energized and pleased with the result, I decided to cook myself
a spaghetti dinner.
After eating, I was starting to crash so I headed off to bed. I checked my
E-mail one last time and I had a note from P40W with his score. It was at this
point I learned that there was a Sunday 10 meter opening to Europe that I
missed. I was not nearly as pleased with my result as I was five minutes
earlier. I do not know if my fatigue limiting the use of the second radio
caused me to miss it, or if I just gave up on the band to soon, but the result
was that I probably lost about 25-20 mults.
I guess that is the price I paid for pushing the envelope but I canâ??t
complain. In a span of 10 days I had a successful corporate event in New York,
had enjoyable visits with my family and Kathleenâ??s family, had a great time at
the Jets game with my wife, son and daughters, and did a personal best in the
CQWW. Nonetheless feels great to be home
Thanks to everybody for the Qâ??s and QSL via NN1N or LOTW.
73, Tom W2SC 8P5A
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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