ARRL DX Contest, CW
Call: K1LT
Operator(s): K1LT
Station: K1LT
Class: SOAB HP
QTH: Ohio
Operating Time (hrs): 36
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
160: 207 63
80: 145 59
40: 186 64
20: 467 88
15: 485 91
10: 59 27
-------------------
Total: 1549 392 Total Score = 1,812,216
Club: Mad River Radio Club
Comments:
I'm still trying to decide what I just did. Either it was a 160-meter
single band effort or it was an all-out all-band effort with a
slightly broken strategy. Since I couldn't make up my mind at the
outset, I decided to try to do both and strike a balance. I'm posting
this as an all-band score. The 160 single band score is 37,989 points.
I started the contest on 160, but the contact rate was much lower than
last year. Also, a new noise appeared to my Northeast that impacted
hearing Europe. I could aim the phased array at 35 degrees which
placed a null over the noise, but then southern European signals were
attenuated a few db relative to normal. At least the Northwest noise
stayed away. So I worked more URs and fewer Is.
After about 30 minutes with slow rates, I moved to 20 and worked
several Asians. For some reason I am fascinated by weak, fluttery
signals that originate at far away places that are not obscured by local
noise.
After 30 minutes on 20, I went to 80 meters for a about 40 minutes
followed by 20 minutes on 40 meters. By 0330Z I was back to 160 where
I stayed until 0630Z. During that time I worked a few more stations
than during the entire first night last year. So maybe the dual-goal
strategy will work, despite the buzzing.
I got some sleep and came back at 1145Z and worked some KH6 and a JA.
After sunrise I went to 80 to see what sunrise was like on that band.
Worked more JAs, KH6s, and a ZL and an RA0. Then I went to 40 and
worked several Asian and Oceanian entities. After an hour, I felt
awake enough to stay up and tackle 20 meters. Note that this is the
first time I'm using my newish tower and tribander for a CW contest in
the morning (working primarily Europeans). What a rush! I spent the
next 7 hours making 600 contacts on 20 and 15, this a brief excursion
to 10 meters to work South Americans (to make sure there weren't any
Europeans hiding there).
When the European rates declined on 20, I went back to 15 for a
multiplier festival. Worked 25 new multipliers in an hour then
switched to working JAs and Oceania. I worked a couple new countries
for me, KH0 and KH2. Then I went to 20 and worked 20 new multipliers.
For the second evening, I repeated the pattern of the first evening,
except that I went to 40 first instead of 80 (after a quick visit to
160). Last year, 160 contacts were a fairly even trickle through the
entire evening. This year, the trickle did not materialize until
about 0400Z and then it was a steady stream. Nevertheless, by 0600Z,
the 160 effort was about 100 QSOs short of last year. The activity
just wasn't there, even though conditions on 160 weren't too bad
(though maybe not quite as nice as last year, and there was storm
static). Before leaving that radio I observed that the Northeast
noise was still present and the Northwest noise had also returned. It
was probably at this point that I decided that I was producing a
serious single-band effort.
By 0730Z I had 1200 contacts. I got some sleep and came back at
1100Z. The 160 meter band was nearly empty. There were about a dozen
signals on the SDR, when there are usually 2 or 3 dozen. I didn't
hear any DX, just big guns CQing (I was sleepy and disgusted, so I
probably didn't listen very hard). So I jumped up to 40 and worked a
few multipliers and then did the same on 80 and went back to bed.
I got back to the radio at 1430Z and went straight to 15 meters.
Conditions were not quite as nice as on Saturday, but eventually the
rates picked up and I worked another 250 Europeans, alternating
between 15 and 20.
The rest of the contest was spent chasing multipliers and descending
through the bands. I intended to end the contest on 160, but in the
last hour I could only raise a WB2. I did work a few more multipliers
on 40 and 80, and completed quite a number of 5-band (OE3K, 9A1A, and
others) and 6-band (PJ2, PJ4, PJ6, and several other Caribbean) QSOs.
I finished with 1550 QSOs and 392 multipliers, 106 different countries
worked, including the US and Canada (casual callers who I worked
anyway). I worked 23 stations who reported 5 watts or less as their
power (not counting a couple of obvious "serial numbers"). One
station reported exactly 1 watt. Another 5-watt station was CQing on
a clear frequency on 40 meters during the last hour.
I used the K3 in diversity mode through the entire contest, except on
10 meters. Its quite a pain to have to press and hold the SUB button
three times each time I change bands. I bet there is a better way
(maybe a computer driven command macro). I used 2 Beverages on the
low bands (independently selectable), and I used the tribander and a
Beverage on 20 and 15. On 15, the second receiver primarily supplies
white noise to keep my ears from becoming unbalanced. On 10, the
Beverage output is so low that I didn't bother. On 160, I also used
the audio switch arrangement to incorporate the phased array / SDR
receiver. I think a second tribander would make diversity mode
fantastic. There are some old TA33 parts out in the barn...
Equipment: K3 and sub-receiver, ETO 91B (on eternal loan from K8ND), 8
element phased array / SDR. (Is it an antenna or is it a radio? It's
both!)
Antennas: 160: 65 foot "Tee" with 80 radials; 80: 4-wire "cage" about
45 feet tall around the 160 "Tee"; 40: ground mounted quarter-wave
with 32 radials; 20-10: Cushcraft X7 up 60 feet; other verticals
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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