CQWW WPX Contest, CW
Call: AK1W
Operator(s): K5ZD
Station: K5ZD
Class: SOAB HP
QTH: W1
Operating Time (hrs): 35.5
Radios: SO2R
Summary:
Band QSOs
------------
160: 5
80: 68
40: 613
20: 1200
15: 1590
10: 109
------------
Total: 3585 Prefixes = 1103 Total Score = 11,303,544
Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club
Comments:
To borrow a favorite word from my 10 year old daughter, conditions were epic!
After two years of truly terrible conditions in WPX CW we were due for a
break.
I did not go into this contest trying to make a big score. I turned the radios
on about 15 minutes before the contest and figured that 20 sounded like it would
be a fun place to start. Probably gave up lots of QSO points in the first 24
hours by ignoring the low bands. But, it was worth it to hear conditions like
that on 20 and 15!
My project for the weekend was to check out the new AGC firmware improvements
for the Elecraft K3. I didn't like them much at first, but after messing
around with the AGC settings I found a combination that sounded almost as good
as the FT1000D. Second project was to get some experience with a microHAM
MK2R+. A challenge to set up so I wanted to make sure it would work under real
world SO2R conditions. A few unpredictable behaviors were uncovered and will
need to determine if it is the MK2R+ or the software.
Since I wasn't serious, didn't pay much attention to off time either. Took a 3
hour break to walk the dog. Have one 40 minute break on Sat to eat dinner with
the family.
For the first 24 hours I was more interested in having fun than making score.
Maybe that is how contesting should be. (It is certainly more fun that way!)
It was at the half way point when I started to realize how good the score was.
I got sucked into the contest and started focusing a little more on trying to
improve the rates and the score. The score really accelerates when you get
some multipliers!
Passed the USA record with several hours still to go. Of course, I knew the
competition was doing the same or better, but when facing epic conditions, you
have to post the best number you can! I ended with a personal best for QSOs,
prefixes, and total score. No complaints.
A few notes.
Great to have the band so open to Russia and Eastern Europe. Those guys know
the code! Disappointing not to have more Western Europe activity.
One nice thing about having the high bands open. It alleviated the crowding.
Was easy to find a frequency most of the time. A few problems with loud
stations that had clicks or moved in too close. I had other times when the
frequency was so quiet I could hear the weakest station.
Very rapid QSB at times. So fast it would wipe out one number in the exchange.
Caused lots of requests for repeats. I could tell some guys got frustrated, but
the ops that realized what was happening would just send the number over and
over until I got it. Then there were the guys that insisted on sending
everything but what I was asking. Argh.
Amazing to have 15m open to Japan both in the morning and afternoon. At one
point on Sun morning I had a very loud China station call in. A few minutes
later a terrible buzzing noise covered the bottom 15 khz of the band. The
Chinese radar! I had never heard it myself. Now I know why it is such a
problem. You can't copy anything through it.
10 meters was interesting. Worked a couple of Europeans on Sat. Then happened
to listen around 2230z on Sunday. YU8NU, LZ9W, and DR1A were booming. Called
CQ and for awhile I had Europeans and ZL stations answering.
Didn't have any QSOs on 80 or 160 the first night. I always like to make at
least one QSO on every band so spent a few minutes there on Sat night. HK1NA
was very loud on 160m but could not hear. Conditions were good on 80m to
Europe, but no activity.
Have an antenna or radio problem on 40m. Would lose receive sensitivity at
times. Couldn't tell if it was the antenna or the K3. The K3 would
occasionally go nuts and have the power fluctuate up and down. A rap on the
case seemed to cure it, so guess I need to open the cover and find the
problem.
Really great to see so much activity this weekend. Looking forward to lots of
log checking.
Station
Radio 1 - Elecraft K3 + Alpha 76CA
Radio 2 - Yaesu FT1000D + Ameritron AL-1200
Antennas:
160m - shunt fed tower
80m - 4 square
40m - 40-2CD @ 110'
20m - 205CA stack at 100'/50'
15m - 155CA stack at 66'/33'
10m - 7/4/4 at 90'/60'/30'
Mults - TH7DXX @ 40' pointed south
Numbers
160M 80M 40M 20M 15M 10M Total %
EU 0 40 311 796 1138 25 2310 64.4
NA 5 26 279 302 271 38 921 25.7
SA 0 1 15 13 25 33 87 2.4
AS 0 0 3 73 142 1 219 6.1
OC 0 0 3 8 7 6 24 0.7
AF 0 1 2 8 7 6 24 0.7
QSO/Pref by hour and band
Hour 160M 80M 40M 20M 15M 10M Total Cumm Off
0000Z --+-- --+-- --+-- 145/122 4/4 --+-- 149/126 149/126
0100Z - - - 88/67 32/26 - 120/93 269/219
0200Z - - 12/12 130/77 - - 142/89 411/308
0300Z - - 15/9 118/55 - - 133/64 544/372
0400Z - - 48/25 23/10 2/1 - 73/36 617/408 15
0500Z - - 95/52 4/2 2/2 - 101/56 718/464
0600Z - - 6/3 15/9 - - 21/12 739/476 45
0700Z - - - - - - 0/0 739/476 60
0800Z --+-- --+-- --+-- --+-- --+-- --+-- 0/0 739/476 60
0900Z - - 15/13 15/9 2/0 - 32/22 771/498 22
1000Z - - - 31/22 55/22 - 86/44 857/542
1100Z - - - 6/3 120/37 - 126/40 983/582
1200Z - - - 2/2 132/34 - 134/36 1117/618
1300Z - - - 3/1 118/23 7/6 128/30 1245/648
1400Z - - - 8/6 81/25 7/0 96/31 1341/679
1500Z - - - 1/0 44/12 10/6 55/18 1396/697 19
1600Z --+-- --+-- --+-- --+-- --+-- --+-- 0/0 1396/697 60
1700Z - - - - - - 0/0 1396/697 60
1800Z - - - - - - 0/0 1396/697 60
1900Z - - - - 83/25 8/4 91/29 1487/726
2000Z - - - 2/0 102/29 3/1 107/30 1594/756
2100Z - - - 10/4 109/30 - 119/34 1713/790
2200Z - - - 9/1 78/22 - 87/23 1800/813
2300Z - - - 63/9 5/0 - 68/9 1868/822 36
0000Z --+-- --+-- 58/8 27/6 4/3 5/3 94/20 1962/842
0100Z - - 112/17 13/3 - - 125/20 2087/862
0200Z 5/0 63/7 15/4 2/1 9/3 - 94/15 2181/877
0300Z - 4/1 76/13 - 5/2 - 85/16 2266/893
0400Z - - 63/12 30/4 - - 93/16 2359/909
0500Z - - 8/1 102/12 - - 110/13 2469/922
0600Z - 1/0 3/1 40/7 - - 44/8 2513/930 30
0700Z - - - - - - 0/0 2513/930 60
0800Z --+-- --+-- --+-- --+-- --+-- --+-- 0/0 2513/930 60
0900Z - - - - - - 0/0 2513/930 60
1000Z - - 2/1 8/2 - - 10/3 2523/933 46
1100Z - - - 51/10 26/4 - 77/14 2600/947
1200Z - - - 14/5 101/13 - 115/18 2715/965
1300Z - - - 8/3 97/14 - 105/17 2820/982
1400Z - - - 1/1 68/9 6/2 75/12 2895/994
1500Z - - - - 93/16 8/3 101/19 2996/1013
1600Z --+-- --+-- --+-- --+-- 15/3 2/1 17/4 3013/1017 44
1700Z - - - 1/0 61/9 3/0 65/9 3078/1026 16
1800Z - - - 12/1 70/15 - 82/16 3160/1042
1900Z - - - 67/7 10/2 - 77/9 3237/1051
2000Z - - - 87/10 7/1 - 94/11 3331/1062
2100Z - - - 60/7 10/4 - 70/11 3401/1073
2200Z - - - - 41/9 40/6 81/15 3482/1088
2300Z - - 85/13 4/1 4/0 10/1 103/15 3585/1103
Total: 5/0 68/8 613/184 1200/479 1590/399 109/33
No 6 banders.
Worked on 5 bands: 9A1A DR1A HG6W HK1NA LZ9W NQ4I NR4M
Most worked countries:
160M 80M 40M 20M 15M 10M Total
K 3 17 246 275 230 31 802
DL 6 53 92 192 3 346
UA 23 144 162 329
UR 28 76 94 198
OK 2 23 54 56 2 137
G 4 20 33 44 1 102
I 15 32 51 1 99
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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