CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW
Call: OH2BH
Operator(s): OH6KZP
Station: OH2BH
Class: SOAB HP
QTH: Pusula
Operating Time (hrs): 47
Radios: SO2R
Summary:
Band QSOs Zones Countries
------------------------------
160: 163 11 45
80: 778 26 84
40: 1129 32 102
20: 1072 35 103
15: 832 36 105
10: 884 37 109
------------------------------
Total: 4858 177 548 Total Score = 7,045,550
Club: Contest Club Finland
Comments:
And so the main contesting event of another year is again in the books. A mix of
high rate, juicy DX, frequency fights, and exotic band openings, all in real
good fun, perhaps apart from the fights...! My usual travelogue/workalogue
diary entry follows.
I often have trouble getting sleep before major contests that start at 00z,
probably due to adrenaline-filled anticipation and the pressures that come with
a serious Formula One radiosporting effort. In addition to the usual sleeping
rhythm change during the contest week, this time I also experimented with a
melatonin supplement, and succeeded in switching off already before 18z (8 pm
local) on Friday. Eventually I woke up after 23z (1 am local) without the
double alarm clocks, and have never before felt as rested at the contest start.
Very positive!
As the contest progressed I thought about going for the entire 48 hours, but by
Sunday morning I opted for my usual 30-minute lie-down instead. For some reason
my heart was pounding hard and I had real trouble calming down for a nap;
eventually I managed to "cut the movie" (a Finnish
colloquialism for
a micro-nap) for a short moment. I've found that however short those
"cuts" are, they are a significant help in re-booting my
brain. I
also took a refreshing shower, and saw that winter had arrived outside during
Saturday. Nonetheless, it was physically painful to operate on Sunday, as I
felt very tense and restless. As Ranko 4O3A put it some time ago, having this
hell twice in a month is tough. So I repeatedly vowed to myself that this is
the final time that I'm doing this crazy 47/48-hour SOAB stuff, but I'm
hopeless: already now the fun of the next effort is in my mind... :)
Propagation was nice on Saturday, and it made for some exciting times on
80m-10m. But the high bands closed very early in southern Finland, and I saw my
600k lead over Toni OH2UA @OH8X practically vanish thanks to him utilizing the
later polar-path W/VE openings up in northern Finland. I feared the same would
happen on Sunday evening, so I did all I could during the morning and day on
Sunday to regain some edge. Sunday's propagation was not as good, although even
10m sported a nice U.S. opening. Both 15m and 10m were at first promising in
that they opened early before sunrise, but a lot of difficult echo emerged in
many signals later during the opening. Once 15m & 10m closed, my QSO
rate
collapsed and mostly just 20m provided minor 3-pointer relief. The biggest
disappointment was 160m, where I didn't log a single North or South American
station, and only heard one during the entire contest. Even southern Europe
seemed tough to reach at times.
Uploaded my score to the real-time cqcontest.net scoreboard by Dmitry
R4WW/RW4WM. It is growing in popularity every year, which I think is really
cool. He works hard to maintain and improve it, and does a great service to the
ham community in this way.
I also streamed live SO2R audio/video with all strategic equipment and
indicators visible (but sufficiently low bitrate to blur the VCO frequency).
It's at once fun for the family and other interested people, and a type of
voluntary "doping control" to those who know what to look at.
Perhaps
a no-sweat modern version of the aborted observer program to consider by the
CQWW CC in the future?
I left for a business trip after driving home to Helsinki on Monday afternoon,
just changing the contents of my suitcase on a quick pitstop. The rigors of the
contest took their toll, as I forgot to pack the shirt and suit jacket that I
had prepared for myself already on Thursday evening. So I'll just have to wing
it, fortunately I at least changed my clothes...
Thanks to Martti OH2BH and Leena OH2BE for their support and for again allowing
me to use the fine station at their summer cottage, resulting in a claimed
Finnish SOAB HP record. I also much appreciated the local competition with my
friends Toni @OH8X and Tomi OH6EI @OH0Z. Now if we could just get Tomi to start
uploading his score too :) Thanks also to the Radio Arcala team for support,
and
to all of you for the QSOs!
Kim EA3/OH6KZP
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
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