ARRL DX Contest, CW
Call: K0DQ
Operator(s): K0DQ
Station: K8PO
Class: SO Unlimited HP
QTH: ME
Operating Time (hrs): 43
Radios: SO2R
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
160: 81 44
80: 433 72
40: 1103 95
20: 1256 111
15: 1221 114
10: 1192 110
-------------------
Total: 5286 546 Total Score = 8,638,812
Club: Potomac Valley Radio Club
Comments:
A walk on the Dark Side
First, Thanks to Paul, K8PO, and his lovely bride Jackie for their superb Down
East hospitality.
Paul's station is a contester's dream. This was my second effort from the
Maine Battle Cruiser. After CQWW CW we had discussed a few minor changes, all
of which were accomplished. (For some unknown reason the proposed 3 element 160
yagi at 400 feet didn’t materialize in the two month interval). The net
result is that I'm out of excuses . . . any and all remaining shortcomings are
between my ears.
While change in your seventieth year of life is to be done with a certain
amount of prudence, I purposed to try something new. With apologies to a
certain retired Navy Master Chief Radioman I decided to see what it would be
like to do a dedicated operation as “Just a boy and his radio . . . and the
Internet” and see just how much “assistance” the assisted category
provided. The general motivation included: (1) to see what the fuss was about,
(2) to see if it would minimize my “local propagation knowledge deficit”
(since I don’t have a home station and only do 2-3 contests a year from New
England), and (3) to hopefully cause less stress on old bones (I was still worn
out from CQWW CW). (As an aside, I take it that “unlimited” is the
politically correct term for assisted now. Guess that makes traditional
unassisted efforts “limited” by definition?)
Overall, it was actually a pleasant enough experience. I operated in the same
run mode as unassisted but used the spots almost exclusively for mults. Ended
up with about the same number of Q’s as last year’s unassisted record with
the added bonus of another 40 mults and 400K points �" all in fewer hours
and with less work. I especially didn’t mind doing without all that pesky
tuning and dupe checking on the second radio. (That comment probably gives the
“unlimited” experts a clue that I haven’t really figured this out yet.)
Was feeling pretty good after the contest. Paul reported that I was ahead of
the real experts, K3WW and AA3B when I went to sleep. Woke up at 0400 and, on
a whim, checked 3830 to find out that KI1G had demolished me by 36 mults and
400K. Hmmm . . . maybe there’s more to this than meets the eye? I probably
needed to work harder at tuning for people who aren’t spotted as well as
moving mults. Also, realized that if the mult wasn’t on the primary or
secondary radio band map, it would scroll out of sight quickly. There’s
nothing like on the job training.
Aside from the personal novelty of “unlimited” the more interesting story
was propagation. This was my fourth ARRL DX and 12th contest from New England
since reactivating three years ago. If memory serves, of those dozen contests
only four enjoyed relatively stable conditions with flares and the dreaded
geomagnetic storms predominating in the others. Thus I was a little gun shy
when the NOAA forecast predicted both blackouts and geomagnetic storms both
days.
Perhaps violating the 10th commandment (coveting), I tend to judge a contest
weekend by the propagation I don’t have. I’ve seen the New England
Nightmare scenario when the mid-Atlantic gets propagation before New England,
but that’s generally been on 10 meters. This year had an interesting twist.
About two hours before sunrise Saturday I noticed K3CR and others running Europe
on 20 meters but I couldn’t hear a thing. Then at 0922Z I noticed that guys
in southern/western W1 were also running stuff I couldn’t hear. That lasted
almost an hour until I finally started being able to run Europe up here in
Maine at 1017. Not looking for sympathy since Maine generally gets the
openings early, but it was a cautionary note.
By 24Z on Saturday, I had managed to cobble together 3249 QSOs, which was about
100 below last year’s ARRL number, and about 200 down from the recent CQWW CW
number at the same point. I noticed that the K index was up, the bands were
sounding funky and rates plummeted. The “Polar shopping mall” was clearly
open and the JAs and SE Asians were coming through on 10, 15, and 20 with
noticeable screech. Having seen this movie, I wondered if the whole shooting
match was essentially over. So I gave myself a pass to take four hours off for
a shower and sleep, half expecting to come back at 05Z and find the bands closed
down. That was not the case, however, and when I got back on 160 and 80 were
wide open with decent signals, although the noise level was high. That was the
second cautionary note. It appears a solar flux of 160 is not easily deterred.
All in all, it was a fun weekend.
Congrats to KI1G. If I do this assisted thing again looks like I’ll have to
go to school.
Scott, K0DQ
K8PO
2 x K-3 / ACOM-2000A
Win-Test software (with thanks to N6TV for extensive scripts)
DX-Doubler, Six Pack
160
Full size vertical with 100 (300 ft) radials
Receive reversible beverages NE, SW, NW, SE
RX four square NE, SE, SW, NW
80
Transmit Four Square NE, SE, SW, NW
Same RX as above
40 (120' tower, shared with 10 meters)
2 X 2 element shorty forty yagis, lower fixed Europe
20 (100' tower)
3 X 5 element yagis, lower two fixed Europe
15 (100' tower)
4 X 5 element yagis, lower three fixed Europe
10 (120' tower shared with 40 meters)
4 X 5 element yagis, lower three fixed Europe
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
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