CQ Worldwide DX Contest, SSB
Call: N4TZ/9
Operator(s): N4TZ
Station: N4TZ
Class: SOAB LP
QTH: IN
Operating Time (hrs): 38.5
Summary:
Band QSOs Zones Countries
------------------------------
160: 17 4 8
80: 52 12 28
40: 139 20 63
20: 281 35 102
15: 321 31 97
10: 827 24 105
------------------------------
Total: 1637 126 403 Total Score = 2,448,212
Club: Society of Midwest Contesters
Comments:
CQ-WW-SSB SUMMARY SHEET
CONTEST: CQ-WW-SSB
START DATE: 25-10-14
CALLSIGN USED: N4TZ
LOCATOR: EN70
CATEGORY-ASSISTED: NON-ASSISTED
CATEGORY-BAND: ALL
CATEGORY-MODE: SSB
CATEGORY-OPERATOR: SINGLE-OP
CATEGORY-POWER: LOW
CLUB: Society of Midwest Contesters
NAME: Terry Zivney
ADDRESS: 8843 W County Road 950 N
ADDRESS-CITY: Middletown
ADDRESS-STATE-PROVINCE: IN
ADDRESS-POSTALCODE: 47356
ADDRESS-COUNTRY: USA
EMAIL: N4TZ@ARRL.NET
OPERATING TIME: 38:35:31
CQ COUNTER: 1078
RUN/SEARCH: 381/1270 Qs
UNIQUE CALLSIGNS: 1179
SOFTWARE: TR4W v.4.246 http://www.tr4w.com
BAND Raw QSOs Valid QSOs Points Countries Zones
__________________________________________________________
160SSB 17 17 29 8 4
80SSB 52 52 130 28 12
40SSB 141 139 385 63 20
20SSB 284 281 773 102 35
15SSB 322 321 905 97 31
10SSB 835 827 2406 105 24
__________________________________________________________
Totals 1651 1637 4628 403 126
Final Score = 2448212 points.
Recently, I have been thinking a lot about SIZE.
Several of the problems I have had with my station in the
past couple of years could be reduced if I SUPERSIZED
my station. For example, if I had a second tower, then
I could both increase the reliability of the total system
(redundancy) as well as increase the number of different
directions I could simultaneously point my antennas for
quick responses to new callers. Antennas on a second tower
would make it much easier to S&P on my transmitting band
while trying to maintain a run frequency.
However, I am approaching an age where many people are
thinking of DOWNSIZING. As I get older, it is harder to
erect all the temporary low band antennas (4 square for
80, a pair of 160m vertical wires, and a beverage system).
So, how would I expect to maintain a second tower and
its antenna systems? Plus, when I reach that age where
I cannot maintain it, how will I remove it for that final
QRT?
Many fellows feel they cannot do the full 48 hours anymore,
so they want to downsize into a 24 hour category. But,
it seems, many want a full luxury downsize; you know,
a $70,000 midget Mercedes instead of a $15,000 Kia. Sort
of like the 'Tribander and wires' category created to
represent the 'average' ham, but with competitors using
$5,000 Seppir and a $50,000 Luso crankup tower.
I was wrestling with these thoughts while repairing problems
with some of my antennas. I had to repair the coax to
my big 40 meter antenna, which I repaired just this past
season. I found that an Amphenol crimp-on PL259 was part
of the problem (in the disassembly of the matching system
at the top of the tower, the crimp-on pulled off of the
slightly undersized 'house brand' of RG213 which I purchased
from a major ham radio retailer a few years back. The
only replacement on hand this time was some 40 year old
Times RG214 so 150 feet of very stiff coax was run up the
tower to the feedpoint of the yagi. Back in operation, but
a minimum SWR of 2:1 without the former feed system.
I also installed a second motor on my TIC-ring on the lower
20/40 antenna which has slipped direction far too often.
So far, so good. I turned the antenna many times this
weekend and Monday morning it is still pointing the
direction the control box indicates.
And of course, there was the operating event itself.
I was disappointed in the apparent low level of low band
activity. Both 2011 and 2013 (the peak sunspont years of
this cycle) saw much better low band participation.
My 160 and 80 band scores have been highly competitive
in past years, so I was very discouraged after the first
night. Maybe this is another example of downsizing.
Many of the multi-multi stations (especially traveling
stations) may have downsized to mult-two or multi-single
due to the difficulty of staffing the larger stations
which tend to be beacons of activity on the bands not
favored by the propagation gods.
The biggest problem here was an unidentified QRM
source on 10 meters. It sounded like some of the new
digital modes one hears on the bands (bloops, bleeps,
and zipping sounds). On Saturday morning, I heard it
when I went to 10 at 1242 z (8:42 am local) and
it continued until at least 1346z. It was about S9
and covered up many of the louder signals on the band.
I made notes later on as it continued to bother me
while S&P up the band. It seemed loudest around
28600 and spread out at least 100 kHz in each direction.
I didn't make any notes about it after 1346z on Saturday.
On Sunday, it reappeared, aound 1430z peaking again
around 28600 kHz and again spreading out at least
100 kHz. While I tried to S&P through it on
Saturday, on Sunday I merely jotted down its
presence and went way up the band (29MHz) and
tried to continue on my merry way. Like many,
my antennas' SWR is pretty high above 29MHz, so
some more of my 100 watts is lost to excess SWR
induced loss in 500 feet of cable plus the loss
of the autotuner in the rig, which is normally
not in the signal path.
2014 CQ-WW-SSB N4TZ
Continent List
160 80 40 20 15 10 ALL
--- --- --- --- --- --- ---
USA calls = 3 1 1 4 3 8 20
Canada calls = 7 15 12 17 17 18 86
NA calls = 6 8 17 41 32 37 141
SA calls = 1 5 7 55 48 63 179
Euro calls = 0 18 85 125 163 641 1032
African calls = 0 4 5 6 12 16 43
Asian calls = 0 0 3 20 6 10 39
Japan calls = 0 0 4 5 29 32 70
Ocean calls = 0 1 7 11 12 10 41
Total calls = 17 52 141 284 322 835 1651
The total (ALL) column of the continent list looks almost
the same as last years, even though the total contacts on
160, 80 and 40 were well down from last year. More of a
surprise was that the European totals here were down on
every band except 10, while the other parts of the world
were holding generally steady on other bands.
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
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