CQ Worldwide DX Contest, SSB
Call: KE3X
Operator(s): KE3X
Station: N3HBX
Class: SOAB(A) LP
QTH: Poolesville MD
Operating Time (hrs): 39
Radios: SO2R
Summary:
Band QSOs Zones Countries
------------------------------
160: 14 6 9
80: 136 16 63
40: 211 27 88
20: 417 33 120
15: 541 32 122
10: 665 29 126
------------------------------
Total: 1984 143 528 Total Score = 3,786,453
Club: Potomac Valley Radio Club
Comments:
Many thanks to John Evans, N3HBX for the use of The Farm in Poolesville again -
this was the second weekend in a row, after WAG.
First, congrats to LX4AX and W1UE who put on a great show in LP this weekend.
With K1LZ steamrolling the W1/2/3 competition in SOHP in a WRTC year, the Low
Power category has recently gotten quite crowded!
Now on to the pathetic excuses ...
Pathetic Excuse #1: On Thursday night I had a mandatory dinner engagement for
work involving a 7-course dinner and wine pairings, hosted by one of the Trust
& Estate attorneys we have a deep relationship. Normally a fun occasion
and one of the perks of being a Private Wealth Advisor. But on the Thursday
night before CQWW Phone? Ugh. The first decision was to downshift to
Assisted. I figured if I was semi-comatose on Sunday, at least I could click
on spots?
Pathetic Excuse #2: Could not get the keyboard to interface with the DVK, and
spent the weekend hitting CQ manually with no CQ Repeat function. At first I
thought - OK I can handle this, but I now realize it screwed up my SO2R rhythm
over 48 hours. The little things matter a lot. In the ideal world I would
have gotten out midweek to test everything - never seems to work out that way.
Now I more fully understand why the guys who DX-pedition to the Caribbean go
down there the week before.
Total On-Air hours reads 39:25. Slept 3 hours the first night and 5 hours in
various small chunks the second night. Seems clear from the 3830 posts the
second night was better. Oops. At 53 maybe I am just too old for this 48
hour SOAB stuff? Nah, not if K0DQ and K1ZM can do it!
QSO totals for 10 meters shows a deficit of 200 QSO's versus what I should have
made. That was probably from 1500-1800 UTC on Sunday when I did too much
pouncing and not enough running. I see from DX Summit that W1UE was spotted
on 28.301 and both LZ4AX and W1UE were spotted 10 times more often than I was.
On Phone the name of the game is GET SPOTTED!! If you are not spotted you are
dead.
We often complain from MD / VA about the disadvantage vs. New England on 80 and
160. This weekend I grew to appreciate a more subtle disadvantage, but just as
lethal - since we get the openings on 10 and 15 meters an hour later down here,
all the choice frequencies low in the band are already taken. That's less of
a problem on CW, but a very big disadvantage on Phone. Assuming most
Europeans either 'Click on spots' or 'Tune from the left band-edge and work
higher', it's doubly important to have a good CQ frequency.
Overall a very frustrating weekend. To add insult to injury, I tried to use
the Uber application to call a taxi home, since Ann flew to Paris and left te
car on DC (second car got totaled by one of my teenagers ... don't ask). A
total of 8 Uber drivers accepted the job, and all 8 declined it once they
figured out how far removed Poolesville is from DC. As the crow flies,
Poolesville is 5 miles from Virginia. But driving distance is 58 minutes
since it's so far from any bridge.
So I actually started the 25 miles walking back home, calculating eventually a
driver would actually accept the job. After 30 more minutes one finally did.
Glad this weekend was over - need better preparation for the CW weekend you
might say. Thanks for the excellent competition and see you on CW. Assuming
no wine tastings, it will be back so SOAB LP for the full points.
73
Ken KE3X
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
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