CQ Worldwide DX Contest, SSB
Call: YN5Z
Operator(s): K7ZO
Station: YN5Z
Class: SOAB HP
QTH: Nicaragua
Operating Time (hrs): 41:00
Summary:
Band QSOs Zones Countries
------------------------------
160: 2 2 2
80: 270 11 23
40: 638 25 75
20: 1011 27 84
15: 1701 30 92
10: 2876 29 100
------------------------------
Total: 6498 124 376 Total Score = 7,457,000
Club:
Comments:
CQWW SSB 2015 was my tenth contest effort here in Nicaragua since I first took
the plunge with my "Briefcase Portable" operation in the 2012 ARRL
SSB contest. (All history and detailed station description can be found on the
YN5Z QRZ.COM page. Searching on YN5Z and YN5ZO on 3830scores.com will link you
out to my prior stories.)
For once, the station went up smoothly and I got on the air with no issues and
with everything working. After battling a successive set of failures to my
Elecraft gear over the last 18 months, all was well. Like many others, my hope
for 2015 was to get one last year of 10 meter openings out of this solar cycle.
That wish was certainly fulfilled with openings every bit as good as 2014. We
seemed to hit a nice peak in the 27 day cycle and also managed to dodge the CME
that forecasters said was going to hit about halfway through the contest. Once
again my goal was to break into the Top 10 SOAB(HP) with my Field Day
"Tri-bander and single wires" station. Based on early 3830 postings I
missed out on that goal this year. Though, I certainly will be in the top few on
QSO count. I continue to be mult challenged and am trying to make Top 10 from a
2-point country. 70% of my QSO's were with North America and being in 2 point
land made about a 2.2 million point difference by itself. (More thoughts on
scoring later.) Oh yea, and another goal was to finally break through the 300
qso/hour ceiling that I have bumped up against before.
The little bit of pre-contest operating showed the bands to be in good shape,
but not quite like 2014. In particular 20M seemed to close early and the
worldwide opening I get in the 0300-0500 period was not there. But, the high
bands were certainly open during the day to Europe, North American, and Asia
and I had no trouble working Europe on 40M. All in all that seemed pretty good.
When I said down just before the contest to get a run frequency on 15M I was
getting great reports from North America and Japan. Everyone was pounding in
and they said I was 59+++. Optimism was high. Then when the switch was flipped
to start the contest it also seemed like it also pulled the plug on propagation
and 15M took a steep dive into the abyss. I ended up with my worst ever starting
hour. I did not even make 100 QSOs. I QSY'd to 20 and could not get anything
going there either. At the end of the hour I got up and walked away from the
station thinking: What in the world is going on here, has bottom of the solar
cycle contesting already arrived? If there had been a good football game on TV
or some other diversion I might have thrown in the towel right then. But, I
came to my senses, realized propagation effects everyone, and headed back to
the station. I managed to squeeze in at 14198 and got a pretty good run going
for the next 45 minutes resulting in a respectable 174 hour. I then S&P'd
around a bit until finding another getting a run going again on 14232 -- yes
living dangerously with that frequency choice, but it worked. In the next 2
hours and a bit I made just short of 500 QSOs. And, the evening opening to Asia
and Europe showed up! When that was died I checked toward the Pacific, VK, and
ZL and made a few QSOs on 15M, though 10 was closed up tight. In the past two
years I was able to make some late 10M QSOs in this direction, but not this
year. Then it was time to head to 40M and see what I could do to Europe. In any
time other than a contest weekend, I have no trouble working Europe on 40M from
here with my 1/4 wave vertical. There is something about this part of the world
that is just magical on 40M. In CQWW though the QRM can be deafening and each
QSO is a real grind. But, there are many mults to be had and off I went. I
managed to find a run frequency down low and was rewarded with my best 40M
Europe run ever. My spirits were certainly climbing at this point. When the run
ended I went up and made some QSOs above 7200 for the North America folks --
something I usually don't do until the morning. Then as my sleep period
approached I S&P'd though 80 and called it quits at 0700. Checking last
year's score I realized I had essentially pulled even not counting the missing
10M QSOs and Mults. Well ok I thought, things are looking up. This is a good
case where first impressions were not everything and a good example of not
giving up. Now the question was, what would the next morning bring?
My operating plan is based on getting on the air here 90 minutes or so before
dawn and spend time on 80 and 40M. At this time of year this pretty much means
working North America and, to the extent my signal gets out and being able to
hear, Asia. So, if you want to track me down on 40 and 80, do it between 1000
and 1200. I did well during these two hours putting QSOs and mult into the log.
When I compared my score at the end of the 1100 to last year I noticed I had
actually pulled ahead! Ok then. Game on. Let's do this.
The 1200 hour is always tough. Sunrise here is 1140 so this hour is one of
transition. The low bands have closed down, or are closing rapidly, and the
high bands may or may not be open. A typical QSO count during this hour is
60-80 spread across the bands and this year was no exception. If there is any
good news is that 20 and 15 seem to open to Europe about the same time followed
by 10 at some unknown time later. My off season propagation studies had shown
that there should be a 20M opening at this time into eastern Asia. I actually
got up early one morning before the contest and called CQ this way to see what
would happen. My first QSO was with FR5DZ which seemed promising even if not in
the target area. But, that was it. After many minutes of CQing and a few
stateside QSOs I quit. Obviously this didn't prove the band wasn't open. It may
have been but everyone there was somewhere else. I have not given up on that
one. It just needs some more discovery.
Back to the contest. With trepidation, I decided to start on 15 beaming to
Europe. My concern is what I knew I had two choices. The first choice was to
go ahead and run and suffer slow rates because of the ridiculous
Mutual-Assured-Destruction pileup behavior caused mostly by station east of 20
degrees east longitude. I discussed this at length in last year's story so will
not repeat it here. You can track it down if you want. The second choice is to
spend a very long time slowly S&P-ing the major contest stations to get
them in the log before I started running. Essentially working down the
potential pileup before starting to run. Though without a clear decision, I had
sort of thought I would S&P for a while. But, then I found a clear frequency
and just had to take the opportunity to run. And, once again fought with the
pileup for an hour making less than 120 QSOs. Which, I thought was a pretty
good rate under the circumstances. I need to keep working on this one. I
exhibited absolutely pure pileup management this year. I would stick with a
partial until in the log. I would not work tail-enders. Etc. But, I just can't
get it under control. With the same pileup into the US I would have had a 250
hour. Easy. After an hour of that fun, and reasonably satisfied with my mult
total, I moved to 10M. I was not sure it was open yet. I had not studied it
well enough in the week prior to the contest. But, it had to be better than 15.
And it was.
Around 1400 I started running on 10 down below the US sub-band to maximize QSO
points and mults into Europe and avoid the worst of the QRM (though fighting
through all the beacons is its own challenge.) Unlike 15M, this worked very
well with good rates for 90 minutes and then I decided it was time to move
above 28300. [K5ZD should be very happy with me as I shooed away many stateside
stations who tried to work me when I was below 28300. I don't really agree that
I have to be the band cop in this situation but that is the answer I get when I
have probed on the topic.] Now above 28300 the USA hordes had an opportunity to
visit my frequency and they descended in mass. During the 1600 hour I finally
broke through the 300/hour ceiling with 316 followed by 300 in the next hour.
Wow was that fun and does time fly when you are logging QSOs that fast. The
1800 hour was quite slow by comparison, only 247. :) At 1900 I took a 15 minute
lunch break and then decided to move to 15. I had essentially no time on 15 for
North America yet and figured I better do that. From then until 2200 I averaged
about 250/hour on 15. A smattering of Europeans still called in until around
2000 with, as usual, the EA/CT area having the latest propagation. The first JA
showed up in the log at 2045 which was pretty close to their sunrise. A bit
after 2200 I decided to move back to 10. I can't remember why I decided that.
Maybe a hunch that the band might be open to JA. Or, maybe a feeling that I
better go now as I knew it would close at sunset. Or, maybe it was panic as the
forecasted CME had not showed up yet, still might, and likely would wipe out 10.
So, I better make the best of it when I could. For some reason I started out up
higher than I usually do and quickly S&P'd a couple JA's in the log. I
settled in around 28550 and for a couple hours had a pretty decent rate
overall. Amazingly during that period over 200 JA's went into the log. I didn't
know there were that many JA's who still contested! It was like the good old
days from 10-15 years ago. Unlike the start of the contest the band stayed open
until well after sunset and the last JA went into the log almost an hour after
my sunset. I then S&P'd a bit on 15 then took a 30 minute shower-shave
break.
I got back on the around 0030 and 15M was still open. I worked a few and then
KH7M called in. At that point I still needed KH6 on 20 so I passed him to 20. I
worked him easily and then had an immediate pileup so I just stayed there. At
0120 I took a somewhat traditional "Saturday dinner with the family"
break. Home made lasagna! Could not miss that. Then back to the 20M salt mines
around 0200. It was pretty easy to get a run going. Soon it was obvious the
band did just not feel the same as it did the first night. There were plenty of
North America, but Asia and Europe were few and far between. As a consequence I
took some early trips over to 40 during the 0200 and 0300 hours. During the
0400 hour 20 seemed to be back to its usual self with good openings into Europe
and then Japan. I have learned in this opening that when the JA's start calling
in, the opening is nearing its end. From 0500 to 0515 the JA's just poured into
the log and then they were gone. A few more European's called in and then it was
all over at 0525.
I then moved to 40. This was a bit earlier than plan but figured it would give
me a better chance at Eastern Europe. I had a harder time getting a run going
below 7125 than the first day. Of course what I really need is to have some
kind soul spot me. My signal is not crushing loud to stop folks in their tracks
who are tuning by. But, if they know I am there they will come visit. On the
other hand I did have some success at getting a run going in the 7125-7200 mosh
pit. All, in all, I had reasonable success on 40 the second night.
Sunday morning and day was almost a carbon copy of Saturday. I got up and was
on the air by 1000 working 80 and 40. Mostly North America and with lower
rates. Once again for the second of my three CQWW's I missed getting JA into my
log on 80. I heard a few on Saturday morning but could not get through to them.
On the other hand I did not hear any of them on Sunday. The JA window was
filled by three loud US multi-op contest stations and a local rag chew. Having
been on the other side, I can understand the US multi-op stations calling CQ
there. But, they were not working anyone. So, give it a break. If you have not
worked anyone for 5 minutes why not vacate the window and see if the DX will
call CQ on their own?
After dawn I once again started out on 15 beaming to Europe. Things went a bit
better this time with higher rates. I much have worked all the Type A's on
Saturday. Still after an hour or so I decided that 10M would be more profitable
score wise and off I went. I once again tried to run below 28300 for Europe but
that really didn't work. So, I soon moved up above 28300 and had 6 pretty good
hours averaging just under 200/hour. At one point a well known W6 showed up on
my frequency. I mentioned that the frequency was in use only to be told
"All the frequencies are in use and you are only working a bunch of weak
Europeans anyway" and proceeded to CQ me to death. My rate dropped to zero
and I was hopping mad. I have since calmed down a bit, but not much. On the
positive side I QSY'd up and worked EF8U (N6GQ, who has also operated in YN and
I had a chance to say a quick hi.) This also made me QSY back below 28500 where
the rates were much better anyway.
As the end of the contest approached I knew I had unfinished business on 15.
Relative to 10, my QSO count was much lower. And, I had not operated much when
the band was open to JA. I spent that time on Saturday on 10. So, at 2130 I
headed to 15 for the last 2 1/2 hours of the contest. I was rewarded with huge
pileups. It felt like another 300 hour was possible. But, by now I was just too
tired. As I went into Turbo mode I was just making to many mistakes requiring
repeats and typing corrections. So, I consciously slowed down my speaking and
typing to where I was more accurate. And, likely I had a higher net logging
rate. Somewhere during this period W9RE called in asking me to go to 20 for
him. I turned him down, since I had a good rate going, etc. You know the story.
He asked and I made some vague reference that I might be on 20 before the end of
the contest. But, 15 was just fine and no need to do that. I kept grinding away
on 15. Then at what was likely 23:59:15 he shows up and asks again. So I say ok
QSY 14180. And, that was the last QSO of the contest.
Overall, looking at the results I am very happy. Especially after my post first
hour depression. At a raw score level my score went up by 557,000 points over
last year. This was driven by 175 more QSOs and 30 more mults. I finally broke
that 300 QSO/hour barrier! And, even though I did't crack into the Top 10,
maybe I will move up a spot or two?
So, now looking at scores and contemplating my quest for a Top 10 I can see a
few things:
* Obviously I can make plenty of QSOs - I just can't make mults and generate
enough QSO points. I am more or less 100-150 mults behind the Top 10
* Being in a 2 point country for working the US will always be a disadvantage
compared to say the classic Zone 9 and 33 locations. I am giving up millions of
points to this factor.
* My low band antennas will never generate a lot of qsos nor mults -- I need to
study my mult comparison vs other station but certainly I get crushed on 80 and
160.
* When I do S&P looking for mults I have a hard time breaking pileups as my
"Tri-bander and single wires" does not generate a pileup busting
signal. (Though my callsign and signal strength does great at generating packet
pileups on this end.)
* I suck at passing mults when I do get a chance. This one is actually
solvable. I have not looked at it but I probably passed only 10 mults or so
this whole contest.
Looking ahead to the lower sunspot years, I am going to find it increasingly
harder to compete. The low bands will become more important. And that is my
weakness.
No matter what though, I am going to keep having fun.
Scott
YN5Z/K7ZO
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