CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW
Call: WX0B
Operator(s): AD5Q
Station: WX0B
Class: SOAB(A) HP
QTH: Dallas
Operating Time (hrs): 45.3
Radios: SO2R
Summary:
Band QSOs Zones Countries
------------------------------
160: 50 17 40
80: 243 29 94
40: 542 38 122
20: 659 37 118
15: 947 32 116
10: 57 19 47
------------------------------
Total: 2498 172 537 Total Score = 4,853,814
Club: DFW Contest Group
Comments:
I look forward to THIS contest all year, but started seeing foreboding signs in
the Dallas weather forecast a week in advance. As the contest approached it
only got worse until right before the contest started. It showed a 90+ chance
of rain for the entire contest, not tapering off until Sunday night. I was
worried about rain static on all the beams, and anticipated needing the SAL to
receive on 40 & 20, also the Opti wire tri-bander (OBW10-5) to cut through
the static on the high bands (that works, BTW). That would have precluded using
it elsewhere, such as to the southeast. One further issue: the pounce rig wasn't
switching to the receive antenna at all. Ouch!
With so many issues it was clear we wouldn't be competitive in the Big Boy
category (all-band unassisted), so in the last minutes before the contest
started I wimped out and configured the software for the assisted category with
the RBN. So Ducky does packet!
I expected down time, and it happened: On Sunday morning with the 15M rate at
about 150 a downpour commenced and the noise level went to S9. I gave up the
frequency and walked away, but after 10 minutes all quieted down and I got back
to work. However, I was expecting problems like that throughout the contest and
it wasn't that bad. There were actually times when the rain even stopped. Most
of the time there was only an extra one or two S-units of noise (and a K index
of 2). I mostly over-estimated the impact the rain would have, though the 2nd
night was pretty bad. Lightning was not a factor.
I started the contest running on 15, quickly moved to 20 (noticing that all
high band openings would be shorter). After a half hour (with the rate at 100)
I figured out that I couldn't keep up with all the mults on my screen with just
the 2nd radio. So I feasted on packet mults for 4 hours before starting a run on
40. I logged over 100 countries on 40 the first night, so that was fun.
I only worked 2 EU's on 160 the first night, but the band really opened up on
the 2nd. 80 was good both nights and I easily ran EU's, but never even tried
running JA. We aren't loud to the NW (or SE), and there were at least a half
dozen mults I never could work - all to the NW. N5AW consistently beats me in
that direction, and I couldn't work a single JA in the IARU when I was low
power (and 1st place USA). So we need to figure out where to put an 80M antenna
that favors Asia.
The morning 15M runs were good, but I moved to 20 at 1700 so I could work the
15M packet mults with the 2nd radio before the band closed early to EU (it
did). 10 was pretty dry to EU except for Spain and I learned that packet
doesn't help much with the mult total: If you wantsta work mults on 10, you
gotsta call CQ there when the big rate is on 15. So I know that now.
40 was a huge disappointment, especially in view of the totals from certain
other 5's. I've been operating at Jay's for 10+ years, and this is my lowest
Qso total ever on 40. Run rates were way down from last year, and rarely spiked
over 100. On the 2nd night the band sounded dead, with little heard above the
noise. I couldn't hear what the others were working, and would have been quite
the alligator if I tried running myself - working only the top layer of callers
and struggling with the others. The EU runs in the early evening were fine, and
I caught the one the 2nd night and part of the one at the end of the contest (I
went back to running on 15 to pounce certain mults on 40 that showed up at the
end). There must have been a great 40M run at the beginning of the contest, but
I was busy playing packeteer. Lame?
Software wise, I've gotten to the point where my LUA scripting (WinTest) is
becoming stable. There is a lot of it, I'm down to some final tweaks, and can't
think of any functionality to add other than RTTY support. With the exception of
the backspace key and the period, every available key on the keyboard is
re-programmed. But,
By focusing on the optimization of CW, SO2R, minimizing keystrokes, automatic
headphone switching, amp tuning, exciter drive, mult passing, additional
messages, CW speeds for each radio, the SS exchange, prefills, CW filter
toggles & split operation; I've neglected to even look at the WinTest
documentation regarding features I never intended to use. These include the
BandMap, which is the primary focus of anyone in the assisted category. So in
this contest I screwed up by not knowing about its features.
The bandmap is the window that displays all the spots from the RBN and packet.
There is a cute little toggle option to show only mults, or everything. The
everything option really does show everything, and it fills the spot list with
mostly zero point USA stations which crowd out the mults. So I didn't use it
much and mostly showed only the mults. Am I missing something?
F#@k yeah!! There is also a lovely sort feature which organizes the spots. You
can sort by frequency (the default), beam heading, callsign, arrival time, mult
type & Qso points. The Qso points option puts the mults on top and the zero
pointers at the bottom. PERFECT, except I didn't figure this out until after
the contest.
What this means, is that I only worked about 50 stations via pounce (S&P +
SO2R) that weren't mults. I should have worked HUNDREDS. In assisted, nobody
tunes anymore. With the RBN feeding bandmaps with processed skimmer spots of
signals heard all over the USA, there is hardly a need to. We work what's in
the bandmap, and are dependent on it. Mine was usually set to show only mults.
So that's the other reason why my Qso total is so low. Nearly all the DX
stations that spent the whole contest CQing are not in my log unless they were
mults. Working them would have been easy. You have function keys to jump from
one unworked station immediately to the next, even on a band full of dupes.
That's probably fun! Non-mult pounce contacts can be made at a very decent
rate, even as your other radio is sitting on an unruly pileup waiting for all
the bully lids and wannabees to finish obliterating the frequency.
This category has its own tradeoffs. You would think that having all the
multiplier information in front of you would be an advantage, but it's also a
major distraction that interferes with good strategy. Band changes are done
based on the mult screen, not the run rate. There is a strong urge to work
every mult on the bandmap, even though most could wait until later in the
contest. The really exotic mults can be a waste of time, since there are many
very obnoxious operators who absolutely MUST work them first, and do. The
assisted category is not a good fit for me. Though I have a desire to try it
again without the mistakes, I may not.
It very much concerns me that some are considering doing away with the
unassisted categories in CQWW. I understand the problem: the rule against
unclaimed assistance is difficult to enforce, and places a burden on the log
checkers. Using function keys it is possible to make pounce contacts at
ridiculous rates, and if consistently done in sequence by frequency it can
appear that the operator actually tuned the bands and found the mults in the
normal way. For a log checker that would be a gray area, so maybe no DQ. It's
not fun to be beat that way (ARRL CW 2013). If you look at the score database
for W5 in the assisted category, you will see that the record was set last year
but is shown in italics (so no award). The log was originally submitted to the
robot (and 3830) as unassisted, and changed after the log deadline. THAT is the
score I was trying to beat this year (to get even), and due to my incompetence
with the category I came up short. Sorry. I am such a noob.
Roy - AD5Q
Aspie Ducky Five Quack
/* end of rant */
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