ARRL DX Contest, SSB
Call: W6YX
Operator(s): N7MH
Station: W6YX
Class: SOSB/40 HP
QTH: CA
Operating Time (hrs): 25
Radios: SO2R
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
160:
80:
40: 676 81
20:
15:
10:
-------------------
Total: 676 81 Total Score = 164,268
Club: Northern California Contest Club
Comments:
Working anyone in the first hour of the contest on 40 was much harder than on
CW. First QSO finally at 0024. K3EST with the two-Yagi stack at N6RO
consistently worked stations that couldn't hear me. W7WA was also breaking
pileups that I couldn't.
Eventually I worked most of the mults I heard. A71AM was loud the first
evening, couldn't crack the pileup and never heard again. GI7AXB was heard
CQing on the second day around 0600 but didn't hear me calling and disappeared.
On both days I called UA2F, probably nearly 100 times with no QSO, but was
relieved to easily work UI2K as my first QSO on day 2.
Most interesting QSO was a two-fer on the first day. I called YR8D who was
operating split listening on 7251. While listening to my transmit frequency in
one ear I heard someone come back to me and give an exchange at 7251. I sent
one exchange which was copied by both YR8D and CE3CT, the station at 7251.
I had bad rain static of 20 over S9 for about an hour on the first evening.
The Beverages were also affected and I ended up listening on a Beverage
oriented east/west since it was quieter than the one intended for EU.
As I entered the W6YX driveway when arriving on day 2 I glanced over at the
40-meter Yagi and noticed that the ends of the elements weren't drooping like
normal. Instead all of the element tips were curving in the direction that the
Yagi was pointing. This was so unusual that I got out my cell phone to snap a
photo but by the time I was ready to take the shot the wind changed and they
had returned to normal.
High winds and heavy rain affected the tuning of the Yagi. SWR rose to over
3:1 at the high end of the band. My initial assessment was that I could
transmit up to about 7230. As I tuned for EU stations running split I skipped
over anyone listening above 7230, which was almost everyone. Even at lower
frequencies I reduced the power output of the Alpha-9500 to 500 watts since I
was seeing the SWR occasionally spiking while I transmitted.
I finally tried using our inverted vee to work some of the EU stations high in
the band and had some success even though it's oriented north/south which is
not great for EU. Rain static was intermittent throughout the evening and I
mostly listened on Beverages.
I heard W6WB CQing with a pileup of Europeans calling so I tried to find a
clear frequency to CQ. The few times that I found a clear frequency I would CQ
for 5 minutes or less before another station would start CQing on top of me. I
never got spotted while CQing to EU and never had any EU call me, although a
weak VP5H running 5W called me for a new mult.
I tuned around to find a longpath EU opening on the first day but didn't hear
anything and didn't get any answers to my CQs. On the second day I was getting
drowsy and the rate had slowed so I went QRT just before sunrise.
The last time I operated in ARRL DX SSB was before Region 1 got phone
privileges above 7100. I was not used to tuning from the split part of the
band up into the non-split part of the band. Virtually every time I forgot to
clear the split as I got above 7128 and didn't realize right away that was why
the first few stations I called couldn't hear me in the direct part of the
band. So I'd toggle Split on the radio, click on those callsigns in the
bandmap and after more futile calling realize that the bandmap had saved the
bogus splits which I needed to clear again. Apologies to those whose listening
frequencies I QRMed.
While trying to call one European station running split I noticed that he was
answering and working callsigns that were out of sync with his transmissions.
He'd ask for a fill and the other station would never come back. Most of the
callers were calling someone else who was listening on the same frequency but
he didn't figure that out while I was listening.
I was set up for SO2R but I'd estimate I only spent 1 to 2 hours out of 25 with
the second radio on. The second radio was too distracting and the K3 DVR is not
well integrated with Writelog's SO2R functionality.
Thanks to all for the QSOs. I appreciated all of the JA callers and the
occasional new mult calling me. Was surprised to not work HS or BV when I'd
worked several of both on CW, but equally surprised to be called by two T32s.
73,
-Mike, N7MH
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