CQ Worldwide DX Contest, SSB
Call: YN5Z
Operator(s): K7ZO
Station: YN5Z
Class: SOAB HP
QTH: Nicaragua
Operating Time (hrs): 38.5
Summary:
Band QSOs Zones Countries
------------------------------
160: 1 1 1
80: 351 17 33
40: 848 24 67
20: 1216 24 77
15: 1603 23 74
10: 1152 18 37
------------------------------
Total: 5172 107 289 Total Score = 4,375,800
Club:
Comments:
Well that was interesting. This is my fourth CQWW SSB from Nicaragua. I knew
this year was certainly going to be different than the prior three. The natural
progression of the solar cycle would ensure that. But, wow! I am not sure I
could have predicted what unfolded.
Coming into CQWW SSB 2016 I promised myself to "just have fun this
year". Besides propagation there were other unknowns. I had heard through
the grapevine that the empty lot I use for my low band verticals was now being
used by a condo developer. So, until I showed up, I was not even sure what
bands I would be QRV on. As it turns out the lot was still available, and after
paying two machette wielding guys for two hours of hard work, it was cleared of
6 months's worth of growth. So, I had the same station I have had in prior
years. (You can read about it on the YN5Z QRZ page or in prior year's
3830Scores postings. I will pass on a description this year.) In my station
checkout I did discover I still have some sort of RFI problem on 160 that
prevented me from using a live mic. I could play recorded messages, but not
talk live. So I effectively was not on 160 - the one QSO I managed was done via
coordination on 80 with a patient and understanding operator. After that one I
decided not to try it again for the weekend.
Another part of my "just have fun" plan was showing on site up a day
later than normal. This left me almost no time to get on the bands before the
contest started. (Remeber all of my operations are "Field Day" style
-- I setup and tear down the station each time. And this year the setup and
teardown went smoother than ever before.) I think in total I made about 150
pre-contest QSOs. From that I could tell clearly propagation was poor -- but I
also knew there were disturbed solar conditions that were supposed to get
better by the weekend.
So, the contest start rolled around and I was really wondering how things would
go. As one sign of the times, for the first time ever, I started on 20M. In the
past I always started on 15M. 20M was good for an hour until it shut down to
the north -- where all the people are. I took a little break to go see how the
World Series was going -- not good for a Cubs fan like me. (This was also part
of my just have fun strategy -- taking World Series breaks were ok.) I came
back and did some S&P on 10 and 15 for mults south of me. Even that dried
up by 0200. So I was sitting there pondering "Now what". I can't
believe I have to go to 40M at 0200. That would be 4 hours earlier than what I
have done in past years. I just couldn't bring myself to do that. So, I went
off and watched the World Series again. And, that was going even worse than the
bands. So, at 0230 I was on 40M. Guess what. So was everyone else!. I managed a
couple small runs in the mosh pit below 7200 then deciced to just go above 7200
and work the US and whomewver else could be QRV there. I had good rates there
for 90 minutes then, as I knew sunrise was working across EU, I needed to jump
back into the craziness in the lower part of the band. I had a reasonable run
at 7188 for 30 minutes then, at the suggestion of a European station (LZ5T?)
went to 80. EF8U was logged S&P easily and then IK2YCW. I settled in at
3786-ish, called CQ, and for the first time in my YN5Z contest life started
running with EU's calling in! I also had several Africa stations call in along
with VK and ZL. Keep in mind my 80M antenna is a 30 year old HF2V vertical with
30 short radials. So, for me, this was really fun. The 45 minutes I was running
on 80M then were probably the most fun part of the contest for me. In the
process I totally destroyed my 80M mult records. When the run died out -- it
was time for my planned three hour sleep break.
I was up and on the air again at 1000 UTC. I spent 45 minutes on 80M and then
moved to 40M. Got a few JA's on 40 but none on 80. At dawn it was time to see
how the contest was really going to play out. In past years I usually jumped
right to 15M or even 10M as the bands opened that early to Europe. Based on my
little bit of pre-contest monitoring I knew that was not going to happen this
year. So, I went to 20M and crossed my fingers. 20M was open to Europe -- so
that was good. I S&P'd a few of the loud stations and then started running
down low with a good rate. After about an hour it, at 1330 UTC, it was time to
check 15M. It also wss open and I easily got a nice run of European stations
going down low in the band. After an hour of that it was time to check 10M. I
found a few loud Carib and US stations, quickly S&P'd them, then headed
back to 15M for 45 minutes until moving again to 10M at 1545 UTC. I quickly got
a run going at 28458 and was pleased when and EA9, EA8, and CN called in during
the first few minutes. But, it was soon after that, when I knew my spots were
well progagated around the world that it was clear there was not going to be a
strong 10M EU opening today. A couple EA's called in around 1600 -- so at least
I was reaching out to there. But, when I moved off 10M over three hours after
starting on 10M I had a total of 14 Europe QSOs -- 12 in the F, CT, EA region
with two mysterious 9A QSO's being the outlyers. At this point I was thinking,
"This is poor but the bands are supposed to be better tomorrow". On
the positive side though the 10M rate into North America was pretty solid.
The move to 15M at 1900 UTC was unremarkable. At this point the band was pretty
much closed to Europe and it was too early for JA's to call in. So, it was
essentially a North/South event with a steady stream of W/VE callers and the
occasional South American coming in off the back of the SpiderBeam. JA's
started calling in low numbers about 30 minutes after their sunrise. I stuck it
out on 15M as long as I could. Propagation to the north closed amazingly fast as
my sunset approached. Within 10 minutes I went from working strong stations to
nothing being heard. I could still hear stations south of me, but everything
north was gone. So as the first day ended I found myself back on 20 just where
I started the contest. I was still thinking and hoping - Day 2 is supposed to
be better.
That hope lasted about 30 minutes when 20M also closed to all points north.
Even earlier than the first day. Once again I was telling myself "I just
can't bring myself to go to 40M this early". So -- I went and watched the
World Series for an hour. Once again the Cubs made this as frustrating as being
on the bands so I headed back to 40M. I settled in at 7203 expecting to run W/VE
and other countries that can operate above 7200. As always happens a few
Europeans called in. Despite trying to get them to QSY and/or tell them they
can't work me here I ended up logging them. Since they likely don't speak
English very well and I don't speak their language, this was the only way I
could resolve the situation. I did comply with a few requests to QSY down for a
specific QSO and in the process lost my run frequency -- which made me grouchy.
Though, thinking how much fun 80M was the first night working Europe, I headed
there. But, after 30 minutes of trying only a couple lone W's were in the log.
Scanning the band I heard nothing from Europe. At this point, all signs were
pointing to the bands being worse on day 2 than day 1. I went back 40 -- trying
to get something going below 7200 but couldn't. And, I was not hearing many
Europeans as I did the first night. So, I went back above 7200 and ran stations
until 0500 when I made an executive decision within my "just have fun"
mandate to have a 5 hour sleep break instead of a 3 hour sleep break.
I was up and on the air again at 1015 UTC. I started on 80 again and stayed
there to my sunrise since I suspected QSO rates would be better there than on
40. Except for a couple of KH6's everyone I worked was in North America. So,
for the 3rd time in 4 years I missed a JA mult on 80. It could be that band was
open but they were all operating in segments I can't get my HF2V tune into --
and the classic sub-band from 3791-3804 for the last several years is the
hangout for the large US M/M stations who put their CQ machine on repeat for
hours on end with little to nothing to show for it -- at least when I have been
listening.
Faced with a Day 2 with likely worse band conditions than Day 1 I was
scratching my head on what to do. I tried 20M down low at 1200 UTC with very
little to show for it. I then checked 15 at 1245 - 15 minutes earlier than on
Day 1. I S&P'd a few Europeans, tried to get a run going, with no results.
So, back to 20M where I somehow squeezed it at 14199.9. After about 30 minutes
of working down the screaming hordes of S9+ North America stations European
stations started appearing in the log. Not high numbers but enough to fill the
3 point QSO and mult counts. At 1400 I went back to 15M and managed to get a
slow run going into Europe. Signals were not loud but the local noise was low
as well -- so I was making QSOs. The band opened to western Europe and the UK
as well -- an area I heard essentially nothing from on Day 1. So many new mults
were made. However the opening fizzled out at 1430 -- about 45 minutes earlier
than on Day 1. In hindsight 15M could very well have been open to Europe at
some point between 1300 and 1400 when I was on 20M and I missed the opening. I
was going to study this one some more.
At 1430 I moved to 10M with the opening essentially being only North/South. A
few European stations called in. Several F's, EA' (though mostly only from the
5 and 7 regions -- need to figure this one out at some point), and CT's. I hit
my target of 1,000 10M QSOs at 1715 and then took a 45 minute lunch break. I
was back on at 1800, checked 20M with nothing positive to say. (My pre-contest
strategy was clear "Don't be on 20 at this time of day" but I guess I
had to see it for myself.) At this point I had 1,200-ish QSOs on 15 and 1,000 on
10M. So, where to go? I ended up going to 15 and had really good rates for 90
minutes mostly into North America. At 1945 I gave 10M a try again also with
good rates for 90+ minutes. It was now approaching 2100 UTC and I had pretty
lopsided band totals. More than 800 on 40M, 1,600 on 15M and 1,100 on 10M, but
only 600-ish on 20M. So I had to head off to 20M to do something about that.
Somehow I established a run at 14314 relatively quickly. This made me the
classic CQWW "Sunday afternoon, new mult, fresh meat" station and I
had the hordes descend on me. It took me 20-30 minutes of hard work using my
best pileup management skills to get it to the point my rate started climbing.
At one point I know I got so frustrated I said "I am not going to work
anyone until I get this KA3 in the log so everyone else why are you still
calling?". But, I eventually did get the worst of it under control and was
rewarded with great rate. Several stations commented "you are loudest
signal on the band" -- gotta love that whether true or not. I also walked
several stations through the mechanics of making a contest QSO, explained the
contest to them, etc. That hurt my rate for sure but who knows maybe I kicked
off the career of a new contester or two.
At some point on Day 2 I set a personal goal of getting to 5,000 QSOs. This
seemed like a worthy target. I made 6,498 last year. So, not bad with all the
propagation challenges. Soon after I broke the 1,000 QSO barrier on 20M I also
crossed the 5,000 QSO line, Then I decided to stick with 20M until I exceeded
my 10M QSO total. I got there about 2245 UTC. At this point I was ready to wrap
up shop. I had a 2355 schedule with W9RE on 40M so I couldn't totally shut
things down. But I did get up and walk around for about 15M. I sat back down at
2300 intending to spin the dial and work whatever mults I could find. In the
process I happened to tune past 14154 and found it to be dead quiet! A totally
clear frequency. This was a gift I could not turn down so I was off and running
again on 20. I intended to just keep going until my QRZ went unanswered which
happened 25 minutes later after working 120 stations. That then was pretty much
it exepct for attempting my schedule at 2355 with W9RE.
Thinking back now at the whole content I have a few major thoughts - for me in
Zone 7:
* This contest was essentially a "Fall ARRL DX SSB" contest. Fully
86% of my QSOs were with North America.
* Propagation was very limited to paths mostly shorter and North/South. For
example:
- I had 61 QSOs with Japan, 1 with HL then nothing into Zone 24(BY), Zone 19,
and 18 - all of which are longer paths than to JA.
- I have 12 Zones with which I made 0 QSOs. They generally are the more
distant zones.
- I had 416 QSOs with Europe -- one third were with EA/F/CT which is the
shortest and most southern path for me.
- On 10M and 15M the path to Europe was even more selective -- out of 209
QSOs there almost 50% were with EA/F/CT.
* I have to give credit to the YV hams. For everything going on in their
country I made a total of 24 QSOs with YV stations.
* And yes, in the end, I did meet my goal of "Just have fun".
Scott/YN5Z/K7ZO
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
______________________________________________
3830 mailing list
3830@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/3830
|