ARRL DX Contest, CW
Call: W1NY
Operator(s): KK1W N1FJ W1MSW
Station: KK1W
Class: M/S LP
QTH: WMA
Operating Time (hrs): 45
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
160: 53 37
80: 195 72
40: 629 100
20: 682 103
15: 344 83
10: 31 14
-------------------
Total: 1934 409 Total Score = 2,373,018
Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club
Comments:
Just a few friends (known by some as “The Jerks”) getting together @KK1W to
play radio. Jim worked throughout the week to make sure all station automation
was working well and the N1MM config was good to go, which paid off over the
weekend as no major problems popped up during the contest. Friday night went
pretty well and we were able to easily keep the station going without any
breaks. All of the challenges of running low power were in full force this
year with conditions good, but not as great as previous years. Runs didn’t
last as long and pileups weren’t as deep as we would have liked, but we kept
chugging along. Alarm configs got the best of us on Saturday night and the
radio went quiet for a few hours, which probably cost us the 2K Q goal. That
said, boy did we feel good early Sunday morning. We saw a lot of spots for
JAs and South Pacific that were weak, but just couldn’t hear us.
Speaking of Sunday morning… We started the contest using cqcontest.net and
were the only entrant in the Multi-Single category for the first 24 hours. We
used other low-power and multi scores to keep us motivated, but then Sunday
morning happened. I (W1MSW) sat down at the station and saw that N2WKS was
listed in the same category and had the EXACT same number of contacts (1399)
and about 5 more mults than us. From my perspective, THE RACE WAS ON! This
was a bit before the opening to EU and I was trying to bag anything that came
up on 40, 80 & 160, while keeping an eye on 20 and 15. Propagation to the
south, better ears or a combination of both must have got the best of us,
because their Q count was taking off and we couldn’t hear EU yet. I was able
to keep the gap under 100K for a few hours, but then it just got out of control
and we were never able to catch up. Without a doubt, we worked much harder
than we would have if we had no reference to what was happening out there. AB4B
also showed up on Sunday, but we were able to keep them in the rearview mirror.
So my question is, how do we move forward on real-time contesting? It’s been
discussed and we all know the many challenges and the technology dependancies,
but it's time to start doing some beta work that is bolted on to an existing
contest to see if real-time log checking and reporting can become a reality.
Let’s bring contesting into the second century.
A few comments based on little Multi-Single Low Power experience:
Low power is hard work.
Band change rules in this contest are not that bad if you’re truly using one
transmitter.
Low power is hard work.
We could hear better on 80 than we were heard.
Low power is hard work.
Yelling at E51DWC will not increase you’re chances of making the contact (or
did it?).
Low power is hard work.
We get to tell our friends that we stayed in a basement for the most beautiful
weekend this winter.
Low power is still hard work.
Big thanks to KK1W and N1RJJ for opening up their home and station and playing
radio all weekend! Also thank you to our local club, Hampden County Radio
Association, for use of W1NY.
73, Matt W1MSW
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
______________________________________________
3830 mailing list
3830@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/3830
|