ARRL DX Contest, SSB
Call: N5AW
Operator(s): N5AW
Station: N5AW
Class: SOAB HP
QTH: TX (EM00tq)
Operating Time (hrs): 37
Radios: SO2R
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
160: 26 20
80: 106 55
40: 288 72
20: 358 80
15: 272 59
10: 132 30
-------------------
Total: 1182 316 Total Score = 1,120,536
Club: Central Texas DX and Contest Club
Comments:
ARRL DX CW was to be my first serious contest from home with high power. The
high power part ended after 3 hours when my new amp failed. Shipped it back to
the supplier on Monday after the contest and he had it repaired and back to me
by Thursday. That gave me a week to check things out before the SSB contest and
another go at high power. Worked perfectly this time but unfortunately
propagation didn't cooperate. Actually somewhat embarrassed that not only is my
score lower than last year's low power score but it is lower by 40%. After
looking at the early postings on 3830 maybe it's not quite as bad as I thought
but still embarrassing.
Actually conditions on 80 and 160 were decent by my standards. 80 meters were
my best ever for this contest and worked several Europeans on 160 - always
tough on SSB from here. I thought 40 and 20 were below average. Good signals
from the "big guns" but the others were weak or non-existent.
Unfortunately 15, normally my best band, was awful. The only real opening to
Europe was to EA and CT. Got a few others in the log that were probably back
scatter and one OH on the late afternoon opening that sometimes occurs to
Scandinavia. I really did not expect too much from ten other than South America
and the Caribbean and that was pretty much the case. Did work a couple of ZLs,
E5, and EA8 but no KH6 or VK like the CW weekend.
I still have a lot to learn to be competitive with high power. My station is
still not optimized for high power and especially not for SSB. I don't have an
amp for the second radio but even worse this time I developed an RF feedback
problem on the second radio that limited its usefulness to receiving only. So
although technically SO2R it was mostly just one radio. The SWR on the Lazy H I
use on 40 for SE-NW is too high in the phone portion of the band for the antenna
tuner in the amp to handle so couldn't use that antenna. Didn't realize how much
I would miss it or I would have spend some time beforehand to see if I could
cure the problem.
It is interesting to see the big numbers for 20 meters from the East Coast
stations. Twenty is tough from here in the best of conditions but with 10 and
15 down running Europe on 20 is really tough. East Coast signals are huge with
our antennas pointed right at them. It's hard to find a spot to CQ and even if
you do there will invariably be splatter from nearby strong signals. With
conditions like they were this weekend most of the Europeans are weak. It can
be very frustrating!
I probably won't make another serious contest effort from home until next fall
so plenty of time to optimize things and maybe even buy a second amp. I will
say, despite the conditions, there were some really nice things about the high
power experience. I nearly always got the station I was calling on first call
even with some huge pile ups. Had some exotic DX call me. Did not have to
struggle to work weak stations on 80 and 160. Hopefully I'll adapt to a
different operating style and eventually be able to post a competitive score in
the future.
Some numbers for those who are interested:
Continent List
160 80 40 20 15 10 ALL
--- --- --- --- --- --- ---
NA calls = 16 27 34 59 59 25 220
SA calls = 4 15 27 51 93 105 295
Euro calls = 5 47 102 136 17 0 307
African calls = 0 1 5 7 6 1 20
Asian calls = 0 2 1 7 1 0 11
Japan calls = 0 7 77 83 68 0 235
Ocean calls = 1 7 45 19 31 2 105
Total calls = 26 106 291 362 275 133 1193 (includes dupes)
QSOs MADE IN EACH COUNTRY
Country Prefix 160 80 40 20 15 10 Total
Percent
------- ------ ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- -----
-------
1 Tanzania 5H - - - - 1 - 1
0.08
2 Senegal 6W - - - 1 - - 1
0.08
3 Jamaica 6Y 2 3 2 2 2 1 12
1.01
4 Barbados 8P 1 1 4 3 3 1 13
1.09
5 Croatia 9A 1 1 3 5 1 - 11
0.92
6 Kuwait 9K - - - 1 - - 1
0.08
7 East Malaysia 9M6 - - 1 - - - 1
0.08
8 Trinidad & Tobago 9Y - - - - - 1 1
0.08
9 Tonga A3 - - - - 1 - 1
0.08
10 Andorra C3 - - 1 1 - - 2
0.17
11 Bahamas C6 1 1 1 4 2 - 9
0.75
12 Chile CE - - 2 6 8 7 23
1.93
13 Cuba CM - 3 5 5 4 - 17
1.42
14 Morocco CN - - - 1 1 - 2
0.17
15 Portugal CT - 2 1 4 2 - 9
0.75
16 Azores CU - 1 2 1 1 - 5
0.42
17 Uruguay CX - - - 3 3 3 9
0.75
18 Fed. Rep. of Germany DL - 2 5 8 1 - 16
1.34
19 Philippines DU - - 6 1 2 - 9
0.75
20 South Cook Islands E5/s - - 1 1 1 1 4
0.34
21 Bosnia-Herzegovina E7 - 1 1 1 - - 3
0.25
22 Spain EA 1 6 17 17 8 - 49
4.11
23 Balearic Islands EA6 1 1 1 1 1 - 5
0.42
24 Canary Islands EA8 - 1 3 4 2 1 11
0.92
25 Ceuta & Melilla EA9 - - 1 1 - - 2
0.17
26 Ireland EI 1 1 3 2 - - 7
0.59
27 Belarus EU - 1 - 1 - - 2
0.17
28 France F 1 4 14 10 2 - 31
2.60
29 Guadeloupe FG - 1 2 3 3 2 11
0.92
30 Martinique FM - 1 1 2 2 1 7
0.59
31 Reunion Island FR - - 1 - - - 1
0.08
32 French Guiana FY - - 1 - 1 - 2
0.17
33 England G - 1 4 7 - - 12
1.01
34 Scotland GM - 1 - - - - 1
0.08
35 Wales GW - - 1 - - - 1
0.08
36 Hungary HA - 4 5 5 - - 14
1.17
37 Switzerland HB - 2 5 2 - - 9
0.75
38 Liechtenstein HB0 - - 1 - - - 1
0.08
39 Ecuador HC - 2 2 3 2 1 10
0.84
40 Dominican Republic HI 1 2 2 3 3 1 12
1.01
41 Colombia HK - 1 1 2 4 1 9
0.75
42 San Andres & Providencia HK0/a - - - 2 2 1 5
0.42
43 Republic of Korea HL - - - 1 - - 1
0.08
44 Panama HP - 1 - 1 1 2 5
0.42
45 Honduras HR - 1 - 2 3 - 6
0.50
46 Italy I - 7 10 32 - - 49
4.11
47 Dominica J7 - - - - 2 - 2
0.17
48 Japan JA - 7 77 83 68 - 235
19.70
49 Hawaii KH6 1 3 5 12 8 - 29
2.43
50 American Samoa KH8 - - - 1 - - 1
0.08
51 Alaska KL - - - 5 1 - 6
0.50
52 US Virgin Islands KP2 2 3 2 4 6 4 21
1.76
53 Puerto Rico KP4 2 3 3 10 13 5 36
3.02
54 Argentina LU - - 2 3 15 23 43
3.60
55 Lithuania LY - - - 2 - - 2
0.17
56 Bulgaria LZ - 1 2 1 - - 4
0.34
57 Peru OA - - 1 1 2 1 5
0.42
58 Austria OE - 2 1 2 - - 5
0.42
59 Finland OH - - - 2 1 - 3
0.25
60 Czech Republic OK - - 1 - - - 1
0.08
61 Slovak Republic OM - 1 2 1 - - 4
0.34
62 Belgium ON - 1 5 7 - - 13
1.09
63 Denmark OZ - - - 2 - - 2
0.17
64 Papua New Guinea P2 - - 1 - 1 - 2
0.17
65 Aruba P4 2 2 2 2 2 2 12
1.01
66 Netherlands PA - 1 6 8 - - 15
1.26
67 Curacao PJ2 1 1 1 1 1 1 6
0.50
68 Bonaire PJ4 1 1 1 1 1 1 6
0.50
69 Sint Maarten PJ7 - - 1 1 1 1 4
0.34
70 Brazil PY - 5 10 24 51 57 147
12.32
71 Suriname PZ - 1 1 1 1 1 5
0.42
72 Slovenia S5 - 1 3 5 - - 9
0.75
73 Sweden SM - - 1 - - - 1
0.08
74 Poland SP - - 1 2 - - 3
0.25
75 Greece SV - - 1 1 - - 2
0.17
76 Eastern Kiribati T32 - 1 - - - - 1
0.08
77 Guatemala TG - - - 1 - - 1
0.08
78 Costa Rica TI 2 2 4 4 4 4 20
1.68
79 Corsica TK - - 3 - - - 3
0.25
80 European Russia UA - 1 - - - - 1
0.08
81 Kaliningrad UA2 - 1 - - - - 1
0.08
82 Asiatic Russia UA9 - 2 1 5 1 - 9
0.75
83 Ukraine UR - 2 1 2 - - 5
0.42
84 Antigua & Barbuda V2 1 1 1 1 1 1 6
0.50
85 Belize V3 - - 1 - 1 - 2
0.17
86 Australia VK - - 6 2 8 - 16
1.34
87 Montserrat VP2M 1 - 1 1 1 1 5
0.42
88 British Virgin Islands VP2V - - - - 1 - 1
0.08
89 Turks & Caicos Islands VP5 - - 1 1 1 - 3
0.25
90 Pitcairn Island VP6 - - - - 1 - 1
0.08
91 Bermuda VP9 - 1 1 1 1 - 4
0.34
92 Mexico XE 2 2 1 2 - - 7
0.59
93 Indonesia YB - - 23 1 7 - 31
2.60
94 Latvia YL - - - 1 - - 1
0.08
95 Romania YO - 1 - 1 - - 2
0.17
96 Serbia YU - - 1 2 - - 3
0.25
97 Venezuela YV - 2 3 3 2 5 15
1.26
98 Cayman Islands ZF 1 1 1 1 1 - 5
0.42
99 New Zealand ZL - 3 2 1 2 1 9
0.75
100 Paraguay ZP - - - 1 - 1 2
0.17
101 South Africa ZS - - - - 2 - 2 0.17
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
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