3830
[Top] [All Lists]

[3830] ARRLDX SSB N5AW SOAB HP

To: 3830@contesting.com, n5aw@arrl.net
Subject: [3830] ARRLDX SSB N5AW SOAB HP
From: webform@b4h.net
Reply-to: n5aw@arrl.net
Date: Mon, 06 Mar 2017 19:35:35 +0000
List-post: <3830@contesting.com">mailto:3830@contesting.com>
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/
______________________________________________
3830 mailing list
3830@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/3830

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>
  • [3830] ARRLDX SSB N5AW SOAB HP, webform <=