CQWW WPX Contest, CW
Call: 8P5A
Operator(s): W2SC
Station: 8P5A
Class: SOAB HP
QTH:
Operating Time (hrs): 36
Radios: SO2R
Summary:
Band QSOs
------------
160: 0
80: 122
40: 997
20: 1803
15: 893
10: 316
------------
Total: 4131 Prefixes = 1113 Total Score = 14,430,045
Club: Northern California Contest Club
Comments:
The primary purpose of this trip was to have a generator installed, which the
company would not do without me there in person. I decided to do the install
in a week that coincided with WPX CW. Unfortunately, things were not planned
as well as I had hoped and it took a lot of pushing to get maximum work done
while I was there. The generator was finally started just a few hours before
the contest but I decided no to test the station load so close to the contest.
We waited until Monday to actually try a real test. Good thing, as there was a
loose connector inside the generator that took a few hours to find.
Eventually, the unit worked, but still has some issues to be resolved. Although
there was no heavy work on my part, it proved to be an intense and tiring few
days.
Being able to work stations on 15 in the first hour was a sign that conditions
were relatively good. The downside was that 40 and 80 were not as good the
first night. However, 20 was open to Europe all night and most of the evening
was spent dual CQ'ing on 40 and 20. With conditions in good shape, I expected
Saturday morning to be slow, as it is hard to break through to Europe when it
is open to the east coast. However, as the day wore on, 20 and 15 were
excellent into Europe well after the sunset.
I finished the first day very close in Q's as last year's NA record score and
mults were higher due to the large number of European QSO's. However, the QSO
points were down as a result of the weak lowbands. I was feeling good since I
knew that last year's second day was not very good, and another day of similar
propagation would put me over the top of the record.
As had been well documented, the second day was a challenge and the record was
not to be. 20 did not open to Europe that evening, nor did 15 the next day.
Fortunately, 10 opened for a while and I did a lot of dual-CQ on 10 and 15. 20
eventually reopened to Europe but ran out of gas in the final hour and I limped
home on 40.
Overall, some slow periods, but the challenge of dual CQ'ing with serial
numbers and repeats kept me focused. Dupes also seemed lower than normal.
The station hardware and software worked perfectly all weekend
On Monday morning I awoke from my desperately needed sleep and found the room
to be hot and stuffy. My landlord texted me to say that a car took out a pole
on the coastal route and power had been down for a while. It came back 6 hours
later and reminded my why I actually bought the generator and why the effort may
be worth it some contest weekend
Thank to all for the Q's and the repeats under trying conditions
73, Tom W2SC
QSL LotW or NN1N
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
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