CQ Worldwide DX Contest, SSB - 2019
Call: KR2Q
Operator(s): KR2Q
Station: KR2Q
Class: SOAB QRP
QTH: FN20ru (NNJ)
Operating Time (hrs): ~26.9
Summary:
Band QSOs Zones Countries
------------------------------
160: 9 2 2
80: 23 7 11
40: 101 17 49
20: 253 21 78
15: 209 17 69
10: 14 7 12
------------------------------
Total: 609 71 221 Total Score = 482,092
Club:
Comments:
Operating QRP is always a challenge, but filled with lots of happy surprises,
even after all these decades of doing CQWW with QRP.
Saturday (GMT) was pretty bad (slow) with lots of unanswered calls to DX (they
CQ in my face with no other callers). That is always depressing.
But I've been doing this so long, I know that you can't give up based on the
first day. Sunday was MUCH better (at least for me). Fewer additional Q's
compared to Q total on Saturday, but lots more mults (and I love that). This
year I was 99.9% S+P. I "ran" 4 QSOs during the
contest....<smile>-
This year, I used an OB16-3 on the tower located near the house. I call it my
"south" antenna, but it does rotate. But mostly, I kept in the
southern hemisphere (from here, Zone 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13). It's only up 55
feet (total tower height is 54 feet).
I still used my DB36 at 72 feet up (also rotates). In not very many comparison
tests, both were "the same" on the S-meter (which is on the K3, so not
very precise, but good enough). The OB16-3 was a nice improvement over the HB
2L quad I have used in the past. Thanks to K2NG for doing the installation just
before he left for PJ4NG. Good timing. I have known Noah since he was in 8th
grade and we operated for years together at N2AA @ K2GL M/M. Check your history
files.
On 80m, I have a simple inverted V hanging off of the "back" tower
with the apex around 65 feet. I don't have enough room to pull out the 80m legs
enough, so the apex angle is rather acute compared to ideal. But it works well
enough for now.
On 160, I put up an inverted L and the "horizontal" leg sloping back
towards the ground. The vertical part is probably 80 straight up (I have very
large tulip trees here). I bought 1000 feet of SD Cu stranded wire to lay out,
but I ran out of time (and energy). So I put up a single counterpoise wire 132
feet long, held above the ground about 5 feet or so using shepard hooks my wife
has for her hanging plants. It's not great (putting it lightly). But it was
good enough for Z4 and Z5 and a W and some VE's. I'm not going to work any good
mults on top band with that, so I didn't waste any time looking. For QRPers,
the goals are EASY mults and FAST (relative term) QSOs. I don't have time for
DXing on top band.
Nearing the end of the contest, I thought I'd check to see my score breakdown
from 2018 ssb. I was sure this year was not as good. But as luck would have it,
I ended up with more of everything (Qs, Z's, and C's). I also operated less
hours than last year (and less hours than ever before). I was just tired. In
fact, I took a nap before the start and MISSED the beginning of the contest (but
just 35 minute late).
If you have read this far, well, congrats. Sorry for the long comments w/o much
real content.
On to CW (the good mode). As we used to say, SSB is the price we have to pay
for enjoying CW.
AND....I really gotta get a new set of headphones...my ears were very painful by
the end. My 'phones are over 30 years old.
de Doug KR2Q
One more thing...this was my first "butt in the chair" contest since
my hip replacement on June 3 of this year. VFB here!
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
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