ARRL DX Contest, SSB - 2020
Call: V47T
Operator(s): K5ZD
Station: V47T
Class: SOAB HP
QTH: DX
Operating Time (hrs): 41
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
160: 261 44
80: 926 59
40: 1554 59
20: 2035 60
15: 2046 59
10: 4 4
-------------------
Total: 6826 285 Total Score = 5,836,230
Club:
Comments:
Thanks to N2NT for the use of the station. Nothing better than being on a hill
on an island!
A few notes as I reflect on the contest:
- 40m beam had failed. Inverted vee with top at 50' seemed to do OK. I should
have pushed the band harder.
- Who knew there were so many hams in Delaware?!
- Or in Florida? FL must have been the landing point of the first bounce from
here because they were loud on every band. And lots of them!
- Power line noise sucks. It started Sat morning and lasted through Sat
afternoon. Then the same on Sunday. It was only in the direction of USA and
impacted all antennas. Combined with the rapid QSB, I spent a lot of time
asking people to repeat their call and state. Sorry if I was an alligator on 15
and 20 at times.
- I had a bit of a mental breakdown on Sat due to the line noise. It was a full
breakdown on Sun morning. I decided to close up the station, drive 30 mins to
my AirBnB, take a shower, then drive back. Took 75 mins total. But, when I
returned I had my sanity again and was able to power through the line noise
until it stopped just in time for 20m. (Getting up and down the hill is an
adventure that requires all wheel drive and a road that does not permit speeding
unless you want to break the suspension...)
- In a bit of line noise frustration on Sat, I went to 10m and decided to call
CQ. K3LR answered my first CQ. He spotted me and I was able to work K8AZ, VE3EJ
and K1TTT. That was it for the band. Impressed to be found on the very first
CQ.
- From the DX side, this contest reminded me of Sweepstakes. There are limited
mults. It is all about running guys. I think I called 3 people all weekend.
- Only had one radio. Every band change was a leap into the unknown. I had to
stop whatever run was happening, go to the new band, retune the amp, find a new
frequency, and then hope to be spotted. This cycle took 5 to 10 minutes each
time. Worst was to change bands and then have to go back and not be able to
find a spot.
- Great to have 20m open for the first hour. Got a fantastic start that dried
up toward the end so 'only' a 300 hour. Forgot to bring the file with the rates
from the shack computer. Best 60 mins was 312.
- Worked only 4 stations on 6 bands. 141 on 5 bands.
- Slept 90 mins the first night. 3 hours the second. Cost some QSOs, but was
hoping to be fresh for the high bands. No telling what the line noise would
have done to me without the sleep!
- Writelog software worked perfectly (as always). Made a full recording of the
contest in one hour mp3 files. Might be a few hours that would be fun to listen
to.
Thanks to everyone who called in. Was a great experience. Doing SOAB from the
DX side in ARRL DX has been a bucket list item for me. Very entertaining.
Randy K5ZD
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