CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW - 2020
Call: VE2IM
Operator(s): VE3DZ
Station: VE2IM
Class: SOAB HP
QTH: QC
Operating Time (hrs): 47.5
Radios: SO2R
Summary:
Band QSOs Zones Countries
------------------------------
160: 485 15 46
80: 1590 23 71
40: 1474 30 84
20: 1978 29 83
15: 1575 26 85
10: 142 14 31
------------------------------
Total: 7244 137 400 Total Score = 9,255,195
Club: Contest Club Ontario
Comments:
Loaded my car with all necessary equipment on a weekend before the Contest.
Left Monday morning in order to complete a 1,000 km ride and reach Quebec city
for overnight stay as early as possible. Despite silly rumors, there were no
border closures noticed between Ontario and Quebec.
Stayed at the hotel in the Quebec city suburb, had a good rest and sleep and hit
the road not so early in he morning on Tuesday. It was uneventful ride all the
way to Sept-Iles. Weather was nice, mostly sunny with some snow at the end of
the trip.
Some rather scary moment happened before boarding the ferry in Tadoussac.
Police car with two cops inside approached every vehicle in the line with some
questioning.
For the moment I got scared, imagined that I could be sent home after driving
1,300 + km's...
Cop #1: Where are you going?
.....
Cop #1: Why?
.....
Cop #1: Do you know it's Yellow Zone up there? Are you going to take all
necessary safety measures?
.....
Cop #2: Have a safe trip!
Not going to tell you what I answered, but luckily, I could manage.
Huge snowfall was happening in the last hour of the ride. I heard on the radio
that 20-30 cm of snow is expected in Sept-Iles by the next morning. Upon arrival
I unloaded all my stuff at the station and went to the hotel where I had a very
good night sleep.
Thanks to two previous trips in September and October, not so much antenna work
left to do. Unfortunately, on Wednesday and Thursday it was so cold and snowy
that I could only extend the 80 m antenna for CW band, and made unsuccessful
effort to roll a beverage in the woods where snow level reached up 50 cm... I
couldn't even find the grounding rods from last year's. I left it for the
“next day” and it never happened.
Assembling a complete SO2R station from scratch was not an easy task either. It
took me the whole day to connect 2 radios, 2 amps, 2 USB Interfaces, 2 sets of
band pass filters controlled by 2 band decoders, a high power triplexer with 3
high power BPF's and a 2x6 automated antenna switch. The challenge was not only
in connecting all of the above properly, but also deal with and try to solve
cross-band interference problem, keeping in mind close proximity of all
antennas.
Anyway, almost everything was done in time, including audio recording, and my
old Windows 7 laptop was steaming trying to control all of that, reminding me
that it is time to retire it and replace with something new and more powerful.
During the first hour of the Contest it did hang up several times, so I needed
to close all non-critical tables in N1MM logger, like multiplier, gray line etc.
to save on resources.
Also, I had to fight a RFI problem, eventually replacing one of the keyboards
with the spare (to my luck I brought three of them).
In the contest I had capability of choosing any band on any radio, but for quick
moving of mults I obviously used the radios with ACOM 2000A auto tune amplifier.
The other amp was the manually tuned Alpha 87CA.
I started the Contest on 40 and 80 trying to do a Dual CQ, but 40 m was not so
good so I switched to 160 m shortly. Later I did a combination of 2BSIQ, classic
SO2R, or even a 1-radio operation, when the pile-up was too huge on one radio,
or – in opposite – when the bands were slow or when I have to solve some
problems on the fly.
Best bands, hands down, were 80 and 15 meters. 15 – because it was
unexpectedly good, and 80 - because it was so productive and sometimes sounded
like 20, even with simple antenna.
40 closed to EU pretty early and I almost missed it on the first day,
overstaying on 15 and 20.
While operating the contest, I projected my score to be over 10 M points,
however, lacked few hundred thousands by the end.
Thanks again to many who agreed to move to another band for me. Almost made a
sweep with Dima, 5T3WW, but for some reasons he couldn't hear me on10 meters.
There were at least 4 other Zone 2 stations on the air, so the demand for me was
not as huge as I expected.
Though I did quite a significant part of my time doing S&P'ing on a second
radio, while looking at my LOG now I see that I missed many “easy”
multipliers like C6 (40, 20), CT3 (40), EA6 (20), EA8 (80, 15), GD (40, 15), HI
(15), JA (15), OH0 (40), P40 (40, 15), VP5 (20), VP9 (40, 20) and ZS (40).
Too many mults are missing on 40, I should've stayed there much more time, but
80 and higher bands were too good...
Remembering my last year's COVID19-like operation, this time I tried not to
overwork myself and stay away from everybody. That, and having a good each
night's sleep at the hotel before the contest helped me to stay awake almost all
contest, which didn't happen in the last couple of years.
As the contest ended, I heard a knock on a door. It was Nick VE2NCG who as
appeared drove from Montreal to Sept-Iles on Thursday and operated the Contest
from the hotel on the other edge of the town. Thanks to him, I had a couple of
Zone 2 mults on higher bands. Another Zone 2 stations I worked were Chris VO2AC,
Naz VO2NS and Igor VE2IDX.
The way back was almost good, except for an hour of flurries and snowfall on the
peninsula before Quebec city. Stayed overnight at very nice newly renovated
Sleep Inn in Ste. Anne de Beaupre (suburb of Quebec city) and was rewarded with
abnormally warm morning there - + 12 deg C!
Finally Tuesday late at night I was back home.
I don't know, maybe its' the age or something else, but trips like that are
becoming more and more hard to make for me. It's Thursday when I'm writing this,
but I still haven't fully recovered...
I'd like to thank personally Frank VA2FGG who – despite of his accidentally
broken elbow – is trying to keep the place in shape, doing some necessary
repairs, if need be.
Big Thank You to all for the QSOs and especially to those who traveled, making
this contest special even at these difficult times.
Congrats to Chris and Dan for their outstanding scores from 2-point locations!
73, Yuri VE3DZ (VE2IM)
Radios: Elecraft K3, YAESU FT1000MP
Amps: ACOM2000A, Alpha 76CA
Antennas: HyGain Explorer 14 Tribander @55', 2 el. HyGain 40 m Beam @60', 80 m
dipole @50', K2KQ Bent vertical dipole for 160m.
VA6AM High Power Triplexer with 20-15-10 HP BPF's
A pair of Dunestar 600 BPF's with Top Ten Devices Band Decoders.
RigExpert TI-5 and Plus USB Interfaces.
2 by 6 antenna switch ny Hamdevices.com
N1MM Plus Logger.
Some statistics:
Best rate:
2020-11-28 1937Z - 4.5 per minute (60 minute(s)), 272 per hour
CountryPrefix 1.8 3.5 7 14 21 28 Tot Accum
0 0 1 0 1 0 2 2
3B8 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 3
3V 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 4
4O 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 5
4U1V 0 1 1 1 1 0 4 9
4X 0 0 3 1 2 0 6 15
5B 0 1 1 2 3 0 7 22
5H 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 23
5T 1 1 1 1 1 0 5 28
8Q 0 0 1 1 0 0 2 30
9A 4 11 10 7 14 0 46 76
9G 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 77
9H 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 78
9Y 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 79
A6 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 80
C6 1 1 0 0 1 0 3 83
CE 0 1 1 1 3 3 9 92
CM 1 1 2 1 1 1 7 99
CN 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 100
CT 2 3 5 3 7 1 21 121
CT3 1 2 0 3 1 2 9 130
CU 0 0 0 0 1 1 2 132
CX 0 1 1 1 2 0 5 137
DL 13 125 105 127 215 2 587 724
E7 0 6 5 4 7 0 22 746
EA 3 15 33 42 50 2 145 891
EA6 0 1 2 0 1 1 5 896
EA8 1 0 2 4 0 1 8 904
EA9 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 905
EI 2 3 1 6 4 1 17 922
ER 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 923
ES 1 2 1 4 1 0 9 932
EU 3 11 3 11 8 0 36 968
F 4 30 19 49 79 3 184 1152
FG 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1153
FM 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 1154
FY 0 1 1 1 1 1 5 1159
G 5 32 16 52 65 2 172 1331
GD 1 1 0 1 0 1 4 1335
GI 0 2 1 3 1 0 7 1342
GJ 0 0 1 0 1 0 2 1344
GM 2 10 1 12 6 0 31 1375
GU 0 1 1 2 1 0 5 1380
GW 0 4 1 1 4 0 10 1390
HA 2 20 14 26 18 0 80 1470
HB 0 10 5 14 19 0 48 1518
HC 0 1 1 1 2 1 6 1524
HI 1 1 1 2 0 1 6 1530
HK 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1531
HP 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1532
I 1 42 49 54 111 1 258 1790
IS 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 1791
IT9 0 2 1 4 4 0 11 1802
J3 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 1803
JA 0 0 8 5 0 0 13 1816
K 344 891 825 1054 514 79 3707 5523
KH6 1 2 4 1 1 0 9 5532
KL 0 0 0 2 1 0 3 5535
KP2 1 0 3 2 1 1 8 5543
KP4 2 4 3 4 3 4 20 5563
LA 1 6 6 8 4 0 25 5588
LU 0 0 0 3 7 6 16 5604
LX 0 1 1 2 1 0 5 5609
LY 7 14 8 19 16 0 64 5673
LZ 3 5 8 13 18 0 47 5720
OA 0 0 0 0 1 1 2 5722
OE 0 5 5 6 7 0 23 5745
OH 4 11 8 21 13 0 57 5802
OH0 1 2 0 1 1 0 5 5807
OK 8 28 27 28 41 0 132 5939
OM 1 12 7 8 14 0 42 5981
ON 3 12 6 14 16 0 51 6032
OY 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 6033
OZ 3 7 5 5 6 0 26 6059
P4 1 1 0 1 0 1 4 6063
PA 3 16 19 23 36 0 97 6160
PJ4 0 0 0 0 1 1 2 6162
PY 0 2 3 9 21 13 48 6210
S5 5 21 14 15 29 0 84 6294
SM 3 15 5 14 7 0 44 6338
SP 6 37 40 43 40 0 166 6504
SV 2 2 7 2 13 0 26 6530
SV5 0 0 1 1 1 0 3 6533
SV9 0 1 1 1 1 0 4 6537
TA 0 0 1 1 1 0 3 6540
TF 1 1 1 2 1 0 6 6546
TI 1 1 1 1 1 0 5 6551
TK 0 0 1 1 1 0 3 6554
UA 3 27 28 80 17 0 155 6709
UA2 0 2 2 1 0 0 5 6714
UA9 0 3 8 11 0 0 22 6736
UN 0 0 2 1 0 0 3 6739
UR 3 20 21 41 30 0 115 6854
V3 1 1 1 1 0 0 4 6858
VE 25 67 51 59 28 6 236 7094
VK 0 0 4 1 2 0 7 7101
VP5 0 1 1 0 1 1 4 7105
VP8 0 0 0 1 1 0 2 7107
VP9 1 1 0 0 1 1 4 7111
XE 0 1 2 1 1 0 5 7116
YB 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 7117
YL 0 8 3 6 6 0 23 7140
YO 0 7 9 6 11 1 34 7174
YU 0 7 16 9 8 0 40 7214
YV 0 0 0 0 2 0 2 7216
Z3 0 1 3 1 0 0 5 7221
ZF 2 2 1 1 2 1 9 7230
ZL 0 0 5 1 2 0 8 7238
ZS 0 1 0 2 3 0 6 7244
Total 485 1590 1474 1978 1575 142 7244 7244
Zone 1.8 3.5 7 14 21 28 Tot Accum
1 0 0 0 2 1 0 3 3
2 1 2 2 2 2 1 10 13
3 33 78 98 186 81 2 478 491
4 134 367 325 402 242 30 1500 1991
5 202 512 451 524 218 53 1960 3951
6 0 1 2 1 1 0 5 3956
7 2 2 2 2 2 0 10 3966
8 8 10 13 10 9 9 59 4025
9 1 2 1 2 6 3 15 4040
10 0 1 1 1 3 2 8 4048
11 0 2 3 9 21 13 48 4096
12 0 1 1 1 3 3 9 4105
13 0 1 1 5 10 6 23 4128
14 45 295 233 379 524 14 1490 5618
15 40 231 218 259 333 1 1082 6700
16 9 59 53 133 55 0 309 7009
17 0 2 6 9 0 0 17 7026
18 0 1 2 0 0 0 3 7029
19 0 0 1 2 0 0 3 7032
20 5 16 31 27 50 1 130 7162
21 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 7163
22 0 0 1 1 0 0 2 7165
25 0 0 8 5 0 0 13 7178
28 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 7179
29 0 0 1 1 0 0 2 7181
30 0 0 3 0 2 0 5 7186
31 1 2 4 1 1 0 9 7195
32 0 0 5 1 2 0 8 7203
33 2 2 4 7 1 4 20 7223
35 1 1 1 1 2 0 6 7229
37 0 0 0 1 1 0 2 7231
38 0 1 0 2 3 0 6 7237
39 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 7238
40 1 1 1 2 1 0 6 7244
Total 485 1590 1474 1978 1575 142 7244 7244
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
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