ARRL DX Contest, SSB - 2021
Call: KU2M
Operator(s): KU2M
Station: KU2M
Class: SOAB LP
QTH: Wayne, NJ
Operating Time (hrs): 28
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
160: 1 1
80: 62 32
40: 224 62
20: 530 77
15: 110 29
10:
-------------------
Total: 927 201 Total Score = 558,981
Club: Frankford Radio Club
Comments:
Will somebody just please wake me up when we're out of the bottom of this
never-ending Bottom-Of-the-Sunspot-Cycle? I read QST's amusing optimistic
editorial about how "Cycle 25 Has Begun!" (break out the heroin) and
wondered what the author had been drinking. Or smoking. Or both. Anyway, this
weekend, with all its shortcomings in propagation, was far less painful than my
last idiotic foray into doing the CW test 15M monoband - this time, even though
I never heard one single JA (or any married ones) the entire weekend, I did
actually get to work some Europeans, being able to operate on other bands, low
power or not. However, with nearly the entire ham radio contesting world crammed
into 200 kHz on 20 meters most of the day, trying to run with low power was an
education in humility. It doesn't matter if you have stacked yagis: a low
tribander and a full gallon beats a stack and 150 watts every time. Never mind
waiting until the big guns with their OM amps got through first, there were
times when the DX just couldn't HEAR me. At all. No problem...I just spotted
them in my band map and came back later, and worked them then. Running was quite
problematic. Just finding a hole in the wall of stations to squeeze into was a
major undertaking, and nearly every time, I would call for 5 or 10 minutes with
ZERO responses before giving up and going back to S&P. The few times I did
get a response and was able to get a little run going, I quickly lost the
frequency to somebody who either couldn't hear me or didn't care. I know, that's
the game, and it could be worse! While the KU2M Triangle isn't the best place to
operate from, it's not as bad as others. Maybe.
Anyway, I did manage to luck out and find a good spot in the 40M band to run on
Dupeday night (some people call it Sunday), and for some reason I had a great
run until some HP W8 came and plopped down right on top of me calling CQ, but by
that time the run was over, so that made up for no great runs on 20M, although
overall, 20M was, of course, the money band where most of the action was. And
although I took lots of time off for chores, I still managed to have a better
time than if I had been crazy enough to do 15M monoband again!
So, I'm going back to sleep now... somebody wake me in 4 or 5 years, OK?
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
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