CQ Worldwide VHF Contest - 2021
Call: N0URW
Operator(s): N0URW
Station: N0URW
Class: SOSB/6 HP
QTH: Iowa
Operating Time (hrs): 21
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
6: 332 106
2:
-------------------
Total: 332 106 Total Score = 35,192
Club:
Comments:
Where do I start, How about wow !!! I could not believe how many HF guys were
on for this one tuning up 80 meter wire antennas just to make magic band
contacts.You won't find most of these guys on FT8 either. SSB all the way and
yes they like to chat and I loved it. I enjoyed taking the time to chat a little
with some of the nicest guys I met this time during the opening on 6 out to FN
grids. Thank you guys, you made my day !!!
Saturday Contest time::: At contest start 6 was open to FN grids and a couple
DN grids for almost 3 hours. It was very selective to very few grids so the qso
count was not as high as you might think. SSB was great but soon dried up and
had to go to FT8 to maintain at least a 20 per hour run rate. Then a few IM58
and IN78 stations were worked. DN and DM stations started to come in more but
again very selective on locations.
Even a few Texas stations were worked on SSB. Everything dried up for about an
hour so I worked what I could local. Then FN grids started back in, mostly to
the same area as before but a little bit wider so more contacts way up North in
to Canada and a few FM grids were added to my log. This was much better than
earlier and signals were booming in on SSB. Even with these fantastic band
conditions, too many were stuck on FT8 cutting the Qso count much lower than it
could of been. This lasted a few more hours. Then DO grids started coming in so
West and North I went. Tried SSB band a lot but only found a few. Most contacts
were FT8. They were all on the plus side on FT8 so I'm thinking SSB would of
worked. Picked up a few West coast CM and CN grids on FT8 so went to SSB but
nothing. Bummer !!!
I pulled the plug at 2 AM my time. I was tired and couldn't find anyone else to
work.
:::Sunday::: I had trouble getting out of bed early. The wife got tired of
hearing the alarm at 5 AM and shut it off. I rolled out of bed around 8 AM.
I guess you would call me a one day contester. I missed most of the EU contacts
in the morning, but did catch the tail end of it adding more to my log. All but
one were FT8. One was SSB and I just wished more had tried SSB. Oh well, I
continued on switching from FT8 to SSB, Calling SSB for 10 minutes and only
getting two contacts was not cutting it. FT8 was still packed but signals were
so strong I had to turn down the receive gain just to decode some of them. I
found when I turned off my big amp and reduced my power output to 50 watts more
would return my calls. My guess is they were having the same problem on their
end when I'm running the 1500 watt amp on FT8. FT8 is a weak signal mode and
when signals are 20 over S9 they don't seem to want to decode very well. I had
several hours on Sunday with 10 contacts or less an hour on FT8. Signals were
plenty strong so SSB would of been better. I would get on FT4 and pick up a
couple from time to time. Super fast way to make contacts. More should switch to
this mode if they are not wanting to use a microphone anymore.Towards the end I
was lucky to even get 7 contacts an hour on FT8. SSB calls went unanswered yet
signals were still plenty strong. The bottom line is I like SSB, I don't like
FT8. I'm not a good contester when it comes to rapid fire contacts. I will ask
what radio, how much power, what antenna are you using from time to time
depending on your signal (audio quality). I will do this even when the band is
open and I'm logging a hundred qs an hour. And then there are times I enjoy just
listening to K2DRH and AC0RA work others. All of this when I should be making as
many contacts as possible. I'm here to have fun. FT8 is not fun !!! With so many
using the ICOM 7300 (yes I asked a few that had perfect audio) the audio quality
has gotten much better. There are still several that sound like they are sucking
helium and some with very disturbing echos like they are at the bottom of a tin
can. It's not helping so clean it up.
Even towards the end l was getting contacts from FN grids, DM grids, EM grids,
EN grids. But it was very hard to find some one new to work.
Until we meet again, 73, Dan in EN41 Iowa
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