CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW - 2023
Call: IY3A
Operator(s): IZ3EYZ
Station: I4FYF
Class: SOAB LP
QTH: JN54
Operating Time (hrs): 47
OpMode: SO2R
Summary:
Band QSOs Zones Countries
------------------------------
160: 222 13 53
80: 436 15 65
40: 771 29 87
20: 855 28 95
15: 1359 31 101
10: 433 28 82
------------------------------
Total: 4076 144 483 Total Score = 5,336,397
Club:
Comments:
Thought it was the right year for a touch up of the SOAB-LP EU record but no
way.
The final score is basically a tie with 2022 (+70K points, -10 Qs, -157 Qs/pt,
+23 mults).
But I operated two hours more (47 in 2023 vs. 45 in 2022).
Dupes further increased (195 in 2023 vs. 125 in 2022).
The majority comes from top Multi-op stations whose inband operators blindly
trust the RBN feed.
Working 195 dupes it meant wasting 2,5 hrs operating time given my average Qs/hr
rate!
Although TM3A is in the SCP and it gets the RBN Quality Tag because it's spotted
by multiple RBN nodes at the same time, beware it's a busted call!
Contest start was slow compared to 2022 and the T-storm with S9+20 crashes and
static noise passing by in the 03z hour didn't help either.
Power went off for a second, enough to require rebooting both PCs and losing the
RUN QRG on both radios.
At 12z I was already 234 Qs (dupes excluded) behind the last year.
Dual CQ rates were lousy this year.
Considering Dual CQ also hurts the mult total from a non-DX/non-semi-rare EU
location like Italy, I reverted mostly to 1 x CQ + 1 x S&P for the rest of
the contest.
Mult passing requests were turned down by everyone but E29TGW, VP5M, 4O4O.
Missed a full 48 hrs straight operation due to my own fault.
Ate too much and too late on Sat night (past 1am local time).
Digestion caught me around 01.40z and I peacefully falled asleep in front of the
radio with CQ RPT loop ON!
Woke up 45 mins later, had a wash with freezing water and I was back in
business.
The whole thing costed me 1 hr operating time in total.
Lesson learnt for 2024.
F12 5BA once again proved to be a poor performer, especially on 10m.
This year 10m condx were better than 2022 and everybody went to 10, so I
couldn't mask/overcompensate the problem with 15m runs due to lack of rate.
I miss 400 x 3 pointers on 10m.
And on top of this I had 200 Qs less with AS (mostly JAs on 15/20m) compared to
2022.
On the positive side, happy with 160m vert performances as well NA BVG albeit a
bit short.
I was also lucky to have extremely dry air due to NNE wind.
By Sunday evening the noise was non-existent, thus further confirming the noise
source(s) located in the field few weeks ago.
Quite a change on 80m compared to the -69dBm noise floor I had during CQWW SSB.
On a side note, I happened to hear a very interesting/creative operating
technique developed by EA2W as he was running 200 Hz away from me on 40m the
first night.
His replying MACRO to callers was "LOGGEDCALL + XX" where
"XX" were two chars arbitrary chosen by EA2W himself and totally
uncorrelated with RST/CQ ZONE.
Considering RULE III CONTEST EXCHANGE is still enforced as per CQWW 2023 rules,
I wonder whether these contacts are considered valid 2-way contest Qs.
If deemed legit, I assume this operating technique can be further
refined/improved in CQWW SSB/CW 2024 by replying to stations straight with
"LOGGEDCALL + TU" and moving immediately to the next caller.
************
Station setup:
2 x RTXs
10: F12 5BA @10m
15: 5/5L @17/9m
20: F12 5BA @10m
40: 2 x 1/4wl phased verticals (1/2wl spacing)
80: 1/4wl wire sloping vertical
160: 22m top loaded vertical
RX: 2 x BVGs (0 deg - 200m, 310 deg - 150m, both unterminated)
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
______________________________________________
3830 mailing list
3830@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/3830
|