ARRL DX Contest, CW
Call: KQ2M
Operator(s): KQ2M
Station: KQ2M
Class: SOAB HP
QTH: CT
Operating Time (hrs): 44.5
Radios: SO2R
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
160: 106 49
80: 573 75
40: 829 88
20: 937 92
15: 1195 90
10: 110 53
-------------------
Total: 3750 447 Total Score = 5,028,750
Club: Frankford Radio Club
Comments:
ARRLDX CW is one of my favorite contests. Usually it is a challenge to mount
a serious effort due to damaged antennas thanks to the rough New England winter
wx, or the myriad of winter illnesses running amok. This year I was "walking
between the raindrops" as I was fortunate to miss my family's stomach virus and
the brief thaw gave me the opportunity to rebuild my 160 phased Inverted L's on
Thursday and Friday of the contest.
The only thing I was missing was sleep. :-) You hate to start the contest
exhausted from a series of 80+ hour 7 day work weeks, but starting tired is much
better than not starting at all.
Since I had not turned on the radio in three months,(since Sunday of CQWWCW), I
knew that I would be "rusty" at the start of the contest. Fortunately the
equipment worked (phew!!) and I was able to remember how to work guys without a
code reader. :-) But my cw (almost always sent with a paddle) was a bit
ragged, and one jokester on 40 kept saying "Try sending cw". After I while I
improved a bit and he said "That's better", and off he went!
40 was pretty punk at the start. No big first hour and nowhere else to go.
Unlike CQWWCW, I didn't have to worry about JT1CD running EU and 8Q7DV on my
freq., but also unlike CQWWCW, the solar flux was low, the aurora was going
full-bore and signal strengths were poor. The 89 hour was disappointing
especially since it was bolstered by 12 S&P q's on 20 and 15. I struggled some
more on 40 in hour 2 refusing to believe that I had worked all there was to
work, but at 02z I left 40 and went straight to 160 where I actually got a run
going - including a few 5 watt Russians! If you knew how weak I usually am on
160 and how futile it is for me to try to run, then you would know the elation
that I felt when I realized that I was louder on 160 than I was on 40 as the MUF
took a dive! After an exciting run (for me)on 160, I went to 80 and stayed
there for the next three hours, once again amazed at the "loud" feeling that I
rarely ever enjoy! 40 still did not want to cooperate, and even though I was
able to run on 80 and 160, the qrn was tough and the qsb was quite
significant.
Ordinarily with a low MUF and high aurora levels plus a coronal hole, high solar
wind, negative Bz and a slew of CME's on the way, it would be time to
contemplate sleep. At 08z there were still some fairly strong UK stations but
40 was poor. I almost took a nap. Fortunately I just happen to look for some
long-path EU and Asians on 20 and noticed that the band was open to EU! HUH??
First I thought the EU stations were Long path. Then I swung the the top
antenna around and noticed that I could hear them Shortpath ALSO! Although weak
and watery and with heavy qsb, the EU stations were workable BOTH short and long
path! This was remarkable and TOTALLY UNEXPECTED! I took advantage of the rare
opening to EU at 09z and then went to 15 at 11z. Unfortunately I made the first
of a series of major operating errors.
After 32 years of operating this contest I have the strategy fairly well thought
out. When you are very tired and not thinking clearly, you are likely to screw
up, and so I did. I went to 15 too early and then DID NOT go back to 20. Then
later I went to 10 and stayed there too long. Just as K0SR noted, I had to
stand up for much of the morning EU runs to keep from falling asleep. The rates
showed it too. Normally I get one hour on 15 over 200, this year the best I
could do in between microsleeps was 171. I operated almost half of the morning
with my eyes closed. Often I would wake up and the I would see the call in the
log without a power level. So much for that wasted qso!
20 was decent for me in the afternoon starting at 16z but petered out by 19z.
There was a distinct lack of mults it seemed and cndx were generally poor with
the combo of high auroral levels and a steady stream of flares. Yet 20 had
opened "early" at 09z despite the flaring and low solar flux levels. This was a
real mystery because even in HIGH sunspot years with LOW flaring and quiet
geomagnetic cndx 20 often will NOT open for the Northeast to EU at 08/09z!
I got a real kick out of reading that NQ4I was upset with the Northeast getting
an early morning EU opening that he didn't on 20. With lousy propagation
normally HE gets the opening on 20 while we are forced to settle for chasing a
few VK's on 40. It's nice when things balance out. :-)
At 20z I was struggling on 20 and trying to run on 40. At 21z I could run,
again a departure from normal. I was apparently louder than usual relative to
other stations. It also helps to be a W in the ARRLDX contest where the EU
stations are looking for you, rather than a W in CQWW where there are all sorts
of more interesting DX stations for the Europeans to work! The run was decent
but not spectacular, and I dutifully turned the knob on my 40 meter 4-square
controller to the SE about 22z hoping for some the the skew-path Asian goodies
that K3ZO likes to work. In my case I DO NOT have a rotatable 40 meter beam, so
my 4-square, which is about 10db down, is my only option. This time I was
rewarded with VR2BG (thanks Bret!), YC3XM and a few JA's. The funny thing is
that these stations called me while on my EU wire beam and NOTHING called me on
the 4-square pointed SE! :-) I spent a few more hours slogging through 20, 40
and 80, about 1/2 run and 1/2 s & p, and then I just lost all interest in
actively working guys on the 2nd radio. A few cups of coffee were no help and
the qsb and lack of activity was no help.
I tried running on 160 and had no luck even though the signals were good (but
they were better on Saturday night). 80 was slow and 40 went away again. I
toyed with taking a nap thinking that 20 might just open again at 09z and that I
needed to be awake. But then I decided against it as the liklihood of 20 being
open 2 nights in a row at 09z with active geogmagnetic cndx and low flux, was
about nil. I was confident since I had NEVER heard it open two nights in a row
at the TOP of the cycle with quiet geogmagnetic cndx! Of course I was wrong
again! At about 08z I packed it in with 20 just starting to open. I grabbed my
2 hour nap, my only sleep in the preceeding 48 hours and then stumbled down the
basement stairs at 1015z. I spent a lot of time on 40 and 80 chasing the mults
I had not worked the night before (when I was on 20 running EU) and I was
getting more and more upset with missing the wide open 20 while I was doing
it.
Finally I started my 20 meter run and was upset to see that I was having rate
trouble. I took that as a sign that I should be on 15, which would probably go
away later due to that wonderful M class flare. 15 was ok for a while but then
I realized that I was probably missing all the asian and russian mults on 20
that I had not yet worked. A look at the 20 meter mult total showed it was DIRE
and I wondered if I should go back. It seemed that all of the Northeast was on
20 except for me and because 15 was not too stellar I thought that I had made
yet another major operating blunder. But at this point I was too tired to care,
or to work guys on the 2nd radio, so I pinned my hopes on 10 opening up. Which
is tried to do with "spotlight propagation" in 5-10 minute "windows" betwwen
16-17z. Alternately I listened to NH stations run EU that I could not even
detect, then I would hear guys in NJ RUNNNING stations that I could barely hear.
I couldn't figure out how it was possible to NOT hear any EU stations that both
NJ and NH stations could run, but it was happening. Then I would get my 5
minutes and all would stop again. I persisted and picked up some needed mults
but wondered about the serious rate I was giving up on 15 and 20.
I limped into 19z without a run and with what seemed like a very low multiplier
despite the generally excellent 80 and 160 cndx. I was incredibly tired and
"out of gas". 20 just wasn't happening for me at 19z and 20z, so in desperation
I tried 40 for the last 4 hours. Normally my weak 40 meter signal is pretty
much laughed off by the competition and I get bounced around the band, but THIS
YEAR was different! I had a great run from 20z till the end of the contest on
7002 and picked up a lot of mults on 15, 20 and 40. I wanted to go to 80 but I
was doing so well on 40 that I didn't dare leave. I ended the contest on a high
note with a good run and was generally pleased with the result even though my
score and my operating was not up to my usual effort.
Once again, at about 22z, I had dutifully pointed my 4-square controller knob to
the SE and hoped for a few Asians to call. On Sunday only one JA called in,
naturally while I was using the NE wire beam. I tried Fred!
After the contest I was surprised to hear how low the Multi scores were. I felt
a bit better. Sometimes when you get so caught up in what your expectations
are, you lose perspective of how you are really doing. This contest humbled my
operating experience and propagation knowledge and made me feel at times like a
young and inexperienced op. However, equally inexplicable, I was able to run on
bands and at times where I am normally very weak!
Cndx were quite bizarre and the mult activity was generally low. I always
scratch my head when I think of the mults I missed like KH6 on 10 or J8 on 40
and 160, and then how implausible it is that I worked SU9NC on 4 bands and 5H3HK
on 5 bands! I passed only about 10 mults all contest, mostly Caribbean.
All in all it was fun and challenging and bewildering, just like a DX contest
should be, and I will be back for the 33rd time next year!
Congrats to all the LP guys with great scores in a tough year, and for those
stalwarts with great scores like KI1G, N2NT, ZF2TJ, 8P5A, 9Y4W and many
others!
It is great to renew all the friendships with the overseas op's and to make new
ones in every contest. Thanks for all the qso's and the qsy's and cu next
weekend!
73
Bob KQ2M kq2m@earthlink.net
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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