ARRL DX Contest, CW
Call: VA7ST
Operator(s): VA7ST
Station: VA7ST
Class: SOAB HP
QTH:
Operating Time (hrs): 19
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
160: 0 0
80: 28 20
40: 73 40
20: 453 73
15: 50 22
10:
-------------------
Total: 609 157 Total Score = 286,839
Club:
Comments:
* FT920 + SB221
* N1MM Logger
* 3 ele. tribander @ 45'
* 40M rotatable dipole @ 55'
* 2 el. 40M delta loop beam (good for US/VE only right now)
* 80M inverted-V @ 65'
* 18AVT/WB trapped all-band vertical
=================================================
Highlights:
* 40M crappie rotatable dipole worked at last
* South Africa a new one on 40M
* 5Z4 Kenya on 20M (toughie from here)
* Final Q was JA7ODY -- his 1 watt was loud(ish)
* 10M opened briefly to LU and XE
* Lousy 160M weekend
=================================================
Ran HP for first time in ARRL DX CW. Made 40 more Qs but mults were still down
by 19 from 2006 with 100W. Was the extra power worth it? I don't know what LP
would have done this year at the very bottom months of the solar cycle, but I
suspect it would have been a much tougher slog. 19 hours this year, 23 hours
last year, so the power bought some extra sleep and a bit more rate, but didn't
raise multipliers.
Mults were down slightly on 80M (-6) and 40M (-4), up by 9 on 20M, and down 19
on 15M (from 41 to 22). Antennas and noise were the difference on 80 and 40,
higher power helped on 20, and sunspot minimum caused the bottom to fall out of
15.
Year QSOs Mults Score
---- ---- ----- -------
2003 235 122 86,010
2004 307 132 121,572
2005 444 167 222,444
2006 571 176 301,488
2007 609 157 286,839
Didn't bother with 160M -- I know the saggy inverted-L isn't worth playing
around with till I can get it raised properly.
Used the vertical and 80M inverted-V on Friday night for most of my 28 Qs on
80N. Saturday afternoon walkaround in the back yard revealed one side of the
inverted-V had come loose and was hanging straight down from the 65'-high
support rope. Fixed the antenna but still only made a few Qs on Saturday
night.
Picked up a mail parcel Saturday -- new MFJ 1026 noise reduction box. Tried it
out quickly and found that it's going to reduce the power line noise on 20M
very well. Will replace the wee bulb "fuse" on the sense antenna input with a
relay so I can run HP without that input burning out.
Also received a couple long runs of new coax, so was able to replace the feed
to the 40M rotatable dipole I built last year to help with EU.
http://www3.telus.net/va7st/rotary.htm
The very shortened (39') linear-loaded crappie dipole had stopped working soon
after installing it atop the tower last fall. Replaced the coax feed line
Saturday and the thing works quite nicely. Worked lots of EU, but not all I
heard (the dipole's up just 55'). Managed to pull out ZS6AAA for an all-new one
on 40M Sunday morning when the vertical couldn't hear him through the noise.
It's a keeper till next time the tower's tilted over, when I plan to beef it up
with bigger wire elements for broader bandwidth and better power handling.
20M EU openings were modest here. Saturday morning it didn't really get going
till 1530z and then Boom!, we were off to the races for two hours. Alas,
openings are quite short these days but when they arrive, they open very
suddenly. Hoping my Q with 4X4DX is good. Same for VK9DNX (who was very loud
here when I worked him, but had a million callers on top).
15M never opened to EU from here, but did get Canary Is. Lots of SA and
Caribbean stations worked, but not much out of Asia or Oceania.
Sunday afternoon saw 10M open briefly to LU and XE -- good for just 2 mults on
5 Qs (better than the 1-for-1 last year).
Sunday morning EU started coming in around 1600z and stayed open for most of
the day, with a few weaker hours in the mix. Could have worked OH8L all day
long -- big signal, even when I was beaming Asia.
Thanks for all the contacts. Be back next year with better low-band antennas.
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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