CQ Worldwide DX Contest, RTTY
Call: VE4EAR
Operator(s): VE4EAR
Station: VE4EAR
Class: SOAB LP
QTH: Winnipeg
Operating Time (hrs): 16
Summary:
Band QSOs Pts State/Prov DX Zones
----------------------------------------
80: 14 29 11 3 5
40: 113 226 38 12 11
20: 133 289 30 36 16
15: 3 9 0 3 3
10: 0 0 0 0 0
----------------------------------------
Total: 263 553 79 54 35 Total Score = 92,904
Club:
Comments:
Well That was different! I had planned to put in a dedicated effort, but that
was not to be.
Friday was my XYL's birthday so that meant dinner, movie and managed only a
couple Q's on 40 after 0500. I thought Saturday would be the big day so head
for bed.
Woke up around 0800 with severe back pain and tied to put a couple hours in but
the pain in the back was worse than the poor conditions )High A, & K values).
Ended up in the emergency ward with what turns out are kidney stones. 12 hours,
some morphine and a bunch of oher pain medication and I am back at home.
40m was open to the lower 48 and out SA for awhile. Finally ventured to 80 but
couldn't keep my focus so headed for bed. Started back at about 10:00 on 80 and
40. Listened to the west coast and few eastern station working Thailand, Japan
and other Asian stations on 80 and 40. All I heard was Aurora and static. Did
managae to work a couple KH6 stations on both 80 and 40 but that was all I
could hear. My 100w and a dipole probably didn't help either.
20m finally started to open and actually could work a few EU stations. They
weren't strong but most were very patient and didn't seem to mind a few
retries.
A few PC lockups caused me to lose a few multipliers as I am sure the contacts
weren't completed. First time that has happened on RTTY so don't know what to
attribute that to.
Sunday afternoon I even ventured to 15m. Heard a few deep SA stations but
nothing else. Started to work them on my BiggIR vertical until suddenly the SWR
shot through the roof. Switching to the doublet I was back on the air but
signals were way down and couldn't make any more contacts. Headed uipstairs for
some pain medication and noticed the wind was really blowing. Turns out we were
having40km winds with gusts as high as 80km. Went outside to look at the
vertical and discovered that one of the telescoping sections had collapsed
effectively shortening the antenna. Way too windy to get up on the roof and try
to make a repair, so I headed back to the shack and see what I could do with
just the wire antenna. Hopefully the post mortem will show that the tape inside
the telesoping tubes was not damaged as it was fully extended at the time of the
collapse (3/4 wavelength mode on 15 m)
20m was tough as the path to EU had closed and SA was not quite there yet.
Snagged a few North African stations but that was about it for DX. Conditions
to the lower 48 were marginal as only east, deep south and west coast were
strong.
Nearing the end of the contest, I know the asian stations were starting to roll
in but nothing strong enough to work.
So kidney stones, pain medication, high winds, damaged antenna, intermittent
computer lock ups and the usual poor propagation conditions made for another
fun contest!
Thanks for everyone's patience and hope to hear you all again in a few weeks
during the SSB event.
Ed
VE4EAR
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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