North American QSO Party, CW
Call: N3BB
Operator(s): N3BB
Station: N3BB
Class: Single Op LP
QTH:
Operating Time (hrs): 10
Radios: SO2R
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
160: 81 30
80: 187 47
40: 397 52
20: 456 50
15: 37 11
10: 4 1
-------------------
Total: 1162 191 Total Score = 221,942
Club: Central Texas DX and Contest Club
Team: Austin Powers Pickers
Comments:
With the weather forecast cold and dry and windy, I figured it would be
curtains for me from a line noise standpoint. In fact, at nine-thirty
Saturday morning, I had S7 noise on all bands, and spent a half hour
sitting in the shack rotating the antennas to try and find some directions
which would be less noisy, even if I was pointed at lower Slobovia. Then,
for some miraculous reason, the noise gods looked kindly on me and the
noise abated, until at eleven AM, it was the best I have heard in a long
time, certainly outside of our rare still and moist weather. So when the
bell rang at noon, I was able to use all my antennas and point them at
directions where there are a lot of US hams! Glory day!
There is always noise on 15 and 10, but it was a manageable S3 to S5 and
with the 500 Hz CW filters, that is tolerable. For the first time, I was
able to use the new three-stack on twenty meters, which now has a third
five element yagi fixed on Washington DC, roughly, mounted to the side of
the twenty meter tower at eighty feet. This height has one S-unit more gain
than the high yagi. I have been telling K5NA and others that if I could
ever use the three stack, I thought it would play better on twenty meters
and even, if I could entertain the thought, be "K5TR-esq" on twenty meters.
Wow! So I could and I did. I had two yagis on the NE USA and one yagi on
northern W6, and let me tell you, it really played. No noise, no anything,
but a constant stream of callers on twenty meters. I had no trouble getting
very good pileups and no trouble with encroachers.
I decided to take more off time in the daylight, betting that the afternoon
rates would slacken off from times to times, and that 15 and 10 would not
open much if any. That bet turned out to be correct. My off times were:
2003-2033Z 31 mins
2200-2229Z 30 mins
0248-0317Z 30 mins
0531-0559Z 29 mins
I took two breaks in the daylight, both approximately a half hour. Both
times, the rate meter was sagging on 20 meters, and I found the well
refreshed and full again when I came back. But in general, I spent most of
the contest with the rate meter between 120 and 135 for the last ten
minutes. I used both radios all the time, always CQing somewhere and S&Ping
on the second radio. There were a few times when I lost my run frequency
when trying (unsuccessfully) to move people. It was hard to find a new run
frequency at times, since everyone was bunched on twenty meters.
The decision to take off the last (almost) half hour was dicey, depending
on how late 160 got good, and how many people would be on then. It's only
ten PM when the contest ends on the west coast, and so 160 is not fully
open. I suppose it was a good bet, but I felt that 160 was getting better
all the time when I had to stop.
My goal in the NAQP is to make at least 200K points, and I exceeded that,
and probably set a PR. I just now looked at the 3830 claims. It looks like
scores are better the farther west it goes. The Winter NAQP and Springs are
better for the west coast.
My strategy was to run more and to move less frequently. Other than some local
moves, there were only a handful of successful moves, and they all were
late between 40/80/160 in various combinations. I tried several times to
move known good stations to 15 meters in the afternoon, but none were
successful. I kept listening to ten meters and never heard a station
outside of the local folks who kindly QSYed for me. I ran on 20, then on
40, and some on 80 and 160 at the end.
Fifteen had two tiny spotlight openings-both long: one to MA (only MA, no
other W1 or W2 states!) and VE1, and one to extreme W6-W7-VE7. That latter
one was centered on WA and VE7 but expanded to northern CA and OR as well.
I also had a scratchy QSO with a QRP VE6 who came up out of the noise and
called me when I tried to move someone to 15. But all in all, 15 never did
open. Or at least I missed it. Note, it is clear I did miss some stuff based on
K5PI's numbers at W5KFT.
The bands all went through some "hot" and "not hot" periods. There were
times I was not able to get VE3s on 80, and later, I got most everyone on
one call. Ditto on 160.
The great west coast scores blow me away. Congrats to some amazing S/O
scores!!
Here are some numbers:
BAND Raw QSOs Valid QSOs Points Mults
__________________________________________________
160CW 81 81 81 30
80CW 189 189 187 47
40CW 400 400 397 52
20CW 459 459 456 50
15CW 37 37 37 11
10CW 4 4 4 1
__________________________________________________
Totals 1170 1170 1162 191
Final Score = 221942 points.
Rate:
HOUR 160CW 80CW 40CW 20CW 15CW 10CW TOTAL ACCUM
---- ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ----- -----
18 0 0 0 132 3 0 135 135
19 0 0 0 103 7 0 110 245
20 0 0 0 38 9 1 48 293
21 0 0 0 118 16 0 134 427
22 0 0 12 44 0 0 56 483
23 0 0 111 23 0 1 135 618
0 0 5 126 0 0 0 131 749
1 1 36 80 1 1 1 120 869
2 0 25 70 0 0 0 95 964
3 29 46 0 0 0 0 75 1039
4 42 37 1 0 0 0 80 1119
5 9 40 0 0 1 1 51 1170
TOTAL 81 189 400 459 37 4
160CW
Tx Nm Mo Il Va Fl Nc Ca Ia Nh
Al Md Wi Ar Mi In Sc Ok Nj Mt
Pa Oh Ga Mn Tn Co Ms Or Nv Ma
80CW
Sc Nc Nm Ar Ks Va Ky De Mt Mo
Pa Tn Fl Mn Tx KP4 vE7 Or Mi Wy
vE3 Ok Nh Wi Co La In Md Wa
Al Ga Il Ia Ca Ms Az Ct Ut
vE2 Ma Oh Ny Nv Nj Ne Vt Sd
40CW
Il Md Pa vE3 Me Oh vE1 Or Ne
Mi Nc Tn La Vt Ca Ky Mo Nh
vE5 Mn Al Va Ny Sc J3 Wy Wv
Ar Fl Nm Co Nj Wi Wa vE7 Ms
Ma vY2 Tx Ks Ia In Nv KP2
Ct Ga Ok De Ut Az Ri Ak
20CW
Al Nj In Wi Wv Wy Ma Ia La vE6
Or vE3 Sc Mi Pa Ny Md Tx Nh Nv
Nc Oh Fl Ok vE1 Ga Mt Ky Me Vt
Il Mn Wa Va De Ct Co vE5 Az vE2
Mo Tn Ks Ca Ms Id Sd Ut Ak vE4
15CW
Tn Ma vE1 Wa KP2 Ca
KP4 Tx vE6 vE7 Or
10CW
Tx
I have seen no scores other than K5PI's, and Robert did his usual great job.
Thanks to all the CTDXCCers who got on, and a special "tip of the hat" to
Susan, who did a nice effort from the K5NA/K5DU station. I know she has CW
ringing in her head this morning.
Jim George N3BB
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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