CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW
Call: N0HR
Operator(s): N0HR
Station: N0HR
Class: SOAB(A) LP
QTH: IA
Operating Time (hrs): 33
Summary:
Band QSOs Zones Countries
------------------------------
160: 22 7 10
80: 78 14 43
40: 220 24 83
20: 332 27 103
15: 217 26 93
10: 41 10 24
------------------------------
Total: 910 108 356 Total Score = 1,178,560
Club: Iowa DX and Contest Club
Comments:
I had a few goals for this one...
1) Improve last year's score - and cross the 1M mark for the first time in CQWW
CW. Done. In fact, I beat my CQWW SSB score as well... about 100k more points
with about 50 fewer Qs. I had hoped to break the 1000 QSOs threshold. Oh well,
maybe next time.
2) Improve my lowband scores. Done. I'm still not satisfied though. No rx
antennas, low power and fairly poor tx antennas on 80 & 160 sure is painful. I
changed the feed systems on both antennas and I think that helped. Last year I
had 7 Qs on 160 and 60 Qs on 80 - so this was a step up.
3) Work some new DXCC and band-countries. Especially on 80m (towards 5BDXCC).
Done - 3 all time new ones. 10 new ones on 80m and 2 new ones on 160m.
4) At least 30+ hours in the chair. Done. I was distracted by a sale on PC
speakers at Staples though - which meant a 6am Black Friday shopping run early
Friday. I really needed to sleep in and should have asked the XYL to make the
trip. Not sure I wanted to "go there" though :) "honey, will you run to
Staples at 6am for some PC speakers on sale for me while I sleep in for the
weekend contest?"
5) Improve station layout. Partial credit. I reorganized the table and added a
shelf. I'll post pics on my blog when I get a chance: http://www.n0hr.com/
Still need to replace my desk and rework the shack some more.
6) Reduce frustrating N1MM crashes. I'm using N1MM with my IC-7600 and the USB
connection (driver by K3CT?). I had been having somewhat frequent crashes of
N1MM. So, I brought in a new laptop running Win7, plenty of power and a fresh
system. Still had a few crashes - much less than under my home PC with Vista.
Arrrg. One was a BSOD. I think it might be related to the USB audio via the
Icom driver. I'm not sure I trust the USB Icom driver I guess.
7) Have fun. Done. This was a great contest. Propagation could have been
better, but overall a lot of fun.
Excuse list: single radio, no skimmer, propagation from the black hole of the
midwest, etc.
Log already uploaded to LOTW.
Station:
ICOM IC-7600 (100W)
10-20m: SteppIR 4 element @ 72'
40m: XM-240 @ 80'
80m: wire vertical mounted on chain link fence
160m: inv L sloped horizontal fed at tower base
Software: N1MM
Keyer: Winkey USB
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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