CQ WW RTTY WPX Contest
Call: VA7ST
Operator(s): VA7ST
Station: VA7ST
Class: SOAB LP
QTH: BC
Operating Time (hrs): 27.5
Summary:
Band QSOs
------------
80: 129
40: 230
20: 269
15: 200
10: 8
------------
Total: 836 Prefixes = 322 Total Score = 806,610
Club: Orca DX and Contest Club
Comments:
* N1MM Logger + MMTTY
* FT2000 | FT920 second radio
* 3-ele. Steppir @ 27'
* 40M Steppir dipole 27'
* 80M twin elevated verticals (E or W)
2011 -- SFI = 96 (107 at the close!) | A = 2 | K = 1
2010 -- SFI = 94 | A = 3 | K = 2
2009 -- SFI = 70 | A = 4 > 18 > 10 | K = 1 > 4 > 2
S9DX on 20M was the highlight for me. Couldn't crack the Saturday pileups, but
Sunday made it through without difficulty.
Europe was very difficult on 20M both mornings -- heard lots of stations, but
with low power could only get attention from the big guns each day. High power
would have changed that nicely.
Was pleasantly surprised to check the very handy Orca DXCC "at a glance"
graphical propagation dashboard (http://www.orcadxcc.org/) early Sunday
afternoon to see flux had soared to 107.
As it turned out, 10M was open N-S with big signals out of South America, but
only about six of them. 15M was pretty good across the US, and I kept at it
until I had 200 Qs there, before heading to 20M for the remainder of the day --
around 1 p.m. 2100z.
Had a good closing hour on 20M adding a few JAs to the log, which was great,
but they were just a trickle not a torrent on a Monday morning. I tried the
same thing on 20M late afternoon Saturday but there was virtually no
propagation across the Pacific for me.
The only band that did better than I planned for was 40M -- it just kept on
going. Friday night I left the Steppir + trombone dipole at 27' -- stayed low
until about 5 p.m. 0100z Saturday night when I cranked up to 47' to see if that
would help work Europe on 40M. I have a conveniently located wire reflector at
that height forming a hybrid yagi (rotatable Steppir + fixed wire in refl or
dir mode oriented at W6/EU). It did help, marginally.
Less than two hours after cranking up, I opened the patio door to let the cat
in and Wham! the wind hit me. No wonder the cat was pasted against the glass.
One of the worst windstorms we've had here in years. Just as washing the car
makes it rain, the wind was (of course) caused by raising the tower. The little
MA40 with Steppir atop was riding it out just fine, but whipping around in the
wind isn't good for anything. Cranking it down with the wind screaming is
always a white-knuckle operation.
Ran SO2R on 40 and 80 both evenings. After running 40 with one radio until the
band slowed, I added 54 second-radio Qs on 40 while the run radio was on 80
with the twin verticals and Beverage.
80M was a bit softer than I expected, given how good 40M was. Fell short of
last year there.
20M was a huge disappointment. 269 is a lot less than the 512 I had last year.
Overall Qs were down a tad from last year --- 836 vs. 921. A better combined
40+80 total meant the QSO points were down only slightly -- 2505 this year, vs.
2562 last year.
Overall WPX was way down -- 322 vs. last year's 388 (and even that wasn't
great).
So, I am not pleased with 806,000 points. It's my fourth-best ever and
second-best low-power after last year. Should have been much better than last
year. I put in 27.5 hours, vs. 24 last year, so my hours weren't nearly as
productive this time out.
Those many casual ops calling in with 100 or so Qs on Sunday afternoon are very
much appreciated. Thank you for being there.
Let's hope conditions get even better between now and ARRL DX CW next weekend.
If I recall correctly, last year was the big 15M European opening that we were
dreaming of and I still think about. May these be the next good old days.
-- Bud VA7ST
http://www3.telus.net/va7st
Visit the Orca DX and Contest Club
http://www.orcadxcc.org/
Score history:
Year Qs WPX Score
-------------------------
2011 836 322 806,610 27.5 hrs
2010 921 388 994,056 24.0 hrs
2009 846 335 907,180 27.5 hrs HP
2008 612 258 470,850 21.0 hrs HP
2007 972 420 1,154,160 28.5 hrs HP
2006 702 284 578,792 28.2 hrs
2005 584 264 422,664
2004 225 114 67,009
2003 344 149 147,212
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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