CQWW WPX Contest, SSB
Call: KQ2M
Operator(s): KQ2M
Station: KQ2M
Class: SOAB HP
QTH: CT
Operating Time (hrs): 35.9
Summary:
Band QSOs
------------
160: 0
80: 55
40: 547
20: 1320
15: 1718
10: 38
------------
Total: 3678 Prefixes = 1206 Total Score = 11,799,504
Club: Frankford Radio Club
Comments:
The story of this WPX SSB contest begins with Hurricane Sandy on October 29,
2012, EXACTLY one year to the day after the devastating October 29, 2011
CQWWSSB blizzard which dumped 20â?? inches of snow on Newtown, CT and knocked
out power in my town for up to 12 days. Hurricane Sandy was much worse. With
wind gusts to 110+ mph on my ridge, the screaming winds were terrifying to hear
and watching the massive trees fall everywhere and destroy utility poles and
personal property, was surreal. The only safe place in the darkness from 6
â?" 9 PM was in our basement amidst the constant â??thudsâ?? and crashes.
The next day I spent five hours chainsawing through the seven massive trees
across my driveway (after I untangled the torn off electric/phone & cable
lines) and saying a prayer of thanks for the 3â?? thick 90+â?? monster tree
that fell precisely between my house and the guys from the 10/15 100â?? tower.
Somehow the trunk of that tree missed our house by less than 3â?? and the guys
by 5â?? like it was guided by the almighty oneâ??s hand. We lost part of our
deck but that and the three weeks I spent chainsawing up 15 trees and clearing
brush was but a modest inconvenience compared to all the homes seriously
damaged in my town. This was underscored just one week later, while still
without electric power, cable or telephone service, we had 9â?? of snow to add
to the misery.
With significant antenna/rotator damage and still battling my chronic health
issues, I missed both modes of ARRL DX. The constant Winter snows well into
mid-March also made it tough to get someone out to climb my towers to swap the
torn-up top 10/15 rotator and fix other problems. In desperation, after my
very loose 5L 20 at 58â?? began moving in three dimensions, I went out with my
slingshot and, from the ground, was able to strategically sling ropes around
the first director, reflector and boom (years of practice!) to tie off and
stabilize the antenna. The following weekend, Mark, K1RX, was kind enough to
come down and climb both towers. Now, with just a few days before WPX and all
the wire antennas down on the ground, I had my hands full to put my station
back together. There wouldnâ??t be enough time to get everything done so I had
to prioritize. I had not operated all band in WPX since 2005 so I had not
experienced working EU direct on 40 and the new sub-bands on 80. Good low band
antennas would be absolutely critical to making a good score. I spent two days
fixing (sort-of) the 40 M 4-square but I could never get all the wires out of
trees and it looked ugly. The 40 3 L wire beam was beyond hope with the one
side of the reflector almost vertical and the other side wrapped around a tree
branch. It had a high swr (instead of the usual flat swr) and it worked poorly
during the contest. 80 M was just a low inverted L as I have been without my
80 M 4-square for the past 8 years. 20 was all set as was 15. 10 would have
to do without my stackmaster or stacked antennas.
I had planned to put the 2nd radio on the air (first time since 2005!) for some
SO2R but I noticed that the Radio B receiver was about 20 db down from Radio A.
15 minutes of analysis did not yield any clues. DARN! I was going to
re-assemble the 2nd radio AMP (Ten-Tec Titan 425) which was back from repair,
but while finishing the 40 M 4-square work on Friday just a few hours before
the contest, I managed to badly slice one of the fingertips of my left hand
with a utility knife. I bled everywhere since I nearly sliced off a chunk of
skin. What a mess! I gritted my teeth, cursed a few times and put a nitrile
glove over my hand to keep the blood off my clothes and off the antenna
connections as I soldered them. After another 20 minutes, I was done, pulled
the antenna up and went inside to test it. It seemed to work ok despite the
fact that two elements were caught in the trees and resembled a right triangle
rather than two vertical parallel lines.
I setup the left footswitch. It didnâ??t work. And I couldnâ??t open it. I
then tried to improvise with a foot pedal for a keyboard and found that it was
wired backwards so that it was closed all the time and you had to press it to
â??openâ??. Hmmmmâ?¦. No problem I thought. Let me wire an adapter so that I
reverse the wires. That didnâ??t work either! Darn! I tried to open it but it
was sealed. Nuts! I called Radio Shack â?" they no longer sold
footswitches, in fact the person I spoke with didnâ??t even know what a
footswitch was. ARRGH! Finally I found an old switch that someone had given
me 10 years before wired for a DB-9. I cut the cable, tested it and wired it
for sound. SUCCESS! It was 22:30 Z and the contest would start in 1 ½ hours
and I was exhausted.
With my fingertip still bleeding on and off, reassembling the 2nd amp was out
of the question and besides there was not enough time. With all the
station/antenna/equipment and health issues, I knew that I would not be
competitive, so I decided to just operate when I felt like it and see how it
worked out. I knew that the CME and high auroral conditions were on the way so
I expected to operate maybe 10-15 hours for the weekend.
I took a shower, ate some dinner, set up my medicines and found a clear spot on
40 where I called cq and ran stations from 2330z on. It was fun to run on 40 at
the start, but just a few minutes into the contest, a louder multi station moved
in about 800 hz away and did not move when I repeatedly asked for his qsy. That
was disappointing and affected my run as it made it hard to work EU through the
qrm and his signal. Conditions were getting worse and not much EU was calling.
I finished the 00z hour with a disappointing 94 qâ??s and not many 6 pointers
and at 0107z I qsyed to 80. Although it appeared that I had a great freq. on
80, the absorption was very high, and the EU stations were weak. At 0145 I
noticed that the NOAA website showed that the Auroral oval was the maximum 10.
UGH! 20 was virtually dead. After only 58 qâ??s in the 01z hour, I went back
to the zoo that was 40 SSB and ran for a few minutes and then qrtâ??d at 0213z.
I rested and ate and then came back on at 0323z and ran with some success
until 0448z, changing freq. often and with an occasional EU station calling in.
79 and 66 hours at 03z and 04z followed, but they were way down from the 100+
hours that I should have been able to generate. Of note was the fact that EU
stations were about 1 s-unit weaker on the 3L wire beam than the 4-square.
That was discouraging because over the previous dozen years, the wire beam was
always 1 â?" 2 s-units better to EU than the 4-square.
I was very discouraged and very tired and after briefly working stations in SA
and the Pacific on 20 for about 20 minutes, I qrtâ??d @ 0523z. Normally I
should have stayed on 40 to run EU or try to do the same on 20, but the only EU
I could hear on 20 was skewpath and they didnâ??t hear me very well. Since I am
still dealing with an ongoing serious autoimmune illness, I have to be very
careful and it was an easy decision to go to bed.
At 1030z, I found a good run freq. on 20 and sloowwwwly began to run. There
was a lot of rapid qsb and signals were weak. The auroral oval was at 7 and
the K index was 5. Just awful cndx. Between that and the usual splatter and
qrm, it was a real slog on 20. Normally 15 would have been opening up to EU at
1030z at the top of the cycle, but it was stone dead. I worked only 48 qâ??s
from 1030z â?" 1059z but the 11z hour started nicely with SV9COL calling
in at 1101z followed later by UN2E and VK6NC at 1126z and 1134z. It took until
1157z to hear Asiatic Russia (a bad sign) when RK9DC called in. I only worked
108 stations in the 11z hour and 12z was even worse with only 62 stations! I
got excited when ZL1Y, VR2KF, JH1XYB and JA5XPD called in at 1216z but as 20
went long, only an occasional EU, JA or UA0 station (RZ0AWO) called in and they
were very weak. At 1250z I qsyâ??ed to 15 and opted for a freq. that I knew
would be clear. It was a mistake and I quickly moved to another freq. but the
rate was still mediocre until 1304z when the â??switchâ?? was flipped on and I
could run at about 100 per hour. The qrm and splatter was awful and the qsb
made things worse as I constantly tried to get the stations to transmit in the
2 seconds between the qrm, and hoping that I could get 2 â??newâ??
letters/numbers in their call as they â??peakedâ?? in signal. It was a real
slow and frustrating grind. At 1343z, the next â??switchâ?? was flipped and
signals jumped two s-units. FINALLY the band was opening. The five hours on
15 from 13z â?" 17z had rates of 99, 102, 116, 136 and 122. These were
actually mediocre rates for the first day and I believe that was primarily
because 15 had barely opened to Russia.
9K9K was the most interesting caller (1404z) for a long time until A65BR and
OD5ZZ called in at 1526z and 1533z. Later in the opening, HZ1DG called in at
1625z, VU2MTM and 5C5W at 1640z/1643z and then VK9CZ at 1658z. 7Z1CQ called in
to start the 1700z hour followed by VU3KPL at 1704z. HS0ZCW was most welcome at
1747z as was CU2KG at 1759z and FH8PL at 1813z. 4L0A called in at 1820z as the
opening to the East began to disappear. I had opted to stay on 15 for as long
as possible since I have a good signal and the cndx were gradually improving.
Finally at 1836z I qsyâ??d to 20, found a good spot and it was off to the
races. 18z was a 109 hour split between 15 and 20, but the next 4 hours
(19z-22z) on 20 were 157, 128, 106 and 129. This was SO much better!
TF3CY called in at 1857z with a solid signal (good sign!) and confirmation that
the auroral oval was clearing up, now with a reading down to 5. The K index had
fallen to 2 and signal strengths began to improve. 6V7S was welcomed into the
log at 1920z, followed by TA2ST and TA1CR at 1922 and 1936z, H27A at 1939z and
a loud GJ2A at 1950z. NW and Eastern Eu stations were still weak but
occasionally called in, another promising sign. CU2KG found me at 2028z as did
A71AM at 2042z and 4U1ITU at 2045z. 5C5W called in at 123z and then VK3TDX long
path at 2135z. ZL2MM followed (also long path) at 2154z and then a solid KL7RA
at 2207z (excellent sign!) and CU5CQ at 2210z. I was still hearing some SW EU
mixed in with mostly stateside but there was an occasional LP Pacific caller
like VK4HG at 2216z.
9M2QQ was a wonderful surprise at 2225z but no JAâ??s. VK7GN and VK7ZX (both
long path) called in at 2229z and 2230z. GD0AMD had a solid signal at 2234z as
did 5D5A at 2238z. RA0CHK was loud and fluttery at 2242z and was followed by a
very loud RT0Q at 2245z and RA0QW at 2252z. I was glad to hear the UA0â??s but
disappointed not to hear JAâ??s. VK3MEG called in at 2254z followed by a very
loud BY8DX at 2255z and RT0TR at 2303z. Then the switch flipped â??offâ?? and
over-the-pole stations disappeared. ZP5WBM and FM4KA called in at 2314z and
2316z, LR0DX at 2320z and then the band dropped out. I went to 15 and only
heard YE1K who I worked at 2328z. Now it was time for 40 and lots of qrm and
splatter.
I found a good spot and began a run at 2337z. I had reasoned that with only
180 qâ??s on 40 and lots of ops having to carefully manage their remaining
off-time, I had a good chance at a decent run and my goal was to run and
continue into EU sunrise if I could. So far my body had been holding up well
with the physical strain and lack of sleep. My voice was very ragged but was
steady and cndx were improving. I was having fun and that was a good thing!
Although I only worked 71 stations in the 23z hour, many were 6 pointers
â?" EU was apparently hearing me. LN9Z was quite loud at 2337z, as were
some Russian stations. H27A called in at 0027z but then my pileup got
swallowed up by qrm. It was frustrating to have a pileup of loud 6 point
callers only to be buried by almost continual qrm and splatter that was 20 db
louder. It was a real fight to get anyoneâ??s call and quite often, after many
tries and only missing one letter, I had to give up and call cq again. At 0104z
I qrtâ??d in frustration. I ate a snack and then watched TV with my family. I
had a hunch that 20 was about to open over the pole and went back downstairs
and called cq at 0224z. WOW! There it was! A steady stream of loud Asiatic
Russian stations mixed in with a few JAâ??s and UP0L, UN7RL and EX0M. Lots of
new prefixes in the short but intense run but by 0252z it was all over and at
0258z it was back to 40 and the â??struggleâ?? with a new run freq. At 0329z
9K2HN, Hamid called in followed by Jim, CN2R @ 0330z who was loud! 5B4AIF
followed at 0353z and EU stations called in on a regular basis along with
stateside and a smattering of SA/Carib stations. Slowly the rate picked up
into the 04z hour holding at a steady 60/hr and as we approached EU sunrise,
the percentage of 6 point EU callers increased. 4U1ITU called in at 0526z
followed by OH0V at 0533z . The rates were steady and we were only partway
through EU sunrise, but my body had had enough and it was time for sleep. I
made a quick check of 20 at ~ 06z and found a very loud D4C and 3G1Z. I heard
some weak EU skew path but it was not worth staying on for. The geomagnetic
field was still too unsettled and auroral oval readings too high to get the
opening that the 4-land and 5-land stations would have to Europe on 20 at 08z.
At 1023z I was back on 20. With only 2159 qâ??s in 21 hours of operating, I
was not at all competitive but I didnâ??t care. Assuming that I was strong
enough to operate straight through to the end, I would almost make the full 36
hours; but that seemed like a completely unrealistic â??pipe-dreamâ?? for me.
20 was in much better shape on Sunday at 1023z â?" the band was wide open
and signals were strong. I found a good spot and the run began! Almost
immediately I began to hear Russia (always a good sign) and at 1120z I was
called by JR4GPA and TO5BG. UA9CTT followed at 1126z, RF9C at 1135z and BY5CD
and UP9L back- to-back at 1139z. 20 went long quickly with only a few JA/UA0
callers and not much more EU, but I knew that 15 would be in good shape. At
1154z I qsyâ??d to 15 and the run started anew with R9AM and RT9S calling in at
1212z and 1225z. I had not heard any UA9/0 on 15 in the morning on Saturday, so
hearing UA9/0 at the normal time on 15 on Sunday was a very good sign.
The 11z hour produced 118 qâ??s with 110 qâ??s on 20 and then really ramped up
in the 12z hour with 160 qâ??s! The next 6 hours 13z â?" 18z were
excellent with 147, 153, 141,121, 114 and 102 qâ??s. I should mention that my
rates were being slowed down by the fact that I was speaking slower to conserve
energy and conserve my voice. I was calling cq slower and giving calls and
numbers slower. I was pausing longer as well. I wasnâ??t concerned with rate,
I was concerned with seeing if I could stay in the chair. At 1229z 4O7ZZ called
in followed by TO5BG at 1235z and YB0NSI at 1248z. (I did not hear a single YB
during the Saturday morning run!). 15 was now WIDE OPEN to EU and Russia and
it was opening up to other areas as well as YF3J, JW7QIA, SZ3P, R9DA, EK3GM and
RF9C all called in between 1254z â?" 1311z. This was a lot of fun! CT
showed that the rate shot up to 300.9/181.5 for last 10/last 100 (remember I
was speaking slooowwwwllly!), but then the long qsb waves began. Earlier I
would see rapid and short qsbâ??s over a few seconds, now it was lengthening
out to as much as 30 second to one minute waves. A station would disappear and
then slowly come back over the next few cqâ??s! I also began to hear slight
echo and multipath on my signal as I stopped transmitting. 15 was clearly
going long and propagating via multiple paths. Cool stuff!
Just to emphasize the point, almost immediately HS0ZDX called in at 1312z and
then 4U1ITU at 1323z and then UA8WAA at 1332z. With the band lengthening out,
YC0IEM, YC1DYY, HZ1TL, YB0NFL, YB0COX and 7Z1HL called in between 1340z
â?" 1401z followed by SY1AEA and RA9WD, UB3DAO, RZ9WU, RV9CBW, RM9RZ,
UA9CBO and R9AE between 1407 â?" 1421z and then the YB/UA9 pipeline
abruptly shut off but a new steady stream of EU callers began, enhanced by 6Y3M
and HS3ANP calling in at 1429z and 1450z and HC5EG @ 1459z. YC1LA, 9M2SM and
HS3LSE called in at 1517z and 1526z, 9H1CG and C4Z @ 1527/1531z, HZ1XB @ 1535z
and then YB1JYL, VU2MUD @ 1551-2z and VU3NXI at 1559z. By now I was getting
down to the 4th and 5th level EU stations, a very exciting and rare experience.
There was literally a â??dinâ?? of S2 stations that were indistinguishable and
far too weak to copy even during the few rare moments that the freq. was
perfectly clear. It was probably some of the stations running qrp to an indoor
attic dipole tuned for another band. I was frustrated that I could not work
them all! But it was call cq and maintain the freq. or lose it. So I would
apologize for not being able to copy and then I would call cq again.
I had noted at 1405z that I had 2602 qâ??s x 1000 mults for 6,807,00 0 in 25.9
hours. I wondered if it would be possible to make a 9 Meg score?
With absorption high (with the sun almost overhead at noon) and the band long,
I worked VU2RCT at 1619z and then E21YDP and YB1C at 1626/1629z. VU2GRM and
SY1AEA called in @ 1654/1657z and then W7WA called in (thanks Dan!) for a 2nd
band at 1705z. From this point on, 15 went into decline and the opening to
Russia mostly disappeared.
I worked a fluttery and weak DZ1B @ 1751z - many thanks for his persistence
and patience as I struggled to get his number!
At 1753z I noted my score at 3104 x 1095 for 9,006,275. 502 qâ??s and 95 mults
in less than four hours on a Sunday afternoon. WOW! Ok, 10,000,000 coming
upâ?¦. Can I get to 3,500 qâ??s and 1200 mults?
TC1DX, H2T and 7Z1TT called in between 1809 - 1813z and TO7BC at 1821z. ZS6WN
was the only ZS I heard on 15 @ 1846z as 15 slowly faded away. I really wanted
to avoid the coming dogfight on 20 and stay on 15 as long as possible, but the
solar flux just wasnâ??t high enough to keep it open to EU. At 1908z I qsyâ??d
to 20 and although I managed at 122 hour, it was ROUGH! I fought for almost
every one of those qâ??s as the world descended on 20! Notable callers were
KG2A/VP9 @ 1943z, 4L8A @ 1948z, 4O7ZZ @ 1956z and E21EIC @ 2005z. Thanks
Champ!
2009z update: 3325 qâ??s x 1133 mults = 10,002,124 YES!
TC1FO called in at 2022z followed by VU2NXI @ 2037z and 3V8BB @ 2047z. A weak
and watery YB0DJ @ 2115z raised my hopes for a JA/Asiatic run on 20, but it was
not to be.
After that 122 hour @ 20z, the 21 â?" 23z hours finished with 82, 82 and
78. Having left the â??zooâ?? of 20, I really wanted to avoid going back to 40
if possible. Since I had operated in â??run onlyâ?? mode to conserve energy
for almost the entire contest, I knew that it would be a good time to S & P
for mults. On 15, I found D3AA and a few JAâ??s and then KH2L. Since I had yet
to make a qso on10, I knew that everyone there would be new. I worked a quick
38 qâ??s., mostly mults and the race for 1200 mults was on!
2221z update: 3546 qâ??s x 1168 mults = 11,000,224
After two quick passes through 10 meters, I went to 15 where I just started to
hear JAâ??s! After working some (but no new JA mults), I found a loud AH0BT
and RA0CHK and then called cq where I had a brief JA and SA run. After a little
more tuning, I found a better run freq. and had a decent JA/Asia/Pacific run
with R0DX, 4H1T and VK8AA calling in at 2317z, 2320z and 2324z. At 2333z the
run dried up and I decided to try to run on 40. It was a â??free for allâ??. I
found a good freq. but then two EU multis descended on it and would not leave.
I worked some 6 point qâ??s and then moved on calling cq on 80 to end the
contest.
I finished with 3,678 qâ??s 1,206 mults and a score of 11,799,504 in 35.9
hours.
This was the first time that I ever had operated â??full timeâ?? in WPX SSB and
had more qâ??s on Sunday than Saturday! It was also the very first time that I
had ever more than doubled my score on Sunday!
I was very pleased that I was able to generate that score with relatively poor
cndx, poor low-band antennas, one radio, taking off-times dictated by my body
even at the cost of missing optimum high-point hours, speaking slowly (lower
rates) and avoiding coffee. I had avoided s & p until the last few hours
and gave up another 50+ mults. In short, I had intentionally operated most of
the contest â??wrongâ?? and still made a good score.
But what was most encouraging and thrilling for me, was that for the first time
in two years, my body was able to handle operating 36 hours in a DX contest, and
on punishing SSB!
To be sure, comparing low-key operating of one radio for 36 hours to
high-stress operating competitive SO2R for 46 hours is like comparing
elementary school to graduate school. But it is an encouraging start for me on
the long road back to health and SO2R.
Congratulations to all the high scorers and thank you for all the qsoâ??s and
mults! CU in WPXCW!
73
Bob KQ2M
kq2m@kq2m.com
www.rlsfinancialgroup.com
www.kq2m.com
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