3830
[Top] [All Lists]

[3830] IARU KQ2M SOABMixed HP

To: 3830@contesting.com, kq2m@kq2m.com
Subject: [3830] IARU KQ2M SOABMixed HP
From: webform@b4h.net
Reply-to: kq2m@kq2m.com
Date: Sat, 05 Aug 2023 00:29:22 +0000
List-post: <mailto:3830@contesting.com>
                    IARU HF World Championship - 2023

Call: KQ2M
Operator(s): KQ2M
Station: KQ2M

Class: SOABMixed HP
QTH: CT
Operating Time (hrs): 24
OpMode: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  CW Qs  Ph Qs  Zones  HQ Mults
-------------------------------------
  160:     4      0     2        2
   80:    64      0     8       13
   40:   237     19    14       29
   20:   883    726    37       33
   15:   700    486    35       44
   10:    40     16    14       18
-------------------------------------
Total:  1928   1247   110      139  Total Score = 3,465,831

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club

Comments:

3,175 qsos x 249 = 3,465,831 SOABHP NON-Assisted Mixed Mode  4.3839 pts/qso

I have loved IARU since it's beginning as the Bicentennial Celebration in 1976
and then the first IARU in 1977.  It has the two elements that I enjoy the most
in a contest 1) MIXED mode so I can make qsos on CW AND SSB and 2) Everyone can
work everyone. And there is a #3.  3) Excellent propagation! We even got that
too!

After an abbreviated effort in 2022 IARU when one amp was malfunctioning,
another was operating at 1/2 power and some antennas weren't working properly, I
 was annoyed at myself for not getting the station ready in time.  The contest
was not nearly as much fun as it could have been.  Determined not to repeat that
mistake in 2023, I spent a full week in the woods fixing antennas outside and
fixing things in the station to get ready.  As usual, mother nature laughed at
my plans to be ready and sent the usual week of the contest monster storm which
tore up the 40 and 80 M Inv L wire 4-squares and a few support ropes,
necessitating many hours in 95F /hot sun/ humidity (Heat Index 115F !) fixing
everything again.  I survived the "Jungle" Friday afternoon and then
performed surgery on the 10 meter rotator control box.  I took a shower and went
to sleep.

Up at 10z to calibrate the rotators and make the amp tuning settings, I noticed
that the SFI and SSN were near peak of solar cycle conditions and that 10 M was
open short path to EU and the Middle East.  That opening is typically short and
unreliable and I decided to NOT start the contest running but rather s & p
on 10 and 15 for mults.  This way in case the meandering T-storms decide to pay
a visit to my qth or the predicted CME hit, I would at least have a decent mult
on 10 and 15.  That was my thinking.  Unfortunately it did not turn out that
way!

10 was very marginal - I did work a bunch of mults but could not run although
the Eastern W1's were able to do so.  The worst part was that there were many
fewer HQ mults on 10 and 15 at the start than last year.  So the qso rate was
depressed because I was S & P AND I was not working unusual mults, just the
same HQ stations that I could hear the rest of the weekend.  After about 20
minutes I abandoned this strategy and ran on 15 while hunting mults on 10.  That
was better but not good enough ending the 12z hour with only 127 qsos and 25
mults.

I focused on rate after that but 10 and 15 did not cooperate very much and I
rarely broke 150 qsos in an hour until 05z.  I stayed mostly on 15 and almost
entirely on CW for the next 8 hours.  I was not happy with the rate or the
mults.  Tuning was time consuming and mults were hard to find even though the
band opened to Asia  (YB, HS) with some loud signals over the pole.  I kept
checking 10 and even though it stayed open it was mostly the same stations that
I kept hearing hour after hour.  There had to be more mults but I could not find
them.  it felt like I was in the wrong place at the wrong time a LOT!  

>From time to time a Thunderstorm Cell would POP up, aim at my qth and then at
the last moment veer to the right or left, passing by within 1 - 2 miles, close
enough so I could see a flash of light in the sky and hear some thunder but not
so close that I had to shut down the station.  We did get the full array of
static crashes, making 20 sound like 80 on Saturday afternoon and evening.

The intense heat and humidity of the prior week put the basement shack temp at
close to 90F and even with the large box fan, it was HOT and tiring to operate.

Late morning/early afternoon ~ 16z, I experienced a classic top of the cycle
JA/HS/YB opening on 15 but then the CME hit and spiked the K index to 4 and the
bands almost died - the rates never quite recovered on 15 and 20, and with the
heavy qrn, I often had to transmit on the high antennas and then listen with the
lower ones.

Saturday night 80 and 160 were almost useless between the high qrn levels and
and weak signals - even 40 would not produce after > 02z although the band
was open. It sounded like everyone went to to 20 and 15 and stayed there!  20
rebounded and opened up to UA9/Russia/EU and stayed near peak levels
with the K dropping to 0.33! 20 rate was good for hours Saturday/Sunday after
03z, but it was low angle - top antenna only - the JA's and UA9's were extremely
loud - just not many of them and no other Asian stations that I could hear. The
rare Russian zones 21 - 35 were scarce and mostly not available but that was a
minor issue - overall it was an exceptional all-night opening on 20 which
provided me with my best ever 60 min rate in IARU --->  a 235 hour.

15 never quite lived up to its potential even though it marginally stayed open
all night with the occasional BY/JA station after 05z, but there was no volume
and the rare Asia zones were mostly absent.  EU also stayed in all
night with quite a few loud HQ stations but again no volume; then reopened at
09z on Sunday with a great opening to DL at 11z and where I stayed - first on CW
and then moving to SSB to end the contest with a 152 hour.

I had hopes of possibly challenging my 2014 SOABHP Mixed record but overall the
2023 cndx were not as good, and I had 300 fewer qsos and 55 fewer mults.  

Part of that I think was due to the high absorption and poorer cndx/qrn on 40 -
160 and part was likely due to 10 - 20 being open from EU to Asia/Pacific, so
why stay on the lowbands in the qrn to work US when you could be on the high
bands to work everyone else?  As it is, in W1 at the top of the cycle we only
get 2 - 3 good hours of good propagation on the lowbands before EU sunrise so
there is not much time to work any volume of DX.  Despite all of that I was
surprised to find after the contest that I actually had MORE TOTAL qso points
than in 2014, which was surprising given my emphasis on working every possible
US station.  The 4.3839 pts/qso was my highest ever in this contest.

Operating was made more fun by the presence of the loud I4 WRTC competitor
stations. Overall they were surprisingly loud on 20 and 40 and were running
pileups at high speed everywhere I heard them.  The quality of operating was
outstanding - they were always able to copy regardless of how loud/weak they
were.  

It was fascinating to see which stations were consistently loud and which ones
were not.  Likewise, some stations were aggressively S & P ing while others
ran almost exclusively - I noted that of the top 5 WRTC stations, 4 of them
called me more often than the stations that did not score as well and I worked
two of those stations 7 times each, making a total of 197 qsos with all but
seven of the WRTC stations. 

I had forgotten how much fun this contest is.  The Mixed-mode category allows
you to swap cw for SSB and vice-versa which I did whenever the rate started to
drop.  Since the mults often differ on CQ vs. SSB, it pays to spend adequate
time on both modes.  And given the surprising openings at times, you had to
constantly be rotating your antennas to check out those unusual propagation
paths!

It was great to see so many old friends and to make some new ones.  It is hard
to believe that it has been 46 years since the first IARU took place in 1977,
the year after the amazing Bicentennial Celebration contest in 1976.

It was wonderful to see the activity level increasing steadily in Ukraine!

I was glad to see that the FB cndx this year and the EU sunrise openings were
able to be experienced by most of the US.

Congrats to my good friend Mladen, YT6W (NA1NA)for his outstanding score from
K1LZ!

Tnx for the qsos!  CU in the Fall.

73

Bob, KQ2M
kq2m@kq2m.com

BREAKDOWN QSO/mults  KQ2M  IARU HF Championship  Single Operator

HOUR      160      80       40       20       15       10    HR TOT  CUM TOT  

  12    .....    .....    .....    .....   111/12    16/13   127/25  127/25 
  13      .        .        .        .     145/6     12/6    157/12  284/37 
  14      .        .        .        .     145/11      .     145/11  429/48 
  15      .        .        .       2/2    148/4      4/2    154/8   583/56 
  16      .        .        .        .      99/13     3/2    102/15  685/71 
  17      .        .        .        .     122/4      7/4    129/8   814/79 
  18      .        .        .      21/17    99/3       .     120/20  934/99 
  19      .        .        .      60/8     27/6      5/1     92/15 1026/114
  20    .....    .....    .....   109/3     17/4     .....   126/7  1152/121
  21      .        .        .     108/6     17/4      5/0    130/10 1282/131
  22      .        .        .     136/9      3/0       .     139/9  1421/140
  23      .        .        .     122/3       .       4/4    126/7  1547/147
   0      .        .     100/14    44/1      1/1       .     145/16 1692/163
   1     2/2      2/2     96/18      .       4/3       .     104/25 1796/188
   2     2/2     59/16    23/3       .       4/1       .      88/22 1884/210
   3      .        .      23/2     97/1      4/1       .     124/4  2008/214
   4    .....    .....     7/3    133/3      3/3     .....   143/9  2151/223
   5      .        .       1/0    212/4       .        .     213/4  2364/227
   6      .        .       1/1    174/7       .        .     175/8  2539/235
   7      .        .       5/2    133/1       .        .     138/3  2677/238
   8      .        .        .     135/2       .        .     135/2  2812/240
   9      .       3/3       .      84/2      1/0       .      88/5  2900/245
  10      .        .        .      39/1     84/2       .     123/3  3023/248
  11      .        .        .        .     152/1       .     152/1  3175/249
  12    .....    .....    .....    .....    .....    .....    ..... 3175/249
  13      .        .        .        .        .        .        .   3175/249
  14      .        .        .        .        .        .        .   3175/249
  15      .        .        .        .        .        .        .   3175/249
  16      .        .        .        .        .        .        .   3175/249
  17      .        .        .        .        .        .        .   3175/249
  18      .        .        .        .        .        .        .   3175/249
  19      .        .        .        .        .        .        .   3175/249
  20    .....    .....    .....    .....    .....    .....    ..... 3175/249
  21      .        .        .        .        .        .        .   3175/249
  22      .        .        .        .        .        .        .   3175/249
  23      .        .        .        .        .        .        .   3175/249
DAY1     4/4     64/21   256/43  1609/70  1186/79    56/32      .   3175/249
DAY2      .        .        .        .        .        .        .        .  
TOT      4/4     64/21   256/43  1609/70  1186/79    56/32      .   3175/249
BREAKDOWN in mins/QSO's per hr  KQ2M  IARU HF Championship  Single Operator

HOUR    160      80       40       20       15       10    HR TOT   CUM TOT 

  12   .....    .....    .....    .....    43/154   17/57    60/127   60/127
  13     .        .        .        .      55/157    5/137   61/156  121/141
  14     .        .        .        .      61/143     .      61/143  182/142
  15     .        .        .       1/164   56/159    2/123   58/158  240/146
  16     .        .        .        .      60/100    1/193   60/101  301/137
  17     .        .        .        .      54/136    6/69    60/130  360/136
  18     .        .        .      10/122   49/120     .      60/121  420/133
  19     .        .        .      27/135   27/59     6/50    60/92   480/128
  20   .....    .....    .....    52/126    9/117   .....    61/125  541/128
  21     .        .        .      45/143   12/86     2/135   59/131  600/128
  22     .        .        .      58/141    2/80      .      60/139  660/129
  23     .        .        .      58/127     .       2/101   60/126  720/129
   0     .        .      35/169   23/112    1/55      .      60/145  780/130
   1    2/51     2/72    52/111     .       4/56      .      60/103  841/128
   2    2/74    39/90    14/98      .       6/39      .      61/87   901/125
   3     .        .      17/82    40/144    2/143     .      59/126  960/125
   4   .....    .....     4/98    55/146    1/161   .....    60/143 1020/126
   5     .        .       0/129   60/214     .        .      60/213 1080/131
   6     .        .       1/109   59/177     .        .      60/176 1140/134
   7     .        .       2/184   58/137     .        .      60/138 1200/134
   8     .        .        .      60/135     .        .      60/135 1260/134
   9     .       3/65      .      57/88     1/106     .      61/87  1321/132
  10     .        .        .      25/93    35/145     .      60/123 1381/131
  11     .        .        .        .      57/159     .      57/159 1438/132
  12   .....    .....    .....    .....    .....    .....    .....  1438/132
  13     .        .        .        .        .        .        .    1438/132
  14     .        .        .        .        .        .        .    1438/132
  15     .        .        .        .        .        .        .    1438/132
  16     .        .        .        .        .        .        .    1438/132
  17     .        .        .        .        .        .        .    1438/132
  18     .        .        .        .        .        .        .    1438/132
  19     .        .        .        .        .        .        .    1438/132
  20   .....    .....    .....    .....    .....    .....    .....  1438/132
  21     .        .        .        .        .        .        .    1438/132
  22     .        .        .        .        .        .        .    1438/132
  23     .        .        .        .        .        .        .    1438/132
DAY1  0.1/61   0.7/88   2.1/123 11.5/140  8.9/133  0.7/81      .    24.0/132
DAY2     .        .        .        .        .        .        .        .   
TOT   0.1/61   0.7/88   2.1/123 11.5/140  8.9/133  0.7/81      .    24.0/132


Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
______________________________________________
3830 mailing list
3830@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/3830

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>
  • [3830] IARU KQ2M SOABMixed HP, webform <=