1999 ARRL DX contest, CW
KH2/N2NL
Single op, High power, assisted.
band QSOs MULTs
80 173 41
40 158 35
20 141 32
15 424 51
10 464 49
total: 1360 208 848,640 claimed score
20 hours operated (I only had about 20 hours of propagation stateside)
Rig: Kenwood 930/Ameritron AL80b amp
It was fun to be the only KH2 active, and my goal of this contest was to
knock
off a few more states for my KH2 5BWAS and basically give KH2 out to as
many
people as possible. I feel I accomplished both.
Band by Band
160m...no antenna, sorry. I've tried for the last year to put up an
effective
160m antenna that can be heard in USA/EU without luck.
80m...Vertical in "TEE" configuration, apex at 35', short 300' beverage.
The first night I had horrible line noise, which made copy very difficult
and frustrating. I spot from a K9 said I was "sorta deaf" which was
true.
I did my best with the beverage which works better on 40 than 80, and
did work more than 100 guys. The second night was a blessing. A rain
shower at dusk wiped out the line noise and it was much quieter.
Conditions
seemed better but there was less activity.
40m...Dipole at 37'. This antenna usually kicks butt for me into the USA
but
conditions seemed very disturbed. East coast stations were unusually
weak
with a strong polar flutter on thrir signal. I was dissapointed in my
40m QSO
total, although I could work everyone I called, I would CQ for minutes
without
an answer. SSB is getting much worse. 7000-7035 was almost completely
filled with indonesian SSB, and 7035 and up filled with JA hams. It
made copy
difficult at times.
20m...3el tribander at 30' atop a water pipe. In the winter months we very
rarely
get good openings stateside, this year was no exception. Its
frustration to listen
to JA's and VK's run stateside guys I cant even hear. The stations I
did hear
usually sounded like scatter, and were impossible to work. Most of the
time I
could only call the big guns, more often than not I was CQed in the
face. I think
I called K3LR about a dozen different times and finally worked him late
in the 2nd
day. The summer time is when we get good stateside openings.
15m...3el tribander. Good QSO totals, but signals often sounded disturbed
with
flutter.
10m..3el tribander...Good conditions stateside, with great runs and great
pileups.
Unfortunately the band only stayed open to the states from about
2130z-2230z
each day.
Thanks to W3PP (Del), K2LE (Vt), KI1G (Ri) and others which knocked a large
chunk
of my 5BWAS needs off my list. Hope you won't mind replying to my QSL
requests
in the near future (SASE of course). I also hope I did a pretty good job
handing out the
KH2 mult.
Unfortunately I have a 2 week trip to Yap(V6) and Palau(T8) coming up so
I most likely
won't be around for the SSB side. CU in WPX SSB.
73, Dave kh2/n2nl
n2nl@netpci.com
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