ARRL INTERNATIONAL DX CONTEST -- 1999
Call: KC1XX (K1DG, op) Country: United States (NH)
Mode: SSB Category: Single Operator
BAND QSO QSO PTS PTS/Q COUNTRIES
160 33 99 3.0 26
80 223 669 3.0 67
40 233 699 3.0 74
20 906 2718 3.0 115
15 1103 3309 3.0 118
10 360 1080 3.0 89
--------------------------------------
Totals 2858 8574 3.0 489 = 4,192,686 41.0 hours
After the ARRL CW weekend, Matt called me to say hello, and congratulate me
on the score from home. I asked if things were still on for a multi-multi
for SSB, and he paused, then said "Gee...I guess I forgot to tell you...
Christine is going away for the weekend and I have to babysit. A bunch of
the ops can't make it for one reason or another, so after the CW weekend,
we took the shack apart to get ready for the move to the new shack.
Nothing's hooked up, and I don't have anything planned. Sorry."
This was a shocker. Ten days before the contest and I don't have a place
to operate. I consider operating from home again, but the KB1SO crew is
planning a multi-multi, and since they're only 0.9 miles away, I know we
can't both be on for a phone contest. I agreed not to operate from home
for the SSB weekend, to give them some breathing room. So I ask Matt if
it would be possible to set his staton up for a single-op. He replies
that he expects that it would take a day or two to set it up, but he's
willing to help me with it.
Our schedules don't have any free days in common, but I plan to go over
Sunday night to see if it's as much work as Matt estimates. It's not so
bad, and an hour after we start, we have most of the coaxes hooked up to
switches, and one station on the air. I need to bring a rig and some
filters...no problem.
Taking Friday off from work, I get to Matt's around 11 AM, and finish
setting up. I miss the automation I have grown used to at my station,
but hopefully the bigger antennas will compensate.
My brother-in-law (K1AR) is going single-op at K1EA's station, and we have
managed to keep the plan secret from him. He knows Matt's station is mostly
taken apart, and thinks we are doing a half-baked multi-single with
a succession of part-time ops. Even K1EA takes the bait - he plans to come
over to Matt's sometime Saturday morning to help out.
I should note here that I have operated at Matt's several times in the past
few years, but always in a multi-op. During high-flux years, I usually
operate 15. In low-flux years, I have done double-duty on 80 and 15. I have
never operated the other bands there, except for occasional multiplier
chasing. And the last time I operated the ARRL single-op was 1993.
Before the contest starts, 15 is hopping. I get a good JA pile going, but
it stops promptly at 00Z. I try to get it going again, but 15 minutes later,
I am running on 40 and the second radio is trolling 20. I finish the first
hour with 84.
For some reason, I get into DXing mode and try to build up the multiplier
on the low bands. I somehow forget to call CQ after the first few hours. And
I forget to check 20 often enough. On one trip in the 06 hour, I hear some
Europeans, but figure it's not runnable, so I call a few guys and then go
back on the low-band routine. This was a mistake - I go back to 20 an hour
later, and some of the locals (AR among them) are coming off a 100-hour.
Again, I forget to call enough CQs, tuning for mults instead.
I discover that RF is getting into my 2-radio box audio on 160, so I need to
use a separate mic for that band. I also notice that my FT-1000 has the RX
ANT switch inside in the wrong position, so I can't use the Beverage on that
radio. More than a few times, I forget one switch or another, and I am on
the wrong antenna. Remember - all the switching was thrown together, and
there's a maze of 13 coax switches on the board, and one remote switch,
with a jungle of coax jumpers.
20 opens for real at about 10Z, and the rate slowly climbs most of the hour.
After about 1030, I am listening for signs of life on 15 every few minutes
on the second rig, and at 1115 I make the jump, even as the rate on 20
seems to be peaking - the 10-Q meter is in the 160 range. But 15's even
better, and I finish the 1100 hour with 184 Qs.
The next hour is the best of the contest, with 196 (including a passed mult
to 20 and 2 to 10). I tune 10 a lot on the second rig, watching for the
opening, and late in the 13 hour, I go. It's OK, but not great. I settle
in about 10 kHz above AR, but can't seem to get the rate up. Maybe I had
that radio on the 20 M antenna. Maybe there was QRM in Europe coming
from Asia or somewhere. But whatever it was, AR and the 4-stack at EA are
racking up the Qs, while DG and the 8-stack at XX are just plodding along.
At this point (1400Z), it turns out that I was 49 Qs behind AR (1178-1129)
and catching up.
For the next three hours, I bounce between 10 and 15 in an effort to keep
the rate up, with hours of 150, 112, and 100. However, AR stays on 10 and
puts up hours of 133, 142, and 132 before going to 15. He stays very late
on 10, because he has a hunch that 10's not going to open Sunday. How does
he get these hunches?
When he finally goes back to 15, he rolls out hours of 130 and 141, while I
am fiddling around *not* CQing enough, with hours of 86 and 75. This is
where he really stretches it out.
By noon, AR has pretty much figured out that I'm single op, since he knows
there is no other reason that I would ever be operating on 20 SSB. We swap
numbers, and he's 200 Qs and a dozen multipliers ahead.
A few hours later, the snow starts, and by 00Z, the snow static is a
constant S9 on all the antennas except the Beverages, where it is S7. I
can only hear a few stations on any band. I eat dinner listening to the
static, and Matt comes down to find out why I'm not working anything. By
0130, I figure it's time to sleep. Up at 0430 for Europe on the low bands,
but it isn't very good. At 0730, I figure I can use another rest period,
so I sleep another couple of hours.
The last 14 hours of the contest are disappointing because 15M doesn't
open until 14Z and 10M only yields 22 Qs all day. The few high points of
the last 14 hours include an excellent Asian opening in the 11/12Z period,
a 100 hour on 15 at 17Z, some mice multiplier passing throughout the day
(thanks, Dave - and all the rest of you guys!), and a fun last hour with
QSOs on 4 bands, and runs on both 40 and 80. From 10Z to the end of the
contest, I match AR's QSOs: we each work about 900.
So in the end AR beat me by 450 QSOs and 18 mults. Last year, AR had 3316
QSOs (actually 2 QSOs more than this year!) and 450 countries, and the
guys behind him had 2730 and 2714 QSOs. At least I was a few QSOs closer
than those guys were last year!
Thanks to Matt for the use of the station on short notice, and
congratulations to "the bro" for yet another win (and a claimed record).
I - still - love this game! (except the 20M part, that is...)
Doug, K1DG
BREAKDOWN QSO/mults KC1XX ARRL INTERNATIONAL DX CONTEST Single Operator
HOUR 160 80 40 20 15 10 HR TOT CUM TOT
0 ..... ..... 65/32 4/4 15/3 ..... 84/39 84/39
1 . . 26/3 35/23 . . 61/26 145/65
2 . 32/18 5/3 14/4 . . 51/25 196/90
3 . 33/11 18/4 . . . 51/15 247/105
4 . 35/7 . 8/6 . . 43/13 290/118
5 7/7 21/1 1/0 . . . 29/8 319/126
6 5/5 9/1 . 44/17 . . 58/23 377/149
7 1/1 19/11 3/2 26/6 . . 49/20 426/169
8 1/1 6/3 17/10 24/6 ..... ..... 48/20 474/189
9 4/4 5/2 18/4 7/1 . . 34/11 508/200
10 2/2 1/0 . 88/7 . . 91/9 599/209
11 . . . 24/4 160/42 . 184/46 783/255
12 . . . 1/1 193/13 2/2 196/16 979/271
13 . . . . 103/4 47/21 150/25 1129/296
14 . . . . 18/3 94/16 112/19 1241/315
15 . . . . 42/2 58/3 100/5 1341/320
16 ..... ..... ..... ..... 12/1 74/16 86/17 1427/337
17 . . . 10/1 45/1 20/12 75/14 1502/351
18 . . . 42/3 31/3 . 73/6 1575/357
19 . . . 35/3 27/15 . 62/18 1637/375
20 . . . 65/1 . 18/6 83/7 1720/382
21 . . . 44/1 14/7 10/3 68/11 1788/393
22 . . 1/1 2/0 17/1 13/4 33/6 1821/399
23 . . 5/2 . 24/7 2/0 31/9 1852/408
0 ..... 6/1 9/0 7/4 4/0 ..... 26/5 1878/413
1 2/2 . . . . . 2/2 1880/415
2 . . . . . . . 1880/415
3 . . . . . . . 1880/415
4 4/2 . . . . . 4/2 1884/417
5 1/0 19/2 3/0 . . . 23/2 1907/419
6 4/2 5/2 7/2 2/0 . . 18/6 1925/425
7 2/0 4/2 2/1 4/0 . . 12/3 1937/428
8 ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... 1937/428
9 . 2/2 . 1/0 . . 3/2 1940/430
10 . 3/1 8/1 19/0 . . 30/2 1970/432
11 . . . 66/5 1/0 . 67/5 2037/437
12 . . . 69/6 . . 69/6 2106/443
13 . . . 46/4 2/1 . 48/5 2154/448
14 . . . 1/0 95/0 . 96/0 2250/448
15 . . . 1/1 65/2 . 66/3 2316/451
16 ..... ..... ..... 1/1 88/2 2/2 91/5 2407/456
17 . . . . 97/3 3/1 100/4 2507/460
18 . . . 33/0 29/1 9/0 71/1 2578/461
19 . . . 62/2 5/2 . 67/4 2645/465
20 . . . 69/1 3/1 . 72/2 2717/467
21 . . . 46/1 3/1 . 49/2 2766/469
22 . . 21/5 3/0 8/2 8/3 40/10 2806/479
23 . 23/3 24/4 3/2 2/1 . 52/10 2858/489
DAY1 20/20 161/54 159/61 473/88 701/102 338/83 ..... 1852/408
DAY2 13/6 62/13 74/13 433/27 402/16 22/6 . 1006/81
TOT 33/26 223/67 233/74 906/115 1103/118 360/89 . 2858/489
BREAKDOWN in mins/QSO's per hr KC1XX ARRL INTERNATIONAL DX CONTEST
Single Operator
HOUR 160 80 40 20 15 10 HR TOT CUM TOT
0 ..... ..... 45/87 5/53 12/76 ..... 61/83 61/83
1 . . 25/63 35/60 . . 60/61 121/72
2 . 31/62 9/34 20/42 . . 60/51 180/65
3 . 43/46 17/63 . . . 60/51 240/62
4 . 39/54 . 11/45 . . 50/52 290/60
5 22/19 37/34 1/49 . . . 60/29 350/55
6 18/16 16/35 . 28/95 . . 62/56 412/55
7 3/20 27/42 10/18 19/82 . . 59/50 471/54
8 1/77 9/39 19/54 30/47 ..... ..... 59/49 530/54
9 12/19 18/17 25/43 7/59 . . 62/33 593/51
10 13/9 0/240 . 44/120 . . 57/95 650/55
11 . . . 19/75 41/235 . 60/184 710/66
12 . . . 0/157 59/196 0/327 60/196 770/76
13 . . . . 35/179 26/108 61/148 830/82
14 . . . . 11/99 49/116 60/113 890/84
15 . . . . 31/83 29/118 60/100 950/85
16 ..... ..... ..... ..... 11/65 48/92 60/87 1010/85
17 . . . 10/61 31/86 19/64 60/75 1070/84
18 . . . 36/70 26/72 . 62/71 1131/84
19 . . . 38/56 22/75 . 59/63 1191/82
20 . . . 46/84 . 13/83 59/84 1250/83
21 . . . 32/83 15/54 13/46 60/68 1310/82
22 . . 6/11 1/171 20/52 20/39 46/43 1356/81
23 . . 10/31 . 34/42 4/30 48/39 1404/79
0 ..... 7/49 26/21 18/24 7/33 ..... 58/27 1462/77
1 3/46 . . . . . 3/46 1465/77
2 . . . . . . . 1465/77
3 . . . . . . . 1465/77
4 16/15 . . . . . 16/15 1481/76
5 0/164 52/22 6/28 . . . 58/24 1539/74
6 15/16 11/26 15/28 8/16 . . 49/22 1588/73
7 9/13 11/21 5/25 4/62 . . 29/25 1617/72
8 ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... 1617/72
9 . 12/10 . 4/15 . . 16/11 1633/71
10 . 9/20 16/31 34/34 . . 58/31 1691/70
11 . . . 59/67 1/48 . 60/66 1752/70
12 . . . 59/70 . . 59/70 1811/70
13 . . . 57/49 8/14 . 65/44 1875/69
14 . . . 1/71 55/103 . 56/103 1932/70
15 . . . 1/80 46/84 . 47/84 1979/70
16 ..... ..... ..... 1/59 57/93 2/61 60/91 2039/71
17 . . . . 59/99 2/94 61/99 2099/72
18 . . . 32/62 20/87 9/58 61/70 2161/72
19 . . . 53/70 5/63 . 58/69 2219/72
20 . . . 56/74 5/35 . 61/71 2279/72
21 . . . 58/47 5/38 . 63/47 2342/71
22 . . 26/49 4/44 12/40 15/33 56/43 2399/70
23 . 18/75 38/38 2/77 1/109 . 60/52 2458/70
DAY1 1.2/17 3.7/44 2.8/57 6.3/75 5.8/121 3.7/91 ..... 23.4/79
DAY2 0.7/18 2.0/31 2.2/34 7.5/58 4.7/86 0.5/47 . 17.6/57
TOT 1.9/18 5.7/39 5.0/47 13.8/66 10.5/105 4.2/86 . 41.0/70
--
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