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[3830] KQ2M 2001 CQCW SOABHP Unassisted (long)

To: <3830@contesting.com>
Subject: [3830] KQ2M 2001 CQCW SOABHP Unassisted (long)
From: kq2m@mags.net (Robert Shohet)
Date: Sat, 05 Jan 2002 17:55:52 -0800

                     CQ WORLD WIDE DX CONTEST -- 2001
       Call:      KQ2M
       Category:  Single Operator Unassisted
       Power:     High Power                   36.9 hours operation
       Band:      All Band
       Mode:      CW
       Country:   United States
       Zone:      5

       BAND     QSO   QSO PTS  PTS/QSO   ZONES COUNTRIES
       160       12       23     1.92      4       6
        80       90      245     2.72     13      47
        40      583     1636     2.81     27      83
        20      905     2640     2.92     38     104
        15      725     2102     2.90     31     110
        10     1075     3152     2.93     33     112
      --------------------------------------------------
      Totals   3390     9798     2.89    146     462  =>  5,957,184

All reports sent were 59(9), unless otherwise noted.

Equipment Description:
FT1000MP & Titan (x2)

10 5/5/5/5 Hygain 105CA 23/37/67/101    37' & 101' Rotatable others fixed NE
15 5/5/5/5 Hygain 155CA 29/59/91/109    29' Fixed NE, top three rotatable
20 4/4/4   KQ2M Design 20-4CD  58/84/130  Top rotatable, others fixed NE
40 2/2     Cushcraft 40-CD @ 66/121 both Fixed NE, 3L Wire Beam (NE) @ 50'
80 KQ2M design Inv L 4-square
160 Phased Inv L's

Beverages
260' S
260' W
2 Phased 260' NE

Club Affiliation: FRANKFORD RADIO CLUB

Comments:

I was READY for this one.  I had just finished fixed the intermittent
antennas, got the beverages working, set up the station, got decent sleep
before the contest and the xyl and daughter were in Florida.  I was READY and
very psyched!  I also knew that I had a major project staring me in the eye
due Saturday after the contest.  It would require every waking minute of
attention after the contest and post-contest recovery).  I decided that I
would deal with that on Monday AFTER the contest.

One problem though, geomagnetic cndx didn't seem to care that I was ready.
Cndx were kinda punk with the everything pointing to a major geomagnetic
event Friday night.  At 00z there was already 18db attentuation on 160
according to one propagation website.  Not a good sign.

At 00z I started to run on 40 and S/P on 10/15/20.  Sigs were noticeably
weak on 40 and were not improving.  I kicked the SO2R into high gear and
was compensating for rate with the 2nd radio.  After 6 hours I was ahead of
last year and was happy with the way things were going.  Then about
0655 the bands started to disappear REAL fast.  By 07z most of the dx was
GONE and I started hearing the most amazing and intense pileups on every
SA and Carib station.

I watched the propagation websites as cndx deteriorated.  This was not
fun anymore and was rapidly getting worse.  By 08z I really lost interest.
The Aurora was at 10 (the maximum) and the magentometer reading was at
564!  About 4x the highest number I had ever seen.  I stopped working guys
on the 2nd radio and stopped passing mults.

At 09z, 20 became runnable again but the K index was now 9! with a major
proton event and a polar cap absorption (PCA) event in progress.

I continued to work guys halfheartedly for a while, but when 20 started
going away and 15 refused to open, I decided that it was not worth the pain
and went to sleep.  The project was vastly more important than the contest
and I might as well be rested to work on it rather than exhausted.

I got up around 1430z and turned all my 15 meter antennas to about 135
degrees where Eu was peaking, and started to run toneless EU cw stations.
This was a real novel challenge.  I hung in there as the EU stations
began to peak about 110 degrees and then 90 degrees getting louder in the
process.  At 16z I went to 10 and had a big hour (154) but that was all
for Saturday with 15 and 20 providing the only activity after that.

The sunset opening on 40 never materialized and I plodded along on 15 and 20
until I heard a very weak skew-path JA on 10.  He peaked about 210 degrees
and was the only zone 25 station that I heard.  After a few more minor
flares, I really lost interest and packed it in for the evening at about
02z.  I knew that my mult total on 40 - 160 would be very low by not
bothering to operate the second night, but I really did not care anymore.

I called my xyl and watched a movie! until 0445z and then checked cndx
again.  At 0515z I went to sleep.  Actually I was having fun now.  It is
a lot different when you operate semi-seriously and get sleep and do fun
stuff vs. pushing hard every minute with no breaks, almost no sleep and
awful cndx.  I was pleased with my decision and vowed to wake up early
to run EU.

At 1045z Sunday I worked a few low-band mults and went to work. Since I
was no longer a serious SO2R entrant, I decided to work on my skills.
I alternated stategies by the hour....  One hour I would focus on running
only one radio for maximum rate, the next I would focus on SO2R intensely,
the next hour I would tune with both radios at the same time.  I got quite
a workout!  By the end of the afternoon, I was able to run at 160+ and
work guys on the second radio simultaneously. This was a new high water
mark for me and I was really pleased.  There was little doubt that getting
some sleep helped me here.

Cndx continued to improve Sunday afternoon and 20 provided a good EU run.
At 2200 I decided to leave 20 and hunt mults and try to run on 10 and 15.
At first that decision was a big mistake as 20 was hot and 15 cndx to
Asia were poor, but I persisted trying to run on 15 and then HS, 3W, 9M and
other great mults began to call in while I was busting pileups on 10.

In fact, for the first time ever, I was able to break every Asian/Far East
pileup on 10 within 3 calls.  I was amazed!  I picked up 25 mults in
the last two hours, 18 of which were in the last hour! 17 of these 25 mults
were on 10, 13 of which were in the last hour.  What an exciting finish!

Overall I was very pleased with how I operated the contest and the level of
my skill improvement since last year.  Although I only passed 2 mults the
entire contest, I did make about 1000 band changes and 550 2nd radio
q's in about 32 hours.  I felt that I would have been very competitive had
I persevered, but I didn't.

The CQWW is as much a test of endurance as it is a test of skill and
determination.  In order to compete at the top level you have to demonstrate
the skill and determination AND be willing to "run through the pain".  This
year I did not "run through the pain" and I respect and salute the efforts
of all those who did.

There were many exciting moments in this contest for me like pileup busting
on 10 in the final two hours, working 3B8/DL7MFA on 4 bands, finding all
those rare African mults on 4 bands and Pacific/Asian mults on 3 bands.

After the contest I was pleasantly surprised to see how well I did even with
not operating 11 hours.  It was nice not to be exhausted until Wednesday
like usual.  As it turned out, it was a very good thing that I "quit" the
contest, as I spent the next five days working continuously while getting
less than 20 hours of total sleep.  It would not have been possible to do
this had I pushed all the way in the contest. I made the right choice.

Congrats to N2NT, K5ZD, N9RV, K4XS and all the other guys who worked hard
in CQWWCW!  Thanks to everyone for all the qso's and cu in CQWW 2002!

Happy New Year!

73

Bob KQ2M

BREAKDOWN QSO/mults  KQ2M  CQ WORLD WIDE DX CONTEST  Single Operator

HOUR      160      80       40       20       15       10    HR TOT  CUM TOT

    0    .....    .....    95/39     1/2     14/21     1/2    111/64  111/64
    1      .        .      76/7     18/27     6/5       .     100/39  211/103
    2      .        .      81/10     9/7      5/2       .      95/19  306/122
    3      .        .      88/6      3/6     10/10      .     101/22  407/144
    4     2/3     13/19    29/2     51/22      .        .      95/46  502/190
    5     4/2     28/15      .      61/9       .        .      93/26  595/216
    6     2/1     36/11     1/2     30/10      .        .      69/24  664/240
    7      .       2/2     17/9     16/6       .        .      35/17  699/257
    8     2/3      6/9     11/3     25/2     .....    .....    44/17  743/274
    9     1/0       .      10/6     78/3       .        .      89/9   832/283
   10     1/1      2/1      5/5     21/1      1/1       .      30/9   862/292
   11      .        .       5/3      1/1      4/3       .      10/7   872/299
   12      .        .        .        .        .        .        .    872/299
   13      .        .        .        .        .        .        .    872/299
   14      .        .        .        .      43/24     9/12    52/36  924/335
   15      .        .        .        .      78/10    17/16    95/26 1019/361
   16    .....    .....    .....    .....    .....   154/35   154/35 1173/396
   17      .        .        .        .      55/11    62/9    117/20 1290/416
   18      .        .        .      31/4     46/7     21/11    98/22 1388/438
   19      .        .        .      94/2     21/5      5/2    120/9  1508/447
   20      .        .      35/1     30/4       .       8/6     73/11 1581/458
   21      .        .      45/0     30/5      3/2       .      78/7  1659/465
   22      .        .        .      38/4     14/7      1/0     53/11 1712/476
   23      .        .      30/5     30/5       .        .      60/10 1772/486
    0    .....    .....     1/2     44/12     9/1      1/2     55/17 1827/503
    1      .        .      35/6      7/0       .        .      42/6  1869/509
    2      .        .        .      20/0       .        .      20/0  1889/509
    3      .        .        .        .        .        .        .   1889/509
    4      .        .       4/0      4/0       .        .       8/0  1897/509
    5      .       2/1     13/1       .        .        .      15/2  1912/511
    6      .        .        .        .        .        .        .   1912/511
    7      .        .        .        .        .        .        .   1912/511
    8    .....    .....    .....    .....    .....    .....    ..... 1912/511
    9      .        .        .        .        .        .        .   1912/511
   10      .       1/2      1/2      5/0       .        .       7/4  1919/515
   11      .        .       1/1      4/0     75/6      3/3     83/10 2002/525
   12      .        .        .        .      11/0    154/8    165/8  2167/533
   13      .        .        .       3/1       .     163/9    166/10 2333/543
   14      .        .        .        .        .     145/2    145/2  2478/545
   15      .        .        .        .      13/3    116/1    129/4  2607/549
   16    .....    .....    .....    .....    28/5     93/1    121/6  2728/555
   17      .        .        .        .      59/4     51/2    110/6  2838/561
   18      .        .        .        .     110/1     11/4    121/5  2959/566
   19      .        .        .      49/4     54/4      6/3    109/11 3068/577
   20      .        .        .     101/2     14/1       .     115/3  3183/580
   21      .        .        .      91/2     12/1       .     103/3  3286/583
   22      .        .        .       3/0      7/3     42/4     52/7  3338/590
   23      .        .        .       7/1     33/4     12/13    52/18 3390/608
DAY1    12/10    87/57   528/98  567/120  300/108   278/93    ..... 1772/486
DAY2      .       3/3     55/12   338/22   425/33   797/52      .   1618/122
TOT     12/10    90/60  583/110  905/142  725/141 1075/145      .   3390/608


HOUR    160      80       40       20       15       10    HR TOT   CUM TOT

    0   .....    .....    54/106    1/80     5/169    0/150   60/111   60/111
    1     .        .      48/95     9/115    4/80      .      62/97   122/104
    2     .        .      47/104    8/71     4/71      .      58/98   180/102
    3     .        .      54/99     1/138    5/117     .      60/101  240/102
    4    0/655   10/75    16/106   33/92      .        .      60/95   300/100
    5    4/61    23/72      .      34/109     .        .      61/92   361/99
    6    3/39    31/70     3/23    23/79      .        .      59/70   420/95
    7     .       3/43    32/32    26/37      .        .      60/35   481/87
    8    3/42    13/28    15/45    29/52    .....    .....    59/44   540/83
    9    1/112     .       9/69    51/92      .        .      60/89   600/83
   10    1/84     2/65    10/29    38/33      .        .      51/35   651/79
   11     .        .      17/18     2/36    13/18      .      32/19   683/77
   12     .        .        .        .        .        .        .     683/77
   13     .        .        .        .        .        .        .     683/77
   14     .        .        .        .      41/62     8/70    49/64   732/76
   15     .        .        .        .      48/98    13/80    60/94   793/77
   16   .....    .....    .....    .....    .....    59/158   59/158  851/83
   17     .        .        .        .      30/110   30/123   60/116  912/85
   18     .        .        .      16/118   33/83    12/105   61/97   973/86
   19     .        .        .      49/116    8/154    2/138   59/122 1032/88
   20     .        .      35/61    19/96      .       7/72    60/73  1092/87
   21     .        .      31/88    27/67     2/85      .      60/78  1151/86
   22     .        .        .      48/48    12/70     0/120   60/53  1212/85
   23     .        .      35/52    25/71      .        .      60/60  1272/84
    0   .....    .....     6/10    48/55     5/112    1/52    60/55  1332/82
    1     .        .      44/47     5/88      .        .      49/51  1381/81
    2     .        .        .      14/83      .        .      14/83  1396/81
    3     .        .        .        .        .        .        .    1396/81
    4     .        .       4/53     8/31      .        .      12/39  1408/81
    5     .       2/77    10/80      .        .        .      11/80  1419/81
    6     .        .        .        .        .        .        .    1419/81
    7     .        .        .        .        .        .        .    1419/81
    8   .....    .....    .....    .....    .....    .....    .....  1419/81
    9     .        .        .        .        .        .        .    1419/81
   10     .       5/13     9/7     10/31      .        .      23/18  1442/80
   11     .        .       0/129    9/27    45/99     1/200   55/90  1498/80
   12     .        .        .        .       6/106   54/171   60/165 1558/83
   13     .        .        .       2/103     .      58/168   60/166 1618/87
   14     .        .        .        .        .      60/145   60/145 1678/89
   15     .        .        .        .       5/163   55/126   60/129 1738/90
   16   .....    .....    .....    .....    18/96    43/130   61/120 1798/91
   17     .        .        .        .      25/139   34/89    60/110 1858/92
   18     .        .        .        .      58/115    3/215   61/120 1919/93
   19     .        .        .      22/135   34/95     5/74    61/108 1980/93
   20     .        .        .      53/115    6/141     .      58/118 2038/94
   21     .        .        .      52/104    8/94      .      60/103 2098/94
   22     .        .        .       6/30     9/46    46/55    61/51  2159/93
   23     .        .        .       4/95    44/45    10/75    58/54  2217/92
DAY1  0.2/64   1.4/64   6.7/79   7.3/78   3.4/87   2.2/127   .....  21.2/84
DAY2     .     0.1/29   1.2/45   3.9/87   4.4/97   6.2/129     .    15.7/103
TOT   0.2/64   1.5/61   8.0/73  11.2/81   7.8/93   8.4/129     .    36.9/92  


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