CQ Worldwide DX Contest, SSB
Call: KQ2M
Operator(s): KQ2M
Station: KQ2M
Class: SOAB HP
QTH: CT
Operating Time (hrs): 38
Radios: SO2R
Summary:
Band QSOs Zones Countries
------------------------------
160: 0 0 0
80: 37 8 23
40: 165 24 60
20: 1226 39 122
15: 1540 40 116
10: 1864 33 97
------------------------------
Total: 4832 144 418 Total Score = 7,748,294
Club: Frankford Radio Club
Comments:
After the disastrous October 29, 2011 blizzard that dropped 20" of snow and
knocked our power out during the 2011 CQWWSSB and then the preparation during
the 2012 CQWWSSB for the even more disastrous (next day) October 29, 2012
Hurricane Sandy which destroyed some antennas/rotators and part of my deck, I
was very leery of the upcoming 2013 CWWSSB. It had not helped that I had been
seriously ill again from late April until mid-September, so when I got a brief
respite, I seized the opportunity to start some basic antenna work and
repairs.
Catching up on work and research was my main focus - and what little time I had
was devoted to getting 10 meters and 20 meters to work. 20 came into focus, the
10 meter stack had a dead antenna port so I would not have the usual stacking
combinations and the day before the contest, the 15 meter stack developed an
intermittent whenever I attempted to phase antennas. UGH!
The week of the contest I reassembled my station which would include TWO
working amps and TWO working radio for the first time in 6 years! I had looked
forward to reacquainting myself with SO2R, although it would be a low-key effort
since my health was far from stable. Just to emphasize that point, three days
before the contest, my heart developed an abnormal rhythm which all but
destroyed any possibility of a meaningful effort. It also ensured that I would
NOT have any 160 or 80 meter antennas and that I would not be able to fix the 40
meter wires which were didn't even look like antennas as they had been caught
and wrapped around tree branches. It was very discouraging to say the least.
However, on the propagation front, things were looking promising although I did
not expect it to last through the contest. Since I had mostly missed the
incredible propagation of the 2011 and 2012 CQWWSSB contests, I was praying for
a "three-peat" so that I would get to experience the fun of worldwide
activity.
My goal was to operate 30 hours or so, and see if I could make 3,000 q's.
Given all that had happened to my station and the new and undiagnosed heart
problem, that was really all that I could expect.
Cndx were excellent on 15 before the start of the contest and tuning around I
had heard JT, BY, T9, ZD8, HS, KH2, etc. Quite remarkable!
I decided to tune at 0000z rather than run and pick up mults if I could find
them. From 0000 - 0012z, I worked AH0K, YB9Y, ZD8O, HS0ZCW, B4S, WH2DX, AH0BT,
YE2C, 9V1YC and a handful of JA's and KH6's! I couldn't believe what I had
worked just 12 minutes into the contest! Having worked some of the toughest
zones, I called cq and was rewarded with a good run to Japan, UA0 and South
America with ZL1ALA, VK2PN, BD5FFK, BD4IJ, BH1EBF, UA0LDW, RU0LL, BY4BMH, DU1KA
and others calling in. It was very exciting. It was also over very quickly and
at 0054Z I was tuning around 20 for mults quickly nabbing a LOUD BY0AA and
7Z1CQ, etc. Back to 15 which had re-opened to Pacific/JA where I found a very
loud NH2T, more JA's, a really loud RU1A (the only zone 16 station!), T88AZ,
R0AA and some S.A. The back to 20 at 0141z to run with 9K2/K9TX, VU3KPL, 3V7A,
VU2RCT, UN7QF, UN7TO, RM0A, BU3NXI, VU3DJQ, TF2MSN, FY5FY and more JA's, UA9/0.
and Northern Europeans with SA/Carib. as well. RT0Q and then FR5CB called in
at 0226/0227, and then I continued to run on 20 while picking off some loud Eu
mults on 40. I was rusty at SO2R after all the years of not doing it, but,
like any skill, once learned well, you can pick it back up pretty quickly. The
run on 20 did not last long so I started tuning on 20 and 15 picking up SA/Carib
and Southern EU while finding a lonely and loud JT1CO on 15 @ 0326z and then
A71BX on 20 at 0329z. More mults followed on 20- D4C, $o#A, ZD8O, 4L0A, A65BP,
and many others. I even was able to run a few Southern/Western EU stations on
20 ~ 04z and I KNEW that 20 would be wide open at 07-08z. But I also knew that
I physically could not operate then and I had to sleep.
After several decades of "Iron Man" SOABHP efforts, it was very
discouraging to realize that due to years of illness and now a new heart
problem, I had to opt for sleep rather than operating. Knowing that I could
not be competitive in score without low-band antennas made this a little easier
to swallow, but it still hurt.
I had originally thought about operating single band 15, but 20 was so much fun
that ~ 01z, I decided to go all-band.
I ran some more EU at ~ 05z and then tuned on 40 and 80 for mults - now
operating one radio. On 80 I had no antenna, and the it was tough to work
stations with the high swr of dysfunctional 40 meter wires. I worked the loud
guys who could hear me and then tuned more on 40 - it was almost impossible to
hear any separate anyone on that band - the EU stations were 2 - 3 deep across
the band, many of whom were badly over-modulated. My head hurt and I was
really tired. I qrt'd at 0546z with my heart skipping beats and feeling
spasming in my chest.
I set the alarm clock for 08z, prepared the meds and food and then was on the
air at 0814z with a decent run on 20 into EU. The stations were loud but the
rate disappointing. It made sense though - who would want to be on 20 when 10
and 15 were wide open in EU? At 0854z the run petered out and I hunted mults
on 80 and 40. I worked several loud JA's on 40 and also found RN0CT in z19.
20 had really not opened at 09z so at 0920z I took a brief break and went high
in the band at 0945z for the next run. I moved back down at 10z and settled in
until 20 went long and the rate disappeared at 1045z. PJ4X gave me a hard time
on 20 for about 10 minutes - squatting on my run freq. and then refusing to
move even though he knew I was there first. I really don't understand why ops
do that. I ran for another 25 minutes and then qsy'd to 15 meters. That
didn't work. Again I went high in the band, but encountered lots of qrm and
then went even higher in the band where at least I could hear fairly well.
This paid off with a 224 hour at 11z which included VK6PH at 1139z, A65CA @
1150z and UN8PT at 1153z. I welcomed VR2/IK7YTT at 1157z with VK6NTE at 1158z.
15 was really beginning to open, but with active geomagnetic cndx expected, I
felt it would best to qsy to 10, which I did at 1205z. I started out low in
the band and the wall of qrm and splatter was holding down the rates. At 1222z
I again went high in the band where I could hear well and the rate soared. The
12z, 13z and 14z hours were 244, 230 and 199 q's respectively - not as good as
in 2011 when I had a 276 clock hour - but plenty good enough. At one point the
last 10 rate was 423.5 and last 100 rate was up to 299.0! I was surprised by
the lack of opening to Russia and deep Russian provinces on 10. UN6P called in
at 1305z with an occasional z17, but little else from that region. However, at
1346z, HS5FAI was a welcome Z26 mult followed by CT3HF and VU2GRM at 1350z.
VU2SGW called in at 1434z but little else except EU. I noticed that my 10
meter mult was quite low and was surprised given by how good cndx were. I
stayed on 10 longer than I should with the rate slowing to 128 in the 15z hour,
but I wanted to milk the band with the solar flares expected. At 1640z I qsy'd
back to 15 staying high in the band, and was rewarded by XW0YJY calling in at
1653z as well as 4L8A and 9V1YC at 1701z. IG9Y called in at 1722z but then all
EU until FR5GS (z39)at 1819z followed by ZS5NK at 1825. Occasional SA/Carib
followed but nothing truly exciting. I had wondered where Africa was as well
as deep Russia or long-path Pacific - 15 was wide open but I could not find
these mults. 15 continued to produce rate with 128, 131, 146 and 168 hours at
15, 16, 17 and 18z and at 19z I ran on 15 while tuning on 10. I found XP1A
for the double mult at 1914z and then 5X1NH called in on for a
"double" at 1916z. Zd7VC was a welcome "double" at 1938z
as was TF3EE at 1946z. VO2NS called in at 1950z for the zone 2 mult and I
passed him to 10 for another mult. and ending a 120 hour. This was my ONLY
attempted mult pass of the weekend. Since I hadn't expected to seriously
operate, I did not make the effort to pass mults. At 2010z I qsy'd to 20
fairly high in the band and negan a good run with 145 and 168 hours at 20/21z.
VK5NC called in for z29 at 2046z followed by BD2Fw and B9/BY9GA at 2137z,
BH7PFH and ZS1ZC at 2141z and VU2IIXat 2143z. This was getting more
interesting now. :-) The run continued with TK/SP7VC at 2148z, V51B at 2150z
and BD7KBH and YB1TJ at 2152z. YE2R at 2153z capped off the fund in the 21z
hour.
Taking advantage of the lack of solar flares and the quiet auroral oval, I
opted for 10 over 15 at 22z and began a modest JA run. with R0FA and UA0DM in
z19 and VK2DX also calling in. AH0K called in for a welcome double mult at
2229z while I was also tuning on 15 and working SA/Carib. I also found NH2DX
and D4C for another double on 15. The 22z hour was a modest but productive 102
q's with 18 mults followed by 61 q's and 18 mults in the 23z hour as I found
E51USA, NH7A, YB9FL and TI5W for double mults and nabbed a loud VK6LC from a
big pileup. I finished the first 24 hours with 2731 q's 128 z and 343
countries for 3,655,902 in 21.0 hours of operating. I was very pleased with
this score given the absence of functional low-band antennas.
In the 00z hour, I stayed on 15 meters and had a nice JA run with ZP9EH,
BG6AHD, V3A and BU2AU calling in as well as HL1VAU, BD4MCG, B5B, BY4AA and
several UA0's. 00z was a 88 hour followed by 58 and 86 q's in the 01z and 02z
hours. Much to my surprise, I had a very nice EU/Middle East run on 40 - cndx
must have been exceptional on that band for me to be heard that well with what
I was using. At 03z I tuned 80/40 and 20 for mults, found a few and then
qrt'd. My heartbeat had gotten very erratic and I was very concerned about
what the hard work of SSB operating and the lack of sleep was doing to me.
I took some heart medicine and hoped for the best. I slept for 5 hours and was
back on 40 at 0918z looking for all the mults that I had missed. I found double
mults OA4/ZQ3SA and 3G3I and was shocked to fund an S9 LA3WAA! I also nabbed
XE1H, DX1J and LP1H for double mults and two carib stations on 80. Back to 20
for a run at 0933z and then calling cq to work almost no one between 0935z -
1018z. I couldn't wait to get to 15 which I did at 1030z with a modest rate
until 1048z when the "on" switch was pulled and the band opened.
With the early move to 10 on Saturday, I had missed many 15 meter mults and so
I decided to stay on 15 for an additional hour to milk it. The 10z hour was
very slow with 59 q's. but that improved with 189 and 160 hours at 11z and 12z.
I was absolutely thrilled to work SU9AF at 1110z. This was my 39th zone on 15
leaving only z22 to be worked for my 40th. I liked my odds of working a VU2 on
15 with cndx so good. Later on, I got to 39 zones on 20 but could not find
SU9AF on that band. 15 opened well and at 1113z the last 10 rate hit 450.0!
At 1126z, the last 100 rate got up to 260.7. T6MC was a most welcome caller at
1147z with Nodir, EY8MM at 1148z! RA9ULK, RN9O, DV3FSk and HS3ANP closed out the
11z hour! This was fun! 12z began the same way 11z had ended with HZ0ZDX
calling in at 1204z, DX1DBT at 1209z followed by UA9UDX and then 4J5A at 1219z.
VU2VID was most welcome z22 at 1224z!
I had done it! In all my years of operating CQWW as a SOABHP op. I had never
before worked all 40 zones on a band unassisted - I had had 39 zones many times
before, but NOT 40!. In fact, I believe that I am only the 2nd US op to work
all 40 zones on a band while being SOABHP Unassisted. It was a thrilling
moment! OH0V and HZ1XB called in later in the hour for two more mults, along
with E2E and HS5AC at 1233z and VU3NXi at 1245z. YB1AQD followed at 1248z with
HS0ZLE and HS0ZJT at 1253z, YC1LA at 1254z and YB1LZ at 1257z.
Having worked my 40th zone on 15, I could now qsy to 10 for rate and I did so
13z. 10 was in fine shape with the next 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17z hours providing
205/186/143/135 and 105 q's. I had a shockingly low number of 10 meter mults
and I couldn't understand why. So when A61DJ called in for a double mult at
1338z I was very happy. Although 10 was wide open, I just wasn't working the
deep Russian/African and Middle Eastern mults. YB0NFL called in at 1427z with
VU2RCT at 1442z and VU2BGS at 1450z. An occasional mult would call in like
TK4LS at 1456z and HR2WW at 1501z and EA9BO at 1617z, but little else. It was
really exciting when C91KHN called in at 1725z with RT0B in z19 following at
1728z. Realizing that I was missing most of the Pacific and Asia on 20, I
decided to tune 20 with the beam North. I found Dave, NH2T at 1735z for a
double and then James, 9V1YC at 1758z. At 1802z I found Champ, XW0YJY for
another double but 10 had petered out by now and it was time to run on 15. I
found a good run freq. on 15 and settled in - the band was wide open but there
was no volume. 5Z4T called in at 1847x and then CO2RK at 1849z. That
completed an 87 hour at 18z with 5 mults and then VU2RCT called in at 1911z.
15 was on fumes and it was time to qsy to 20 which produced 127 q's in the 19z
hour followed by 162 in the 20z hour! Z68BH called in at 1952z and ZS1VV at
1957z. I dug out a weak OY9R at 2032z and then a few JA's/UA9's called in with
EU. I stayed on 20 and was too tired to tune - working 97 q's in the 21z hour.
DX1DBT called me at 2104z with a few VK's/ZL's and JA's. late in the 21z hour I
began to tune on 10, finding NH2T, and CE5CN for a double while 6W1SR called in
on 20. I stayed on 20 where CT3HF and HS0ZDX called in for mults while I ran
EU and JA. VU2GRM called in as well as Al1G, BY6DX and BA7JA. I started
tuning on 10 to work JA's. I worked 98 q's in the 22z hour with YB0NFL calling
in with the JA's and then C91KHN calling in for a double mult at 2258z.
Unfortunately I was only finding JA's and KH2's on 10 so no mults there -
surprisingly I was not hearing SA either. It was puzzling!
At 2309z, a very loud JT1T called in on 20 followed by VK6LC at 233z and UA0OD
at 2340z. 4K6Fo closed out the mult scoring at 2346z.
I was absolutely shocked to realize that I had made almost 5,000 q's in my
limited operating time. 4939 q's reduced to 4832 after dupes, the most q's
that I had ever made from operating stateside. The activity was phenomenal but
while the cndx were excellent, they were not nearly as good as they could have
been.
I recall much better openings on 15 in 1999 and 2004 and much better 10
openings and rate on 10 many times. Even 20 seemed limited at times.
I looked up my final SOABHP Unassisted score in 2002 and noted that I had
worked 157 zones and 583 countries for a total of 740 mult., with 147/139/128
countries on 20/15/10. Even with the reduced African and Pacific activity, I
still left a lot of mults on the table, especially the 100+ mults that I gave
up on the low bands, with the total mult of only 562, or 178 less than in
2002.
Of course I was passing mults like crazy in that contest as opposed to the ONE
mult. that I passed this year.
Bottom line: 4,832 q's 144 zones 418 contries = 7,748,294 in 38 hours
operating
Adding all this together, I believe that it was possible to make a 10 meg - 11
meg score from my station this weekend, assuming that I could have operated
about 45 hours - unfortunately not possible for me.
I don't know what the future holds for me health-wise, but it makes me happy to
know that with activity increasing and the very good conditions, I was able to
make 4,600+ q's on the high bands this weekend - the most ever from the US!
And with a few more hours of operating, I easily would have broken the 5,000
qso barrier. Something to shoot for in the future!
It was great to say hello to old friends all over the world and I thank
everyone for the q's and mults.
Congrats to all the ops that produced great scores and new records in this
contest!
73 and cu in CQWWCW!
Bob KQ2M
kq2m@kq2m.com
www.rlsfinancialgroup.com
www.kq2m.com
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
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