CQ Worldwide DX Contest, SSB - 2022
Call: WX3B
Operator(s): WX3B WA3AER AG3I NH7C NY3A N8IVN N3FZ KC3TAU
Station: WX3B
Class: M/M HP
QTH: Maryland
Operating Time (hrs): 43
Summary:
Band QSOs Zones Countries
------------------------------
160: 22 5 9
80: 277 14 53
40: 780 28 86
20: 1962 38 120
15: 2253 32 127
10: 1878 30 123
------------------------------
Total: 7122 147 518 Total Score = 12,419,540
Club: 7/8 PVRC, 1/8 FRC
Comments:
2022 featured the year sunspots returned: IN FULL FORCE! Once again, like
2021, the K index and reports of poor propagation promised to make those of us
reading the reports a bit nervous about how things would actually work.
Fortunately, we were all pleasantly surprised by the way the bands behaved.
Our team was lighter than usual going into this event, and I made a decision to
NOT have anyone stay up all night on Friday night – because I knew all 3 high
bands would be screaming in the morning – and that turned out to be quite
accurate. 20 opened – and 15 wasn’t far behind. To my surprise, 10 meter
signals, tough not runnable, appeared quickly after 15 opened, and it was off to
the races. You’ve got to love 10 meters, when it gets busy, you can STILL
find a good run frequency if you go high enough. I learned a HARD lesion,
however, early in my Saturday morning run: don’t go too high BEFORE the band
opens, nobody will look up there – so we ended up below 28.500 for the entire
day on Saturday.
We were fortunate to have new WX3B guests Marty AG3I and Dale KC3TAU visit and
participate for the first time!!
Marty, AG3I now holds the RECORD for traveling the longest distance (in recent
times) to operate at WX3B. He had about a 4 hour drive from his Western PA
home to WX3B. Marty immediately hit it off with the other team-mates and
proceeded to log an INCREDIBLE amount of time operating the entire weekend –
on multiple bands. He stayed close to the end, however I was happy to see him
return home a bit early to celebrate his 40th wedding anniversary with his wife
(who originally wasn’t supposed to be home that early). Marty described his
first experience at WX3B as “BIG FUN”. Way to go Marty – you did a great
job and I look forward to having you back.
Dale, KC3TAU is a new ham (November 2021) – and I believe his eyes are now
wide open to the joys and challenges of contesting. Dale has a darn good
“first” HF station – a Yaesu FTDX-10 (good training for WX3B), a
Buckmaster 7 band OCF dipole (I need one of these myself), and a 1KW solid state
amplifier. This means Dale is capable of making quite a bit of noise from his
own QTH. He also lives in Carroll County – and he has some room on his 1.7
acre lot!
Bryan N3FZ was thanked for his role in recruiting Dale, and Bryan enjoyed
several hours at the radio on Friday night. He was initially seen instructing
Dale while he was operating, then Dale graduated to his own operating position
and flew solo. Bryan was a great teacher, and Dale was an excellent student!
Ted WA3AER actually did some pre-contest practice with me several weeks before
the contest so he could get his ears tuned up to handle the dense pileups on the
bands. I actually believe Ted enjoyed this event far more than his last SSB
contest, and our results reflect his enjoyment of the bands. Ted was a true
iron-man this weekend with many hours logged “in the char”. I was
impressed!!
Sid NH7C pulled into the driveway and enjoyed the second half of the contest
starting Saturday evening – true to form, Sid stayed up the entire night and
worked the low bands. Fortunately, he got enough rest to take the high bands
from Sunday afternoon until contest end. Sid was instrumental in literally
doing the heavy lifting (relocating an Ameritron AL-1200) when my Alpha 91b on
15 meters faulted and I couldn’t clear the fault: of course the 91b worked
perfectly after the contest (something must have cooled off). I also peaked at
the spots for WX3B at night and saw Sid had a nice run of VK stations. Sid was
also a good sport taking over for operators that needed a break – especially
me!!
Steve NY3A joined us for the second year in a row for this contest and said that
our team makes operating in an SSB contest fun. I considered that the ultimate
praise. It’s a well kept secret that Steve is an excellent SSB operator even
though he certainly prefers CW. Rumor has it that Steve couldn’t resist the
10 meter pileups…when he wasn’t at WX3B, he was running 10 meters FROM HIS
HOUSE!!
Dennis N8IVN spent a significant amount of time Saturday afternoon and evening
at WX3B, and no time was wasted in him taking over 15 meters when Ted needed a
rest. My only regret was that I missed seeing Dennis handling that non-stop
roaring group of callers. 15 was the best band for us this year by a wide
margin!!
I want to thank all my team members for doing the work this year achieving our
second highest ever score, and a new record QSO total (over 7,000) in this
event. Thanks as well too all my radio friends, spotters, cheerleaders, etc.
that stopped by to encourage all of us. You really make this fun and keep us
motivated!
This begins the official start of the 2022/2023 contest season, and I am VERY
EXCITED about the band conditions we should continue to experience – for
several years now!!
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
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