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[3830] K5ZD (W2SC op) ARRL CW (Long)

To: <3830@contesting.com>
Subject: [3830] K5ZD (W2SC op) ARRL CW (Long)
From: tgeorgen@ppdpost.ks.symbios.com (Georgens, Tom)
Date: Tue, 04 Mar 97 23:51:00 CST

      Call: K5ZD (W2SC op)            Country:  United States
      Mode: CW                       Category: Single Operator

      BAND     QSO   COUNTRIES


      160      102     46
       80      460     65
       40      834     87
       20     1432     92
       15      145     58
       10        2      2
     ------------------------

     Totals   2975    350  =   3,123,750

When Randy, K5ZD, announced that he would not be operating the ARRL
DX contests I immediately informed him that I would be glad to put
his station on the air if he was offering.  He said that SSB was a
sure thing and he would let me know about CW.  Ultimately, both
weekends were available and I was not about to let the opportunity
pass.

I flew out from my current QTH in Kansas on Thursday night to set up
my FT1000D as the primary radio and his 765 as the second radio.  I
also wanted to use my own two radio switching arrangement as I tried his
split headphone solution in last year's ARRL SSB and could never use
it effectively.  I am impressed by those (K5ZD, N4VJ, et. al.) who can
use this scheme.  It did not take long to get the stuff working and
the station was more or less set.  Randy had two suggestions however.
First, he wanted to use the computer to run the FT1000D.  I did not have
the RS-232 interface for the FT1000D and did not think it was necessary
for CW (On SSB it is invaluable for 40/80 splits).  Nonetheless, he had
a KIY box and it worked flawlessly.  He also has a problem with his
computer where the CT screen would mysteriously change colors at random
times.  He suggested using my laptop at the computer to drive his
keyboard and monitor.  Once again he had it running in short order.  Despite
the warnings about Windows 95 and CT, everything looked fine.

On Friday, the plan was to do some errands in the morning, have lunch
with a friend, and sleep in the afternoon.  When I returned to Randy's
house for the nap, I found that my key did not work and I was locked
outside in the freezing rain.  I got pretty soaked as I repeatedly circled
his house trying to find a lock where the key would operate.  No amount of
swearing would make it work.  Not knowing what to do, I decided to drive
to my house in a neighboring town that I have rented and asked the tenants
if I could crash there for a few hours.  Everything worked out and we
all had a good laugh when I got back to Randy's

Everything seemed all set to start the contest when the computer hung as
I tried to program the CW messages.  I restarted the computer and the
same thing happened.  At this point it was minutes before the start and
I was starting to get concerned.  After trying several things, I finally
decided to go back to Randy's computer notwithstanding the funny monitor
colors.  It had now passed 0000Z and I was not ready.  When Randy's
computer would not send either, I started to panic. Just then, Randy came 
home
from work and he got things working.  I had not made a Q yet and I was
already mentally spent.

My first Q was at 0015 but I did manage 85 Q's in the first hour.  40
essentially quit at 0130 and I was off to 80.  The 02Z hour produced 89
Q's on 80 and I was starting to feel pretty good again.  Things played
well all night on 80 and 160 but the 40 meter European sunrise opening
was nearly non-existent.

20 opened at about 11Z and I managed to run off 1237 station in the next
12 hours.  Around 13Z I started to listen to the multis attempting to run
on 15.  The rate on 20 was huge and but I did not want to miss the 15 meter
opening.  I lost last years ARRL SSB partly by passing on a mediocre
15 meters to run on 20 and not getting another chance at the multipliers 
when
the band did not open at all on Sunday.  I finally jumped to 15 but could
not get much going.  I had good but not great rate.  I eventually went back 
to
twenty and returned to 15 later.  As it turned out, there was to be no real
15 meters on the following day.

In the mean time they kept calling on twenty.  The continuous action all day 
and
the ease at which I could get and hold a frequency were incredible.  One 
time
when Randy stopped by to check the score, I simple told him that his 20
meter signal was obscene.  20 wilted at around 1930 and it was off to 40 
where
I had only had about 200 Q's the first night.  I worked around 400 Q's on
40 in the next five hours.  I had 1850/272 at the split and things felt 
good.

I managed to keep things going on 80 and 160 including running about 30 
stations
on 160 in the 5Z hour.  The dreaded 8,9,and 10Z hours produced a total of
12 Q's and 8 mults.  In this period I took a refreshing 15 minute nap.

Twenty returned at 11Z and things started hopping again.  It shut down a 
little
earlier on Sunday I went to 40 shortly after 19Z (2PM local).  I knew that 
W1KM
was going to be tough to beat so I promised myself not to let down and push
full bore to the end.  The last few hours finished with 63, 59, 44, and 48 
Q's.

I left Randy's not knowing W1KM's score and my anticipation rose until mid 
week
when I learned the disappointing news that I had been beaten by about 70K 
points.
While I had a 60 Q edge, I was 16 mults behind.  I was clear that I had not 
pushed
the second radio hard enough.  All it would have taken was 8 more countries.

I actually got to compare notes with Greg on the Thursday before the SSB 
'test
(a subject of another story).  After a contesters ritual of exchanging 
excuses
(he had a computer crash during a 20 meter run, I lost 15 minutes at the 
beginning,
he could only do 700 watts on 80, I did not have a gain antenna on 80, etc) 
we
compared notes.  On the first day, he went to 15 early, got good rate, and 
worked
many Q's and mults that I never got.  At the midpoint I had a slight lead 
but he
had a big hour on 160 at 01Z and worked 30 mults.  I never had the lead 
again.

It is always fascinating to compare notes.  Although 48 hours is a long 
time,
every decision is vital and all it takes is a couple mistakes or missed 
openings
to spell the difference.  It is clear that one must make every minute useful 
and
repeatedly reassess whether you are doing the most productive (Score 
maximizing)
thing possible.

In the end, there are no excuses, skill and experience prevailed, and that 
is the
way it should be.  Congratulations to W1KM on a fine effort.


BREAKDOWN QSO/mults  K5ZD  ARRL INTERNATIONAL DX CONTEST  Single Operator

HOUR      160      80       40       20       15       10    HR TOT  CUM TOT 


   0    .....    .....    85/21    .....    .....    .....    85/21   85/21
   1      .      36/19    40/10     8/6       .        .      84/35  169/56
   2      .      89/12     1/1       .        .        .      90/13  259/69
   3    19/15    25/2      6/5       .        .        .      50/22  309/91
   4     9/6     26/2     10/6       .        .        .      45/14  354/105
   5     6/5     33/2      3/2       .        .        .      42/9   396/114
   6     3/2     45/5      1/0       .        .        .      49/7   445/121
   7     1/0      9/6     34/6       .        .        .      44/12  489/133
   8    .....     3/3     12/5     .....    .....    .....    15/8   504/141
   9      .       2/1      8/5       .        .        .      10/6   514/147
  10      .       2/0      4/0     24/16      .        .      30/16  544/163
  11      .        .       1/1    132/22      .        .     133/23  677/186
  12      .        .        .     143/7       .        .     143/7   820/193
  13      .        .        .     113/2       .        .     113/2   933/195
  14      .        .        .      38/1     60/22      .      98/23 1031/218
  15      .        .        .      61/2     32/4       .      93/6  1124/224
  16    .....    .....    .....    89/3     11/3     .....   100/6  1224/230
  17      .        .        .      86/2      8/8       .      94/10 1318/240
  18      .        .        .      78/1      5/4      1/1     84/6  1402/246
  19      .        .        .      63/2      5/2       .      68/4  1470/250
  20      .        .      65/9     26/1      4/2       .      95/12 1565/262
  21      .        .     125/0       .        .        .     125/0  1690/262
  22      .        .      86/4      5/4       .        .      91/8  1781/270
  23      .        .      66/0      3/2       .        .      69/2  1850/272
   0    .....    .....    54/3      3/1     .....    .....    57/4  1907/276
   1    10/4     31/3     11/1       .        .        .      52/8  1959/284
   2     3/1     30/2       .        .        .        .      33/3  1992/287
   3     8/3      7/0       .        .        .        .      15/3  2007/290
   4     4/1     33/1      1/0       .        .        .      38/2  2045/292
   5    30/5       .       3/2       .        .        .      33/7  2078/299
   6     4/1     46/1       .        .        .        .      50/2  2128/301
   7     1/0     23/1      1/1       .        .        .      25/2  2153/303
   8    .....     2/2      1/0     .....    .....    .....     3/2  2156/305
   9     2/2       .       2/0       .        .        .       4/2  2160/307
  10     2/1      1/1      2/2       .        .        .       5/4  2165/311
  11      .        .        .      75/1       .        .      75/1  2240/312
  12      .        .        .     110/2       .        .     110/2  2350/314
  13      .        .        .      81/2      1/1       .      82/3  2432/317
  14      .        .        .      72/1       .        .      72/1  2504/318
  15      .        .        .      65/1      2/1       .      67/2  2571/320
  16    .....    .....    .....    55/2      3/3      1/1     59/6  2630/326
  17      .        .        .      56/2      2/1       .      58/3  2688/329
  18      .        .        .      22/1      7/3       .      29/4  2717/333
  19      .        .      30/1     11/0      3/3       .      44/4  2761/337
  20      .        .      60/1      1/1      2/1       .      63/3  2824/340
  21      .        .      55/0      4/4       .        .      59/4  2883/344
  22      .        .      42/1      2/1       .        .      44/2  2927/346
  23      .      17/2     25/0      6/2       .        .      48/4  2975/350
DAY1    38/28   270/52   547/75   869/71   125/45     1/1     ..... 1850/272
DAY2    64/18   190/13   287/12   563/21    20/13     1/1       .   1125/78
TOT    102/46   460/65   834/87  1432/92   145/58     2/2       . 
  2975/350s

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