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[3830] KC1XX (K1DG, op) ARRL SSB DX Test Story (*very* long)

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Subject: [3830] KC1XX (K1DG, op) ARRL SSB DX Test Story (*very* long)
From: k1dg@ix.netcom.com (k1dg@ix.netcom.com)
Date: Sat, 13 Mar 1999 15:34:56 -0600 (CST)
                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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