ARRL 10-Meter Contest
Call: K7ZO
Operator(s): K7ZO
Station: K7ZO
Class: SO SSB HP
QTH: ID
Operating Time (hrs): 14:20
Summary:
Mode QSOs Mults
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CW:
SSB: 1082 99
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Total: 1082 99 = 214,236
Club: Southwest Idaho Contest Club
Comments:
>From here essentially the same contest as last year. Just wish one of the two
had at least one day of mind blowing northwest US openings to Europe like we
had in ARRL DX SSB this year. But that was not to be.
Score wise about 30 more Q?s and 3 mults than last year in about 3 hours less
operating time. Also ran about 400 watts this year versus 100 last year. The
first night ended up with about 200 Q?s when the bands closed around 02:00 UTC.
This was a much better start than last year. The band seemed in pretty good
shape -- better than the Flux and A/K would seem to indicate. Saturday morning
I had the hope that something good toward Europe would happen but it was just
not there. The band seemed noisy and fluttery. So, I went shopping for
Christmas presents and my wife?s birthday. (In a pre-contest chat Friday
afternoon WE9V and I discovered our wife?s have the same birthday.) When I got
back the band seemed to have opened up and I enjoyed some nice stateside runs.
As usual on 10M you get some surprise QSO?s and I had the following call in for
my only Europeans of the day:
18:51 RW1ZA
19:25 OH1F
19:55 OH6NLI
They all said I had a good signal but no other Europeans came through.
Again the band stayed open until 02:00 or so with nice runs of JA?s and some
good mults spread throughout. I ended the second night just over 800 QSO?s.
Sunday morning the band seemed a bit better an I was able get some short
stateside runs going and S&P Europe to build up my mults. At 16:30 I worked
IK6GPZ on 28522 and had F5TVG jump over him asking for the Idaho multiplier
which I did quickly. I sensed that the band toward Europe was going to be as
good as it was going to get. If there was going to be a run it was now.
Miraculously, I found 28525 clear and was able to work 21 Europeans in the next
15 minutes. They were mostly G?s and F?s with another I or two in there. Then
the band closed down again and I was not able to get any Europe runs going. I
could still S&P here and there. The loudest stations out of Europe were from
France. I never did hear any stations from DL, HB, SP, OZ, OK, OM, LA, SM, or
OH (except for the two late afternoon calls the day before.) The band just did
not have an opening through the more northerly path needed to reach this area.
We just needed a bit more flux? The rest of the afternoon seemed definitely
slower than Saturday or during Sunday last year. Stateside signals seemed
weaker and propagation spotty. Maybe we will get one more chance next year.
I?ll be back. This is one of my favorite contests. Where can you have so much
fun with a 3 element beam on a push up mast at 23 feet?
Scott/K7ZO
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