Russian DX Contest
Call: N3GXY
Operator(s): N3GXY
Station: N3GXY
Class: SO SSB QRP
QTH: EPA
Operating Time (hrs): 8
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
160:
80:
40:
20: 317 24
15: 142 18
10: 197 25
-------------------
Total: 656 67 Total Score = 43,952
Club:
Team:
Comments:
Hello again.
I had not intended to operate this weekend, but I mentioned it to the YL in
passing and she suggested that I operate, so there I was in the seat again!
Thanks Maddy.
I hadn't really checked out the rules too much, but I knew that there was no
specific category for QRP. There was only a low power (A100) entry for stations
running 100 watts or less. It?s kind of difficult to be competitive in a
category where you?re giving up 13db to the competition, so I thought I?d try
another strategy.
I had good luck running Russian stations in the ARRL DX Contest, and I knew that
contact with Russian stations counted for 10 points and that Oblasts and DXCC
entities where multipliers, so that was how I would work the contest. Work as
many Russian and DX stations as possible. I also thought it would be
interesting to see how many Oblasts I could work.
My equipment was the same as I used in the ARRL DX: the rig was the Yaesu FT-817
running 5 watts. I didn?t have time to put up the multi-element dipole, so I
was only using the Cushcraft R-6000 on 20, 15 and 10 meters. WriteLog acquitted
itself well as the logging program again.
Saturday morning started out well on 10 and 15 meters, but it quickly became
apparent that it wasn?t going to be like the weekend of the ARRL DX Contest.
The chatter on the bands was that conditions were not that good, and I soon ran
out of stations to work. I had to take a breather in the evening, but when I
got back on again, there seemed to be good activity on 20 meters. I had a nice
run of Russian and DX stations that evening. In my posting for the ARRL DX
Contest, I lamented the lack of a suite of tools on the FT-817 with which to
fight QRM. A local contester clued me in on the use of the attenuator. That
and using the IPO function of the FT-817 helped conditions immensely. While the
attenuator and IPO reduced the signal strength, it reduced noise and adjacent
station QRM to the point where I had Q5 copy on the station I wanted to work.
Speaking of hearing well, if I had an award to give out for the station with the
best set of ears ? the N3GXY Golden Antenna Award ? it would have to go to
SN800R. I was able to work him on the first call every time, and I didn?t have
to repeat any of my information. Thanks.
The score is not the greatest, and I could definitely done better, but I had a
great time. The summary information provided shows points per band and total
multipliers (Oblasts and DX). Total QSO count was 88. Thanks again to all the
stations that I worked and those that took the time to dig my signal out of the
noise and clutter.
Hope to see you in the CQ WPX.
Regards,
Joel M. Gilly
N3GXY
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