ARRL DX Contest, CW
Call: WO1N
Operator(s): WO1N
Station: WO1N
Class: SOAB(A) LP
QTH: MA
Operating Time (hrs): 32
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
160: 21 17
80: 158 67
40: 171 80
20: 376 82
15: 284 77
10: 146 55
-------------------
Total: 1156 378 Total Score = 1,310,904
Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club
Comments:
Station: FT1000D, C3SS@38', AlphaDelta DX-LB@45', 80M Vertical Dipole@55'
What a blast!
At the KOTV pre-contest planning meeting Wednesday night I announced I was
bowing out of the Multi-op effort and would be oping from home. Work has had me
a bit stressed out, and was a contributing factor for my decision. I must have
had a premonition as the next morning we got one of those family emergency calls
that we all hate and my wife would end up spending Thursday through Saturday at
my sisters while my newly minted brother-in-law (N1VUQ) recovered from a mild
heart attack in the hospital. Yes folks a honeymoon heart attack, he and my
sister just got hitched the Saturday before the contest.
So it was me and my 13 yr old son doing the bachelor thing. Let's call my effort
Single-Op Massive Multiplayer On Line Role Playing Game (MMORPG) distracted. Our
gaming computer is right behind the shack operating position and my son did his
best to single handedly save our continents playing SOE's "PlanetSide". CW,
weapons fire and explosions. I could have been in Iraq.
Not having done this contest from my home station since 1993 when I hand logged
and did about 50 contacts I had no idea what might be possible. I've been a main
op at K1TWF's from 1994 until 2003 when we managed 3rd in the country in
Multi-Single. K1TWF would be going to K0TV so no effort there. I set a vague
goal of 1K Q's, cranked up the tower, tightened up the ropes on the 80M vertical
dipole (a K2KQ suggestion) and declared readiness...
I scanned 20M - 10M with the rig in AM mode before the start while rotating the
C3SS to try to isolate the S9+10 line noise. This noise extends from East to
West, 105 degrees through North to 240 degrees. This has been present for years,
I'm guessing it is the high tension power lines about 1/2 mile North of my
station that run East to West. This was the first time I tried this test, having
seen K0TV do it at his station Wednesday. Overnight it started raining and the
line noise quieted down so it was not a problem at all during the entire
weekend!
As many have said, the low bands were super the first night. I was able to run
on both 40M and 80M low power/wires. I pulled the plug at 0715Z was back on
1215Z with 179Qs in the log. Best Day 1 hour was 1700Z with a 102 hour. Spent 3
hours on 10M which was time well spent with 104 of my 146 total 10M Qs in the
log.
I took a couple hours off Saturday evening for dinner with the family since my
wife returned from my sisters. I found conditions on 40M somewhat noiser and
struggled to make a few q's when I got back in the chair. I dropped down to 80M
and found it in nearly as good shape as Day 1. Got run off of a perfectly clear
frequency by one of the big ugly FRC'ers. I'm guessing he left to chase a mult,
about enough time for me to send two question marks, a QRL and one CQ. Every
contest has a low point....
Got over that and decided to operate til 0600Z, which extended to 0700Z with the
mind of taking a break and getting up for sunrise. Set the alarm clock and slept
right through it! Back on at 1400Z (an embarrassing 7 hour break) for the rest
of the Day 2 with my best hour again at 1700Z with 116Qs.
The highlights are innumerable. Every time I snagged a new, rare, mult (at least
for my station) I made sure my son heard about it. I casually mentioned if he
learned CW he could take turns in the chair and got sort of a positive response.
Hope springs eternal.
I have never worked a JA from my station on 40M (and still haven't). I dropped
down to 40M about 2200Z (5:00 PM local)on Day 2 and started a sweep of the band.
I heard JA3YBK work one of the big US guns at the low end of the band and he was
so loud I nearly fell out of my chair! I quickly found a 250 Hz sliver up the
band (and I do mean sliver!) and CQ'ed for all it was worth hoping he would stop
by and work me, but no joy. The locals tell me this is longpath at that time of
day.
This could become habit forming, stay home for the CW contests when it is
sometimes possible to have loads of fun from my pw station and travel to the
multi-op stations for SSB where the big antennas and kilowatts rule...
CU in the next one,
Ken
WO1N
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