ARRL DX Contest, CW
Call: N4KG
Operator(s): N4KG
Station: N4KG
Class: SOAB QRP
QTH: ALA
Operating Time (hrs): 38
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
160: 21 17
80: 87 46
40: 174 67
20: 227 74
15: 306 82
10: 132 60
-------------------
Total: 947 346 Total Score = 982,986
Club:
Comments:
ARRL CW DX 2004
First, a fond farewell to our departed friend and fellow contester Jim White,
K4OJ, who was tastefully memorialized by the J7OJ team representing the Florida
Contest Group which Jim founded.
WOW, what a FUN weekend !
The decline in sunspot activity had mostly positive attributes from my
perspective operating QRP from Alabama. Propagation on 160 through 15 Meters
was incredibly good over the whole contest. Who would have thought that my lower
latitude location actually provided a geographical advantage over some of my
competitors to the North and West on 10 Meters? Most of the time, only one or
two bands were highly productive at a time making band planning obvious and
simple.
10M Openings to Europe were from 1430 to 1700Z extending to SU and 4X on
Saturday and into ES, LY, YL, and UA2 on Sunday. One JA was heard as the band
was closing Sunday.
15M Was the 'money band' with long and strong openings to EU and decent
openings to JA.
20M Provided a good early morning opening to EU and a most pleasant surprise
low absorption opening (particularly beneficial to QRPers) for several hours in
the early afternoon.
40M Was the 'money band' all night long with super strong signals from Europe,
especially after their sunrise. My 'rule of thumb' for predicting 40M
propagation is that if 15M is HOT during the day, 40M will be strong all night
through EU sunrise based on the observation that daytime to nighttime MUF's vary
by a factor of about 3 to 1. Conditions supported this theory. IMHO, 40M is
best when the Solar Flux is in the range of 100 to 120 +/- a little.
80M was very good both nights. Would you believe a 30 hour extending into CQ
Zone 15 (OH0, SP, HA, HB, I, OK, OM, S5, YU, 9A) and CQ Zone 20 (YO) Saturday
night with 5 Watts?
160M was simply the BEST EVER HEARD in a contest with lots of strong EU signals.
Competition was a bit much for a QRPer but most NA / SA DX was worked plus CS6V
in EU. I'm sure more EU could have been worked but I returned to 80M where my
high dipole was more competitive.
All of the 'Have Radio, Will Travel' Contesters in NA / SA / AF kept things
interesting when propagation to EU was gone and contributed to a lot of
Multi-Band QSO's. 107 stations were worked on 3 or more Bands.
Special THANKS to the countless number of operators who dug down to pull my QRP
signal out of their noise floor (sometimes with MANY repeats). I was simply
amazed at the number of stations who were not moving my S-meter yet were still
able to pull me through!
All but 4 contacts were made S&P. I have noticed that LP and even HP stations
who claim all or mostly S&P type operation tend to 'clean out the bands' around
1000 to 1300 contacts depending on conditions. With QRP, I find that I can work
80 to 90% of their numbers on 10 through 40 Meters. Higher power stations show
a noticeable advantage on 80 and 160M. I suppose this indicates that I need a
beam for 80M at 180 ft. NOT likely to happen :-(, but it would be nice.
Sleep schedule called for 3 and 6 hours respectively. I couldn't resist staying
on 80M both nights resulting in 3 and 4 hours sleep respectively. I was afraid
to take naps in the afternoon and 20M kept things interesting. 38 hours 'in the
chair' is about all this near senior citizen with two heart surgeries is willing
/ able to safely endure.
Statistics and station info below.
Tom N4KG / QRP
6 Band QSO's = 11 CS6V (only EU), FS5UQ, J7OJ, KH7X, KP2CW,
P40W, PJ2T, VP5M, WP3R, ZF2NT, 8P9JA
5 Band QSO's = 20 CS6T, D4B, DA0BCC, DK3GI, DL5AWI, F5NBX, J6DX, OK2PAY, OM0M,
P40Y, PJ4R, TI5N, V26DX, V31DJ, VP5K, VP9/K9CC, VP9/W6PH, WP2Z, ZD8Z, 9A1A
4 Band QSO's = 35 (mostly EU)
3 Band QSO's = 41 (mostly EU)
Other Rare DX = A61 40,20; TA 40,15; UA0 40,20,15; SU 20,15,10;
TU 15; V5 40,15; ZL 40,15,10 but NO VK
ONE RADIO - FT990 reduced to 5 Watts Output
ANTENNAS
160M NEW Tree supported Inverted L at 60 ft over 50 radials / wet land
(KILLER)
80M Dipole between 130 ft towers favoring NE / SW (also a KILLER ant)
Wire vertical over same radial field as 160M Inv. L
Elevated GP
40M CC 2L40 at 95 ft (GREAT Ant)
Dipole SA / Carib (100 ft Center Fed w/ Ladderline + Matchbox)
20M Telrex 3L20 at 75 ft + TA32, TH3, TH7
15M CC 4L15 at 55 ft + TA32, TH3, TH7
10M HB 5L10 at 62 ft + TA32, TH3, TH7
TA32 at 60 ft fixed South
TH3 at 40 ft fixed SE
TH7 at 40 ft (FINALLY replaced bad rotor & cable J )
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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