ARRL DX Contest, SSB
Call: NK7U
Operator(s): NK7U, K7ZO, KW7J, KL9A, KL2A, KC7RSO
Station: NK7U
Class: M/2 HP
QTH: Oregon
Operating Time (hrs): 48
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
160: 20 15
80: 169 63
40: 452 89
20: 1117 118
15: 997 113
10: 108 44
-------------------
Total: 2863 442 Total Score = 3,719,430
Club: Snake River Contest Club
Comments:
For the 2004 edition of ARRL SSB we re-assembled the core members from our 2003
#10 World, #5 US M/2 team. Regulars NK7U, K7ZO, and KW7J were joined by ringers
KL9A and KL2A who again made the long trip in on the Friday of the contest from
parts north. No, not Alaska, but from Moscow, Idaho and Seattle respectively.
KL9A brought along fellow student KC7RSO for his first contesting adventure.
As usual everyone had a role to play. KW7J was a rate man working the high bands
when they were open. NK7U worked the night shifts for those hard won 80 and 160M
qso?s and mults. KC7RSO worked the mult station trolling the bands and spots to
add to our mult total. K7ZO filled in around the edges and kept the station
going during the contest. And, like last year, the KL*A?s were the Energizer
Bunnies slamming QSO?s and mults into the log at a furious rate for hours on
end.
Also as usual there were great stories during the contest.
* KL9A had the pleasure of having both YA1RS and YI3DX call him on 20M. When
YI3DX called him he was in such disbelief he had to ask the op to confirm his
call a couple of times. Something Chris only very rarely needs.
* During our pre-contest briefing KL2A and KL9A highlighted the need to pass
mults whenever we could. Like all west coast stations our challenge has always
been mults, so passing them is a way to move our score ?up another notch?. KL2A
proved he was the multiplier pass master. We managed to move a total of 8 mults
from one band to another increasing our mult total from 434 to 442. This is an
all time record mult total for NK7U and even exceeds our 2002 total when we set
the W7 M/2 ARRL SSB all time record and when 10M was open.
* K7ZO proved again that good mults always call in right after the computer
freezes. He was working the tail end of the 20M run on Saturday night when the
band is open for a precious few minutes over the pole into deep Asia and the
Middle East. This is when YA1RS called KL9A on Friday night. At 3:33 the
computer froze and while it rebooted K7ZO kept logging by hand. The first two
stations being, UK8GK and 9K2YM, both for mults.
* We continue to refine our skills are running 40M and 80M into Europe from the
west coast. Doing so in ARRL is a bit easier that CQWW because we more than
likely represent a multiplier and can draw attention. KL2A, KL9A, and NK7U
worked it hard this year and we increased our total EU QSO?s from 113 to 143 on
these two bands. The 40M 4/4 EU stack and the 80M beam sure make a difference.
* KC7RSO was like a kid who just got his drivers license sitting behind a
Formula 1 race car. In this case the car being NK7U?s amazing station. It was
fun watching him listen to the pileups on a second set of headphones and shake
his head in disbelief as we logged stations that he couldn?t pick out of the
noise. We have all been there and this is one of the first steps of learning the
art of contesting. There really is a skill to pulling callsigns out of the
noise. And, it is something you can learn. Hopefully KC7RSO will join the ranks
of contesters.
* NK7U?s station has been known to put some big signals into the air landing on
unsuspecting stations in far away lands. This year the two top signal reports we
can remember were JA8DKR saying we were 50 over 9 on 15M just as the band was
opening into JA on Sunday afternoon and one of the 6Y?s saying we were 60 over 9
on 40M! We also enjoyed DL4YAO?s note about signal strengths during the contest
and seeing NK7U?s call in there a couple of times. Also of interest was his note
that west coast signals typically are stronger than east coast on 20M during the
15-1600 hour. This was a new insight for us and something we need to keep in
mind for the future. K7ZO usually does a 20M band scan similar to what DL4YAO
did but he didn?t get to it this time.
Following are NK7U?s band breakdown for the past three years. It shows a pattern
matching the changes in propagation as the sunspot cycle winds down. It also
shows the results of our efforts at improving our 40M and 80M operating skills,
or really just bringing in a couple of ringers to help us out.
Call 160m Q/C 80m Q/C 40m Q/C 20m Q/C 15m Q/C 10m Q/C
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
2004 20/15 169/63 452/89 1117/118 997/113 108/44
2003 13/11 107/41 382/74 663/112 1206/111 271/74
2002 8/7 43/25 348/60 667/106 1402/124 1308/112
As compared to last year, our 2004 results in three band groupings are
illustrative:
160-40M: We had 28% more QSO?s and 32% more mults than last year
20-15M: We had 13% more QSO?s and 4% more mults than last year
10M: We had 60% less QSO?s and 40% less mults than last year.
As mentioned earlier though we felt pretty good about our score increase this
year over last given the generally lower solar conditions. Flux levels in 2003
were in the 150 +/- range while this year they were 105 +/-. Looking at the top
postings so far you can see how our score increase stands out. For the other two
repeat entries from last year it look like a 5-10% decrease is what they
experienced where we had a 10% increase:
Call QSOs Mults hr Score
US/VE M/2 HP
K4JA 5015 557 48 8,336,697 97% of 2003
N3RS 4534 528 48 7,160,000
W4RM 3040 413 48 3,763,321
NK7U 2863 442 48 3,719,430 111% of 2003
K0TV 2709 437 48 3,537,078
K5NA 2402 480 48 3,371,040
K7ZSD 2677 394 48 3,161,850
VE1JF 2685 390 48 3,139,110 92% of 2003
It looks like we even moved our standings ?up another notch? from last year and
currently stand 4th with a chance to move into 3rd depending on log checking. It
was fun having the up and coming K7ZSD station as local competition to keep us
working hard.
When the contest was over a few things the NK7U crew agreed on were:
1. Results were much better than anyone expected. We beat last year?s #10 in
World, #5 in US M/2 score fairly easily with generally poorer solar conditions.
Our raw score is up about 11% from last year and we had both more QSO?s and more
mults than last year. Our mult total was actually higher than our 2002 effort.
Of course Joe put quite a bit more aluminum up in the air since the 2003
edition. Added since last year are the 5/5/5/5 20M and 4/4 40M Europe stacks, a
6/6 20M rotating system, and the 80M yagi. See www.nk7u.com for station
details.
2. The quality of spots has definitely reached a new low. Anyone on-line during
the contest knows what we are talking about. It seems like a noticeable portion
of our community has suddenly become dyslexic and hard of hearing. As usual,
?buyer beware?. Confirm the call of any spot before working and logging. I had
to shake my head several times listening to the packet pileups by well known
stations reacting to erroneous spots.
3. It was the year of the KL7. And with KL9A and KL2A in attendance this kind of
thing gets noticed. We had a total of 54 band/QSO?s with KL7 this year even with
no 10M opening. This compares with 29 in 2003 and 13 in 2002! Someone or
something is really getting the KL7 gang active. We also had a mini explosion in
TF?s as well with a total of 8 band/qso?s and 6 on 20. This compares with 0 in
2003 and 2 in 2002.
Scott/K7ZO
Visit us on the web at www.nk7u.com
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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