IARU HF World Championship
Call: KQ2M
Operator(s): KQ2M
Station: KQ2M
Class: SO Mixed HP
QTH: CT
Operating Time (hrs): 1.9
Radios: SO2R
Summary:
Band CW Qs Ph Qs Mults
---------------------------
160: 0 0 0
80: 0 0 0
40: 0 0 0
20: 65 6 20
15: 129 80 22
10: 1 0 1
---------------------------
Total: 195 86 43 Total Score = 50,181
Club: Frankford Radio Club
Comments:
I had planned on a Major Mixed-Mode effort for this contest, one of my
favorites. My dad was out of the hospital after yet another stroke (4 since
January 1st) and infection, and I had just transferred him to a nursing home.
He was stable, for the moment. On Friday morning, I fixed a few wire antennas
and the equipment was working. It was looking like I could do this contest and I
was psyched!
However, I was reminded of that quote "Man plans and God laughs".
In the wee hours of Saturday morning I developed nasty chills and by 7 AM (11Z)
I had a raging fever and pounding headache. By 12Z my temp was North of 102 and
climbing fast. I was dead tired after only being up for 2 hours.
I started the contest running on 20 and the JA's were surprisingly loud, but
they disappeared quickly as did the EU stations. I went to 20 SSB and worked
some of the tougher VK zones but there was no volume. There were a few barely
audible EU stations on 15 but I was much too tired to seriously S & P on 15 or
20. I realized that there was no way that I would be able to operate
seriously.
At 1245z I stopped and went upstairs to lie down. At 16z with my temperature
now topping 103, I was too uncomfortable to lie down any longer. I went
downstairs dressed in sweats and a flannel shirt with two pairs of socks and
wearing sunglasses. 15 was HOT and I ran EU and stateside for a while. For
about 30 minutes it was fun but it was painful to operate and I faded quickly.
Along the way I did briefly get the rate meter up to 352 for the last 10 q's
and 182 for the last 100 q's.
At some point on 15, K5TR had asked me to qsy to 10 and in my stupor I think I
told him that my 10 meter antenna was not working. Sri George! About 20
minutes later I remembered his request and decided to try 10.
I listened to 10 for a few minutes which was AMAZING! EU stations were coming
in SHORTPATH! I don't ever remember that in the 25+ years that I have operated
this contest! But I was feeling lousy and there was little point in continuing.
I worked K1ZZ (my only 10M q) and turned off the radio.
I went upstairs and took a shower to "cool off". This brought the fever down to
102 but then it rose again and headache came back. End of contest.
As it turned out, I had gotten a really nasty virus and the fever did not go
away until Wednesday!
The activity in this contest is FABULOUS - the EU stations have really made this
THEIR contest and we are all much better off for it! Some of the reasons why
IARU is one of my favorite contests:
1) EVERYONE WORKS EVERYONE! (Like WPX!)
2) Point differentials based on zone and continent.
3) Ability to work BOTH modes in the same contest!!! I love this!
4) Fabulous EU activity.
5) Excitement and challenge of finding those Asiatic Russian Zones.
6) Night time high-band propagation (unlike the Winter contests.
I had fun and look forward to IARU next year! Tnx for the Q's!
73
Bob KQ2M
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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