CQ 160-Meter Contest, CW
Call: W3DQ
Operator(s): W3DQ
Station: W3DQ
Class: Single Op HP
QTH: DC
Operating Time (hrs): 11
Summary:
Total: QSOs = 404 State/Prov = 51 Countries = 7 Total Score = 56,666
Club: Potomac Valley Radio Club
Comments:
The goal this year was to put in more time and have decent antennas on my
40ft(12m) x 140ft(43m) 1/8 city lot, and I almost made it. Thanks as ever to
N3OC, the TX antenna is now an inverted L, 65 ft up with 21 radials. I put up 2
EWEs, but they didn't add anything at all to the mix, with or without a preamp.
My daughter's 13th birthday was Sunday, and as a result I didn't get on at all
that day. I managed to miss (apparent) openings on both Saturday and Sunday
mornings.
A summer lightning storm brought a new Orion into to replace the fried Omni-6+,
and combined with the inverted L, I learned all about intermod induced by local
AM broadcasters. With an "AM Brickwall Filter" from WB5WPA, the intermod
virtually disappeared and I was able to hear the weak stations I've never heard
before.
Using the Orion (and a Hercules II) for the first time in a CW contest was a
great experience. While the Orion's ergonomics are very different than the Omni,
operating the radio was really no different than before, with two major
exceptions.
In his presentation at the PVRC meeting earlier in January, Scott, W4PA, talked
about the Orion's panoramic sound and diversity reception capabilities. With my
meager station and mediocre CW skills, I tried the panoramic sound capability.
It was very good, indeed, in helping me discern signals in the bandpass. The
other unique characteristic, as pointed out by others (K3ZO and W4ZV come to
mind) is the ability to crank down the bandwidth and watch nearby offensive
signals go away. I did this a couple of time to great effect, or so I thought,
until I realized that -- at least in one instance -- I was *very* close to a
weaker station CQing (sorry LX7I). This was an instance where the panoramic
audio helped make that discovery - I heard him in my left ear, clearly off my
frequency, but still awfully close.
I've attached some stats for those inclined -- a comparison between 2002, 2004,
and 2005 (I wasn't on for the 2003 'test) from this urban location. Starting
earlier on Friday night this year made a big difference, and I suspect getting
going much later on Saturday hurt.
See you next time!
Eric W3DQ
Washington, DC
--------------------
Q 160 CW CONTEST COMPARISON
W3DQ: 2003(M/S), 2004, 2005
------ QSO Rate Summary ------ ---- Multiplier Summary ---
Hour 2002 2004 2005 M 2002 2004 2005
------------------------------ --------------------------
2200 0 0 0 VA 30 PA 26 PA 29
2300 0 0 0 PA 27 VA 22 ON 28
0000 0 0 32 NY 25 OH 20 VA 26
0100 0 0 31 MD 23 NY 16 NY 21
0200 0 3 29 OH 22 NC 15 OH 21
0300 20 35 14 NJ 21 TN 15 MI 19
0400 61 40 52 ON 21 MD 14 TN 18
0500 27 23 35 TN 17 FL 13 IL 17
0600 23 0 53 WI 17 TX 12 NJ 14
0700 46 29 4 IL 15 ON 11 NC 14
0800 19 16 0 MA 15 IL 11 MD 13
0900 0 1 0 GA 14 WI 10 MA 11
1000 11 0 0 MI 14 NJ 9 FL 11
1100 25 0 0 IN 12 MI 9 CA 11
1200 16 0 0 FL 10 GA 9 WA 10
1300 0 0 0 TX 10 IN 8 IN 9
1400 0 0 0 NC 10 CT 7 AZ 9
1500 0 0 0 NH 10 NH 6 CT 8
1600 0 0 0 CT 9 MO 6 NH 8
1700 0 0 0 MO 7 MA 6 TX 8
1800 0 0 0 AL 7 CA 6 WI 8
1900 0 0 0 WV 7 AL 5 MN 8
2000 0 0 0 MN 6 MN 5 AL 7
2100 0 0 0 SC 5 CO 5 GA 6
2200 10 23 0 KY 4 WV 4 MO 5
2300 12 27 0 RI 4 AZ 4 QC 5
0000 42 3 0 CO 3 IA 3 OK 4
0100 31 26 39 DE 3 NM 3 DE 4
0200 10 6 34 UT 3 OK 3 SC 4
0300 7 0 23 AZ 3 KY 3 VT 4
0400 9 34 34 IA 3 RI 3 CO 4
0500 12 18 18 ME 3 SC 2 NV 3
0600 15 13 6 I 2 ME 2 OR 3
0700 9 23 0 G 2 DE 2 WV 3
0800 0 0 0 OK 2 AR 2 UT 3
0900 0 0 0 OR 2 QC 2 IA 2
1000 0 0 0 CA 2 LA 2 AR 2
1100 4 0 0 VT 2 NV 2 KS 2
1200 3 0 0 DC 2 SD 2 MS 2
1300 0 0 0 PEI 1 VP5 1 ME 2
1400 0 0 0 QC 1 FM 1 NM 2
1500 0 0 0 ZF 1 C6 1 BC 2
1600 0 0 0 VP5 1 PE 1 VP2E 1
------------------------------ FY 1 NE 1 PE 1
Total 412 320 404 AR 1 EA 1 NS 1
WA 1 OR 1 AB 1
HI 1 DC 1 MT 1
PR 1 FED 1 NB 1
NS 1 NS 1 YV 1
EA8 1 KS 1 XE 1
KS 1 UT 1 SK 1
DL 1 MS 1 NF 1
F 1 F 1 CT3 1
NE 1 GD 1 ND 1
MS 1 NE 1
MT 1 VP5 1
V47 1
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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