ARRL DX Contest, CW
Call: VA7ST
Operator(s): VA7ST
Station: VA7ST
Class: SOAB LP
QTH:
Operating Time (hrs): 20
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
160: 2 2
80: 19 17
40: 69 38
20: 213 59
15: 123 40
10: 18 11
-------------------
Total: 444 167 Total Score = 222,444
Club:
Comments:
* FT920 @ 100w
* N1MM Logger
* 3 ele. tribander @ 45'
* 40M delta loop
* G5RV (40-10)
* 80M delta loop
* 160M Inverted-L (80' high/50' horizontal)
=================================================
Damn. Missed SD and WY again. (Just kidding.)
Blew through totals from previous years:
Year QSOs Mults Score
---- ---- ----- -------
2003 235 122 86,010
2004 307 132 121,572
2005 444 167 222,444
Conditions here seemed modestly good on the high bands but not very good on the
low bands. Sure liked 40M on Saturday night -- haven't worked so much EU on that
band before.
10M never opened to EU, but SA was open for a while both days. Enjoyed working a
few EU stations on 15M both days, too. Calling CQ with 100 watts is not a strong
plan for this contest... I think about 90% of my contacts were S&P this time
out. Odd phenomenon: when I did call CQ, about 90% of those who answered were
running 100w or so -- not very many KWs in the mix at all.
The lid-per-Khz population was rather high at times. After working PJ2T on 20,
40 and 80 I was trying to work him on 160 at 0715z Friday night. He wasn't
getting my call, but I kept trying. Then someone threw my call in with high
power. PJ2T came back with the correct call, but I considered it tainted and
didn't complete the Q. Thanks to the anonymous helper, I lost a valuable mult --
one I might have caught later as propagation shifted. Good intentions aren't
always good ideas.
As far as I'm concerned, "helping" by throwing in someone's call is helping
someone cheat. Thanks, big sig, but I don't want that help.
Called CQ a few times on 80m Friday night -- was pointless with local stations
trying to work me. Guess VA7 sounds like DX to some. Only found 19 DX stations
there anyway, so nothing lost by not calling CQ.
I suspect my local noise source (identified last Monday as a power pole about
500' from the tower, but not yet fixed) was responsible for bad rx on 160 and
possibly 80 (it certainly made a mess on 20-10). I have a short beverage, but it
points at the offending power pole, so had to endure elevated background noise
without it. The beverage never has worked very well anyway.
160M was a bust for me with just 2 contacts. I made that many with a G5RV up 25'
two years back. The 80v/50h inverted-L should have been better than that.
At 2303z Saturday (with 24 hours left) I beat last year's score with CX7BY for
122,208 (304 q / 134 mults). Slightly ironically, my last Q of the contest was
with CX9AU.
Sunday afternoon was even slower than Saturday with the bands pretty much worked
through. No EU to work, although two loud OH stations stayed in there for the
entire day. Ended up pointing at the noisy 110 degree mark and found XQ3AQI,
H7A, and VP9/W6PH for some very welcome final multipliers.
Another good contest in the books. Already looking forward to the next one.
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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