CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW
Call: K8IA
Operator(s): K8IA
Station: K8IA
Class: SOSB(A)/40 HP
QTH: AZ
Operating Time (hrs): 25
Summary:
Band QSOs Zones Countries
------------------------------
160:
80:
40: 778 36 128
20:
15:
10:
------------------------------
Total: 778 36 128 Total Score = 347,024
Club: Central Arizona DX Assn
Comments:
IC-765, Alpha 91b to M-Squared 40M3L 3 el 40M yagi up 20m
My most frustrating weekend ever on 40m.
Fist night was plagued by lousy conditions. You know, out here in the west
anyway, that when Eu is louder before sunset than after, then you're in store
for some head shaking. In addition to that, heavy intermittent QRN from a storm
front in the upper part of the state caused listening to be challenging. Rates
and totals were down from last year. And....just when I get comfy running JA's
(our only real chance at rate out here) I have an event that causes the system
to totally lock up and cause a continous keying ckt closure. To make a long
story short, apparently rf was getting into the serial keying port and causing
the locked condition. Why this didnt happen until the contest was 8 hrs old is
beyond me. Anyway, after tearing some boxes apart, I found my old LPT keying
interface and hooked it up and all worked fb from then. I lost over an hour
messing with this. Things went ok for the next hour and then BAAAM.....the
Chinese jamming radar hit the band and I (and many others) spent the rest of the
night/morning dodging that craziness as it takes out the middle and bottom
levels of signals that are so necessary to work to have a successful contest
weekend. I finish with a decent LP opening 1300-1500Z and totals of 463/29/93
for the first night. Last year I had 563/33/109 for the same period, so its
definitely a downer.
OK...day/night two. I get the rig on early before 2 PM MST, about 2050Z. Thats
over three hrs before sunset here in central AZ. I am hearing the din of the
east coast big guns but I am also hearing EA8/OH4NL like he was in an adjoining
state! Vy early, vy loud. Also hearing TZ5A around that time and thats great
because 5 of my fellow CADXA club members are there. I tune up the band and low
and behold 3B8/OM3PC is there and S4 and I am hearing every dit. Now this is
EARLY (2.5 hrs b4 sunset now) for us to be a hearing station over11K miles away
on 40m! My spirits are lifted now as maybe the band is good enough for me to
catch up with my last yrs totals. The evening treats me well. I bust some good
piles and have some decent S&P runs and am even able to run some rate to Eu,
unusual here. Work my first JA of the evening at 0630Z, also a good sign as
thats more than 75 min before JA sunset. Do a quick calculation and realize that
I need about 250-300 JA's in the log tonite to play catch upon my last yrs
874/36/120 final numbers. Not a problem, routine stuff if the band is ok. The
bad was great, and I run abt 80 my first 45 minutes but then... another
BAAAM.....although this time it wasnt the jamming radar...but the mother of all
noises instead. Now, I normally have a fairly quiet QTH. Its semi-rural, 1-2
acre lots and probably more horses than people. Thats a good thing. So this
noise was a real kick in the butt. Its an S8 buzz that cant be blanked or phased
by anything I have. That was pretty much the end of any decent runs as now I
could only hear the top levels of JA signals. I spend the rest of the evening
primarily in S&P mode and dream abt what could have been. On the positive side,
all the S&P I was forced into generated a better total mult this yr.
My sincere apologies to dozens of Asian contesters that I usually easily work
but couldnt be heard thru the buzz this weekend.
Now...to track the noise down before ARRL 160 Contest!
73, Bob K8IA
Arizona USA
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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