CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW
Call: OO5ZO
Operator(s): ON5ZO
Station: ON5ZO
Class: SOSB/20 HP
QTH:
Operating Time (hrs): 20
Summary:
Band QSOs Zones Countries
------------------------------
160:
80:
40:
20: 1447 36 117
15:
10:
------------------------------
Total: 1447 36 117 Total Score = 492,048
Club: Rhein Ruhr DX Association
Comments:
Rig = TS-850 + 500W PA
Ant = KLM KT34XA on a 20m crank up tower
Software = N1MMLogger
WARNING: long story, but what a contest ? again!
Friday afternoon I did a quick check on 20m (I planned a SO SB 20m effort) and
worked almost 100 QSO?s in an hour with the tower not even cranked up! That
looked promising? It was rather stormy here, but the forecast said the winds
would settle down on Saturday. I had a chat with fellow contester ON4CCP about
how the WX always acts up during contest weekends ? little did we know about
what was still to come?
During the night there was snowstorm. The snow piled up against walls and
windows. When I got up Saturday, I still could not crank up the tower because of
the high winds, but I wanted to start with the beam at its lowest point, about
9m. Good for EU. I started at about 06.30utc and couldn?t hear a thing. I
touched the paddle and the amp tripped: high SWR. Bypassed the amp, I checked
the rig?s SWR meter? sky high! I stood up and took a look through the window. Oh
my? the KLM yagi?s elements were drooping: it was loaded with ice and the linear
loading bars and tubes were covered with huge amounts of snow. Add to that the
heavy winds that were still blowing and there was no way I could crank up that
tower ? and now not even use the beam with the tower retracted?
The beam was completely deaf and I couldn?t get it going with the amp?s tuner
nor barefoot, so I went downstairs and felt? enraged. The past week had been
chilly but blue skies and no winds. Murphy?s WX Manager does not like contests.
I was missing that morning?s JA opening and beyond? I looked at a stack of DVD?s
I still need to view and for a brief moment I thought of spending the weekend
watching some movies.
Some emails and phone calls later with other contesters and DXers and I was cool
again: I was not the only one. ON4MA @ OT5G has two KT?s and he suffered the
same ?temporary damage? because of the snow on the beam. Plus it seemed some
other folks had broken antenna parts; ice loaded wires and tubes combined with
strong wind gusts results in broken parts, so I considered myself not too
unlucky.
When it was about 10.30utc, I saw snow falling from the trees and the roofs; it
was melting. So I went into the shack, twisted the beam a bit to shake some snow
off and it looked a little better. I could also hear signals too! I checked SWR
and the amp didn?t trip anymore so I thought to make the best of it. My original
target was to beat my own WW SSB score: 324k with 1256 QSOs and maybe some more
mults? I lowered my target and set the limit to 1k QSO. Off I went? CQ! I
started working EU and UA9, no JA/VK/ZL anymore ? too late. And still too early
for USA. An occasional snow cloud caused high static levels which wiped out the
band: S9+20dB! Bummer!
Things were calm on the band and the wind had settled to acceptable speeds to
crank up the tower, so I went outside where almost lost some fingers and toes
with the freezing cold, cranked up the tower and defrosted my butt above the
stove before going to the shack again. I found a clear spot and the rate went up
? the log tells me I made a 100QSO sharp that first hour with the beam up high.
Things slowed down but then USA came through which resulted in an 123 hour
followed by a 107 hour. The rate dropped again but kept floating between 80 and
90 QSO?s per hour. At about 18.30utc I called it a day with 678 QSOs in the
log.
I started again on Sunday around 06.00utc. I could not hear much I didn?t work
before: some EU and UA, no DX. I launched a CQ to warm up and see what
happened. I?d try to keep this spot for when the band opened up and get crowdie.
Those two hours really went slow, so I did some S&P in between. I was unassisted
and wanted to make more mults (90cty and 30zn in SSB, I needed to top that now).
Still: not much mults this early so back to running.
At that time, our JA friends had turned their beams to EU ? I worked 78 JA?s in
two hours among others with a rate of 94 and 88 QSO/hr. This may seem nothing to
big guns but to me it?s quite a thrill. I confess: a couple of extra Watts in TX
really boost the QSO totals!!! I went on to pass the 1k QSO mark and the rate
was steadily between 60 and 80 with some calmer moments; I also had to QRT every
so often because rain and snow caused static so RX was nil.
I started thinking of my mults. No cluster, so I hoped they?d come to me (which
they did!) or I needed to sweep up and down to find them. There were some easy
countries which I knew would be on in the contest and would be easy to work.
Like Alaska for a double mult. With packet, you see one spotted, jump in the
pile up and hope to work it quickly. No packet, so? I am very grateful to KL7HF
who stopped by and gave me that double mult!
I made it to +1200 QSO?s and a good score, but I was exhausted. The rate slowed
down because I was in most of the logs but I didn?t feel like S&P again over
100kHz of spectrum to find those well hidden multipliers. I opened my browser,
and I don?t know why but I took a look at the Belgian record for the SO SB 20m
HP unassisted entry in WW CW. I had broken that record already at this point!
This gave me an energy boost: I needed to do way better so that I could hold
this new claimed record after log checking. So I went on to CQ with renewed
stamina although the 20m band was already closing. I pointed the VFO to 14000.00
and went up. There was a huge pile up but I didn?t hear whom it was. It was
tempting to look at the packet cluster, I admit. But I didn?t ? ham spirit and
fair play or bust! It was a chaotic pile. The DX was giving out zone 8. Not a
zone mult for sure, I worked a dozen zones 8, so? wait, it?s with a V? now I
knew where the prey was so I could tune in? VP2E for a country mult! OK, I
quickly pointed the beam a little lower the Central America, a couple of well
timed calls et voilà: a new country multiplier in the log.
The same scenario occurred a couple of kHz higher, only there was no sign of the
DX ? only a big messy pile up with stations calling randomly. I had nothing to
lose: the band was dead and I worked most DX there was so I could afford to
waste some time. Who was this? Nothing heard, except for stations working the
DX. Aaahhh, there a station signing ?VQ? de??. Must be a VQ9 then, so I whooped
the beam 180° and hoped the forward gain would pop up the DX out of the noise
and F/B would temper the loud USA signals. Bad luck, nothing to hear but the
pile up was vanishing. I gambled that it was indeed a VQ9 because that?s all I
copied from the calling station?s exchange, so my beam was set to that
direction. I found something weak that might be it. I gently adjusted to beam to
about 10 or 20 degrees off target? there it is: VQ9? no suffix copied. It is a
weak signal, and the pile up was reduced to an occasional caller. There he
goes.. ?VQ? 39?. Darn, no suffix. The signal popped out of the noise: VQ9JC. I
adjusted CW speed to 24WPM and threw in my call and there you go: bingo! Another
country mult, and a great way to end the contest. OO5ZO QRT!
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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