CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW
Call: K8CC
Operator(s): K8BB, K8CC, K8MM, KK8I
Station: K8CC
Class: M/S HP
QTH: MI
Operating Time (hrs): 48
Summary:
Band QSOs Zones Countries
------------------------------
160: 75 19 65
80: 332 29 105
40: 504 36 125
20: 1097 37 139
15: 635 29 125
10: 50 20 49
------------------------------
Total: 2693 170 608 Total Score = 5,815,550
Club: Mad River Radio Club
Comments:
Station:
2 x FT-1000Ds
160 PT-2500A 140' shunt fed tower, 500' 2-wire beverage NE/SW
80 Henry 2K-3 Wire four-square, dipole at 110'
40 4-1000A 3L @ 120', dipole @ 80'
20 3-1000Z 5L/5L @ 120'/60', 204BA @ 80'
15 3-1000Z 5L/5L/5L @ 141'/94'/47', PV-4 @ 60'
10 2 x 3-500Z 5L/5L/5L @ 90'/60'/30'
It was, as they say, an "interesting" weekend. The first night everything
above 40M was dead, 40M was simply not runnable for DX and as K8BB put it, "The
entire world is on 80 and 160 meters".
We felt very inhibited by our latitude on 40M the first night. Shorty 40s in
AZ were kicking our butts to Africa most of the evening and we could not get a
CQ answered by a DX station until EU sunrise. We finished the first night with
more QSOs and countries on 80M than any other band.
Due to a combination of inadequate recruiting on my part along with the
Thanksgiving holiday, we wound up with only three ops (Uli, Don and myself).
This is just not enough to keep fresh ops at the key in a CQWW multi-single
with the mult transmitter. Fortunately, Ian/K8MM came by late Saturday
afternoon and stayed until Sunday morning. The operating chairs were never
left empty, but having fresh ops over the course of the weekend was one area
where I think we could improve.
On a happier note, 20M Saturday morning was arguably the best 20 CW opening
we've ever had at K8CC. Don wedged in on 14047.6 and then I took over with
some of the fastest CW running I've ever done from here. It's a great feeling
- a steady stream of callers while seemingly possessing the ability to brush
aside QRM at will. This was the second DX outing for the new 5L 44' booms at
120'/60' (the other test being NU1AW/8) and the results seem pretty good. I
can't wait to add five 45G sections and another beam next summer.
15M was not very good for us, again we believe because of being further north
and west than some of our competition. We had only one 100+ hour on 15 all
weekend, although the band was runnable for the usual durations.
My favorite moment from the weekend came on 80 CW early Sunday morning. I had
just finished working WH0S easily when a spot came through for AH2R a couple
KHz away. I QSY'd to the frequency which was absolute bedlam. AH2R actually
had a pretty good signal, S7 on the FT-1000D s-meter. However, the pileup
would not stop calling and eventually AH2R simply stopped. It took about three
minutes for the pileup to eventually wind down and the frequency was quiet. As
I was describing the situation to KK8I (who was trying to run EU on 40 at the
"run" station) out of the 3.5 MHz ether I hear a single "CQ AH2R". A quick
punch of the F4 key, and what was arguably the most QRM-free QSO of the weekend
(OK, so that doesn't include 28 MHz...) went into the log. Three minutes later,
the frequency was bedlam again.
We got INRAD roofing filters and the W8JI noise blanker mods in the two main
FT-1000Ds before SS CW, and these seemed to make a huge improvement during this
past weekend, particularly on 40. As K8BB commented, "Before, everyone sounded
clicky now only the truly clicky stations sound that way".
Everything ran pretty well. Discovered that the middle 5L 10M yagi would not
rotate late Saturday and the wiring to the 10M WX0B StackMatch had been
crossed. Got those fixed Sunday afternoon, but the problems really weren't of
much effect.
Congratulations to the team at K8AZ for a really FB job from this weekend.
73,
Dave
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