ARRL DX Contest, CW
Call: W6QU
Operator(s): W8QZA
Station: W8QZA
Class: SOAB QRP
QTH: San Diego, CA
Operating Time (hrs): 42
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
160: 0 0
80: 32 17
40: 70 28
20: 120 44
15: 92 35
10: 19 8
-------------------
Total: 333 132 Total Score = 131,868
Club:
Comments:
Rig: Yaesu FT-817 (5 Watts out)
Antennas:
1. SteppIR 3 el yagi up 32 feet (for 10, 15 and 20)
2. Butternut HF-2V Vertical (for 40 and 80)
3. DX-LB up 30 ft (for 160)
========================================================
Conditions were pretty much what we can expect for what is probably the bottom
of the sunspot cycle. 10 meters only supplied me with 19 Qs, and I had to keep
a very careful watch on that band to even get that out of it!
I was surprised to find that in the last several hours of the contest, I would
make a sweep of 15 or 20 Meters to find that I had already worked every station
that had a half way decent signal. And CQing at QRP levels with the W6QU call
just doesn't work well! So despite my best efforts, my rate dropped to 4 or 5
an hour during that time.
The SteppIR worked nicely as a contest antenna for someone who doesn't have
room to put up a second antenna. It works very well at those times where there
is propagation to Asia as well as to South and Central America. Instead of
multiple rotations of 180 degrees or more, simply use the reverse pattern
feature and you save a lot of time and also a lot of wear on the rotator.
But it was still a great thrill to work so much DX with 5 watts at the bottom
of the sunspot cycle! I had Worked All Continents on each 40, 20 and 15
meters, and five continents on 80.
I was amazed at how well the Butternut HF-2V worked on my small city lot. I
bought it primarily to use on 80 meters at the suggestion of my long time
friend Phil, N0KE. It seems to be a full 1 to 2 S units better than the low
DX-LB trap dipole I had been using for about 10 years. I was amazed to finally
have the Carribean come back to my calls on 80 meters, and even worked into
Africa bagging EF8M and CN3A on their gray line. It also works well on 40, as
you can see from the numbers. But where I used to have 3 or 4 Qs on 80 meters
after two nights work, I had an amazing 32 Qs with more countries than I had
worked on 80 over the last 15 years!
I slept 1 1/2 hours the first night, and 1 1/2 hours the second night. I took
two hours during a relatively dead period to eat a decent dinner and clean up
on Saturday night. I added in another hour off for miscellaneous stuff for a
total 6 hours off.
...if only I didn't need to sleep or eat! 73, Bill Parker W8QZA qrp
P.S. Anyone know of a good 160 antenna for a small city lot?! The stats above
show how well my present one is working!
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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