IARU HF World Championship
Call: VA7ST
Operator(s): VA7ST
Station: VA7ST
Class: SO CW HP
QTH: BC
Operating Time (hrs): 18
Summary:
Band CW Qs Ph Qs Zones HQ Mults
-------------------------------------
160: 1 1 0
80: 120 15 5
40: 169 19 8
20: 369 26 25
15: 36 6 5
10: 8 3 1
-------------------------------------
Total: 703 0 70 44 Total Score = 238,374
Club:
Comments:
Band QSOs Pts Sec HQ
1.8 1 3 1 0
3.5 120 350 15 5
7 169 525 19 8
14 369 1089 26 25
21 36 102 6 5
28 8 22 3 1
Total 703 2091 70 44
* FT920 + SB221 (400-800w)
* N1MM + MMTTY
* 3 ele. tribander @ 45'
* 40M half-squares (EU/Pac, US-VE/Asia)
* 80M 3/4-size delta loop (1 week old)
SFI=76, A=16>14, K=4>3.
Short report:
-------------
- EU only opened at 1 a.m. (0800z) and it was very weak
- 40M half-squares worked lots of Pacific and SA DX
- 80M delta loop worked great -- plenty of DX and NA
- Met goals for mults, not points or Qs
- High power keeps rate going, but only slightly more
productive overall than last year with 100W.
Long report:
------------
If you live in an area where Europe was workable on Saturday, rejoice. It
didn't happen here. The day before the contest I heard deep layers of EU
stations working North America in the afternoon and evening. Yet in the contest
only a few EU stations were heard all day on 20M. I turned the beam that way
every 15 minutes or so looking for a brief opening that just never happened.
Oneseys and twoseys only. If anyone in Zones 2 and 6 (left coast) did really
well this year, they get big kudos from me. Well done!
20M mults sat at 30 or so till 0700 (midnight local), when I found DA0, YT7 and
OL4 HQ stations -- on the edge of unworkable, but made it through. Then, just
after 1 a.m. (0800z), I heard very weak HG0, LX0, S50 and GM3 stations. Had to
use every trick in the book and every watt I could squeeze out of a pair of
3-500Zs to work them.
Went back to 20M at 0948Z (nearly 3 a.m.) to hear signals a bit louder, and
worked YR0, SN0, OM7, LY0, T90, LN2, SK9 HQ stations. That was pretty much all
there was from EU here, plus a small handful of non-HQ stations in the mix
(curious that virtually nothing other than HQs were heard here). So, the only
20M EU opening felt more like a poor 10M regional ground-wave opening. Didn't
think I'd come close to last year's 52 mults on 20M, but ended up with 51 after
all.
I had been reading recent contest reports of east-coast stations working EU on
15M, but have never heard a peep from EU myself, being so close to the auroral
oval. Being cheeky, while working a marginal NA 15M opening Saturday afternoon
I turned the beam north over the pole and called. Got two HQ stations and an
SP3 5-pointer, all out of the blue and down in the noise, but they were
complete shockers. Haven't worked EU on 15M in at least two years.
One of my personal goals in each contest is to top by previous year's totals on
each band. In this one, I raised the Q totals on all but 40M -- 169 this year,
235 last year though mults rose from 22 to 27. It was a conscious choise to
spent more time on 20M working the Pacific mults, taking away from 40M
3-pointer time in the mid-evening when there would be fewer mults to be found
there.
Have never run HP in this contest. Going from 100w to 400-800w made a
difference in rate and mults, but score increased only slightly from last year:
Year Qs Pts. Mult Score (claimed)
---------------------------------------
2007 703 2091 114 238,374 -- 40 HQ
2006 630 2012 96 193,152 -- 44 HQ
2005 267 843 42 35,406 -- 10 HQ
2004 462 1446 88 127,248
2003 181 31 17,019
2002 235 799 77 61,523 -- 27 HQ
Aimed for 110 mults, 1,000 Qs and 300,00 points -- hit only the mult target,
and it was very hard work (but fun).
Surprises included several VKs on 20M and 40M, and good DX from B.C. on 80M --
ZL4PW, PJ2, PY2, LW, YV5AJ, ZW5B, and FO5RH(!) on 80M (delta loop works).
Five-banders with K0RF, K6NA and LR4A. Four-banders with 13, including YV5AJ
and TI5N.
Conditions overall were pretty bad -- SFI=76, A=16>14, K=4>3. Had hoped for
flux to hit 80+ but it didn't happen. Sun spot count was "elevated" at 41 by
the end, but no benefit observed. I am confident we've turned a corner, though,
and may see improving conditions by the fall contest season. It can't get worse.
Hmmm. I've said that before through these many months of the bottom.
Looking forward to casual CW and RTTY contesting for the summer. See everyone
on the bands!
-- Bud, VA7ST
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
______________________________________________
3830 mailing list
3830@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/3830
|