CQ Worldwide DX Contest, SSB
Call: VE7BZ
Operator(s): VE7BZ
Station: VE7BZ
Class: SOAB(A) HP
QTH: Cobble Hill, BC
Operating Time (hrs):
Summary:
Band QSOs Zones Countries
------------------------------
160: 0 0 0
80: 44 6 6
40: 0 0 0
20: 226 26 34
15: 358 17 30
10: 0 0 0
------------------------------
Total: 628 49 70 Total Score = 163,149
Club: British Columbia DX Club
Comments:
For a contest that started out with absolutely stinko conditions, I was
pleasantly surprised at the end result.
My first log entry on 20m was C50C which gave hope for band conditions, but
this hope was short lived as anything other than NA, JA and SA was a real
challenge. Too many minutes invested per QSO for the points gained -- but there
were no real alternatives in the early hours of the contest if you wanted the
mults. While 20m remained open well into darkness on Friday evening, it seemed
a struggle for each point.
During the day, Saturday was certainly more productive on 20m, but again
nothing to really get excited about. At SS, 80m showed promise, but it didn't
seem to take long to work all stations heard on the band and the runs were very
short. Sunday was when the conditions (at my station) really took a positive
turn! Band conditions on 20m were okay in the early afternoon, but the huge
surprise was how strong 15m proved to be right through to the end of the
contest.
Log entries on 15m -- at this point in the cycle, for us here is the Pacific
Northwest are relatively few and far between. Yes there are openings now and
then, but this opening during the contest was like the good old days on 15m.
For the last four and half hours of the contest the run never stopped or dried
up -- it was a constant flow with even a few nice surprises. Signal reports
from most stations in NA and SA indicated I was being very well heard, but one
of the surprises was being called by Michael, VP8NO who had a very nice
signal.
Periodically I asked the stronger 15m stations where they were located to get
an idea of the path / opening. The opening was definitely north south and it
held through to within 40 minutes of the end of the contest. Then just as it
came, it began to dry up but during the transition time at about 2315z the path
changed to JA and the Pacific. Even before the north south path really began to
close, I was being called by JA's off the back of the antenna. When the NA run
began to slow to a trickle, I switched to JA and the Pacific which produced
several new mults in the last 40 minutes of the contest. All in all, it was a
pleasant afternoon on 15m which is something that I've not been able to say for
a very long time. But such is life near the entrance to the sometimes black hole
of propagation here in the Pacific Northwest.
My thanks to each and every station that stopped by to give me the points --
you made the contest truly enjoyable.
73 de Paul, VE7BZ
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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