ARRL DX Contest, CW
Call: WO1N
Operator(s): WO1N
Station: WO1N
Class: SOAB(A) LP
QTH: MA
Operating Time (hrs): 29
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
160: 0 0
80: 166 61
40: 205 80
20: 613 99
15: 165 74
10: 36 27
-------------------
Total: 1185 341 Total Score = 1,209,186
Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club
Comments:
Rig : FT1000D, C3-SS@38', R7, 80 Vert Dipole, N1MM
Soapbox :
I like fellow YCCC'er N8RA's description for this contest effort. I had set it
to "Yellow", like N8RA, that is semi-serious, hit it hard but take breaks as
needed. Maybe 1500Q's would be do-able if 10 opens. This was primarily
because I was down my versatile DX-LB antenna from last years effort. It's been
up and down over the years, but this year we had a big windstorm sometime in
December. It survived the overnight blow, but came down sometime during the
daylight hours. This was just before the winter started in earnest and though I
was able to salvage all of the pieces before they got covered in 3' of snow it
sits rolled up in the garage waiting to be repaired. That meant 40 could be
a disaster and the usual dozen mults on 160 would be out of reach.
A not well thought out band strategy said hit 20M for deep Pacific or Asia
mults, move to 40M for a sweep with the trusty R7 vertical and then hit 80 hard
for the rest of the night. 20M was a bit disappointing, mostly Carribean/South
America and one JA. I moved to 40 and it was playing unbelievably well. 1st
call contacts, everyone was hearing me. Ended up spending 2.5 hours S&P before
I finally moved to 80M and at that point it felt like I was too late to 80.
Could not get a run going that was worth anything unlike last year. Eu dried up
by 0600Z. Meanwhile mother nature was raging outside. Pretty much missed the
lightning storm that came through the area. Wind gusts were in the 40-50 MPH
range. No major issues, however. Spent another hour or so doing some DXing then
took a 2 hour break, on for another 2 hours then a 3 hour break which caused me
to miss any opportunity for Eu on 15M.
This is when the real interesting stuff started to happen. Checked out the
antenna's while brewing a pot of coffee Saturday morning. Everything survived.
Great! Spent the morning and afternoon rowing 20, 15 and 10. Finally went to
40M about 2200Z. While sweeping up the band ES5RR says please work them on 80M.
Its getting dusk, so I say what the heck, I'll give them a shot. Switch bands, I
hear them on the R7. That's a good sign. Move the antenna switch to the 80M
Verticle Dipole and their signal drops. Huh? Must be 'cause I haven't kicked in
the tuner yet. It loads up, but they just CQ in my face. Ah well, its early yet.
Back to 40M. About 3 minutes later my daughter comes walking in the shack and
says "Dad, why is your antenna on the ground?". Grrrr. Survived the overnight
blow only to come down during the day, just like the DX-LB earlier in the
year.
At this point even 1000Q's seemed doubtful. Decided to go semi-hard to
midnight local, take a good overnight sleep break and get to 20 right before
sunrise. Alarms all worked. Didn't lose any more antennae. Coffee was fresh and
strong, so I started at it. It took two serious attempts to find a productive
spot on 20M, but the 2nd spot was a huge winner. I was looking at last 10
frequently over 225 and it even hit 305 once. That was good for a 3 hour run of
73/113/94 and pretty much guaranteed 1000Q's.
That sums it up...lowlights followed by highlights. N1MM says 29 hours
operating. 10 was a disappointment. 15 probably could have been more productive
if I was more serious about it. Huge JA opening on 20 at the end but I couldn't
hear any of the HL's. I need to be better prepared next time around....
CU in the next one,
Ken
WO1N
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
|