CQWW WPX Contest, CW
Call: WB5AAR
Operator(s): N5RZ
Station: N5RZ
Class: SOSB20 HP
QTH:
Operating Time (hrs): 34.5
Summary:
Band QSOs
------------
160:
80:
40:
20: 1452
15:
10:
------------
Total: 1452 Prefixes = 691 Total Score = 1,723,354
Club:
Comments:
My first full effort in this one in a long time.
Condx mediocre, but still lots of fun and good activity. Power line noise to
the east, south & west was pretty bad due to the extremely dry, windy, dusty &
hot condx we have had over the past few months. I have been listening to it get
progressively worse since the first of the year when it was practically
non-existent. Not much use in trying to get it fixed until we get some rain.
Only 0.15 inches of precipitation since last September. Luckily, when beaming
EU the noise is almost gone - S1-S2, but enough to mask the weak ones. I put
up a 20M dipole E/W to tee in with the TH6DXX, but it introduced too much noise
to use very much. Had constant 30 MPH winds gusting to 45-50 MPH all weekend
with 100+ degree temps really aggravating things. Also, lots of static
discharge in the air here due to dust static and low humidity. When the wind
really kicks up, I see 1/2 inch discharge sparks from some antennas at the
shack bulkhead due to sand static, so I shorted all the coaxes from unused
antennas with alligator clips at the bulkhead. Good ole West Texas!
Hoping to get some bigger antennas up soon, but lot of logistics problems
getting there. Can't even get a cement truck out into the field because the
sandy ground is so loose. Even the farmer has trouble getting his tractor
around at times.
ThanKS to all the stateside & Canadian stns for helping keep the rate up during
slow times. Missed 1.5 hours, but the band was only useful for the 34.5 hours I
was on.
Had some small runs into EU, and a great JA run Friday night/Saturday morning.
Saturday afternoon, evening & Sunday were much better into EU than early on, but
I don't have the horsepower to run DX too well.
I set up a new computer this week with LP-Pan, and using two screens with that
and N1MM software. Was interesting to watch the signals go up and down
visually across the band as condx changed. I need to work on my Winkey
settings to try to get the CW sending sounding a little better. When using the
internal Keyer in the K3 & the K3 memories, it sounds fine. The WB5AAR callsign
is sometimes tough to get thru, even without the poor computer generated CW
choppiness. A project to work on.
Rig: Elecraft K3 + Alpha 99.
Antennas: TH6DXX @ 50', and E/W inverted Vee @ 45'
N1MM Software using the SO2V function, and LP-Pan.
Thanks to all for the QSO's
Praying for rain!
73, Gator
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