IARU HF World Championship
Call: W1NN
Operator(s): W1NN
Station: W1NN
Class: SO CW LP
QTH: Ohio
Operating Time (hrs): 24
Summary:
Band CW Qs Ph Qs Zones HQ Mults
-------------------------------------
160: 40 6 4
80: 181 16 11
40: 335 23 22
20: 386 31 33
15: 128 15 21
10: 43 6 6
-------------------------------------
Total: 1113 0 97 97 Total Score = 593,446
Club: Mad River Radio Club
Comments:
The IARU has always been one of my favorites. I like the 24-hour format and I
especially like the fact that the contest begins at 8AM where I live in Ohio.
Contests beginning in the late afternoon or evening pretty much guarantee that
youâ??re going to feel tired for a good portion of the event, whereas for the
IARU the pain only lasts for about the last five hours.
I also like the work everyone format. A modest low power station in Ohio like
mine has little chance of competing with a better equipped station in New
England, but to some extent the format of this event gives such a station a
chance of doing reasonably well by doing a good job of seeking out multipliers
and by working lots of one- and three-point stations.
I came down with a cold just before the 2010 event and could only operate a few
hours, so I was especially anxious to put in a full effort this year. I even
put up the Cushcraft tribander that K8AZ loaned to me last Fall for
Sweepstakes. It goes on a temporary fiberglass mast supported at the top by a
rope in the trees. It is only up about 37 feet and was fixed toward EU but it
performed considerably better toward EU than my dipoles. I was really hoping
for good conditions on 10 and 15 where the tribander should perform better than
on 20, but, as many have pointed out, conditions were disappointing. But these
bands were not completely dead and many multipliers were available, including
some EU on 10 meters. Low band conditions also could have been much worse.
There were no thunderstorms in the area and QRN levels were not bad for summer.
For me the first 10-12 hours are pretty much S&P on the high bands looking
especially for mults. The rate for the first ten hours was exactly 40 per
hour, so this certainly was not a rate fest. EU signals on 20 became much
stronger after 2200Z and for an hour or so I was able to run at a modest pace.
After the first 12 hours I had exactly 500 contacts, or 45% of my total
contacts. Rates for me are alwasy better on the low bands, but the average
points-per-contact was much higher on the high bands.
After the QSY to 40 at 0000Z, I was able to hold a frequency and watch the rate
meter take off, but of course these are mostly one- and three-point contacts.
Still, after putting up with rates in the 30â??s and 40â??s, it feels good to
have a few 80+ hours.
For some reason my 40 meter mult total was only 45 this year compared with 61
in 2009, but I did much better on the other five bands so I ended up with 194
compared with 167 last time.
I have to say that the teams who operated the ARRL and IARU stations this year
did an outstanding job. These stations were easy to find and easy to work. I
managed to work both of them on all six bands.
Only two other stations made it into my six-band list: VE1RGB (who kindly
QSYed from 80 for me â?" thanks Gary) and N0NI. Five-banders were achieved
with VE3EJ, N5DX, W2GD, NA4K, WT1T, N6WM, VA1CHP, K0EJ, TM0HQ and EF8HQ.
The station here consists of a single K3, separate dipoles at around 50 feet
for 20, 40, 80 and 160, plus the above-mentioned tribander fixed toward Europe.
It was much fun. Thanks to everyone for the contacts and thanks to the
sponsors for a great event.
73, Hal W1NN
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
|