CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW
Call: K4RO
Operator(s): K4RO
Station: K4RO
Class: SOAB HP
QTH: TN
Operating Time (hrs): 31
Radios: SO2R
Summary:
Band QSOs Zones Countries
------------------------------
160: 39 11 24
80: 117 13 44
40: 399 21 71
20: 430 32 80
15: 508 27 73
10: 615 26 84
------------------------------
Total: 2108 130 376 Total Score = 2,982,870
Club: Tennessee Contest Group
Comments:
Sometimes it just doesn't all work out. This was going to be the Big One.
I was all re-built and raring to go. Conditions were good enough that I
could run most of the time, which is a whole different ball game. I also
had an "I'm gonna run as much as possible" mentality that I've never really
had before in a DX contest as a single op from TN. At the 23-hour mark I
was almost at 2-million, which was about TWICE as good as I'd ever done
before.
My mind was right, the station was working, and I was in the flow big time.
Then my top rotator broke. Instead of plowing on ahead as I should have done,
I decided to stop and try to fix it. I spent a couple of hours going through
different control boxes, measuring voltages and resistances, banging on the
tower with a rubber mallet in the rain. Nothing worked. The brake solenoid
would not make a sound, and the antenna was stuck solid. This was definitely
the low point of the contest for me. In my mind, I NEEDED that antenna on
Europe for the next day, no matter what. The fact that it was night didn't
matter. The constant winds and rain didn't matter. The fact that I hadn't
slept for 35 hours didn't matter. The fact that I might DIE trying to fix
it didn't matter. Fortunately, Susie was home, and with a strong will, talked
me out of doing something really stupid. That was the end of the competitive
contest for me. The wind was gone from my sails, and I could not get my mind
back into the competition.
After several hours of sleep, I came back to the radio. I came back to the
rig.
This was the big CQWW CW contest, and we had SUNSPOTS for crying out loud!
And even with a broken rotator and no chance of recovering the momentum I
had the first half, I STILL LOVE TO OPERATE. So I just sat down and pretty
much kept running 'em until the contest was over. I didn't hit the second
radio at all the second day. I just watched football games and ran stations,
with just a few S&P passes when the multiplier count looked way too anemic.
I'm guessing that 4 million was well within reach if I'd just stayed at it
after the rotator failure. Oh well, at least I got to watch my Pittsburgh
Steelers win their game after the contest was over.
My next step -- get up there in the next 10 days somehow and replace that
rotator before the ARRL Ten Meter contest.
73, Kirk K4RO
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
|