CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW
Call: PZ5T
Operator(s): VE3DZ
Station: PZ5RA
Class: SOAB HP
QTH: Paramaribo
Operating Time (hrs): 47.3
Radios: SO2R
Summary:
Band QSOs Zones Countries
------------------------------
160: 102 15 32
80: 435 20 64
40: 1077 30 93
20: 1675 38 124
15: 1812 38 118
10: 2558 33 118
------------------------------
Total: 7659 174 549 Total Score = 16,334,739
Club: Contest Club Ontario
Comments:
Travel time from VE3 to PZ: 19 hours (Toronto - Charlotte, NC - Miami, FL -
Aruba - Paramaribo).
Arrived in Paramaribo early morning (1 A.M.) on Tuesday.
Set a full SO2R station, however decided to myself to follow KISS principle:
maximize one radio (run! run!) performance and use 2nd radio only when rates
drop down and/or as a spare.
Again - no RX antenna for 160. Played with short beverage on Thursday, but it
did not work properly. Probably because it is too close to transmitting
antenna.
Noise was pretty strong at times on 15 an 10, but as usual, K3's Noise Blanker
did its job. Otherwise K3's I did not like K3's AGC in the huge pile-ups. Seems
like older YEASU radios behave netter in the similar situations.
Lowlight: A/C broke on Friday afternoon. Could not be fixed until next week's
Monday after the Contest. Ended up operating with 2 fans blowing in my back.
Got bitten badly by mosquitos (it is the beginning of rainy season in
Suriname), because srupidly left the ouside door open on Friday, but did not
even realize it until the middle of the contest that I have at least a dozen
bites on each leg (too concentrated with the pile-up!).
The pile-ups. Constant, huge and unruly at times. Had to go with split (which I
hate to do) 2 or 3 times, otherwise it would've been a constant mess of
(hundreds?) endlessly calling stations. Imagine 9 A.M., you have a 200+ EU run
and you realize you want to go to washroom. But the pile-up is so incredible...
Then around 12 P.M. you suddenly realize that you wanted to go to washroom badly
3 hours ago. :-) Not good, I guess. :-)
Also, sometimes some of the guys had so poor CW sending that every time there
were trying to send the call sign, they ended up with a different one. :-)
Come on guys, there are lots of regular electronic keyers for sale at the local
flea markets!
"Constant calling disease" (I love the term). Though could be in very serios
form, like almost every disease it can be cured (good ops know how).
Staying awake for 48 hours is completely different experience, deserves
separate and detailed comment. I won't bother you with details. It's been
awhile since I managed to stay awake the whole Contest (3? 4 years ago?). I
think I know why top guys never share their experience on this subject... All
in all I only lost about 40 minutes out of 48 hours on cold showers, other
tricks and "health breaks ".
Got my usual "moments" on Sunday early morning when I was going asleep in front
of the keyboard for few seconds (minutes?) so I apologize to all affected.
Agressively moving mults is the only way to raise multipliers total in the
opration like this. That's why you need 2nd radio and/or automatic PA. "BIG-BIG
THANKS!" to all who moved for me. Especially to those who were doing Single Band
effort but went extra mile just to help me
(Ollie - you are a good man!). To some guys' surprise I managed to move few of
them to as many as 5 bands at a time! Again, THANKS, GUYS! (Too many calls to
mention). I appreaciate it very much. Had quite a few 6-banders. Cudos to RU1A
- they were my 1st 6-bander, despite being from Northern Europe. We
accomplished last band by 11:57 UTC on Saturday!
Thank you all for the QSOs! Another "high day" of this year is history. Made
over 16,000 QSOs in this year's SSB/CW Contests combined. See you all next
year!
Many thanks to Ramon PZ5RA and his wife Ernestine for taking good care of me
before, during and after the Contest! Ramon is a great host and true
gemtleman.
This was my personal best in this Contest. And again, this could not be done
without huge support of Ramon and his family.
Congrats to NH2T (N2NL) for great score from Oceania, P40F (R5GA) for his first
big effort from the Carribean and as usual to W2GD and 8P5A!
Travel time from PZ to VE3: 17 hours (Paramaribo - Aruba - Miami - Toronto).
Equipment: a pair of K3's, ACOM2000 (not the "A", 1 kW), TL922 (at 500 W).
Antennas: Mosley PRO67A (40-10), Tennadyne Log Periodic (20-10), Dipole for 80
m and half sloper for 160.
RigExpert Plus and RigExpert SD USB Interafces, N1MM Logging Program (it still
has problems with PTT while in SO2R mode using USB Interfaces!)
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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