CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW
Call: KR2Q
Operator(s): KR2Q
Station: KR2Q
Class: SOSB/10 QRP
QTH: NJ fn20ru
Operating Time (hrs): 22.75
Summary:
Band QSOs Zones Countries
------------------------------
160:
80:
40:
20:
15:
10: 555 31 118
------------------------------
Total: 555 31 118 Total Score = 237,357
Club:
Comments:
WOW…what a great time! So much FUN!!
So last year, Hurricane Sandy took out my main tower and antennas. Luckily,
the insurance came through, my replacement tower and antennas arrived, and are
now assembled. But sadly, everything is still on the ground. Some bad timing.
A day before the contest, I was emailing with NN4X, W5OV, K2TTT, and KU2M
(former ops with me at K2GL M/M) and Steve said, "Well, you still have
your 2L home brew quad at 50 feet, so why not try mono 10m qrp?" So
that’s what I did.
MY QRP CONTEST STORY
My first QSO didn’t go into the log until 1155z on day 1. Well, I did make
around 50 Qs on 20m starting at 0z, because I couldn’t stand the idea of
being ready and not making any QSOs. My first 10m QSO was LZ9W, who had a HUGE
signal, while the rest of the band seemed virtually dead. Nice job from LZ.
I spent 11.25 hours on 10m for day 1, ending up with 313 QSOs �" that
is,
the first 24 hours of the contest. It was 100% S+P by tuning the band.
I made 9 QSOs from 1155z �" 1217z, tuning from the bottom up to
28117.
From 1227z on 28004 up to 28193 at 1501z, I made 139 QSOs. My best RATE was 61
in a clock hour.
Then back down to 28001 at 1513z and up to 28109 at 1651z, another 56 QSOs.
Remember, this is QRP!
So that was mostly how it went for day one. From the bottom, head up to the
top, then repeat.
On day 2, my first QSO was at 1153 with OK5T. I ended up making 243 contacts
on Sunday.
I changed my style a bit on day 2 and decided to attempt to run. It was fun
while it lasted.
Running on 28110, I made 58 QSOs in 44 minutes. Then I got QRMed and moved.
Running on 28131, I made 28 QSOs in 26 minutes. Then I got QRMed and moved.
Running on 28137, I made 12 QSOs in 14 minutes. Well, that was enough. Time
to S+P.
I ended the contest at 2321z by calling CQ and being answered by K3OO. Don’t
ask me!
I spent 11.5 hours on day 2, for a total QRP contest effort of 22.75 hours.
FUN STUFF �" especially for QRP from NJ
Working 4 zone 27 stations!
Working 7 JAs on day 1. And just when I think that day 2, with a dropping
flux, will not provide any more zone 25s, the band seems to POP and I work 6
JAs in 7 minutes and then, just as quickly, they drop out into the noise.
Timing is everything �" well, next to location.
No VKs on day 1, but on day 2, I find two VK2s. However, both have very large
pileups and, despite checking back to their QRGs multiple times, I can’t work
them. So, feeling depressed about missing the double mult, I tune up the band
only to find a VK7 with only 1 caller. HAPPY!
Near the end of the contest, I find someone sending zone 39, which I still
need. But no call sign yet. Then he sends 5R8 and I start calling.
Wow…super big pileup. How will I ever crack this? After listening to his
style for a minute, I tune my XIT down 200 cycles and BANG, I’m in the log.
It never ceases to amaze me how many guys want to use brute force instead of
finesse to snag a needed one.
I also needed TI and on day 2, I found him. But the pileup was literally
impossible. No TRICKS worked this time. N1MM flagged him on my band map and I
kept checking, but NIL. Finally, I checked again, but the pileup and TI
station, were gone. Oh well. Being QRP, I get used to that. But as I’m
tuning the band again, I run into…the TI station with hardly any callers.
HAPPY!
On day 1, as the sun was setting in NJ, I ran into a pair of zone 19 guys,
which would be a mult for me. But no matter what I did, I could not get
through. But on day 2, just before 2200z, I find one of them again
�"
and he has almost no callers. In fact, when I call, I am the only caller. IN
THE LOG! HAPPY!
CONCLUSION
So after the contest, I decided to see how I compared to the USA record, set
back in 2000. As best as I can tell, I missed the record by 11 QSOs. Who
knew? But conditions were great, so perhaps someone else was successful. And
besides, I had way more fun than I ever expected. A new record would have been
icing on the cake �" but I really like cake, even without icing. And
I
did set a record, of sorts, by working 118 country mults, which is more than
any other USA station on monoband 10m has ever done. So maybe I got a little
bit of icing.
S/W: N1MM (love it!)
RIG: Elecraft K3/10
ANT: Home brewed 2L pentaquad from ARRL antenna book up 55 feet, overlooking
the roof of my house.
Great Accessory: Elecraft P3. Shameless plug: This band scope, for what you
get in the box, is one of the world’s biggest rip-offs. But for contesting,
it is worth every penny. There is just no other way that I could actually see
100kc of the band at a time and instantly see what’s what and get there with
a push of a single button. Most of the time, for 10m, I used the 50kc span.
It was just great. It allows me jump across large frequency gaps in under a
second, not wasting time CAREFULLY TUNING over completely dead air. Just see
the signal �" as in �" above 28100 �" and BANG,
you are where
you need to be �" with the QSO in your log and no wasted time blindly
tuning around. My continuing sincere thanks to VE1RGB who convinced me
�" years ago �" to buy this essential tool for contesting.
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