ARRL DX Contest, CW
Call: K1LT
Operator(s): K1LT
Station: K1LT
Class: SOAB HP
QTH: Ohio EM89ps
Operating Time (hrs): 41
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
160: 83 37
80: 131 63
40: 354 74
20: 623 80
15: 947 85
10: 693 84
-------------------
Total: 2831 423 Total Score = 3,583,656
Club: Mad River Radio Club
Comments:
At the beginning of this contest, I didn't have any goal and I was
questioning my motivation. After the first couple of hours, I felt
much more like doing my best. So the goal became to beat last year's
score. Sometime during the first night I resolved to spend more time
CQing and less time tuning for multipliers. Also, I saw that a CME
was expected, so I thought I might try to emphasis the high bands a
little more than normal.
I started on 10 meters and worked my way down doing a "first time on
this band" scan for each band. 10 and 15 were both good enough that I
spent several hours there, including about an hour running on 15. 20
was not so interesting, although the band was open to everywhere. 40
was quiet so after tuning for 60 kHz, I CQed for half an hour. Its
kind of cool to work all continents in less than an hour, partly by
CQing, with only a vertical! By the time I got done tuning 80, I was
pressed for time, so I skipped CQing and went to 160 slightly late for
the magical 0500-0700Z window. After tuning, I tried CQing but that
didn't last long. One more pass across each of 80 and 40 found me
getting into that weird sleepy state where I find myself zoned out in
front of the radio when I'm supposed to turn the knob. So at 0739Z,
with 538 QSOs and 174 multipliers, I slept for 3 hours.
At 1052 I got back on the radio and rotated through the low bands but
didn't CQ. I was hoping to see more Asia and Oceania than I did.
Nevertheless, YJ, 9V, and KH2 are new 40 meter band countries for me.
After sunrise, I think I played the contest pretty typically. On each
band, I searched and pounced. When I found a potential hole, I would
CQ. The morning runs would last about 90 minutes, and then the
spot-bursts would get less frequent until I decided to tune again. I
rotated through 10, 15 and 20 trying to maximize time on the higher
frequencies (in case of CMEs) and to make sure I scanned each band at
least once. After about 1900Z the rate would get low enough that
tuning seemed to be the only way to make contacts. Saturday I stayed
on the high bands until about 0300Z. Saturday night the low bands
were much less productive, although CQing on 160 lasted about 45
minutes.
When zombie mode started to occur around 0730Z I slept 3 hours again
although the process took 3 and a half hours. The sunrise low bands
were not very productive. Just before sunrise I repeated the rotation
thing on the high bands, although the runs ran down quicker than on
Saturday. Sunday afternoon I ran on 40 starting at 2230Z which lasted
about an hour. I spent the last 30 minutes of the contest hunting for
multipliers. I found a couple of Central American stations and
snagged DP1POL as my last contact and my last multiplier at 2359Z.
That's a nice way to end the contest.
The usual Sunday afternoon huge pileup bonanza of typically African
and Oceania multipliers did not materialize this year. That and fewer
contacts on 160 knocked the multiplier tally down about 5%. On the
other hand, by CQing more I made about 15% more QSOs. I set a new
record for myself.
The surprise multiplier was XW0YJY long path at 1917Z on 20. The
surprise not-a-multiplier was VK6HG at 2241 on 40 meters while running
Europe. He wasn't a multiplier because I had already worked VK the
night before. I only heard and worked JW/DL5CW once. I hope he QSLs
via LoTW.
DX worked: 3V, 4J, 4O, 4X, 5B, 6W, 6Y, 9A, 9K, 9L, 9M6, 9V, A6, BV,
BY, C6, CE, CE9, CM, CN, CT, CT3, CU, CX, D4, DL, E7, EA, EA6, EA8,
EI, ER, ES, EU, F, FG, FY, G, GD, GI, GM, GW, HA, HB, HC, HI, HK, HL,
I, IS, J3, JA, JW, KH2, KH6, KL, KP2, KP4, LA, LU, LX, LY, LZ, OA, OE,
OH, OK, OM, ON, OZ, P4, PA, PJ2, PJ4, PJ5, PY, S5, SM, SP, SU, SV,
SV9, TF, TI, UA, UA2, UA9, UN, UR, V2, V3, VK, VP2E, VP5, VP9, XE, XW,
YB, YJ, YL, YN, YO, YS, YU, YV, Z3, ZF, ZL, and ZS for a total of 109
DXCC entities, not counting K and VE.
Equipment: K3, P3, Alpha 8410 with extra fans to suppress the internal
blower; Cushcraft X7 at 60 feet; Cushcraft A3S at 30 feet; 40 meter
vertical with 32 32-foot radials on the ground; 80 meter "cage"
wires
around the 65 foot 160 meter "T" antenna with 70 125-foot radials on
the ground; and receive antennas and phased arrays and stuff.
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
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