ARRL DX Contest, SSB
Call: W6QU
Operator(s): W8QZA
Station: W8QZA
Class: SOAB QRP
QTH: San Diego, CA
Operating Time (hrs): 27.6
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
160: 0 0
80: 3 3
40: 22 9
20: 84 48
15: 147 52
10: 282 78
-------------------
Total: 538 190 Total Score = 306,660
Club: Southern California Contest Club
Comments:
Station:
Radio- Elecraft K-2 (5 Watts)
Antennas:
10-15-20 3 el SteppIR up 32 feet
40-80 Butternut HF-2V with 3 radials
-------------------------------------
Conditions were good on Saturday and even better on Sunday.
Being a QRP station, I never have much trouble with "Murphy" in the
contests, ...there is not very much to fail. But my worst fears happened on
Sunday morning when the SWR suddenly jumped on 10, 15, and 20 M. We had just
had our first rain storm in a year and I could visualize the water leaking into
all the dried out gaskets and ruining the stepper motors. However, after
"homing" the elements a couple of times and hearing an awful noise
coming from the motors, it suddenly started working again. Bless those
engineers at SteppIR!!
My best Q of the contest was when I decided to try CQing at the very end. Being
a QRP station in CA, I almost never CQ. A couple JA stations delighted me by
calling me. Then, incredibly, 9W6ZUL called me with about 2 minutes left! I
often struggle to work even a single 9M6 in a contest, so it was a thrill I
will never forget.
The other great Q was finding FR4NT under heavy QRM on 10 M on Sunday and
working him! It was also fun to get 3V8BB on 20 and 10. I was able to pick up
a number of eastern Europeans on 20 meters late each evening, a path that is not
often open from here for QRP.
My biggest disappointment was in not being able to work OD5ZZ or TC3P who had
powerful signals at times on 20 but just could not hear my QRP signal.
My DXCC was 88 after adding in W and VE and WAZ was 28 after adding in zones 3
and 4. I did not have to add zone 5 because VP9/W6PH ALWAYS manages to hear my
call no matter how big the pile up on him. And he even graciously offered to
QSY to 15 on Sunday where I still needed him! TKS Kurt!!
35% of my Qs were in Europe which is very decent for me. 20% of my Qs were with
JA.
There always seem to be thrills in every DX contest and I guess that is what
keeps us going. I am getting more sleep now that I am 74 and got 4.5 hours the
first night and 6.0 the second night. It certainly makes the entire contest
more pleasant and works better than Provigil...
See you in WPX SSB. Bill W8QZA / W6QU
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