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[3830] CQWW CW WX0B(AD5Q) SOAB HP

To: 3830@contesting.com
Subject: [3830] CQWW CW WX0B(AD5Q) SOAB HP
From: webform@b4h.net
Reply-to: ad5q@arrl.net
Date: Thu, 04 Dec 2014 12:21:02 +0000
List-post: <3830@contesting.com">mailto:3830@contesting.com>
                    CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW

Call: WX0B
Operator(s): AD5Q
Station: WX0B

Class: SOAB HP
QTH: Dallas
Operating Time (hrs): 46:18
Radios: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Zones  Countries
------------------------------
  160:   44    13       27
   80:  230    22       63
   40: 1102    30       92
   20:  719    35      100
   15:  767    33      102
   10: 1139    32      109
------------------------------
Total: 4401   165      492  Total Score = 7,396,578

Club: DFW Contest Group

Comments:

Last year was a personal best. I finally broke over 3000 Q's, but wasn't
satisfied. During the contest I could tell that K5GN was beating me bloody -
running like crazy where I was doing a mult pass, and always doing something
more productive than what I was doing. I left a lot on the table, both in Q's
and mults. I needed to improve on strategy.

Last winter I spent about 6 weeks writing software to process and analyze
everybody's cabrillo logs. There are other programs that do this, but they
don't provide the information I wanted. I want to know about band changing
strategy, use of the 2nd radio, mult sweeps, passed multipliers, rates,
multipliers I missed, time spent running on each band, and which runs are the
most productive. So there are a variety of reports. I have run the top logs in
every category, including the assisted's and multi's. What I've learned has
given my scores a boost over the past year. I also have a little box onscreen
during the contests which shows my own prior year's score plus one other local
(if I can get the log). It's the current complete line scores, with mult and
zone totals for each band, score, 10M minute Q rate, and with the current run
and pounce bands marked - updated every minute. It enables me to race against
my own score, and possibly someone else's. For this contest I chose K5GN's log.
It's the W5 record, and he's done a very nice job on strategy - an excellent
benchmark for Texas propagation.

I knew that conditions would be excellent. Flux was high, and there were no
solar issues in the forecast. The contest got off to a good start, and I was
astounded to find that I was ahead of this benchmark - and even more amazed
that I was able to hold this lead for the entire first half of the contest. So
I was doing something right. I was ahead in every category - by over 100 Q's,
25+ mults and not so many zones. Early Saturday afternoon I was up over 200,000
points, but that's as good as it got. Starting in mid-afternoon GN's 2013 log
started piling on mults way faster than me. My score fell behind, for good, at
about 0215z on Saturday night - though I was still 100 ahead in Q's.

I am not one to attempt a contest for 48 hours straight. After about 33 hours
in the chair I took my planned 90 minute break. Inexplicably, I woke up after
only 30 minutes and couldn't get back to sleep. Insomnia works that way: the
more desperately you need to sleep, the less successful you are. I wasted an
hour where I could have been operating, and should have been sleeping. The
consequences could have been a lot worse than they were. Been there.

During the Sunday morning runs I had a mild case of brain fog. It took more
fills to dig calls out of my pileups, and I was much less interested in tuning
the 2nd radio. My Qso lead over the benchmark score was slowly eroding, with a
widening deficit in mults and score. At about 1700z the bands crashed here.
Signals were suddenly weak on 10 and I tried 15 (same problem), then 20, which
ran for about 15 minutes and also faded. This is where GN blew right past my
Qso total and stayed ahead for the rest of the contest by usually less than 50.
I still felt quite alert, and decided to skip the half hour break I usually take
before the home stretch.

This experience taught me a lot. There are still areas I need to improve on. My
skills will reach a plateau, probably soon - but not yet. As for this score,
well, nobody expects 10 Meters to hold up for another year. For the next
sunspot peak I will be well into my 70's. 

Roy -- AD5Q
Aspie Ducky Five Quack


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