CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW
Call: KE3X
Operator(s): KE3X
Station: N3HBX
Class: SOAB(A) LP
QTH: Poolesville, MD
Operating Time (hrs): 42
Radios: SO2R
Summary:
Band QSOs Zones Countries
------------------------------
160: 26 9 15
80: 152 19 83
40: 875 36 118
20: 588 38 129
15: 688 32 125
10: 231 23 79
------------------------------
Total: 2560 157 549 Total Score = 5,175,686
Club: Potomac Valley Radio Club
Comments:
Many thanks to John N3HBX for hosting me at The Farm again, and to Mark KD4D for
help with SO2R setup. While I lost rotator control on Tower 2 on Saturday
night, luckily that's the 40-Meter Run tower and it got stuck pointing at
60-degrees, so I doubt there was any material score impact. Otherwise the
station played flawlessly.
I picked Low Power Assisted this time since 1) I was worried about staying
awake the full 48 hours, and 2) I have learned not to compete with New England
stations in Unassisted - I figured the additional Multipliers would compensate
for the deficit in Run QSO's.
A review of the CQWW searchable score database (thanks Randy!) revealed the USA
SOAB LP Assisted record at 4.4 Million, which I set as my primary objective. I
figured 2013 was the year 10-Meters was wide open, so with 10 being forecast as
marginal this year, I would have to make up the difference on the other bands
and with multipliers.
160 was frustrating, heard many Europeans but only worked a few. 80-Meters
was loud and crackly, and I could not run at all. 40 was a madhouse the first
night, and I didn't try to run - the second night ran a little on 40, and the
3rd night tried to ran more, but the rates were never there. Big difference
between High Power and Low Power I guess - normally The Farm is a killer on
40-Meters but I never felt loud.
Best clock hour was a 120 on 15-Meters on Sunday 8-9AM local, on a clear
frequency 2 kHz from the bottom of the band. Stations came in nicely in
pairs, and I even snapped a picture of the 10-QSO rate at 302 with my iPhone -
it was like a slow-motion MorseRunner training session.
I kept a close eye on 10-meters, and with a Multiplier of 79 there I don't
think I left much on the table. I was able to run a few stations on Sunday
morning around 10AM local, but that was it, everything else was S&P. 15-M
and 20-Meters was both good to JA on Sunday night but all S&P. Never got
a JA on 10 Meters.
Finished the first 24-hours at 2.4 million, then 4.4 million level was passed
with 6 hours left, ending with 5.1 million, which using the 'Day 1 Time Two
plus 10%' projection rule implies I did not make any major mistakes on Day 2.
I figure a good SO2R operator from New England could have added another 20-25%
to this score, based on additional Run QSO's, mostly on 40-meters and
80-meters.
Probably missed 60-80 QSO's by not operating another 3 hours for 45 hours, but
the full 48-hours was never a possibility. I am very impressed by the iron
men who can still do that.
Thanks to all the DX that activated so many countries! Merry Christmas to
all, see everyone in 2016.
Ken KE3X
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
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