CQWW WPX Contest, CW
Call: N8II
Operator(s): N8II
Station: N8II
Class: SOSB15 HP
QTH: WV
Operating Time (hrs): 11.5
Summary:
Band QSOs
------------
160:
80:
40:
20:
15: 628
10: 5
------------
Total: 628 Prefixes = 442 Total Score = 610,402
Club: Potomac Valley Radio Club
Comments:
My other hobby had a major conflict with contesting; I spent all of Saturday
morning at a flea market with a guy who only shows up about 2-3 times a season
(a lot to look through!). So with no hope of a good score, I really had no
plan.
15 meters sounded so good Friday night, I decided to try single band. I never
have heard so many New Zealand prefixes as I worked Friday evening,
ZL1,4,ZM1,2,3,4 and there were multiple ZL1's and 4's active. To boot I worked
5W1, WH6, NH7, KH6 x 3,VK2,3,4,6(tough on 15),VK7,JA2,3,JH4(Japan all weak).
The biggest surprise was a loud EA3 with beam west (off back). CA stations were
noticeably weak most of the evening as were some 7's. I closed out the evening
with an A31 at 0230Z with 135 QSO's in the log.
After my close encounter with the flea market sun/heat, I fired up at 1747Z to
find almost no EU (did get A60) and not many USA stations either, so I bagged
it in after 8 minutes. A check of the band at 2025Z revealed not only southern
EU, but loud northern EU, UR, and UA6 area stations. About the only areas
missing were UA,1,3,4,PA,F,and British Isles. I logged several LY's,SM's,OH's
(OH0 very loud). The activity died off by 2120Z, but I was still working a
mixture of EU and Carib/SA up until 2154Z when I worked a loud IR9 and QRT'ed
for dinner. Conditions from 2330Z were similar to the day before with a weak JA
opening from 0151-0211Z when I QRT'ed. Of note was a S7 OH3 at 2340Z = 0234
local in Finland! Again CA was weak most of the evening, but there were some
nice prefixes to the south like XR0 and T49.
Sunday AM I missed a good opportunity, because the band opened well much
earlier to EU than it ever has for weeks! Signals were loud from all of EU at
my 1253Z start and even a RU9 was loud. UP0 was S9+ at 1416 and I found XW1!
Conditions seemed the best at 13Z, but I was running stations fairly well off
and on thru 1515Z. This included two UA9 area QRP stations. Signals from the
Baltic states and OH were louder than stations farther south at times. 140 Q's
were logged during that stretch which included 33 minutes off. Again however,
15 closed early to EU about the time the sun was setting on the EU side or even
earlier. By 18Z, most of EU had died out and the few stations north of the Med
area worked were weak and fluttery. However there was good activity to the
south and several stations in the Carib./SA area were running with low numbers
sent. I spent over an hour picking off new prefixes mainly to the south. At 21Z
a few stations from UA6 and many UR/US stations were back in along with
TA1,DL,YT,SP,HA,CT,F,9A50 and I which was not as widespread as Saturday. From
2133-2156 three weak JA's were worked. After a nice steak I grilled, it was
back on at 23Z to finally find decent strength JA's, but activity was low. USA
6,7,9,0's were all quite loud. In the last 25 minutes E/SE Asia beyond JA
started coming thru working BY5 and very weak two 9M6's and 9M2.
It was a thrill to hear loud EU and work Asian DX again on 15 after a dreadful
month of May with April not much better. The only areas not worked were
southern AF (no activity?), YB, and NE Asia west of JA. This was a huge
improvement from what I expected. The score was nothing great, but the fun
factor was nearly off the scale, very few slow stretches when I was on the air.
Thanks for all of the fun QSO's!
73, Jeff
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