IARU HF World Championship
Call: WI2E
Operator(s): WI2E
Station: WI2E
Class: SOABCW LP
QTH: EPA - Bethlehem Twp.
Operating Time (hrs): 22
Radios: SO2R
Summary:
Band CW Qs Ph Qs Zones HQ Mults
-------------------------------------
160: 11 0 2 0
80: 134 0 11 17
40: 235 0 18 28
20: 352 0 22 32
15: 113 0 13 12
10: 18 0 4 3
-------------------------------------
Total: 863 0 70 92 Total Score = 335,826
Club:
Comments:
Family and work commitments have limited my competitive radio exploits for the
past few years to high speed telegraphy (shameless plug for www.rufzxp.net)and
all-too-short forays into a number of contests. However, the "stars
aligned" for me a few weeks ago, so I was able to make my first major
contest effort since 2011 this past weekend.
Conditions were very challenging here into the late afternoon on Saturday.
While taking a short lunch break, I actually found myself in the backyard to
check to make sure the antennas were still up in the trees! I don't think I
worked my first Zone 29 station until sometime around 1900Z on 20M. Throw in
being rusty with SO2R, and it was a bit of a rough start.
However, I knew that the high bands are not my station's strength, so I kept
going with the hope that the evening would prove better--which it did--although
my first hour on 40M was a real challenge as a line of thunderstorms swept
through Pennsylvania. I have only once before faced noise that loud, so just as
I was getting into the SO2R swing of things, I found myself focused entirely on
one radio as S9 static crashes on the K9AY loop (which was otherwise at an S0 -
S1) made copying even the loudest stations difficult.
One major station improvement here in the past year was replacing my old SO2R
box with the microHAM u2R. Particularly given the antennas I have (low, single
element antennas), I try to adhere strictly to an "ABC" principle
("always be calling [CQ or another station]", and the combination of
the u2R and N1MM+ performed flawlessly without a single misfire or hiccup as I
bounced between bands or interrupted CQs (and, let's face it, I do a great deal
of interrupting CQs around here as the overwhelming majority of my QSOs come via
S&P). The bottom line is that this setup made SO2R a real joy to operate,
even around 4 AM local time.
It was great to work so many familiar and skilled ops. I hope I'll be a more
frequent participant in the remainder of this year's contests, but I already
have next year's IARU HF Championship dates blocked on the calendar.
Rigs: K3S, K3
Antennas:
160M: 80M-L
80M: 1/4 wavelength inverted L
40M: dipole at 35 ft.
20M: inverted Vs (NE/SW & E/W), apex at 35 ft.
15M: inverted V, apex at 35 ft.
10M: inverted V, apex at 35 ft.
RX: K9AY loops (2)
Thanks to everyone for the QSOs!
73,
Joe
WI2E
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
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