CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW
Call: KE3X
Operator(s): KE3X
Station: N3HBX
Class: SOAB(A) LP
QTH: Poolesville MD
Operating Time (hrs): 34
Radios: SO2R
Summary:
Band QSOs Zones Countries
------------------------------
160: 25 5 14
80: 96 14 65
40: 400 28 108
20: 750 36 128
15: 381 26 101
10: 81 13 36
------------------------------
Total: 1733 122 452 Total Score = 2,806,286
Club: Potomac Valley Radio Club
Comments:
Many thanks to John N3HBX for inviting me to Poolesville again. Originally
this was scheduled to be K4ZW's weekend, but with Ken traveling to ET3AA I was
able to fill the chair. Also thanks to Mark KD4D for installing a new
Internet laptop and upgrading the software to fix the 'node dropout' problem
from the CQWW Phone weekend. The auto-reconnect facility worked well and
there was never more than a few minutes between live spots.
In such challenging conditions it helps to have a full array of aluminum at
one's disposal, and The Farm has aluminum to spare. However the 40-meter
tower seems to be cursed - in CQWW Phone it has rotator issues and was locked
on Europe, and this time it experienced high SWR at the start so I left Tower 2
dormant all weekend. The backup 40-meter beams on Towers 1 and 3 left a few dB
on the table, but I doubt that made the difference between being able to run
effectively. I never felt loud, but I think it was the conditions.
Worked many JA's on 20-meters but could not run them and never got a JA on 15
or 40. Amazing that Also saw Fred HS0ZAR spotted throughout the weekend but
could never break the pileups. One disadvantage of operating Low Power
Assisted is the frustration factor of seeing all the juicy DX spotted on 80 and
160 that can't hear you! Tried many tricks to get runs going - dual CQ'ing,
CQ'ing high in the band, CQ'ing low in the band, with not much success. Lots
of clicking. One highlight was being called by FH/HB9AMO on 20 after not
being able to break his pileup earlier. Best 60-minute rate was only 102, on
Sunday morning between 20 and 15.
Having caught the flu in the 2 days prior to the weekend, I knew I would not be
able to manage the 43-45 hours of operating I had originally planned. But
luckily the conditions were poor enough the additional off time didn't impact
the final score much. I took lots of 1 1/2 hour breaks the first night,
waking up to hunt for multipliers, logging only 2-3 of them, then going back to
sleep again. Finally I hit the wall and slept straight through from 0600-1100Z
the second night and missed European sunrise so I am sure I left 100 QSO's on
the table there. I figured that was a worthwhile price to pay for being alert
for the morning European runs on Sunday. Once Alex @K3CR posts his LP score
I'll have a benchmark to see how much those missed QSO's hurt :-)
This marks the end of WRTC2018 qualifying, and looking back I definitely like
the shorter 2-year qualifying period established by the WRTC committee and hope
it continues. It creates less stress on the family over 2-years versus 3-years.
The NA#1 region was very competitive this time with W1, W2 and W3 areas
combined. In hindsight, if a few stations had selected different entry
categories, or a DX-pedition or two had gone to a different country, the
finishing order could have been quite different. I hope the WRTC2018 Selection
Committee will take that into account when awarding their Wild Card slots.
Happy Holidays and thanks for the QSO's! 73,
Ken
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
______________________________________________
3830 mailing list
3830@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/3830
|