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[3830] CQWW CW W1PY SOAB(A) LP

To: 3830@contesting.com, westcoastbayou@gmail.com
Subject: [3830] CQWW CW W1PY SOAB(A) LP
From: webform@b4h.net
Reply-to: westcoastbayou@gmail.com
Date: Mon, 27 Nov 2017 03:58:22 +0000
List-post: <mailto:3830@contesting.com>
CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW

Call: W1PY
Operator(s): W1PY
Station: W1PY

Class: SOAB(A) LP
QTH: WMA
Operating Time (hrs): 29
Radios: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Zones  Countries
------------------------------
  160:                    
   80:   58    11       37
   40:  384    25       93
   20:  413    26       91
   15:  170    20       70
   10:                    
------------------------------
Total: 1025    82      291  Total Score = 1,097,739

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club

Comments:

I did everything they said not to do.

*I introduced a bunch of new gear in the shack the week before a major
contest.
*I didn’t give myself time to fully test before the start of the contest.
*I tried SO2R for the first time in a (THE) major CW contest.
*I had a new call that wasn’t in the SuperCheck db.

And it all worked out great because I figured that I was completely screwed and
decided to have some fun and see if I could get my head wrapped around the
mystical SO2R dance. 

Summer had quickly disappeared on me and my antenna plans fell apart due to
logistical problems here.  And while my new-to-me fancy tribander would have to
stay on the ground, in the last couple weeks and with the help of KK1W, N1FJ,
WD1S and K1NZ, I was able to put up a new wire antenna on 80, my 40-2CD on the
temp tower, and lay down a 200ft BOG.

Just hours before the contest I was troubleshooting RFI that seemed to be
dancing around my shack like a bull trying to find it’s way out of the subway
system.  Thanks to W1HIS and others on the YCCC mailing list, I was able to (at
least I thought) beat back the beast with an army of snap-on ferrites.  So I
think I’ve got everything ready, the contest starts and now the Winkeyer in
the YCCC SO2R box is locking up mid transmission due to RFI.  CRAP!  So I burn
the first hour trying to come up with a solution and I’m ready to give up and
just before I do, I decide to move the USB cable for the SO2R box to a USB port
on the front of the computer instead of the rear. Voila! We’re back in
business. Yeah, the shack has issues.

Now that I had blown the start, I decided that I was going to not worry about a
serious effort.  I’d get some sleep, spend some time with the family here and
there and just focus on making Qs while really thinking about the dance between
two radios.  I’d done my research, I’d watched the K5ZD videos, and I’m a
four time Contest University graduate for god’s sake, how hard could it be? 
Come to find out, IT’S THAT NOT EASY!  Well at least not for me.  But I did
figure out that it’s not impossible!  And with practice, I’ll be able to
get the hang of it.  I had some really good moments where everything worked
perfectly and I was adding Qs in much less time than if I had one radio.  And
then there were times when I was completely lidalicious.  Now I have the
ability to not just screw up royally on one band, but TWO and hitting the wrong
keyboard shortcut can do just that.  Don’t worry, I’ll be scanning the 3830
comments for my callsign alright.  

All kidding aside, I had a lot of fun.  The conditions were not great, but not
completely in the toilet either. Low power was certainly a challenge and the
bruises we get while trying to fight our way through the pileups and hold our
run frequencies are just going to be the reality for a while.  Many times I
felt like a vicious chihuahua.  I could tell some ops wanted to ignore my light
yellow signal, but worked me just out of annoyance so I would stop nipping at
their ankles.  Whatever the reason, I’ll take those points.

Oh and my favorite part of the contest?  Sunday evening greyline here on the
east coast and all of a sudden 20 meters is full of JA spots. It feels like
there is no one else around as I put them in the log effortlessly.  And just as
quickly as they arrived, they’re gone again. That always feels like magic.


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