CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW
Call: N8II
Operator(s): N8II
Station: N8II
Class: SOABClassic LP
QTH: WV
Operating Time (hrs): 24
Summary:
Band QSOs Zones Countries
------------------------------
160: 15 6 10
80: 89 12 46
40: 179 16 69
20: 551 29 105
15: 278 22 77
10: 15 6 6
------------------------------
Total: 1135 91 313 Total Score = 1,313,000
Club: Potomac Valley Radio Club
Comments:
Looking back to last year with 1.018M, a pretty big improvement, but far from my
favorite WW outing. 20 was in decent shape for first 45 minutes with strong
signals as close as VP5 and 6Y, then faded fast. I heard HS0ZAR and a BH4 LP on
20 then also, no Q's. 40 and 80 were outstanding to EU the first night, should
have operated a lot later than 0430Z. Things turned a little sour Saturday AM
with my run frequency too high in the band on 20 to maintain any long run,
ended up with very low Q total at end of EU opening which was early. 15 opened
to EU fairly early, but not north of DL and my run sputtered out quickly.
Saturday evening was much more typical of recent conditions with southern EU
finally getting fairly loud for my return at 24Z for about 40 minutes and
signals way down on 80 compared to first night especially from northern and
eastern EU.
I knuckled down and found a not clear but decent 20M running frequency low in
the band at 12Z and had many loud Russian callers until around 13Z. I started a
nice fast paced run on 15 at 1308Z with a big northern EU surprise starting at
1332Z with a call from way up at OH8. Also logged SP,OZ,LY,EU,ES,SM,UA2,OX, and
R7. The best was over by 1415Z and I was back on 20 by 1456Z. I ran as long as
rate was above about 50, then trolled the whole band for Q's and found several
semi-rare EU mults. Sunday afternoon was tough after 18Z with not that many new
Q's or mults.
Activity was definitely down. As for 10M, only worked mostly PY2's and local
first day. The 2nd day was "better" with LU, CX, TI, and HP and some
Es in WI for zone 4 and a pretty loud VA7 (double hop Es?). So 10 was worse
than 2016, but at least there was no disturbance which helped a lot on
40/20/15.
I used different radios at different times and discovered how bad the DSP
filtered skirts were on my TS-590 resulting in a lot of fatiguing nearby
signals on 20/40/80. The FT-1000 was a lot better. My list of heard but unable
to work mults was really long, about quadruple what it would have been near the
peak of solar cycle. Several pile ups Sunday afternoon were huge with poor
operating, sometimes on both ends. On 40 I heard 3 zone 21 stations, R8 in zone
17, ZS,3B9,LU,HC, and others not able to hear me. Notably did not hear zones
17,18,19,22,23,28,34,or 36 on any band. The is the first time I can remember
missing zone 17 and 19 on all bands.
I was not totally dedicated to best score, should have gotten up earlier both
days (biggest score reducer), and had to help the XYL some during prime high
band EU time along with some meal prep and dog walking. I took time off when I
knew it was not the best as the bands were fairly productive. 20 was wide open
to Russia before 12Z Sunday.
Many thanks for all of the Q's and digging me out of the noise and QRM. My
pile ups basically never were more than about 2 callers for more a a few
minutes. It was great to see V47T
(not particularly loud here, but they did very well!), NP2, NP4, and TO2SP on
the air from the hurricane devastated areas.
73, Jeff
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