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[3830] ARRLDX SSB KQ2M SOAB HP

To: 3830@contesting.com
Subject: [3830] ARRLDX SSB KQ2M SOAB HP
From: webform@b4h.net
Reply-to: kq2m@kq2m.com
Date: Fri, 25 Mar 2022 05:10:55 +0000
List-post: <mailto:3830@contesting.com>
                    ARRL DX Contest, SSB - 2022

Call: KQ2M
Operator(s): KQ2M
Station: KQ2M

Class: SOAB HP
QTH: CT
Operating Time (hrs): 37.7
OpMode: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
  160:   34    28
   80:  188    56
   40:  644    80
   20: 1000   108
   15: 1260   103
   10:  104    39
-------------------
Total: 3230   414  Total Score = 4,010,418

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club

Comments:

Cndx were very good leading up to the contest with 10 M opening to EU however we
were supposed to get a CME during the contest.  We also got a Nor'easter
Thursday night which meant lots of QRN plus wind and snow squalls expected on
Saturday. My 80 4-square broke thanks to the 60 mph wind gusts but I was able to
repair it quickly on Friday afternoon.  

Because of my ongoing severe chronic health issues and antenna problems which
always seemed to pay a visit in late Winter, it had been 19 years since I
operated ARRLDXSSB seriously.  This was going to be interesting!
 
I started on 15 thinking that I better work what I could while I could just in
case 15 never opened there again.  Sure enough, after working AL2F, KH7Q, VK4SP
and a 4 JA's and a few SA stations 15 died quickly and it was on to 20 for the
same reason - work what I could hear.  It would be a long hard slog on the low
bands all night long.  Unlike CQWWSSB, the 40 meter DX stations were only 2 deep
 on each freq. instead of 3-4 deep; but it was equally hard to copy with the
heavy QRN.  I alternated between 160, 80, 40 and 20 for rounds of S & P
while trying an occasional run on 80.  Signals were strong on 80 but it was hard
to copy through the qrn and I was also having a hard time being heard in EU.  It
was surprising to hear so few stations on.  Little did I know that the UK and SW
and Central Europe was getting blasted by a vicious Winter storm as well.

At 0315 I finally got a decent run going on 40 with ZS2ABE, A71AE, HH2AA and
YS1JFE all calling in for mults within 10 minutes.  I continued to run on 40
while picking up 2nd radio mults on 160 and 20.  At 0455z I began a run on 80
while picking up some ZM4T  on some Carib/Sa mults on 160 and then qsyed back to
 40 for a good run starting at 0600z.  I found VK3X on 20 on the 2nd radio but
20 was otherwise dead.  I ran for 2 hours on 40 while S & P more mults on
20, 80 and 160.  EU signals were LOUD on 40 and 80 well past EU sunrise but
there was no volume as though no one was operating. At this point the K=3 and
Solar Wind > 500 kps and the Bz was strongly Negative which was bad news for
propagation. Knowing that I needed sleep before the morning EU run on 20 I went
qrt at 0801z with 536 qsos and 170 mults; my best start in ARRLDXSSB.

20 was almost dead at 1027z so I tuned for a few mults on 40 - 160.  Cndx were
awful.  No JA, VK or Asian stations.  At 1035z I started cqing on 20 with no
luck.  Stations started to call at 1040z and then the pileup started at 1045z
led by the F, G and I stations - West and Southern EU which was the sign of a
band that did not want to open.  The rate stayed poor partly because of a
strongly negative Bz now at -7.8 and K=5 with huge absorption and partly because
of the most rapid qsb that I ever heard; even worse than in ARRLDXCW.  A station
could literally go from S0 to S9 and back to S0 before he completed his
callsign!  A42K was like a beacon when he called at 1124z because the other EU
stations were so weak.  Very little from Northern EU was heard but strangely
enough JH7QXJ was S7 at 1209z ! The rate dropped and the band got quiet and then
there was an exciting brief opening to Central Asia, JA and Pacific at 1223z
when I worked HS5NMF, JA's, VJ5W, BG3ILY, E2A,  E25KAE and UA9BA in 14 minutes. 
EU got louder again but an occasional UA9 or JA would call and then HL2ZN and a
very loud YB9ELS and HL2WA.  20 had opened back up to EU but it was time to qsy
to 15 1t 1315z.  Up until now the best that I could do on 20 was a 109 hour, way
below expectations but signals were also down 40 - 60 db.

15 was almost dead but I had to take a chance and at 1315z the band EXPLODED! 
It was mostly spotlight propagation and the signals were weak, but every EU
stations needed CT on 15 so they called.  I would be called by a few PA's, then
F's, then DL's with almost nothing calling from Northern EU, but still it was
enough for a 215 hour at 13z with a peak rate of 375 last 10.  4U1UN called in
at 1345Z which was a rarity - I am 60 miles from their station so it is very
hard to hear them normally and busting their pileup on groundwave is almost
impossible in the daylight hours.  5Z4VJ called in at 1354z followed closely by
CQ8M and 7Z1VD.  The majority of stations were EA, F, I and DL with an
occasional weak OH, SM or Russian station.  And now 15 began to swing wildly up
and down in signal volume but a loud SV5DKL called in at 1459z.  It was hard to
copy stations and when they were qsbing up to 5 - 7 s-units while they gave
their callsign.  At 1457z I began to tune 10 on the 2nd radio picking up V557,
7Q6M, ZS6XY and ZD7BG plus a few SA/CA stations. Late in hour 6W1TG, GU0UVH and
TK4RC, and D44TM called in on 15 followed by A41K, SV9COL in the 16z hour.  10
was mostly dead and the qsb and qrm was ferocious on 15.  It was almost
impossible to hear anyone through the splatter and with the qsb at extreme
levels.  I continued to run EU on 15 with the band spotlighting EA, F, G and I
stations.  10 became more productive on the 2nd radio and the Carib/SA was very
well represented, in some cases by remote operating like HH2AA.  My hourly rates
slowly declined from 148 in the 15z hour to 110 in the 19z hour with a qsy to 20
at 1852z.  15 was still open but it was not open well and was fading badly.  It
was clear that a lot of stations were not on this weekend.

Shortly after I began running on 20, I was harassed by KX2B who claimed I was
500 hz from him and I stole his freq which was interesting because no one was
there and I had run 15 stations before he complained.  He was actually 2 khz
away and I never heard him in my passband.  I moved further down and then he got
very nasty and repeatedly verbally abusive claiming that I was still only 700hz
from him even though by now it was actually 2.7 khz!  He whistled, belched and
played assorted noises for about 20 minutes and finally left.  I don't
understand why some people behave like that.

With the K=4 and dropping and the Bz -1.5, cndx were somewhat better on 20 and
that allowed me to run and tune 15 for mults even as the 20 meter signals became
very auroral.  Late in the hour FR4KR called while in the 20z hour TF3T, HZ1HZ
called in and I picked up a bunch of SA/Carib and African mults on 15.  At 20z I
heard an alarm from my cellphone which earned me of impending blinding snow
squalls, which is a relative rarity in SW CT.  Sure enough at 2030z I heard a
low volume noise which became a roar and then a deafening roar as a blinding
snow squall hit.  It was impossible to copy anything by 2035z and I took a break
to watch the snow with 50' visibility and get something to eat.  By 2050z 20 was
almost dead but I could hear and work lots of mults on 10 and 15 including a
surprisingly copyable KH7M on 10.  

At 2115 I qsyed to 40, found a good freq. and heard LOUD EU signals - enough for
a 108 hour with HZ1HZ calling in. During the hour I had a last 10 qso rate of
200.2!  40 was the only runnable band and the qrm was tremendous - 87 qsos in
the 22z hour with UA9BA calling in at 2259z.  The rate slowed to 53 in the 23z
hour with FR4KR welcome at 2335z.

I finished the first 24 hours with 2086 qsos x 339 = 2,120,500 in 21.1 hrs.

With poor cndx and low activity I was happy with the result and expected to
improve and maybe make 4.5 meg.

In the 00z hour I swept 20 - 160 for mults and then went qrt at 0028z.  No point
staying up for 20 - 30 hr rates when I needed sleep   

Back on at 0413z with a brief sweep of 160 and 80 and then a 6 minute run on 40
which included A71AM and 5Z4VJ !.  Band open well but almost no one on!  Around
0430z 160 began to open well and I tuned 160 and 80 for 9 mults and then a run
on 80 starting at 0512z.  The K dropped to 3, the Solar Wind and proton levels
had both declined significantly and Bz was -0.3.  As expected, cndx improved
signals strengths got markedly louder and I had a good run on 80 until 0636z
when it DIED when we got a BIG flare.  The SW and proton density spiked, BZ
-14.4 and K=5 with G1 radio storm. I tuned 40, found KH7Q and Jim went to 160
for me.  At 0651z I started running on 40 - a few mults called in but there were
almost no callers.  I tuned 80, found a few mults including ZM4T and went qrt at
0725z.

40 - 160 were almost dead at 1025z so there was nothing to do but try to run on
20 starting at 1029z.  I got the band edge which is usually not an advantage,
but on Sunday AM it was.  I was being heard and mults were calling in T77LA,
LX1FF, SV5DKL.  I tuned 40 looking for a JA and found one.  JF2QNM who went from
S3 to S9 in the 10 minutes before my sunrise!  With my full attention back to
20, SV9COL, HK32L, GD0AMD, FR4KR called in for mults in the 11z hour with a last
10 rate of 356.4 followed by  ER3CT, 9Z4A, OH0Z and then 9N7AA ( my good friend
Robert, S53R ) in the 12z hour, along with YB1RKT, YB9ELS, YB1SNS,
YB1WCK,YB1DIU, YB0BAC and a few UA9 and JA stations.  It was a good opening and
there were many more mults that I needed on 20, but it was time to go to 15 at
1308z.

15 was open well and I was called by a loud UA9BA, UN6LN, FY5KE and YB1RKT for
mults, but it began to fade quickly and by 1340z it was almost dead.  FOOLED
YOU!  Now what?  I could try to go back to 20 but the whole world was there and
there would be no clear freq.  Or I could gut it out and hope that 15 re-opened.
   I decided to stay with 15 and watched the band open and close 5 times in the
next 30 minutes - but YB2MM and A71AE calling in held my interest.  At 1421z,
59+20 RA3OA called, but no one else for 5 minutes!  Just bizarre !  Finally at
1430z 15 began to open and stay open.  The 13z and 14z hours were two of the
worst in the contest for me with 58 and 54 qsos at a time when I should have
been making 130 - 150 qsos per hour.  Making the operating considerably harder
was the heavy rain on my 15 meter antennas which induced a rhythmic sound like
bongo drums being endlessly beaten.  No matter what combination of antennas I
tried it was almost impossible to copy.  I just had to keep calling cq and
occasionally someone would be loud enough to be heard over the drums.   I stayed
with 15 and in the 15z hour Z35M, CT3IQ and 9K2DB called in for 3 mults in 2
minutes and the then the qrm and qrn returned - heavy splatter as the signals
came up 30 db and the band opened well to G, DL, F and I stations.

At 16z, 15 was wide open with 114 qsos and 10 began to open as well with lots of
 CA/SA stations to work on the 2nd radio.  Alain, TR8CA called in at 1755z and I
qsyed to 20 at 1805z which gave me 100 hr. By 19z the K dropped to 1 and the Bz
went positive to + 0.2.  Both the solar wind and and proton density dropped
sharply and I began to think of potential 20 and 15 meter openings to Pacific
and Asia.  Late in the 19z hour  ( 81 qso ) GJ6WRI and J35X called in for new
mults followed by 5Z4VJ and ZS6XY while I tuned 10 and 15 on the 2nd radio.  I
had hoped to stay on 20 right until the end but no luck.  At 2132z I started a
run on 40.  Through the spectacular qrm from tuners, ragchewers and splatterers,
I was making about 40 qsos per hour the highlight was 9K2MU calling at 2214z. 
At 2250z I was tired on the madness on 40 and decided to listen on 15.  I heard
some JA's with huge qsb and tried to run starting at 2315z while tuning 20 for
mults.  I had a modest pileup and was surprised to make 70 qsos with JA, VK and
KH6 stations. That JA run was a sign of good things to come in cycle 25!

3230 qsos 414 mult = 4,010,418  NON-Assisted in 37.7 hrs operating.

I was disappointed to barely break 4.0 meg but was happy to do this well with
propagation so poor and erratic.

This was the first time that I was able to operate all 4 CQWW and ARRLDX
contests seriously in the same year since 2001! It is scary how quickly those
years have passed and a reminder to take a break from real life and do what we
love.

I had very mixed feelings about operating this weekend - emotionally and
mentally I was not looking forward to it - radio contests are so trivial
compared to the horrible real world problems that millions of people are facing
right now in Ukraine.   But as I thought about it, I realized that radio
contesting is a hobby shared by thousands of contesters all over the world and
it is important to recognize and celebrate that while we still can.  

It is in this spirit that I continue to operate contests and I hope to see you
all in WPXSSB tomorrow!

73 and thanks for the qso and mults!

Bob, KQ2M

kq2m@kq2m.com

BREAKDOWN QSO/mults  KQ2M  ARRL INTERNATIONAL DX CONTEST  Single Operator

HOUR      160      80       40       20       15       10    HR TOT  CUM TOT  

   0    .....    .....    .....    44/24    13/6     .....    57/30   57/30 
   1     3/3     18/13    47/30    10/4       .        .      78/50  135/80 
   2     2/2     39/16    19/10      .        .        .      60/28  195/108
   3     4/4      7/2     46/14      .        .        .      57/20  252/128
   4     2/2     21/8     36/4      9/1       .        .      68/15  320/143
   5     2/2     24/5     16/6      2/1       .        .      44/14  364/157
   6     2/2       .      88/4      1/1       .        .      91/7   455/164
   7     2/2      4/2     64/2       .        .        .      70/6   525/170
   8    .....    .....    .....    .....    .....    .....    .....  525/170
   9      .        .        .        .        .        .        .    525/170
  10     1/1      1/1      3/1     59/19      .        .      64/22  589/192
  11      .        .        .     109/11      .        .     109/11  698/203
  12      .        .        .      92/11    13/11      .     105/22  803/225
  13      .        .        .      19/2    196/35      .     215/37 1018/262
  14      .        .        .        .     146/5      9/5    155/10 1173/272
  15      .        .        .        .     142/8      6/4    148/12 1321/284
  16    .....    .....    .....    .....   130/5      5/4    135/9  1456/293
  17      .        .        .        .     109/1     11/6    120/7  1576/300
  18      .        .        .      29/5     50/1     23/9    102/15 1678/315
  19      .        .        .     110/2       .        .     110/2  1788/317
  20      .        .        .      25/3     25/11     5/1     55/15 1843/332
  21      .        .     104/2       .        .       4/2    108/4  1951/336
  22      .        .      87/2       .        .        .      87/2  2038/338
  23      .        .      53/1       .        .        .      53/1  2091/339
   0    .....     3/1      1/0     12/3     .....    .....    16/4  2107/343
   1      .        .        .        .        .        .        .   2107/343
   2      .        .        .        .        .        .        .   2107/343
   3      .        .        .        .        .        .        .   2107/343
   4    14/9      4/1      7/1       .        .        .      25/11 2132/354
   5     1/0     47/3       .        .        .        .      48/3  2180/357
   6     1/1     18/2     11/1       .        .        .      30/4  2210/361
   7      .       2/2      6/0       .        .        .       8/2  2218/363
   8    .....    .....    .....    .....    .....    .....    ..... 2218/363
   9      .        .        .        .        .        .        .   2218/363
  10      .        .        .      62/2       .        .      62/2  2280/365
  11      .        .       1/1    110/7      1/1       .     112/9  2392/374
  12      .        .        .      78/4      1/0       .      79/4  2471/378
  13      .        .        .        .      58/4       .      58/4  2529/382
  14      .        .        .        .      53/2      1/0     54/2  2583/384
  15      .        .        .        .      71/3       .      71/3  2654/387
  16    .....    .....    .....    .....   103/1     11/4    114/5  2768/392
  17      .        .        .        .      70/3     13/2     83/5  2851/397
  18      .        .        .      93/1      7/3       .     100/4  2951/401
  19      .        .        .      75/3      6/1       .      81/4  3032/405
  20      .        .        .      45/1      2/1     16/2     63/4  3095/409
  21      .        .      23/0      5/1      6/1       .      34/2  3129/411
  22      .        .      32/1       .        .        .      32/1  3161/412
  23      .        .        .      11/2     58/0       .      69/2  3230/414
DAY1    18/18   114/47   563/76   509/84   824/83    63/31    ..... 2091/339
DAY2    16/10    74/9     81/4    491/24   436/20    41/8       .   1139/75 
TOT     34/28   188/56   644/80 1000/108 1260/103   104/39      .   3230/414


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