CQWW WPX Contest, CW - 2022
Call: D4Z
Operator(s): HB9AMO HB9ARF HB9CAT
Station: D4Z
Class: M/S HP
QTH: Sao Vincent Is.
Operating Time (hrs): 48
Summary:
Band QSOs
------------
160: 0
80: 65
40: 1122
20: 1187
15: 1701
10: 685
------------
Total: 4760 Prefixes = 1205 Total Score = 21,457,435
Club: Italian Contest Club
Comments:
It all started as Philippe HB9ARF, an avid "home contester" decided he
wanted to celebrate his 70th birthday doing what he likes most, obviously
contesting, but at a much higher level.
He found out that the D4C station can be rented; that was it, the perfect way to
celebrate ! This year his birthday was falling right in the middle of the WPX CW
contest, so he organized a small team of Ham friends (Pierre HB9AMO and Pierre
F6DCQ) and got it all organized.
Unfortunately F6DCQ suffered of a sudden and important health problem, forcing
him to forfait; Marco HB9CAT, an experienced contester, stepped in as his
replacement, with the advantage of having already been contesting a couple of
times from the mythical Monteverde mountain.
So the team became all-Swiss; we're particularly proud of that, HF contesting
isn't really very popular in the Alps, and not really much promoted nor
supported by the Swiss Ham Association (USKA).
While logistics at D4C would allow for a multitude of high-performance setups,
we decided to opt for a simple solution to match the typical setup normally used
at home: Multi/Single Category, 1 Transceiver (basic Elecraft K3), a 1kW PA, 1
runner and a 2nd audio to a supporting operator. Anyway WPX is somehow less
complicated than CQWWDX, so the tactics was to focus 100% on running for the 1st
24 hours.
Philippe and Pierre were well aware that pile-ups would have been much wilder
than they're accustomed to, so we've spent a couple of days of
"training" prior to prime time as D4Z, totaling roughly 1000 QSOs.
A few hours after start Pierre was deeply impressed and somehow frustrated by
the much higher QSO rates reported by CR6K (CT1ILT, 2BSIQ) , just to remind him
that while the Station is highly performant there are many tough 1st class
operators out there...
According to CQcontest.net, ZF1A was initially leading the pack, but as we
started improving our rates the obvious advantage of scoring 3/6 points for 99%
of the QSOs paid off and we took over the virtual lead. Later in the game UP2L
has been catching up very well, leading to a head to head fight until the end.
Congrats to both teams !
Propagation has blessed us: it felt like it wasn't such a great weekend in EU
& US, but the Monteverde magic has been helping us with great runs mainly on
15m, with some good opening on 10m (685 Q's); on the highly strategic 40m band
the 2x3 elements to EU helped keeping the noise low and the rates high.
Summarizing: it has been an absolutely unique kind of birthday party for
Philippe, himself and Pierre discovered new dimensions, while Marco just enjoyed
the pileups .
Big thanks particularly to our on-site host Mark D44FF, we'll remember your
hospitality, huge experience and... your spaghetti😛 , as well to Luca IK2NCJ
for his very precious assistance.
HB9ARF , HB9AMO, HB9CAT
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
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