IARU HF World Championship - 2022
Call: AD5A
Operator(s): AD5A
Station: AD5A
Class: SOAB(A)CW LP
QTH: STX
Operating Time (hrs): 22.0
Summary:
Band CW Qs Ph Qs Zones HQ Mults
-------------------------------------
160: 2 0 2 0
80: 19 0 6 1
40: 239 0 20 25
20: 572 0 28 37
15: 282 0 27 34
10: 23 0 9 3
-------------------------------------
Total: 1137 0 92 100 Total Score = 742,464
Club: Central Texas DX and Contest Club
Comments:
I'm not sure where to start, but I wasn't sure what category, if any, I would
enter until I sat down and configured N1MM on Friday night. Upon returning home
last week after a week away I found that we had a close lightening strike. The
internet system was zapped, the HDMI ports on the TV were zapped and a breaker
in house was thrown. I was afraid to connect the radios. I had everything
unplugged, so I was pleased when everything appeared fine. That's when I found
the rotor in the second tower wasn't working properly and the switching system
wouldn't find the second tower. My system of relays is sort of hodge-podge,
added to as time went by, and are contained in little boxes in different places.
I have relays up the tower, in the shack and in the garage. I spent the next 5
days trying to trouble shoot the system, the antennas, trace voltage, etc.. I
climbed the tower three times and, according to my fitbit, I had climbed the
stairs to my upstairs shack 26 times one day and 25 times another. Finally, with
a little help, developed a solution to activate a stack match with a home made
harness, which worked. However after getting RF to the second antenna for the
first time after the strike, something in the second antenna failed. So I was
left with one working antenna, a JK Mid-Tri with 40m add-on @70' and an Alpha
Delta DX-A for 80m and 160m. So instead of flipping a switch, I had to spin the
rotor. It was like the old days.
I decided to go low power. With my compromised configuration, I figured I would
getting thrashed, more than normal, in the HP categories. I forget how
frustrating LP can be, especially if you're accustomed to HP. Conditions at the
beginning of the contest were not good from South Texas. I think K=3 and A=19,
and my first hours were not good. I've never felt so unheard. I had CQ in my
face multiple times. I was like I was a ghost, not seen or heard.
Conditions improved however and I think by Saturday afternoon K=1 and A=9, so as
bad as the start was, compounded by LP, the conditions Saturday night were
excellent. EU on 20 meters was open all night, Asia was very loud after local
midnight. I was being heard and life got better. My final few hours were much
better than the start for me and that's a little unusual. This is my lowest QSO
total in this contest for a serious effort, but given the start, I was happy
with the result.
Thanks for the QSO's.
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
______________________________________________
3830 mailing list
3830@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/3830
|