ARRL DX Contest, CW - 2023
Call: NN7CW
Operator(s): NN7CW
Station: NN7CW
Class: SOAB HP
QTH: NFL
Operating Time (hrs): 44
OpMode: SO2R
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
160: 49 30
80: 345 54
40: 822 76
20: 925 79
15: 894 81
10: 1034 79
-------------------
Total: 4069 399 Total Score = 4,870,593
Club: Florida Contest Group
Comments:
I'm glad to have started serious contesting from my own station at the end of
solar cycle 24. While improving hardware and station ergonomics, improving condx
significantly add to the excitement. This was the first contest where I was able
to break the 4000 QSO barrier. Keep the flux coming!
Conditions:
Unreal, compared to previous years! With a sunspot count and SFI approaching
200, 10m was wide open throughout the day, and many ops took advantage of
worldwide communications. Signals were coming in loud even on my 10m vertical.
15m: Very good as well, but seemed a little less favored, because of 10m.
20m: Good, but more of a transition band for many. I spent some time on 20m
during Su morning grayline and despite the beam pointing towards Europe, got to
enjoy calls from everywhere and anywhere in the world.
40m: Good. Some QRN Fr night, due to a band of thunderstorms off the the US East
coast. Luckily, they were not moving towards me.
80m: Moderately quiet, but not amazing. Signals were not the strongest, and
activity seemed down. Despite a significant antenna upgrade, the qso count is
similar to last year, with a lower multiplier count.
160m: Poor. Weak signals, low activity rate. However, I was able to rake in 3/4
of last years multipliers in not too much time.
Results compared to last year:
- Only 82% multiplier count on the low bands.
- 40m and 20m stagnant, which is good, considering increased high band action.
- 10m better than 15m last year, 15m still very good. Multiplier count 132%.
- 26% higher raw score; a big success! Can't wait to compare accuracy.
Handicaps:
- The secondary tri-band beam seems to have an issue with the coax feedline. An
SWR of 2.8:1 limited my power to ~700W. I discovered the issue Fr afternoon and
decided not to mess with it just hours before the contest.
- The 160m Inverted L SWR was too good to be true. Wide bandwidth and a minimum
SWR of 1.2:1 indicates a serious amount of loss it did not have before. A fire
on my property last year damaged many of the radials, so I guess it's time for a
re-build.
- Some intermittent tx lag occurred on one radio. The (fairly old) laptop seemed
to be bogged down by something. Will have to investigate.
- To cool the small shack during contesting, I run a portable A/C unit with a
plastic window panel. I missed a small hole in the temporary installation and
subsequently found myself surrounded by hundreds of small flies, mosquitoes and
moths. A small piece of tape patched the hole, but for the next hours, I found
myself logging with one hand only while killing the intruders with my invaluable
electric fly swatter ("Insekten Schroeter").
Lowlights:
- Not sleeping the first night showed it's ugly face the second night, around
5:00 UTC. It usually leads to about two hours where I keep losing
self-awareness. Sorry to everyone who, around that time, was wondering what the
heck I was doing. I recall being greeted by a DL caller (DJ...?), but I don't
remember who it was. Sorry OM, I wasn't able to respond properly that moment,
but I appreciate you said hello! I should have slept for 90 minutes the night
before, but condx were simply too exciting to take a break.
- Cluster lids: Getting a lot of duplicate calls in a short period of time
usually means that one was spotted incorrectly. If those calls outnumber new
callers, it ruins the effort. In the past, I had tried to fight off cluster lids
by slowing down, endlessly repeating my callsign, and even directly addressed
requests to copy what I was sending, but it was a hopeless endeavor. Moving to a
new run frequency seems to be the best choice in that situation. However, Su
night I was in for a shock when I kept moving my run qrg up and down the 40m
band, because the duplicates kept coming. I suppose I was spotted incorrectly
one of the nights before, which must have led to hundreds of operators logging
the wrong callsign. Many guys who consider themselves seasoned, capable
contesters were among them, which is quite sad. Those people know how to run, so
they must have the ability to copy callsigns to some extent. It's odd to see how
they let themselves down when it comes to S&P.
- Courtesy: In contesting, it seems to be an unwritten law of nature that when
the rate is slow, you will call multiple times with no response, and then you
get two or three calls simultaneously. Two of then will always be equally
strong, and on the exact same frequency. I usually try to repeat a partial call,
hoping that the uncalled guy will hold it for a second. However, some operators
don't seem to understand this philosophy, and they happily keep
"doubling", which needlessly slows down everyone and everything. Is it
because they can't copy, or is it just because they don't care, and they believe
F4 is the answer to all questions? I have no idea, so you be the judge.
Highlights:
- Compared to CQWW, people were well-behaved. Much lower unsolicited non-DX call
count. Does ARRL do a better job promoting their contest rules?
-I had a ton of fun and I was glad to meet so many friends and fellow contesters
on the air! Thanks everyone, you rock! I'll see you in the next one!
73
Wolf, NN7CW
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