ARRL DX Contest, SSB - 2023
Call: P49Y
Operator(s): AE6Y
Station: P49Y
Class: SOAB LP
QTH: Aruba
Operating Time (hrs): 37.5
OpMode: SO2R
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
160: 42 25
80: 284 48
40: 1135 59
20: 1019 60
15: 1598 60
10: 1680 59
-------------------
Total: 5758 311 Total Score = 5,372,214
Club: Northern California Contest Club
Comments:
As an opening line in literature, this one from Charles Dickens remains ever
appropriate: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..."
That certainly described this weekend. When conditions are so good as this,
that can disadvantage the Caribbean, as we have to battle to get noticed when
the US/VE's are having so much fun working EU. In fact there were times in this
contest when I temporarily gave up, such as Saturday night a little after 0400Z
(midnight in Aruba) when I could get nothing going on the low bands and 20 was
still full of loud EU QRM. So I took a larger than normal sleep break of 5 1/2
hours. In fact, my total on the air time (measured by excluding any breaks
greater than 10 minutes in the log) was only 37 1/2 hours, instead of the usual
42 or so.
With the expected conditions, I decided to try low power, though all my previous
entries in this contest had all been high power. There is quite a difference
(duh!). For one thing, you don't get instant respect when you QSY to a new band
and pick a frequency that is pretty clear but not perfect. With high power and
the usual instant pileup you can normally blow a hole in the band, but it's not
so easy with low power. This is particularly true on the low bands.
I did not self-spot, which I disapprove of on principle, but the influence of
spots was immediately apparent when someone did spot me, so in the future if
they continue to be allowed every serious competitor will have to use them.
I was using my new K4 along with W6LD's K3S which John had left for me in
between his stints in the recent ARRL DX CW and upcoming WPX SSB contests. I
must say, as a satisfied K3 owner since 2007, the older radio looks positively
dowdy next to a flashy new K4! The K4 performed very well, and I think Elecraft
has a real winner with the new CESSB compression algorithm. I received many
unsolicited "big signal" and "great audio" reports. Before
the contest I had determined that with my Heil headset mike about 2 inches from
my mouth, the TX EQ set to emphasize treble, and compression set at about 25,
that combination produced very clear, strong audio without distortion. Several
tests beforehand seemed to indicate that the K3 sounded well also, but did not
have quite the "punch" of the K4.
Thanks to many guys for moving bands (and to VO1TH for keeping a sked at the end
of the contest for new mults on 40 and 80). In fact, probably one third of my
very meager 160 mult total is from direct moves there. Also thanks to those who
tried unsuccessfully. And a big apology for my worst QLF moment of the weekend.
Near the end of the contest, I was on 15 running a small pileup when VY2GF
called in. I asked him to move to 10, as PEI was my last unworked
"normal" mult (i.e., excluding YT, NT, and NU). He did so but I
didn't hear anything on 10 and couldn't make the move. He came back and said to
try again, but in my tired, befuddled, semi-hallucinatory,
near-the-end-of-the-contest state, I blew him off and went back to the pileup
which I could handle mechanically without any thought. Sorry! -- that was not
only foolish of me, but disrespectful as well. After thinking about it, I
realized that I had used the K4 subRX for the move and inadvertently been
listening on the beverages, with the logical negative result on 10. Of course,
this was entirely human error on my part, not the K4's fault. What I should
have done was just shift focus to the K3, type in 28800 or so into the entry
box, and done an instant QSY on that radio, but at the time that was too
complicated for my limited brain power to envision. I brooded on this for the
rest of the contest, and am still bothered by it, hi.
As always, thanks to co-owner John (W6LD, P40L) and supporter Ed (W0YK, P49X).
By operating this contest I get the direct benefit of all sorts of house, shack,
and antenna maintenance that they have carried out in the past two months,
without, for example, the need to put on my hiking boots and tussle with the
beverages in the cunucu (public land, full of thorny cactus and scrub
vegetation) behind our house. And thanks to Cris (P43C) and Jean-Pierre (P43A)
for their efforts to keep the place shipshape.
73, and thanks to everyone for the QSOs and the supportive comments during the
contest,
Andy, AE6Y, P49Y
Station:
K4D, K3S
software: CQPWIN ver. 14.0
Tower 1: 80’ with 2-element shorty-forty, 4-el 20m Yagi, 80m Inverted-V, 2-el
SteppIR at 35’ due north and double-L vertical for 160m
Tower 2: 55’ with single boom interlaced 5-el 15m and 5-el 10m Yagi
Tower 3: 45’ with JK Mid-Tri tribander
Beverages: West US, East US, Europe, East-West
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
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