W1KM CQWW CW SO-Score, Highs and Lows

[W1km at aol.com]

                    CQ WORLD WIDE DX CONTEST -- 1996


      Call: W1KM                     Country:  United States
      Mode: CW                       Category: Single Operator

      BAND     QSO   QSO PTS  PTS/QSO   ZONES COUNTRIES


      160      166      467     2.81     15      56
       80      582     1654     2.84     27      83
       40      638     1850     2.90     31      96
       20     1056     3103     2.94     32     104
       15      733     2166     2.95     26      89
       10       14       35     2.50      8      13
     ---------------------------------------------------

     Totals   3189     9275     2.91    139     441  =>  5,379,500

Another great contest! This one had its share of  highs and lows:

First the lows:
--40 meters at the start--worst I can remember--the band sounded
ok but nobody was calling! I went to 80 before the first hour was over.
--calling 3G1X  on 20 for what seemed like a half hour Friday nite and
he couldn't hear me--I started to get flustered thinking I had wasted
all this time when in reality it was only about 5 minutes
--getting a great 80 m run freq Friday nite and then having some
kind of local  migrating birdie blow it apart
--finding VK6HD on 80 Saturday morning just as he qsy'ed to 160
--no zone 3 on 160--w7rm couldn't you hear me?
--ja5dqh s7 on 15 but unable to get thru--no ja's on 15
--hitting the "wall" at 0600z Saturday night --I was convinced that zd had 
conspired to construct an electromagnetic shield around my qth
I couldn't work anybody, anywhere--did the right thing 
and went to sleep for 3 hrs...even tho I missed EU sunrise
had I not slept I  would have really disintegrated on Sunday
--blowing the rx overload fuse on Saturday nite and finding that
replacing it didn't help because the fuse holder was an RS defective 
special. 
--no Africans on 160 (besides EA8)

The highs:
-finding and working VK6HD on 80 on Sunday morning
-the fantastic Saturday morning runs on 20 and 15-by far the 
best 4 hr run I've ever had
-an incredible burst on 160 Saturday nite  at 02Z--Europeans
were loud and fast, SV8ZC  sounded like a local--7Z5OO was booming
The new  wire 4-square was a lot of work but  maybe it will
be worth it...if I could just make those runs last a little longer...
--the Sunday 15 meter run--shades of yesteryear with Asian Russians
and VU2PAI 
--finding C35A calling cq on 80 without  a packet pileup--for that matter,
finding any choice DX without a packet pileup
--the Sunday afternoon European 40 M run with some choice mid-East
thrown in.
--the excellent operators from Europe who make the rates possible 

Congratulations to K5ZD on an outstanding effort--also, congratulations
and thanks to all the contest dx-peditions--the operating caliber was
the best I can remember with very few "non-signers"--this contest is
so much more enjoyable when stations sign their call!
73,
Greg W1KM

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