W2UP CQWW CW SOA HP score + comments

[Barry Kutner]

                    CQ WORLD WIDE DX CONTEST -- 1996


      Call: W2UP                     Country:  United States
      Mode: CW                       Category: Single Unlimited

      BAND     QSO   QSO PTS  ZONES COUNTRIES


      160       72      195    12      47        inv vee/600' Bev
       80      300      847    22      80        3 el sloper
       40      559     1600    33     124        402-CD 86 ft
       20     1033     3025    38     131        |Stacked TH7s
       15      574     1681    29     114        |40 and 76 ft
       10       31       77    11      19
     -----------------------------------------

     Totals   2569     7425   145     515  =>  4,900,500

     Rig: FT-1000D/Alpha 77Dx

     Op Time=37.2 hours 

Comments:
Had a few Murphyisms before the contest that weren't very promising.
Three days before the contest my antenna switching relays gave up on 
me. Had to break out the old coax switch for manual band changes. I 
had to plead with the farmer the week before the contest to cut down 
the 
field of corn, so I could string my European Beverage.  He said the 
wet
summer delayed the harvest.  Line noise started two weeks ago. Gave 
me
S-7 noise on 80 and 160. Miraculously it went away Friday, and is 
back
today, Monday.  The XYL wanted to go out to dinner Friday and I said
"fine, as long as we're home by 6:30." This didn't go over well, so 
we
ordered pizza to be delivered at 6 PM. It finally arrived 6:40! I was
pacing back and forth by the window like a baby was about to be born.

I replaced my Alpha 78 (broad-band tuning) with an Alpha 77Dx, as I 
am
also a RTTY contester and wanted something more robust for those long
key-down times.  Unfortunately, it is manually tuned. Between that 
and
the manual antenna switching, I though jumping bands for packet spots
would be real tough - and it was. I think this was a blessing in 
disguise. Mr. SOA, K3WW, has called the SOA category "single-op
distracted."  He's right.  After chasing a few packet spots, I 
decided
it wasn't worth changing bands unless there were several new mults
waiting for me, because of the time it took me to tune up and switch
antennas.  Also, I found out I should ignore W3LPL's 10 m spots as 90 
%
were inaudible here.  Either the beam at 200 ft or being a few 
hundred
miles south made a big difference. So, I operated more like a 
straight
single-op, concentrating on runs, rather than multiplier chasing.

I took two off periods for sleep.  The first was from 0745-1115Z. 
Came
right down to the shack and the going was so good, I never ate 
anything
for breakfast. Finally took a 10 minute break at lunchtime for 
something
quick.  The XYL was of no help. She didn't like me isolating myself 
in
the basement, so she was going to make the point.  I asked her for a 
cup
of coffee in the evening and got "make it yourself" in reply.  The 
second
night I was pretty beat, and decided being fresh for the 20 and,
hopefully, 15 meter runs was more important than working 10-20/hour
through the doldrums of the night.  I went to bed at 0515Z, and awoke 
to
the alarm at 1120Z.  It took another 3-4 hours before I really felt
fully alive.  It brought back memories of my nights on-call as an 
intern 
and resident.  Between skipping breakfast, quick meals, and no 
snacks, 
I lost 2 pounds when I weighed myself Monday morning!

160: Don't like the band. Too slow with the endless calling. Spent as
little time as possible there.

80: Spent more time here than usual, with 40 being poor to Europe 
Friday
and Saturday nights. Thought I was going to miss zone 3, but cuaght a
VE7 Sunday morning.

40: Europe was not very loud the first two nights.  At one point I 
was
CQing on 7000.3, and 9Y4H tried to go BELOW me. Guess too many folks 
were afraid to answer him there and he moved.

20: Great European runs! From 1200-1730Z on Saturday, my hourly rate
never dropped below 113, and was as high as 160 (with some 15 m in 
there
too). At about 1700Z, while running 140/hour, K4LTA decided he wanted 
my
frequency.  Took him 20 minutes of my continued 140/hour for him to
move on. I don't understand stuff like that.  Patted myself on the 
back
when I finally beat N2RM in a packet pileup. I spoke with the op on 
the
FRC repeater this morning and he burst my bubble saying "Oh, it was 
only
the mult station, not the BIG antennas." Still, big enough...

15: Also great condx, considering the sunspot doldrums. Just before 
the
contest, someone announced the WWV report of SF=83.  I thought he was
kidding, then it went up to 100 or so!  Even worked 1 JA on 15. JW5NM
had an amazing signal in the late evening on Saturday.

10: Not much to say. Only Carribean with a consistently loud signal 
was
J6DX. Most of the others were in the noise most of the time, except 
for
the LUs, of course. Thanks to KS9K for answering my in-the-noise call
for the zone 4 mult.

Guess I'll put in a competitive effort in another 5 years or so, when
Thanksgiving weekend family plans don't interfere with the contest. 
Sure
wish the CQ boys would keep it BEFORE our holiday every year.

73/Barry


--
Barry Kutner, W2UP              Internet: w2up at voicenet.com
Newtown, PA         FRC         alternate: barry at w2up.wells.com

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