[3830] RAC Contest - VE2ZP Low Power score plus comments

[Dave Goodwin VE2ZP/VE9CB]

It was great fun, despite somewhat poor conditions.  Here's what I did:

Category: Single Op All Bands Low Power

Band/Mode  QSOs  Mults

160m CW      21      7 - NF NS PE NB QC ON AB
160m SSB     10      6 - NF NS PE NB QC ON
 80m CW      64     10 - missing NT, YT
 80m SSB    162     10 - ditto
 40m CW     103     11 - missing NT
 40m SSB     68     10 - missing NT, YT
 20m CW      82     12
 20m SSB    107     12
 15m CW      65     12
 15m SSB     35     12
 10m CW      29     12
 10m SSB     63     11 - Missing NS, despite many skeds
  6m CW       3      3 - ON QC + NB by MS sked w/VE9AA
  6m SSB      4      2 - ON QC
  2m CW       3      2 - ON QC, no joy on sked with VE9AA
  2m Phone    3      2 - ON QC both FM and SSB
-----------------------
Total CW    370     69 - 45% of my total
Total Phone 452     65
=======================
Total       822    134 (possible multiplier record)
Claimed Score: 851,436 (possible low-power record)

Equipment:

Kenwood TS-850SAT HF rig (100w out)
Yaesu FT-620B 6m CW/SSB rig (20w out)
Yaesu FT-221 2m all-mode rig + 80w out amp/Rx preamp

Two busted amplifiers (an SB-200 with a B+ problem and an ancient FL-2500
that worked on only three of its six bands and causes fuses to EXPLODE)
convinced me that "low power" was to be my category this time.  The shack
did not get overly hot, and no one called to complain that their toaster was
talking to them.

Antennas:

160m - shunt-fed 84ft tower
80m - Vertical with one elevated radial
40m - single "lazy-vee"
20-10m - KLM KT-34xa up 85ft
6m - home-made 3el yagi up 25ft
2m - 14el yagi up 90ft

Propagation was better on the high bands than it has been in many years,
heralding the return of sunspots.  A minor geomagentic storm disturbed
things on the low bands, however there was no accompanying radio aurora to
liven things up on 6m and 2m.

Activity was great, and there were more than the ritual one or two stations
on from ever-rare VY1, VY2 and VE8.  I noticed that Jay VY1JA/VY1RAC seemed
to have a deal going where he kept Yukon represented on CW, and three others
flew the Territorial flag on SSB.  I never heard a thing from VY1 or VE8
until the last few hours of the contest, but thanks to them I was able to
sweep the possible multipliers on two bands, and nearly do the same on a
third.

Multiplier sweeps will be much harder to come by in future, as the division
of the NWT (into Nunavut and "Bob" or whatever they'll call it) will make
one very tough multiplier into two even tougher ones.

It was great to hear lots of activity on 10m, but it was sometimes hard to
find other Canadians for all the Europeans on the band.

I noted on all bands that, at times, there was a curtain that seemed to
descend between Thunder Bay and Winnipeg, cutting me off from the folks on
the Prairies, BC and the north.  At other times, SK, AB and BC were
thundering in, stations from Ontario east were in my skip zone and weakly
audible, but Manitobans' signals had disappeared into some radio vortex, not
to be heard.

160m was a major disappointment.  First, conditons were lousy.  Second,
thanks to the "Stew Perry" do, 160m has become a "skeds-only" band in the
RAC contest.  As usual, many Stew Perry participants would not oblige us RAC
participants with QSO serial numbers, although that was less of a problem
this time.  Perhaps lousy conditions made for more considerate operators.  I
would prefer to think that N6TR's request that people do both had some
effect.

80m was busy.  It was nice to hear som many of the "basic +5wpm" newer hams
taking part in the contest.  I suspect there wil be many, many 80m
single-band entrants.

I was thrilled to work Mike VE9AA by random meteors on 6, 10 and 15m.  That
was great fun, and will be an important part of my future plans for this
contest.  Even though the wee small hours are usuaully very quiet, a few MS
skeds can keep you going and have a big impact on your score.

Watch for some big score from abroad.  W5WMU was on all bands an nearing
1000 Qs when last heard.  ZF2NT (aka N6NT, ex-AA6KX a past winner)
reportedly doubled the 10m record (watch out VE3KZ).  Bob G3PJT was quite a
presence, as were Jason N5NU (ex-AB5LX) and N0AC was also hard to miss.
With the geomagnetic disturbance, it might have been easier for stations in
the US and Caribbean to work Canadians than for Canadians to work each
other.

Thanks to all for a great time.

73,

Dave Goodwin VE2ZP



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