[3830] W4WS ARRL DX SSB SO/LP/AB Write-up (LONG)
Henry Heidtmann
n4vhk at summitschool.com
Fri Apr 7 14:24:16 EDT 2000
ARRL INTERNATIONAL DX CONTEST -- 2000
Call: W4WS (N4VHK, op.) Country: US
Mode: SSB Category: SO/LP/AB/U
BAND QSO QSO PTS PTS/Q COUNTRIES
160 2 6 3.0 2
80 26 78 3.0 20
40 88 264 3.0 48
20 473 1410 3.0 81
15 336 1008 3.0 76
10 638 1911 3.0 88
--------------------------------------
Totals 1563 4677 3.0 315 = 1,473,255
Equipment:TS930 (2), CT v9.46 logging, Heil Proset, W9XT contest card
160- Shunt fed 40' of Rohn 25
80- full wave horizontal loop up 35'
40 thru 10- F12 C4XL up 40'
15- 3L homebrew yagi up 38'
10- 2L delta loop up 25' lashed to a swing set.
I'm posting this article because of the requests from many guys out
there for a write up about my operation in the ARRL DX SSB contest.
Hopefully, this write up will be as helpful to others as previous write
ups have been to me in operating the ARRL in LP fashion.
I'll start off by saying that though I've done many SO in the past,
I've never really tried one in one of the big boys, i.e., ARRL DX, CQWW,
WPX, etc., and on a serious level. I've been primarily involved in
running Multi-singles in those, and from not only my small QTH, but from
our local club station W4NC ( Guess I just like the social aspect of it-
the team effort thing.) When I was unable to get a team together for
this year's
ARRL DX SSB, I made the commitment to put my station (and the
operator)to the test and see how we could do. Naturally, I started my
research in the Contest Reflector archives. It is packed with great
info- other op's stories, diet suggestions, hardware and software
tricks, and just plain useful operating tips. Previous write ups of
W4AN, K3ZO and other ops on the east coast gave me some good pointers
for Single op. Since my station is not
wired for 220 (except for draping an extension from the YL's dryer in
the house some 60') I decided to try LP. A quick check of the previous
year's scores and all time records indicated a possible shot at the 4
land record. In fact, Jim Floyd, ex.WA4ZXA and K4ZAM, (SK) won this one
several years ago, and his QTH was only 15 miles south of mine (I'm
located in Winston-Salem, about 60 miles as the crow flies NE of
Charlotte,NC) With nothing over 40' in the air, no amp, and no packet,
I really had to make some
great runs and create a strategy to maximize my score. Keeping a run
frequency was key. The recent threads on just that gave me a bit of
optimism for being able to hold a frequency. Though we've never been
able to hold a 20M run freq in our Multi/single efforts, I committed
myself to doing just that- Start on 20 ,and never leave until my rate
falls below 30- the goal of the weekend.
Going in I also knew that my band was playing on Saturday night, and
so
I would lose precious 20M and low band openings, but it was a paying gig
folks- no chance of breaking that commitment. (It was good to hear from
2 other stations who said hay had the same problem- maybe we should put
a combo together for the Contesting Suite in Dayton???)
So the first night meant running 20 as long as possible, with the
second radio looking for q's on 40/80/160. I've never run a 2nd radio as
a single op- I built a small headphone switch box which would give me
all run audio in one position, and by throwing the switch it places the
2nd rig audio in my left ear while keeping the run in my right. Looking
at the breakdown, you can tell I needed the time to get used to that.
After
an hour of fumbling with the 2nd radio, it began to pay off as I hunted
on 15 looking NW for JA. And no, I had no rig control for the two radios
(both of them TS930's- my 850 was DOA) Logging was done by setting up
two computers, keyboards and monitors next to each other. (The 930 PIEXX
board is looking better every day...)
I started high up on the band on 20 and held that frequency for
over 2
hours- a first in my 10 years of contesting. My antenna on that band, a
Force 12 C4XL at 40' never gave me a problem. In fact, I used it as well
as the 40M feed (on the same boom)with some bandpass filters for about
an hour to pick up some good mults on 40. (With filtering, the C4XL can
be used concurrently on the those 2 bands) The first overnight was the
typical S&P, with 1 160 q all night- the noise was terrible and the
Caribbean stations just couldn't hear me (thanks to the "kind" gent who
told me to "get a real signal"-) My activity on 80 was mediocre at best-
the antenna being a full wave horizontal loop fed with ladder line at
various tree level heights- 25-40' up. 40 and 20 continued to be my
money bands through the night.
At 1100z, all hell broke loose on 15. I swear, one minute nothing,
then
next there wasn't a spot to be had. In addition to the C4XL, I stuck a
home-brew 15M monobander up on a chimney mount on the house with my
spare Ham-M rotor to turn it. Tuning up the band, I creaked in between
a couple NE big boys around 21.345 and started calling CQ. I had a great
path to EU, receiving reports of 20-30 over- a stroke of luck for 100
watts. The second radio went to 10 and started hunting for stations. I
switched to run 10
and stayed there until 1800z. 10 Meters was nothing short of amazing. I
ran a 2 element delta loop on a push up mast attached to my son's swing
set in the yard- it was only up around 25'-but it played even and
sometimes better than the F12. Quick short runs and S&P on 15 and 20
took me to 0000z where I was back to 10 looking Pacific and working a
short run of JA's. The next 3 hours was spent putting kids to bed,
getting dressed for the show with occasional runs to the shack to pick
up new stations. Then it was off to play the blues until 0700. I
returned later to make a quick check of the low bands (where I netted my
2nd and last 160 qso), then off to 20 meters to find a spot and call
CQ. Again, the signals reports were great-and I managed another 75 hour
rate. Lack of sleep persuaded me to take a quick snooze which lasted an
hour longer than I had planned, thus missing the start of the gray line
morning EU run. The 2 radio set up got a
lot of use on Sunday morning, as I was constantly searching all 3 upper
bands for new q's. The running wasn't as good as it was Saturday, until
1800z when my plan took my to find a spot on 10 and stay as long as I
could stand it. Good move, as it turned out to be my highest clock hour
rate of the contest (88). Asia, Africa, Pacific calling me for a
change-SU9 and JT1 calling in later in the day; How sweet it is.
1900 through 2100z brought me back to S&P across 10 through 40, with
my
strategy landing me on 40 at 2200z. It is at this point that I never
know where head. My Multi op experiences never really divulged a good
answer(or at least a different one each time- maybe there's no real
answer-). We've tried CQing on 40 and hunting on 20 with mixed results.
My gut said so to your strongest band- 20 meters. Huh? 20 meters in the
last 2 hours with no amp? Its a zoo as it is. Multi ops and loud EU
banging in at 30 over. Not a space to be had.
So I made one. I figured if I'm bothering anyone, they'll tell me
soon
enough. I had just enough space between a HUGE US Multi op and a HUGE
French m/o. This is where a quality receiver will save you. My 930,
with RF gain just about dialed out, managed to pull in 57 q's through
the mud, splatter and general mayhem. Thanks to the many G and EA
stations that stuck with me in there. I was then the victim of the old
Squeeze play, and was forced to give up my frequency, so it was off to
S&P for anything I could find till the end. When the dust settled, I had
beaten the 4 land record, and
suddenly my thoughts turned to my secondary goal, a top 10 US finish.
(Claimed scores show 2nd place- with 3 stations hovering around the top
mark- we'll see what ol' man U-BIN has to say when the scores are
published in the fall.)
One comment about diet. I decided on a hybrid diet, based on the
Contest reflector recommendations of limiting fat and carbos and
primarily eating proteins before the test, then switching to eating
nothing throughout the test until the last quarter (12 hours) where
caffeine and cokes rule the roost for the remainder. Being a big coffee
drinker, I laid off the stuff 4 days prior, and I believe it really
helped. When I had that first cup on Sunday morning, it really jolted
me- and the taste- oh, it was mighty fine. It really woke me up for the
big day ahead. The 807's helped around 1700 as the jumpiness set in, and
cokes /peanuts rounded it out. The steady diet of cigarettes probably
didn't help, but they did make me feel good. (I quit in January, but
never contested before WITHOUT THEM. It was just too tough to abstain
during a contest weekend. ) I'm no doctor, but I think the diet stuff
really helped. I was aware most of the time, and I think the 3 hours of
sleep I took was the result of exhaustion from the combination of the
contest and playing a 3 hour show in a loud, crowded bar.
I'm looking forward to any suggestions or comments about my
endeavor. I
hope this has been helpful to anyone who thinks you need lots of towers
and $$$ to play competitively. As long as you have fun, and do your
homework, you can do well.
My hat goes off to all the perennial single ops out there. It makes
for
a long weekend, and the fun of slapping a friend on the back when you
find a good mult isn't there. I don't know how you guys do it weekend in
and out. But I salute (and greatly admire) your ability to do so. Think
I'll stick to Multiops, hi! I'm looking forward to the Contesting suites
at Dayton; hope to share one with you all.
73,
Henry Heidtmann, N4VHK
W4WS Contest Crew
Winston-Salem, NC
2nd radio yield: 158 q's/53 mults
BREAKDOWN QSO/mults W4WS ARRL INTERNATIONAL DX SSB CONTEST
HOUR 160 80 40 20 15 10 HR TOT CUM TOT
*
0 ..... ..... ..... 77/34 2/2 1/1 80/37 80/37
1 . . . 30/7 23/16 3/3 56/26 136/63
2 . . . 37/10 6/2 . 43/12 179/75
3 . 4/4 22/17 . . . 26/21 205/96
4 . 2/1 5/2 20/5 . . 27/8 232/104
5 . 3/3 19/9 6/1 . . 28/13 260/117
6 . 4/4 . 15/4 . . 19/8 279/125
7 . 6/4 10/6 4/2 . . 20/12 299/137
8 1/1 5/3 9/7 14/3 ..... ..... 29/14 328/151
9 . 2/1 1/1 39/2 . . 42/4 370/155
10 . . 1/0 19/3 8/4 . 28/7 398/162
11 . . . . 44/21 9/6 53/27 451/189
12 . . . . 22/4 55/24 77/28 528/217
13 . . . . . 70/10 70/10 598/227
14 . . . . 1/0 47/9 48/9 646/236
15 . . . . 17/2 34/5 51/7 697/243
16 ..... ..... ..... 1/0 ..... 40/5 41/5 738/248
17 . . . 1/0 24/5 26/0 51/5 789/253
18 . . . . 30/7 . 30/7 819/260
19 . . . . 20/2 18/3 38/5 857/265
20 . . . . 33/2 2/0 35/2 892/267
21 . . 1/1 28/4 2/0 . 31/5 923/272
22 . . . 2/0 . 12/4 14/4 937/276
23 . . 3/1 8/0 2/0 20/0 33/1 970/277
0 ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... 36/5 36/5 1006/282
1 . . . . . 3/0 3/0 1009/282
2 . . 5/1 . 23/1 16/2 44/4 1053/286
3 . . . 5/1 6/0 . 11/1 1064/287
4 . . . . . . . 1064/287
5 . . . . . . . 1064/287
6 . . . . . . . 1064/287
7 1/1 . 7/2 3/0 . . 11/3 1075/290
8 ..... ..... ..... 75/2 ..... ..... 75/2 1150/292
9 . . . 7/1 . . 7/1 1157/293
10 . . . . . . . 1157/293
11 . . . . . . . 1157/293
12 . . . . 5/2 11/1 16/3 1173/296
13 . . . . 1/0 48/2 49/2 1222/298
14 . . . . 5/0 28/1 33/1 1255/299
15 . . . . 26/3 . 26/3 1281/302
16 ..... ..... ..... ..... 17/1 4/0 21/1 1302/303
17 . . . . . 31/2 31/2 1333/305
18 . . . . 5/1 83/1 88/2 1421/307
19 . . . 4/0 6/1 22/1 32/2 1453/309
20 . . . 2/0 7/0 7/2 16/2 1469/311
21 . . . 19/0 . 2/1 21/1 1490/312
22 . . . 57/2 . . 57/2 1547/314
23 . . 5/1 . 1/0 10/0 16/1 1563/315
DAY1 1/1 26/20 71/44 301/75 234/67 337/70 ..... 970/277
DAY2 1/1 . 17/4 172/6 102/9 301/18 . 593/38
TOT 2/2 26/20 88/48 473/81 336/76 638/88 . 1563/315
--
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