[3830] ARRLDX SSB K7ZO SOSB/10 HP

[k7zo at micron.net]

                     ARRL DX Contest, SSB
                    
Call: K7ZO
Operator(s): K7ZO
Station: K7ZO

Class: SOSB/10 HP
QTH: Idaho
Operating Time (hrs): 
 

Summary:
 Band     QSOs  Mults
----------------------
  160:              
   80:              
   40:              
   20:              
   15:              
   10:    555     67
----------------------
Total:    555     67  =  111,555

Club: Southwest Idaho Contest Club

Comments:

Now that the initial pileup of postings has died down a bit....

Overall I would have to echo some of the reports read so far on a couple of 
fronts: Not as good as last year and Saturday was better than Sunday. Other 
than looking at the flux numbers before the contest though it was hard to tell 
this is what was in store when I sat down to find a frequency at 23:45 on 
Friday. At the start of the contest 10M was wide open to JA. This made me 
decide to do a 10M Single Band after a great start. Some out of the block 
highlights:

* First two hours each over 100 QSO’s
* Having 3W2LWS call me at 00:26
* Having OH1MM check in at 00:39. We usually have a late afternoon nordic 
opening on 10 and 15M but this is pretty amazing. It was almost 4 1/2 hours 
before their sunrise. I remember reading an article in NCJ about this opening I 
am going to have to go re-read it. It was also notable that he also was the 
only OH, SM, or LA worked the whole weekend.
* Having HS0ZAZ call me at 1:26
* Still being able to run JA on 10M at 03:45 that night -- which is a very 
respectable two hours after sunset.

My last QSO was at 4:06 with NO7F/KL7 and I called it night.

Last year I remember that 10M was open to Europe right at our sunrise on 
Saturday morning. This caught me by surprise, and I did not want to miss it 
this year. But, alas the Flux, A, and K really conspired against the EU path 
from the northwest. My first 10M QSO was with VP5B at 14:45 about 30 minutes 
after sunrise. From there it was S&Ping Caribbean and South American stations 
until the first EU, EA5DFX found his way into my log at 16:25. This is about 2 
hours after sunrise. Then band continued to build for the next hour and I 
started getting 59+ reports from some stations. I figured it was time to try a 
run, the problem was finding a frequency. I finally found 28755 open and called 
CQ. I was quickly answered by PA0MIR and DL5FU. One of them must have put me on 
the cluster because the band then exploded (Idaho is a fun state to be in for 
ARRL DX contests.) I quickly worked 40 Q’s in the next 30 minutes and then the 
run died. This was now 18:15 or so and it was dark across most of Europe. I was 
able to S&P for another 45 minutes or so and when the opening was well into 
it’s fade called it quits for the morning and ran some errands. Little did I 
know that was the last I was going to hear from Europe for the weekend. 

I spent the afternoon S&Ping the usual suspects in the Caribbean and South 
America. I worked my first JA at 21:24, about 20 minutes or so after their 
sunrise. From then until 00:30 when I had to head out for a dinner party I had 
steady runs going at the usual second day rates. The band had long closed by 
the time I returned.

Sunday morning brought hopes of a better EU opening, but unfortunately the 
reverse was true. My first QSO was at 15:40 with 8R1AK, this was a full hour 
later than on Saturday. (Though I did hear many stations before then, I 
happened to have already worked them.) The band did not seem like it was 
opening and I would spend a few minutes here and there S&Ping intermixed with 
household chores. The only EU station I heard the whole morning was a S0 
whisper out of S50S. From there I kind of lost interest. S&Ping at 5-10 and 
hour all afternoon is not really fun. I did sit down at the rig for the last 
half hour and got a nice run of JA and KH6’s going. A band scan came across the 
9M0M pileup which I got through on the first call! (Not bad for 400W and a 3 
element beam at 20’. Though I will admit the terrain slopes away very nicely in 
that direction so I am sure I get a few more dB of gain. I remember working one 
5W JA station who was 5 over 9 on my rig. I had to ask him what antennas he was 
using, a 7 over 7 stack was the answer. He also reported that I was 45 over 9 
which is the biggest signal report I have ever received.) I also heard a very 
ugly pileup on a TG9 that I decided to stay totally away from, life is too 
short.

One last story. On my Saturday Cqing into EU with the beam pointed NE, I had 
someone call in with distorted audio and a callsign that didn’t make any sense. 
I asked for a reply with no answer. I CQ’d a bit more and he called in again. I 
tried to make out the call. It sounded like it ended with a whole bunch of 
numbers. I figured someone was just trying to QRM me and ignored him. Then he 
came back with: “What’s the matter don’t you want to talk with someone in 
Michigan”. You got it. A Cber had found his way well up into the 10M band. He 
did in fact have a callsign, but I never did figure it out. We had a short 
chat, actually it was me doing all the talking, about needing a license to 
operate here and that they are easy to study for and get. He then said: “ Well 
tell me how my audio sounds to see if this radio is worth licensing”. (He still 
didn’t get it.) I said it was not good and had an echo. He then said: “Well how 
about now” and obviously switched off his amp -- purchased from who knows 
where. His audio was in fact better and I told him so. That was the last I 
heard from him. What did we do to deserve this?

Anyway, fun was had. Wish I had the 10M EU openings the east coast obviously 
had. Hope 10M lasts till next year but not likely at this rate. See everyone 
down the log.

Scott/K7ZO





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