[3830] KQ2M 2001 WPXSSB SOABHP UNASSISTED (Long)
Robert Shohet
kq2m at mags.net
Tue Mar 27 07:51:27 EST 2001
2001 CQWWWPX PHONE CONTEST
Call: KQ2M 33.4 hours operated
Category: Single Operator
Power: High Power Unassisted
Band: All Band
Mode: SSB
Country: United States
BAND QSO QSO PTS PTS/Q PREFIXES
160 0 0 0.0 0
80 53 111 2.1 37
40 58 329 5.7 15
20 1089 2760 2.5 232
15 1601 4147 2.6 577
10 781 1907 2.4 201
--------------------------------------
Totals 3582 9254 2.6 1062 = 9,827,748
All reports sent were 59(9), unless otherwise noted.
Equipment Description:
Club Affiliation: FRANKFORD RADIO CLUB
This is to certify that in this contest I have operated
my transmitter within the limitations of my license and have
observed fully the rules and regulations of the contest.
Signature _________________________________
MAILING ADDRESS:
ROBERT L. SHOHET KQ2M
51 SCUDDER ROAD
NEWTOWN, CT 06470
There is no contest that I enjoy operating more than WPX Phone. It has
been my favorite contest for the past 25+ years and I always look
forward to it, but after the grueling ARRLDX SSB which had such lousy
propagation, I was determined not to make the same mistake again. So when
the effects of the big solar disturbances continued up to the start of the
contest replete with an S7 - S9 auroral buzz on 20, WWV showing a K of 5,
and horrible qrn from a departing Nor'easter, I needed little convincing.
At 0000, I heard W4MYA cqing in futility on the edge and I said hi to Bob and
gave him #1. We talked for 30 seconds and I shut off the radio and went
upstairs. I had very mixed feelings as I love this contest, but the thought
of spending the evening with Melissa (my 19 month old daughter) and my XYL
vs. working trying to work weak EU and stateside guys well underneath
the S9 noise level - made it REAL easy to do this at 0001Z.
Being "daddy playground" while she repeatedly pounced and crawled all over
me (on the floor) was great but watching Melissa trying to feed herself (and
my wife) ice cream with a big spoon was absolutely hilarious. WPX? What
was that?
At 0530, I couldn't sleep and decided to try running on 80. It was REAL bad
and 20 was almost dead. I operated for about 30 minutes and shut off the
radio, read for an hour and went to sleep.
At 1400 I woke up refreshed and again played with Melissa. (I'm normally so
busy at this time of the year that I usually work LONGER hours on Saturday
and Sunday than during the week and don't play with her nearly enough)
At 1500z, after doing some odds and ends, and with a smile on my face, I got
curious and decided to take my cup of coffee downstairs and see how bad
cndx were. I started operating on 10 - which was pretty poor - but
I was "fresh meat" for everyone and the runs were pretty good, although it
was a much higher percentage of US q's than normal. I had told Barbara, my
XYL, that I was going to operate until I got tired or bored or both, and
then I would come upstairs. Since this was going to be a casual affair,
I left my "operating chair", spare computer, food, coffee, water and other
necessities, upstairs.
7 hours later, Barbara brought me some food and water (OOPS - this means
that I am SOA - right Randy?) and I told her that I would continue to
operate until propagation got worse or I got tired.
At 1400z on SUNDAY, when she and Melissa visited me again, I told her that
I was going to operate to the end. She was amused but not surprised.
Melissa was VERY interested in the Heil headset and was not the least bit
shy at talking at full volume while I was running guys. She even tried to
grab the headset a few times and talk into it - (yeah, I know that some
purists would say that I was assisted - but 'gimme a break - she is only
19 months old!). A few EU and JA stations had to ask for repeats - it was
pretty funny. I finished up at 0000z having operated the last 33 hours
straight without leaving the radio once!
Cndx were really WEIRD. Starting with Friday, I have heard MUCH better at
the bottom of the cycle. However, WPXSSB is very close to the Vernal
Equinox and that time period usually has the best propagation of the whole
year, so it was even stranger that cndx were BETTER in ARRLDX SSB even
though it had a lower SF number and lower A & K indices. Things began to
improve on Saturday but 10 still did not really want to open to EU until
late and 15 was poor to JA. The low bands were poor as well.
It was very weird to work "the boys", WC4E, KM9P, NT1N, KF3P, on Saturday
morning and be 700 - 1,000 q's behind them. When Jeff (WC4E) called me he
said "I guess that you are not serious this weekend". He was right, I
wasn't serious at the time. (Sorry Jeff!)
All during the day I ran and ran and ignored the 2nd radio. I still had no
plans to do a serious effort and wasn't going to be bothered with S & P
on the 2nd radio. Besides, it re-developed it's bizarre tuning problem that
I had in CQWWSSB. That is, it would tune down the band by itelf, stop,
and then start tuning down again. Trying to listen to it meant that I had
to continually "compensate" for the tuning by continually moving the knob -
what a PITA!
When a JA called me on 15 at 2000z (a bit early) I was curious as to what was
happening to the ionospheric "wet blanket". By 2330 and with a good JA
run on 10, I was REALLY dying to hear the WWV report. At 0018 they were
predicting q-uns geomagnetic cndx with a K of 1 and SF of 210. That was
all I needed to hear! Propagation was going to get real good and I was
going to operate the next 24 hours straight! This meant of course that I
could not operate more than 33 1/2 hours for the whole contest since I had
already my 14 1/2 hours offtime by the time I sat down in the chair
at 1510Z on Saturday. I was going to get a reminder of what it was like to
operate from "start-to-finish" although clearly it was only 34 hours vs 48.
The JA run on 10 was shorter than anticipated and 15 did not stay open as
late as in 2000, but XV9, 9M2, JT, 9V1, 9M6, YB, HL, BV, BY, KH0, HS and a
basketful of other neat stuff called in, unlike in ARRLDX SSB. I still had
not figured out why I could be loud in Japan and Asia and had to struggle at
times to work EU.
20 never had the all-night JA/EU runs that I had hoped for (seemed like
other guys also shut off the radio on Friday and never turned it on again)
and at times it was tough to get anything going. I thought 15 would open
early (10Z) and bail me out. It didn't. When it finally opened, it was
pretty poor, except for the occasional VERY loud JA, YB or HS station.
Things got so poor to Eu that I had to go up the band to about 21.310
to get anything going. I had a good run and went to 10 again about 13z.
A waste of time. I tried 10 again later about 14z - it had loud CT's, EA's
and nothing else. I couldn't wait any longer as EU was almost gone on 15
(15 went VERY long - very weak EU and very loud JA, HS, DS, etc) and I ran
for two hours. I worked VERY loud UA9's, UN's etc. and could barely hear
the occasional DL, but the band was sort of open - apparently most guys
were tuning and not calling cq. Unfortunately 10 died really early and
15 did not last much longer - but I have learned from experience that 10
and 15 usually disappear quite a few times before they finally die and sure
enough - every time I came back to 10 it was open somewhere else and a
new bunch of callsigns and prefixes were in the log.
The nice thing about not having off-time was that I could simply stay on
and run guys. The not-so-nice thing was that when the doldrums hit about
1600z - there was NO off-time to take. YUCK! I am sure that more than
one person was wondering why I was continuing to call CQ on an almost dead
15 meter band at about 1600z.
It was neat to work the "the boys" from time to time and see how I was
doing. By about 2000z it was clear that I had caught up with them.
20 opened late, so 10 and 15 became a real drudge at times but this was made
easier by all the S.A. and US stations that I could now call (since I had
ignored them earlier). This bought me some time until 10 REALLY opened to
JA - but REALLY opening is relative. In New England, a really good JA opening
on 10 usually means that the "super-loud" JA's are pushing 59+15 and that we
might actually have about two hours to run or S & P them. (They are louder on
15 and we have a bit more time.) The best 10 meter JA rate that I ever had
was a 111 hour and the best 10 meter JA run that I ever had was three
hours - in 25 years!
Realizing that I had worked most of the "easy" JA prefixes and that I needed
q's (and most cq's were going unanswered), I planned to end the contest on
40. After (wasting) 30 minutes on 40 for the 6-pointers, and with one
coastal storm to the East and another snow storm just to the West, the QRN
was awful, so I decided to give up and go back to 20 where most of EU
was anyway - working the loud W's. That's where I finished the contest.
On Sunday, I had hoped to break 10 MEG (again), but between poor propagation
and operating only 33 1/2 hours, it was too much of a challenge.
I had a lot of fun and realized that next year's WPXSSB probably won't be
as interesting as we really get into the cycle 23 decline. I am glad that
I operated the contest the way I did. I will always have in my mind
the "surreal" pictures of playing with my daughter on Friday evening during
a major worldwide DX contest and reading and sleeping for 9 hours on the
first day.
Thanks for all the qso's! CU in WPXCW (propagation permitting).
73
Bob KQ2M
HOUR 160 80 40 20 15 10 HR TOT CUM TOT
0 ..... ..... ..... 1/1 ..... ..... 1/1 1/1
1 . . . . . . . 1/1
2 . . . . . . . 1/1
3 . . . . . . . 1/1
4 . . . . . . . 1/1
5 . 33/31 4/4 2/2 . . 39/37 40/38
6 . . . . . . . 40/38
7 . . . . . . . 40/38
8 ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... 40/38
9 . . . . . . . 40/38
10 . . . . . . . 40/38
11 . . . . . . . 40/38
12 . . . . . . . 40/38
13 . . . . . . . 40/38
14 . . . . . . . 40/38
15 . . . . 96/79 18/16 114/95 154/133
16 ..... ..... ..... ..... 200/127 ..... 200/127 354/260
17 . . . . 22/14 151/74 173/88 527/348
18 . . . . 73/31 51/16 124/47 651/395
19 . . . . 167/55 . 167/55 818/450
20 . . . . 150/63 . 150/63 968/513
21 . . . 97/21 25/15 . 122/36 1090/549
22 . . . 51/7 48/21 14/5 113/33 1203/582
23 . . . 147/46 . . 147/46 1350/628
0 ..... ..... ..... 9/1 39/13 41/14 89/28 1439/656
1 . 5/2 . . 74/28 9/7 88/37 1527/693
2 . . 12/5 18/4 70/22 . 100/31 1627/724
3 . . . 130/22 9/6 . 139/28 1766/752
4 . . . 120/31 5/3 . 125/34 1891/786
5 . . 10/2 114/26 . . 124/28 2015/814
6 . 10/3 4/1 60/11 . . 74/15 2089/829
7 . . 2/1 118/16 . . 120/17 2209/846
8 ..... 2/1 5/0 74/17 ..... ..... 81/18 2290/864
9 . 3/0 . 85/12 1/1 . 89/13 2379/877
10 . . 1/0 29/7 78/8 . 108/15 2487/892
11 . . . . 101/16 2/1 103/17 2590/909
12 . . . . 84/9 2/2 86/11 2676/920
13 . . . . 104/10 5/5 109/15 2785/935
14 . . . . 2/0 114/12 116/12 2901/947
15 . . . . 1/1 99/8 100/9 3001/956
16 ..... ..... ..... ..... 47/9 21/1 68/10 3069/966
17 . . . . 56/14 2/1 58/15 3127/981
18 . . . . 17/4 62/6 79/10 3206/991
19 . . . . 1/0 83/17 84/173290/1008
20 . . . . 41/10 36/5 77/153367/1023
21 . . . 15/4 66/13 7/2 88/193455/1042
22 . . . 6/1 24/5 52/7 82/133537/1055
23 . . 20/2 13/3 . 12/2 45/7 3582/1062
DAY1 ..... 33/31 4/4 298/77 781/405 234/111 ..... 1350/628
DAY2 . 20/6 54/11 791/155 820/172 547/90 . 2232/434
TOT . 53/37 58/15 1089/232 1601/577 781/201 . 3582/1062
HOUR 160 80 40 20 15 10 HR TOT CUM TOT
0 ..... . ..... 1/1 ..... ..... .1/1. .1/1.
1 . . . . . . . .
2 . . . . . . . .
3 . . . . . . . .
4 . . . . . . . .
5 . 22/88 7/37 5/22 . . 34/68 35/70
6 . . . . . . . 35/70
7 . . . . . . . 35/70
8 ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... 35/70
9 . . . . . . . 35/70
10 . . . . . . . 35/70
11 . . . . . . . 35/70
12 . . . . . . . 35/70
13 . . . . . . . 35/70
14 . . . . . . . 35/70
15 . . . . 38/150 12/90 50/135 85/109
16 ..... ..... ..... ..... 61/198 ..... 61/198 146/146
17 . . . . 9/142 50/181 59/175 205/154
18 . . . . 27/163 33/93 60/124 265/147
19 . . . . 60/166 . 60/166 325/151
20 . . . . 61/148 . 61/148 386/150
21 . . . 42/137 17/90 . 59/124 445/147
22 . . . 18/173 29/99 13/62 60/113 505/143
23 . . . 60/146 . . 60/146 565/143
0 ..... ..... ..... 5/104 23/102 32/76 60/89 626/138
1 . 4/80 . . 52/86 5/109 61/87 686/134
2 . . 9/80 9/120 41/102 . 59/102 745/131
3 . . . 55/142 5/108 . 60/139 805/132
4 . . . 58/125 2/122 . 60/125 865/131
5 . . 5/115 55/124 . . 60/123 925/131
6 . 16/38 8/30 36/100 . . 60/74 985/127
7 . . 1/114 59/120 . . 60/120 1045/127
8 ..... 2/69 3/105 56/80 ..... ..... 60/81 1105/124
9 . 2/101 . 58/88 1/103 . 60/89 1166/122
10 . . 0/171 23/75 36/131 . 59/109 1225/122
11 . . . . 58/105 2/52 60/103 1285/121
12 . . . . 58/87 2/66 60/86 1345/119
13 . . . . 58/107 1/222 60/109 1405/119
14 . . . . 2/73 58/117 60/116 1465/119
15 . . . . 0/120 60/100 60/100 1525/118
16 ..... ..... ..... ..... 38/75 22/56 60/68 1585/116
17 . . . . 61/55 3/40 64/55 1649/114
18 . . . . 16/62 40/93 56/84 1705/113
19 . . . . 1/80 59/84 60/84 1765/112
20 . . . . 33/74 27/80 60/77 1826/111
21 . . . 10/87 44/91 5/77 59/89 1885/110
22 . . . 4/89 16/91 45/69 65/76 1950/109
23 . . 34/36 9/85 . 11/65 54/50 2004/107
DAY1 ..... 0.4/88 0.1/37 2.1/142 5.0/155 1.8/129 ..... 9.4/143
DAY2 . 0.4/52 1.0/54 7.3/109 9.1/90 6.2/88 . 24.0/93
TOT . 0.8/70 1.1/52 9.4/116 14.1/113 8.0/97 . 33.4/107
BREAKDOWN in kilo-points by hr KQ2M CQ WORLD WIDE PREFIX CONTEST Single Operator
HOUR 160 80 40 20 15 10 HR TOT CUM TOT
0 ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... .....
1 . . . . . . . .
3 . . . . . . . .
4 . . . . . . . .
5 . 182 31 11 . . 224 229
6 . . . . . . . 229
7 . . . . . . . 229
8 ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... 229
9 . . . . . . . 229
10 . . . . . . . 229
11 . . . . . . . 229
12 . . . . . . . 229
13 . . . . . . . 229
14 . . . . . . . 229
15 . . . . 507 97 604 834
16 ..... ..... ..... ..... 855 ..... 855 1689
17 . . . . 92 546 638 2327
18 . . . . 235 136 371 2699
19 . . . . 489 . 489 3188
20 . . . . 477 . 477 3665
21 . . . 231 101 . 332 3997
22 . . . 100 159 40 300 4297
23 . . . 408 . . 408 4704
0 ..... ..... ..... 16 114 121 251 4955
1 . 18 . . 235 45 298 5252
2 . . 60 39 201 . 300 5553
3 . . . 259 38 . 297 5849
4 . . . 295 22 . 317 6167
5 . . 40 265 . . 305 6471
6 . 23 17 140 . . 181 6652
7 . . 10 249 . . 259 6911
8 ..... 6 10 186 ..... ..... 202 7114
9 . 2 . 184 6 . 192 7305
10 . . 3 76 160 . 239 7544
11 . . . . 233 7 241 7785
12 . . . . 170 12 183 7967
13 . . . . 205 29 233 8201
14 . . . . 3 209 212 8413
15 . . . . 6 178 184 8598
16 ..... ..... ..... ..... 102 33 134 8732
17 . . . . 139 8 146 8878
18 . . . . 38 98 135 9014
19 . . . . 1 173 174 9188
20 . . . . 94 63 157 9345
21 . . . 36 141 18 195 9540
22 . . . 11 50 102 163 9702
23 . . 72 27 . 26 125 9828
DAY1 ..... 182 31 756 2916 819 ..... 4704
DAY2 . 48 213 1783 1956 1123 . 5123
TOT . 230 244 2539 4872 1943 . 9828
--
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