[3830] CQWW SSB VE7FO SOAB LP

[jimsmith at home.com]

                     CQ Worldwide DX Contest, SSB
                    
Call: VE7FO
Operator(s): VE7FO
Station: VE7FO

Class: SOAB LP
QTH: bc
Operating Time (hrs): 26.5
 

Summary:
 Band     QSOs  Zones  Countries
-------------------------------
  160:                     
   80:     11      6      4
   40:     11      7      6
   20:    131     20     54
   15:    138     24     45
   10:    358     25     54
-------------------------------
Total:    649     82    163  =  389,550

Club/Team: 

Comments:

Those who have been following the woes of 7FO as I try to get back into 
contesting may have noticed the lack of recent stories.  This is mostly due to 
things starting to settle down plus too busy with other stuff to write them.

CURRENT STATUS:
I still haven't moved into the new basement shack from the 2nd floor.  Although 
it was ready as of last Wednesday, the 3" wide copper ground strap that goes 
right through the basement wall and is to be connected to its own ground rod 
got shredded by the guy who cuts the grass when he ran the lawnmower over it 
last Monday.  The 30 ft mast in the front yard for the 40 and 80 dipoles and, 
soon, 160 inverted L, is done so I am no longer using the neighbour's hedge as 
a support for the 2 x 2 wooden mast I was using.  The tri-bander is now 25 ft 
off the roof/50 ft off the ground.

The new neighbours (the ones with the hedge) have TVI.  (I don't have it, it's 
theirs.)  I have tried the obvious things but am waiting to move into the 
basement before putting more time into this in the hope that a good ground may 
fix the problem (fundamental overload of the audio).  The current 2nd floor 
shack is 1/4 wave above ground on 20.  

In the meantime, to lay the groundwork for explaining that their TV is 
inadequate in case the move to the basement doesn't cure the problem, they 
phone me when they want to watch TV and when they have finished watching.  
During that time I stay off the air.  They don't seem to watch TV very much and 
I am rarely on when there is no contest, so it isn't a big issue.

PREPARATION:
Phoned the neighbours on Thursday, explaining that I want to operate Friday to 
Sunday evening.  She said she didn't see a conflict.

Noticed that the computer was getting a little flaky, bought a CD burner and 
made a full backup.  Good thing.  Went to set up TRLog on Friday and found my 
computer (Win98) refuses to have anything to do with DOS any more and goes into 
a sulk (i.e. crash) when I ask it to.  Just think, won't do DOS but does 
Windows.  Is there a conspiracy here?  (Do you remember the slogan, "DOS ain't 
done 'til Lotus won't run"?)

Spent some time trying to sort this out then decided to use WriteLog (which I 
use for RTTY tests) rather than miss the start.  Missed too many of them 
already.  

Some time ago I vowed that I would never go into another phone (SSB to you 
young'uns) contest without a DVK or DVP.  I finally figured out how to use 
SBDVP with TR and Sound Blaster and have used it successfully in contests.  So, 
now I have to figure out how WriteLog does DVP.  The first thing I tried 
produced an error message to the effect that my sound card was unavailable.  
Hmmm...  So I tried playing a CD through the sound card.  This has worked 
before.  Nothing.  Tried running some Sound Blaster software which has worked 
before.  Same error message.  Contest starts in an hour and no DVP.  Many short 
words were uttered starting with letters such as h, d, s, f and q.  Sent wife 
out for throat lozenges.  Set up WL for CQ WW.  

I have noticed on [3830] numerous comments on the difficulty of staying in the 
chair.  I went into a personal crash .... er, sulk, and almost didn't get into 
the chair at all.  Sure glad I did.

WHAT HAPPENED:
(All times shown are local, some PDT and some PST as appropriate)

Made my first Q at 1703 local time (0003Z) on 10.  9M8R no less.  Wow, 10 is 
hot.  At 1718 I have 18 S&P (saving the throat) Qs, W, VK, and JA.  That's when 
the neighbour phoned to say that they had planned to watch TV all evening and 
it was making all these loud noises.  In my most diplomatic manner I said, "OK, 
let me know when you have finished watching", hung up, uttered more (well, 
actually the same) h, d, s, f and q words as before and listened to 10 for 
hours longer than I have heard it open since I got back into this stuff.  If 
there is a ham radio sainthood, I should be nominated.  Next Q at 2218 on 15.

2 Qs on 15 and moved to 20.  Wow!  Went fishing in the Caribbean with many side 
trips to Eu, JA and one African.  Moved to 40 at 0241 and then 80 but all close 
in stuff so moved back to 20 at 0334, alternated between the Caribbean and JA 
and went to bed at 0445.  Eu was starting to come in again but I have learned 
that 2 hours to make 3 Qs instead of sleeping does bad things to the overall 
score.

Back at it at 1217 on Saturday.  Great, 10 is open.  Just about wore out the 
rotor swinging between S. Pacific, JA and Caribbean.  

1609 - Decided I had better get on 15 for mults.  Who knows what tomorrow will 
be like.  Just like 10, Caribbean, S. Am., S. Pac., JA, and, just to make 
things even more interesting, zones 19, 33, and 35.

1746 - Mults are falling off so back to 10.  Incredible.  Mults galore 
including the 2nd XW I have ever worked and the first JT.  Quite a few mainland 
Chinese.  Decided to risk the throat on a bit of CQing but the rate wasn't a 
lot better than S&P so quit doing that.

2019 - Mults are falling off so back to 15.
Quite a few more mults but mostly grinding out Qs, mostly JA.

2159 - 15 is dying but sure can't complain.  Off to 20.  Pretty slow but did 
get a few more mults including T88.  That was a thrill.  Quick peek at 40 which 
yielded one double mult but no one else could hear me.  Back to 20 for a while 
then to bed with 418 Qs at 0038 so I could get up for the Sunday morning 
opening to Eu at dawn.  Dreamt about doing some running on 10 and making 1000 
total Qs for the first time.

0730 - Well, it's somewhat after dawn.  Eagerly start listening on 10, then 15. 
 Ugghhh.  Nothing.  Start scaling back total Q target.  Check out 20.  Lots of 
S9 Eu sigs but none of them can hear me.  Eventually, at 0821, my first Q, an 
SK0.  To my great puzzlement, the 2nd Q was AH2 then JAs, DX1, BV, then, 
finally, at 0908, I crack Eu.

1115 - Mults are falling off and Qs are slow so up to 15.  Hey, I can get Eu 
mults here too!  Work K9NS. He asks me to QSY to work them on 10.  They're S9 
there but can't hear me.  I call them again on 15 to complain about this.  They 
send me back to 10.  I call again and they ask, "Is that VE7FO?".  I do my 4 
"Roger"s, they send an exchange and so do I.  One of those ESP Qs I guess.

1354 - Time to check out 10.  Sitting at 496 Qs.  Looks like I won't even crack 
the 600Q barrier that I seem to have so much trouble getting past.

1457 - Now at 521 Qs.  Pop some lozenges and call CQ.  Wow!  Never experienced 
anything like this before.  From here to the end at 1600 an endless supply of 
callers.  Occasional mini-pile-ups but mostly just one or two calls at a time.  
A good thing because that's all I can handle.  Top 10 minute hourly rate was 
168.  Rate for final hour of contest was 125.  Total Qs - 653.  What a finish!


MISCELLANEOUS:

More Chinese than I have ever heard before.

Hardly any zone 16, 17, 18 compared to what I am used to.


UNUSUAL (To me):

Heard a So Am station who encouraged everyone to call for a minute or so while 
he made a list and then worked those on the list.  So, why, when I have figured 
this out, did I keep calling on his freq with a hundred other guys instead of 
moving up or down?

Sad to hear the Bolivian station get so choked with the bad manners in the pile 
up that he announced he was fed up and going QRT, which he did.  Also sad that 
I hadn't worked him yet.


HUMOUR:

When I made Q#600 (after dupes) I yelled out, "Yippee, you made my 600Q 
target", to which the caller responded, "We're trying to break 1 million."  
Some people sure know how to hurt a guy.

One caller kept insisting on putting a W in my call.  i.e. Foxtrot Whisky 
Oscar, then Foxtrot Oscar Whisky, causing me to say things like. "Negative 
whisky", and "No whisky."  My friends would not believe that I would ever say 
such a thing.

During S&P on 10 on Sunday afternoon there were quite a few stations 10, 20 and 
30 over 9.  I derived some amusement when calling them by saying, "I sure hope 
you can hear me," then giving my call.  One response was, "Hear you, you 
blasted the earphones off my head!"  I wonder if I will ever grow up.

During the run at the end, somebody who seemed to be sitting on the frequency 
and just listening announced that I was on exactly the same frequency as 
someone else.  As I could barely hear the other person and I was doing 2 to 4 
Qs a minute, I failed to see the problem and carried on.  A moment later, he 
broke in again and announced with a tone of incredulity in his voice, "I don't 
believe it, you both just worked the same guy at the same time!"


HIGHLIGHTS:

Working JT1
WMZ (Worked Most Zones)
Huge rate at the end.
4 new zones
24 new countries


WISH LIST:

That the South Americans would roll off the low end of their audio at, say, 400 
Hz.  Maybe some DX club could donate a bunch of Heils with HC-4 elements and 
make it easier for all of us.


SUMMARY:

As my grandkids would say, "This was the funnest contest I have ever been in."  
Not once did I ask my self the score destroying question, "Why am I doing 
this?"

Thanks to the sponsors and and all the participants for making possible my best 
contest experience ever.

73 de Jim Smith	VE7FO



Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/


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