[3830] CQWW SSB KC1XX M/M HP + comments (long)
Dave Pascoe KM3T
km3t at contesting.com
Wed Oct 31 16:41:47 EST 2001
KC1XX CQWW SSB 2001 claimed score and (long) commentary...
Call: KC1XX
Category: Multi Multi
Power: High Power
Band: All Band
Mode: SSB
Country: United States
Zone: 5
BAND QSO QSO PTS PTS/QSO ZONES COUNTRIES
160 136 143 1.05 11 28 Opirateur de l'heure
80 569 1440 2.53 25 98 W1FV
40 674 1877 2.78 33 125 AD1C+K6AW,N6IG,KM3T,KC1XX,
JA3CZY
20 2868 7631 2.66 40 178 KM3T+K1GQ,K6AW
15 2827 7946 2.81 40 177 K1DG,W2RQ,JA3CZY
10 2745 7723 2.81 39 176 KC1XX,N6IG,K6AW,JA3CZY
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Totals 9819 26760 2.73 188 782 => 25,957,200
Station Description
----------------------
160m
IC781 + Alpha 77
Beverages 4 x 2-wire, 8 directions, 580' long
1/4 wave vertical
80m
IC781 + AL1200
Beverages (see 160m)
2 over 2el delta loop reflector beam NE/SW (tops at 150 & 300 ft)
2el delta loop reflector beam NW/SE (top at 200 ft)
40m
IC781 + AL1200
Beverages (see 160m)
4el rotary (130 ft)
2el South (170 ft)
20m
IC781 + AL1200
4 x 5el Northeast (Europe), top rotary @ 200 ft
6el rotary @ 100 ft
5el East @ 75 ft
4 over 4el South (45 & 90 ft)
15m
IC781 + AL1200
6 x 4el Northeast (Europe), top rotary @ 200 ft
5el rotary @ 90 ft
6el Northeast @ 50 ft
4 over 4el South @ 40 and 80 ft
6el Northwest (JA) @ 90 ft
10m
IC781 + AL1200
8 x 4el Northeast (Europe), top at 200 ft
8el Northeast (Europe) @ 45 ft
5el rotary @ 95 ft
4 over 4el South @ 35 and 70 ft
3 x 7el Northwest (JA) @ 105, 70, 35 ft
160/80/10 Spot Receiver
IC781
Beverages
10m vertical
40m Spot Receiver
FT1000MP
40m vertical
20m Spot Receiver
FT1000MP
20m vertical
15m Spot Receiver
IC781
15m vertical
General Commentary
------------------
CQWW SSB 2001 was a lot of fun. It looked like we, and I'm sure many
other stations, were on a record-setting pace until the proton
delivery arrived. :-) But things recovered within a few hours...we
definitely had a shot at breaking our 1999 record but it would have
been close. Anyway, a fun time was had by all. CQWW is the best.
And very special thanks to all the DX stations, especially those who
moved bands for us. Your help is appreciated more than you know.
Also, kudos to all the other multi-multi stations for FB efforts.
Especially K9NS, who turned in an amazing score from the Black Hole.
Very impressive. The K3LR M/M was sorely missed...Tim had work
obligations that prevented this year's SSB operation. The LR team is
always tough to beat.
We did a lot of antenna work over the spring and summer months, and
spent a lot of time getting effective spotting stations running. It
looks like that work paid off. One of the biggest additions was a new
and revised 20m stack (tnx KC1XX and K1GQ, with some help from KM3T
and W1FV).
And, as usual, special thanks to Christine and the girls (Sabrina,
Cassandra, and Anika) for making our stay so enjoyable every time and
keeping us fed so well. And for keeping us semi-human.
Band-by-Band Commentary
---------------------------
160: Manned by a cadre of ops, none of whom really wanted to do it.
Who likes 160SSB anyway? Especially with all the pre-contest whining
and posturing about the band plan, none of us really wanted to touch
it. We had agreed with some of the other big multi-multi's that we
would abide by the band plan. As long as everyone else was. And we
certainly would not CQ below 1843. But if others were working mults
(answering DX CQs) below 1843 we would be forced to do the same,
despite what anyone says. There was hardly any propagation, so the
band plan turned out to be kind of a non-issue for the weekend as far
as we could tell. At times we had to strain just to hear VY2ZMM. :-)
KC1XX, K1DG, W1FV, and N6IG all put in a little time. If
there's a dedicated, die-hard 160M SSB op out there who would love to
come and do it next year, let me know. It's all yours.
80: W1FV pulled his usual ironman performance on 80. See his comments
below on band conditions, but despite the poor propagation John pulled
off another amazing performance.
40: AD1C and K6AW, with a little relief help from others, pulled off a
great finish on 40m. 40m phone can be brutal, and it takes a lot of
work to make a big score there.
Also, thanks to guys like 9M8R (W7EJ) and T88CC (N6AA and crew) for
taking the time to occasionally listen for Ws - especially
W1/2. That's a really long haul for us on 40, and we appreciate their
attention.
20: KM3T and K1GQ, with help from K6AW, did a crushing job on 20,
putting the new 20m stack through its paces. Breaking 2800 Qs was
pretty neat, and no need for Tylenol, either. If the flare aftermath
hadn't hit we probably could have made 3000 QSOs. The band was open
all 48 hours, but of course slows down very quickly as soon as 15 and
10 open up and the MUF climbs quickly.
15: The dynamic duo of K1DG and W2RQ crushed the competition on 15.
What a team! Great to have Doug back on 15 and to have W2RQ returning
after operating in ARRL DX. DG and RQ are both truly amazing. RQ is
clearly one of the better-kept secrets in the contesting world, since
he only operates in multi-ops these days. Infinite enthusiasm, great
ears, and generally just "gets it." DG says it's an honor to operate
with him. And K6AW, content to sit at the 15m spotting rig, among his
other duties on just about every band, helped enormously pulling JA
callsigns out of the noise. And Elvin JA3CZY also did a bit of
running during prime JA time and did a super job. It was a real
pleasure having Elvin visiting the station for the weekend.
10: KC1XX and a new visiting op N6IG, along with K6AW, did a super FB
job on 10m. Elvin JA3CZY, our friend from Japan, also did a bit of
running during prime JA time, working em' like crazy. As has been
said many times, "there's no meters like 10 meters!" 10m (and 15m)
opened to Europe kind of late on Sunday. If that hadn't happened, the
QSO numbers would be even bigger! We could have broken 3,000 Qs on 20
through 10m. That would have been really cool.
Random comments from some of the KC1XX ops
----------------------------------------------
de W1FV, 80m op:
Auroral conditions trashed propagation into Europe the second night.
For several hours I was beaming southeast to work Europe on skew path.
The disturbances also enhanced some propagation paths in strange ways.
We had an unusual run of ZL's the second night, all from the northwest
direction. Sunday afternoon produced a one-way long path opening into
Asia, starting 45 minutes before sunset. I heard JA5BJC (S9!), YB0A,
and BA4DW, but none of them copied me! All three would have been
double multipliers.
de KM3T, one of the 20m ops:
It's been a while since I did 20m SSB at a M/M. It was pretty painful
at times as the QRM on 20m can get immense. Short skip and
backscatter QRM can be hard to deal with. But it's a challenge, and
that's what makes it interesting. The spotting station was a critical
aid in achieving our score, and it was ably manned by K1GQ and K6AW,
and me at times. I find working the spotting receiver can be just as
fun as running.
20m was open for all 48 hours to somewhere. JAs were not too
plentiful, but that's normal for 20m. Europe, as usual, is a
bottomless pit of calling stations. Lots of FB ops on this weekend,
too.
Special thanks to SU1SK, who gets the cool guy of the weekend award in
my book. We tried to pass him from 15m to 20m and he said he couldn't
go but asked what frequency we are on and then said he would show up
in exactly one hour. Sure enough, he showed up after one hour!
Thanks to him we got our 40th zone. It was looking like 40 zones was
going to be impossible.
What can I say, CQWW is the best! See you from HC8N in CQWW CW.
de K1GQ, one of the 20m ops:
It is a rare treat to fill the second chair on a band with KM3T in the
first seat, especially when Dave has decided to find out what's
possible -- even on a band as brutal as 20.
But I'm afraid I rediscovered how far I am from being even an average
first-seat guy. Dave not only dug out calls I couldn't hear at all
(perhaps I could blame the spotting receiver here), but he
consistently got correct calls much more quickly than I could. It's
clear that years of abstinence from phone contesting have left me with
woefully inadequate mental processing power, and I'm probably too old
now to catch up. (KM3T note: GQ is grossly overstating his lack of phone
prowess...he does far better than he leads you to believe)
Once again, we had an amazing group of operators that produced an
outstanding effort and had fun doing it. I especially enjoyed
discussions with our 4 "guest" operators from NJ, CA, and Japan.
de K1DG, one of the 15m ops:
15M was open to somewhere for all 48 hours. We had QSOs in the first
29 hours, and only missed making QSOs in 3 out of 48 hours. That was
because everyone we could hear was a dupe, and the ops decided to
catch a little sleep instead of CQing endlessly for a couple of QSOs.
And a note to all SSB operators (especially a certain AA2):
Your radio is not perfect. When your frequency readout says you are
transmitting USB on 21200.05 kHz, enough energy from various
non-linear distortion mechanisms comes out of your radio (and
amplifier) below 21200.00 to place you "out of the band". The FCC
defines signal bandwidth at the -26 dB points referenced to the mean
output power (97.3(a)(8)).
de KC1XX, one of the 10m ops:
10 meters was the usual bottomless pit. Wall to wall stations between
28200-29000 and at times even higher.
Rate could have been a lot higher without all the QRM. Best hour must
have been around 200. I was sure that we could work 3K Qs on ten and
go over 30M on Saturday but Sunday the conditions fell apart and 10m
opened real late. The first two hours were more skew path then direct
path.
At one point I had to get out of the chair because of too much junk
from CB converted radios, people calling 250Hz off frequency and one
guy playing tunes with an echo machine. What a bunch of loonies we
have on 10m!
Had a little run into SA Sunday afternoon. Talk slow and clear with
the beam south and LU's, PY's and others will call. It was fun
watching "Elvin" (JA3CZY) running JA's with my call in Japanese.
Thanks to everybody for letting us pass you to another band for the
mult or Qs. We appreciate the efforts very much. A special thanks to
NP4A/m for pulling over to change the stick to 15 meters for another
QSO :-)
Looking forward to CW!
--
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