[3830] ARRLDX CW KR1G SOAB HP

ted@demop.com ted@demop.com
Wed, 20 Feb 2002 15:43:24 -0500 (EST)


                     ARRL DX Contest, CW
                    
Call: KR1G
Operator(s): 
Station: 

Class: SOAB HP
QTH: NH
Operating Time (hrs): 45
 

Summary:
 Band     QSOs  Mults
----------------------
  160:     42     28
   80:    364     58
   40:    488     70
   20:   1031     87
   15:    867     83
   10:    713     70
----------------------
Total:   3505    396  =  4,021,380

Club: Yankee Spelling Clipper Contest

Comments:

Decided I was doing all my precontest strategy wrong, so I fixed it.

In a contest I eventually get tired. Why sleep a lot the week before?  The 
resting up notion is cute, BUT, why practice being well rested?? Instead I 
slept very little to practice being tired. Got pretty good at it. In fact I'm 
still tired.

I usually cut out coffee before a test, and go caffeine free the first 24+ 
hours. Instead this time I drank lots of coffee. I had three pots on Friday 
alone! I like coffee and coffee likes me - why screw with a good thing??

I practiced bladder control the week before. Lots of fluids and infrequent 
trips to the loo to "train" the bladder.

I didn't pour over previous years results and stategies at all. Last year, I 
overdid it and made myself leave 160 when I had plenty of mults based on the 
last few years results. Had I have stayed another 30 minutes or so I probably 
would have made the top ten - I was afraid of losing myself in DXing on the 
lowbands, which is pretty easy for me. I did however find and post my last 
years rate sheet in the shack about 20 minutes before the contest - before this 
I couldn't have told you if I had made 2000 or 3500 Qs last year.

I always insist on no antenna work the week on the contest, and end up doing 
lots anyway. Not this time - I planned on working on antennas. Put together a 
new yagi, installed a ringrotor, did a Delta loop for 160, "tweaked" the 
beverages. Climbed towers a lot Thurs, and walked what seemed like a marathon 
worth of beverages on friday.

I get a little stressed out before Single Op contests - and it drives my XYL 
crazy. I didn't even try to relax this time. Relaxing to prepare for something 
exciting??? Sounds silly, huh??

Also, I did no planning. Just get on and run - or S&P - or whatever felt right.
So, what happened??

The first 24+ hours were a blurr - averaged almost 100Q an hour for the first 
half. I would have averaged over 100 if I had trained my bladder better! The 
first night was incredible on 20m - piles of Europe - sort of a constant peak.

Things really slowed down after the first 24 hours. Although no one seems to 
have mentioned it, the A & K went up and it did matter at least in New 
Hampshire. Many signals had a pronounced flutter on 20m the second night. 10 
opened much later on Sun morning.  Also, rates just died.  Worked 2343 Qs day 1 
vs 1162 Qs day2 - less than 1/2!! Think I had worked almost everyone who was 
on, and too many people worldwide were watching the Olympics or something. 
Probably grooving on Curling on something. Yeah, the rates are always (I'll say 
"almost always" after CQWW CW) slower day two but this was almost ridiculous. I 
used the slower rates as an opportunity to move lots of mults - which helped a 
lot.

 Mults were way down from last year, but with all my passing I ended up with 
397 instead of 403 mults - not bad. Also I had 3505 Qs vs. 3650+ last year. 
Score was down 10%, but fun remained at *least* constant. I slept about 2 1/2 
hours - it wasn't really necessary in hindsight, but things were slow.


Now, how could I have done better??? My CW is much improved over a year ago, 
but still has a long way to go. I plan on getting on for a lot more non-serious 
contests this year (an hour or two running in contests I'm not putting a real 
effort in - my running needs the most work).

Also, conditions were just too good!! On the high bands it lets the lower 
antennas compete with the stacks. On the low bands (which were great!), my 
beverages just didn't matter much.

Yup, this was a contest where skill was more important than aluminum! 
Unfortunately that wasn't good for me, but I wouldn't trade this last weekend 
for one with shitty condx where I made the top ten! I plan on several of those 
as the sunspots fade away :)

And Puss (my son) had fun. He turned off the amp a couple of times, and 
occasionally twirled a dial. But he's really looking forward to ARRL SSB - 
although he prefers CW, he really likes Multiops

73
Ted, KR1G,  Mr "More Aluminum than Skill" - and thats not too hard!!

HOUR      160      80       40       20       15       10    HR TOT  CUM TOT 

   0    .....    .....   117/36    .....    .....    .....   117/36  117/36
   1      .        .      87/7      5/5       .        .      92/12  209/48
   2      .       2/2     10/0     66/24      .        .      78/26  287/74
   3      .      90/23     9/3       .        .        .      99/26  386/100
   4    16/16    33/3      2/1       .        .        .      51/20  437/120
   5     5/3     44/4     12/0       .        .        .      61/7   498/127
   6      .       9/1     59/2     21/1       .        .      89/4   587/131
   7      .       1/1       .     137/9       .        .     138/10  725/141
   8    .....     4/4     .....   112/7     .....    .....   116/11  841/152
   9      .       2/2      2/2    126/6       .        .     130/10  971/162
  10      .       2/2      4/4     97/0       .        .     103/6  1074/168
  11     1/0       .       7/5       .        .      88/31    96/36 1170/204
  12      .        .        .        .        .     129/11   129/11 1299/215
  13      .        .        .        .        .     126/4    126/4  1425/219
  14      .        .        .        .       4/4     76/4     80/8  1505/227
  15      .        .        .        .      94/24     8/0    102/24 1607/251
  16    .....    .....    .....    .....   115/8     .....   115/8  1722/259
  17      .        .        .        .     121/10      .     121/10 1843/269
  18      .        .        .        .      98/4      1/0     99/4  1942/273
  19      .        .        .      47/0     20/0      4/4     71/4  2013/277
  20      .        .        .     101/8      1/0      1/1    103/9  2116/286
  21      .        .      22/0     23/0      9/3      4/2     58/5  2174/291
  22      .        .      49/1       .       2/2     31/3     82/6  2256/297
  23      .      70/7      6/2     11/1       .        .      87/10 2343/307
   0     1/1     10/0     18/0     .....     3/3     .....    32/4  2375/311
   1     1/1     30/3      9/0      5/1      3/1       .      48/6  2423/317
   2     9/5       .        .      24/9       .        .      33/14 2456/331
   3     6/1     15/2     25/1       .        .        .      46/4  2502/335
   4      .      10/0       .        .        .        .      10/0  2512/335
   5     3/1     31/0      1/1       .        .        .      35/2  2547/337
   6      .       3/0     28/0     17/0       .        .      48/0  2595/337
   7      .       7/3      1/1     55/1       .        .      63/5  2658/342
   8    .....    .....     3/2     22/3     .....    .....    25/5  2683/347
   9      .        .        .        .        .        .        .   2683/347
  10      .       1/1      1/1     20/1       .        .      22/3  2705/350
  11      .        .       1/1     16/1     96/4       .     113/6  2818/356
  12      .        .        .       1/1     93/3      2/1     96/5  2914/361
  13      .        .        .       1/0     79/4       .      80/4  2994/365
  14      .        .        .       4/2     20/2     57/3     81/7  3075/372
  15      .        .        .        .        .      71/0     71/0  3146/372
  16    .....    .....    .....    .....     3/1     69/2     72/3  3218/375
  17      .        .        .        .      38/4      4/1     42/5  3260/380
  18      .        .        .        .      29/2      3/0     32/2  3292/382
  19      .        .        .       4/2      1/1     38/3     43/6  3335/388
  20      .        .        .      50/0      3/1      1/0     54/1  3389/389
  21      .        .        .      47/0      2/0       .      49/0  3438/389
  22      .        .      15/0      2/1     15/1       .      32/2  3470/391
  23      .        .        .      17/4     18/1       .      35/5  3505/396
DAY1    22/19   257/49   386/63   746/61   464/55   468/60    ..... 2343/307
DAY2    20/9    107/9    102/7    285/26   403/28   245/10      .   1162/89
TOT     42/28   364/58   488/70  1031/87   867/83   713/70      .   3505/396


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