[3830] ARRLDX CW WC1M SOAB HP
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Wed Feb 25 17:27:02 EST 2004
ARRL DX Contest, CW
Call: WC1M
Operator(s): WC1M
Station: WC1M
Class: SOAB HP
QTH: NH
Operating Time (hrs): 43.25
Radios: SO2R
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
160: 45 40
80: 502 73
40: 780 86
20: 1090 93
15: 983 88
10: 37 32
-------------------
Total: 3437 412 Total Score = 4,248,132
Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club
Comments:
Antennas:
160M - trapped vee @65'
80M - delta loop @75', trapped vee @65'
40M - 40-2CD @75', 4-square
20M - 4-el @72', C3E @50'
15M - 5-el @50', C3E @50'
10M - C3E @50'
580' NE beverage
All yagis on separate tubular towers (no vertical stacks)
Equipment:
Orion + Alpha 87A, FT-1000D + Acom 2000A, Writelog, TopTen band decoders
and switches.
What sunspot decline? Wow! Aside from 10m, this contest featured the best
propagation to EU I've ever seen, the best combined propagation on 160-15, and
the best sustained rates I've been able to do in any contest. The Europeans just
kept coming and coming, wave after wave. Hard to believe I did over 500 Qs on 80
with a delta loop up 75 feet and 40 mults on 160 with a trapped vee up 65 feet
-- and very few asked for repeats or fills. No pw EU on 160 -- they were nice
and loud. Used the beverage, but didn't need it all the time. If this is what
quiet geomagnetic conditions during the sunspot decline can do, then bring it
on!
The highlight was doing reasonably well in the first 10 hours (773 Qs), then
averaging 128/hr for the next *nine* hours! Normally, I wouldn't post my rate
sheet unless I was in the top three or so, but I'm so amazed by that run I had
to put my rate sheet at the end of this post. When I hit 2000 Qs by 2000z on
Saturday, I really thought there was a chance for 4000. Alas, rates (and my
performance) dropped off enough on Sunday to eliminate any chance for that.
Still, anything over 3000 feels good in one of these marathons.
The bad news is that I was so wrapped up in running 15 that I missed the brief
10m opening to EU that started somewhere around 1400z-1500z. My log shows a few
10m EU mults on the second radio starting at 1600z, but by that time it was
over. I could have sworn I checked 10 often enough and just didn't hear much.
Maybe it was the teeny weeny tribander I'm using for 10m these days -- it's up
only 50 feet and at the end of 450 feet of plain coax. Maybe it was fatigue. I
should have stopped running on 15 and tried some CQs on 10, but it was really
hard to leave when the 10-minute rate meter was pushing 200 and the 60-minute
rate was holding at 130-140. This mistake cost me 30-40 mults and a sure top-ten
finish. Right now I'm on the bubble about to fall off. Sheesh! This stuff is
hard to get right.
Other than that, I'm very pleased with Qs and mults. When propagation is like
this, even modest antennas can do pretty well. I didn't hit the second radio as
much as I should have the first day, but really twirled the knob on the second
day. Once again, I didn't move any mults to speak of. My one big success was
moving OH0R from 80 to 160. He was cheerfully cooperative and we had a good Q on
160. I had a number of refusals and one or two attempts with no propagation on
the destination band. I have to get better at this, but frankly it wouldn’t have
mattered had I picked up the mults I should have gotten on 10 Saturday
morning.
On the technical side, I must acknowledge the new Ten Tec Orion as one reason
for the high rates. After three major CW contests with the Orion, there is no
doubt in my mind that this is the best contest receiver ever built. No IMD,
along with flexible filtering, passband tuning, and AGC control do an incredible
job against the wall of interference we usually have. Definitely recommended.
Another innovation this time was Bose noise-canceling headphones. I bought a
pair with credit card points. They are incredibly effective and comfortable on
airplanes, and do a great job of eliminating fan noise from the various rigs,
amps and computers in my shack. The audio quality is first-rate. They made the
whole experience much more pleasant and less fatiguing.
Of course, even the Orion and Bose headphones didn't help when certain people
plopped down and called CQ on the frequency I had been running for over an hour!
Why is it that when I ask these people to move they are indignant and call me a
lid? Sort of like the pot calling the kettle black, isn't it?
On the mental side, I confess that I wasn't very psyched to do an all-out effort
in this one. I've had a lot of complicated things going on at work, and that's
been very distracting. The thought of doing 40+ hours was pretty intimidating. I
probably would have done a partial effort or quit early had it not been for the
amazing propagation. After a good Friday night and fabulous Saturday morning, I
just had to try for an all-out effort. Glad I did.
On the physically side, this contest was easier on my body because I've lost
about 20 lbs since the New Year. Being in better shape seems to help a lot. I
think I'll do even better when I get to my target weight. However, mental
fatigue was still a problem. I felt really awful through most of the contest. I
think it started when I drank some green tea on Friday night. Made me jittery
and I think it made the wee hours just that much harder. I rallied for the
Saturday AM runs, but had another low point Saturday afternoon. Saturday night
was really hard, and I finally had to sleep. I set the alarm for 10 minutes and
slept in the chair. When the alarm went off, I set it for another 10 minutes.
After three such cycles, I listened to the bands, didn't hear much, and did
another 10 minute cycle. I took off about two hours this way, from 0800z-1000z.
The technique seems to provide some good rest and prevents oversleeping. Not
hearing much at 1000z, I took a shower and ate some breakfast. With a few other
breaks, total offtime came to about 4 hours and 45 minutes. A bit more than I
would like, but I don't think I missed a whole lot.
Looking forward to getting some serious aluminum up this year, but that's not
final yet. Still enjoying myself! Thanks to all the DX, especially the hoards of
Europeans, for all the QSOs and mults.
73, Dick WC1M
QSO/DX by hour and band
Hour 160M 80M 40M 20M 15M 10M Total Cumm
D1-0000Z --+-- --+-- 117/31 --+-- --+-- --+-- 117/31 117/31
D1-0100Z - 14/10 47/4 - - - 61/14 178/45
D1-0200Z 14/13 80/17 - - - - 94/30 272/75
D1-0300Z - 70/10 8/6 - - - 78/16 350/91
D1-0400Z 9/9 61/6 - - - - 70/15 420/106
D1-0500Z 5/4 68/2 - - - - 73/6 493/112
D1-0600Z 5/4 17/2 39/3 - - - 61/9 554/121
D1-0700Z - - 103/5 - - - 103/5 657/126
D1-0800Z 2/1 9/9 52/8 --+-- --+-- --+-- 63/18 720/144
D1-0900Z 1/1 7/6 26/5 - - - 34/12 754/156
D1-1000Z - 6/5 8/5 5/5 - - 19/15 773/171
D1-1100Z - - - 130/31 - - 130/31 903/202
D1-1200Z - - - 134/3 - - 134/3 1037/205
D1-1300Z - - - 20/2 125/28 - 145/30 1182/235
D1-1400Z - - - - 125/7 - 125/7 1307/242
D1-1500Z - - - - 130/10 1/1 131/11 1438/253
D1-1600Z --+-- --+-- --+-- --+-- 115/2 15/13 130/15 1568/268
D1-1700Z - - - 11/1 71/3 8/8 90/12 1658/280
D1-1800Z - - - 129/5 2/2 - 131/7 1789/287
D1-1900Z - - - 129/6 7/7 - 136/13 1925/300
D1-2000Z - - - 75/3 5/5 2/2 82/10 2007/310
D1-2100Z - - 14/1 8/2 10/4 4/3 36/10 2043/320
D1-2200Z - - 107/4 - - - 107/4 2150/324
D1-2300Z - - 42/0 16/15 1/1 - 59/16 2209/340
D2-0000Z --+-- --+-- 2/0 4/3 --+-- --+-- 6/3 2215/343
D2-0100Z - 1/0 17/2 13/5 - - 31/7 2246/350
D2-0200Z - 19/0 20/1 1/0 - - 40/1 2286/351
D2-0300Z 2/1 33/0 5/1 2/0 - - 42/2 2328/353
D2-0400Z - 24/2 18/4 - - - 42/6 2370/359
D2-0500Z 5/5 - 65/3 - - - 70/8 2440/367
D2-0600Z - 49/4 17/1 - - - 66/5 2506/372
D2-0700Z 2/2 44/0 5/1 - - - 51/3 2557/375
D2-0800Z --+-- --+-- 10/0 --+-- --+-- --+-- 10/0 2567/375
D2-0900Z - - - - - - 0/0 2567/375
D2-1000Z - - - 16/0 - - 16/0 2583/375
D2-1100Z - - - 76/0 3/1 - 79/1 2662/376
D2-1200Z - - - 81/2 7/1 1/0 89/3 2751/379
D2-1300Z - - - 17/0 80/2 1/1 98/3 2849/382
D2-1400Z - - - 2/0 100/1 - 102/1 2951/383
D2-1500Z - - - 9/0 45/0 - 54/0 3005/383
D2-1600Z --+-- --+-- --+-- --+-- 65/0 --+-- 65/0 3070/383
D2-1700Z - - - - 49/1 4/4 53/5 3123/388
D2-1800Z - - - 73/1 2/2 - 75/3 3198/391
D2-1900Z - - - 54/1 4/4 - 58/5 3256/396
D2-2000Z - - - 50/0 5/5 - 55/5 3311/401
D2-2100Z - - 14/0 16/1 7/1 - 37/2 3348/403
D2-2200Z - - 20/1 3/1 23/1 1/0 47/3 3395/406
D2-2300Z - - 24/0 16/6 2/0 - 42/6 3437/412
Total: 45/40 502/73 780/86 1090/93 983/88 37/32
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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