[3830] CQWW CW N0AX SOSB(A)/80 LP

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                    CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW

Call: N0AX
Operator(s): N0AX
Station: N0AX

Class: SOSB(A)/80 LP
QTH: WA
Operating Time (hrs): 20

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Zones  Countries
------------------------------
  160:                    
   80:  251    18       38
   40:                    
   20:                    
   15:                    
   10:                    
------------------------------
Total:  251    18       38  Total Score = 32,872

Club: Western Washington DX Club

Comments:

This year, I put up a pair of 300' Beverages using the DX Engineering RBS-1 plus
an antenna switching relay so I was particulary interested in how they'd play on
the low bands.  They are at right angles - NE/SW and NW/SE - and can receive
from either direction by switching the RBS-1 from the shack with a control
voltage over the feedline.  I added the switching relay and a control box so
that I had one-knob direction control.

After some clever prodding from N6TR and listening to propagation (or the lack
thereof) on 10 and 15 from WA state, I decided on an 80-meter single-band
effort. (A few adrenaline-dissipating QSOs were made on 10 and 15...)  Long
story short - had a good time, worked a lot of stuff, and the new rx antenna
system played better than expected.  LP is difficult at best and 80 was a real
challenge, but having good ears made it possible to comply with Cox's First Law
of Contesting - "Keep your butt in the seat!"

Friday night was a lot better than Saturday, propagation-wise.  Nothing really
opened up until 10:30 PM local time at which time Zone 14 and 15 stations popped
up out of the fog.  I was only able to attract the attention of one loud G, but
just hearing DL, OE, OM, YU, HA, HB9, OK, and OH was such a novelty that I kept
at it.  As the night wore on, Zone 7, 8, and 9 stations that CQ-ed in my face
suddenly became one-call QSOs.  After sunset in Zone 25, the JA's started
answering my CQs, which really kept me motivated and I could even hear the weak
ones on the Beverages.  I finished Saturday morning with all the zones I would
eventually have except 24 and 30.  I was never able to attract the attention of
Zone 11, 28, 33, and 35 stations, even though they had decent signals.  When the
local kW-and-big antenna stations had trouble getting through, I knew I would
have it rough.

Saturday I knew would be slow, but it was not as deadly slow as it would have
been without ears.  The Beverages easily increased the signal-to-noise ratio by
10 dB in many cases over the transmit half-slopers. (I have a pair of
half-slopers with the tops at 50' - one to the east and one to the west.)  When
my "chatty" local power pole started acting up, I was able to switch to the
least-affected Beverage and keep going - they're not so long that I lost the DX
station when switching.  No EU was heard at all on Saturday and the Zone 33
signals were way down, so the farthest east QSO on Saturday night was 9Y4.  The
dawn enhancement on Sunday morning was short, but enough to get Zone 24 in the
log, followed by VK9 for the final QSO.

Whew.  A real effort for many QSOs, following the
call-and-call-and-call-some-more rule of LP in hopes that you'll ride the surf
successfully and get a "?" out of the DX, at which point you can generally make
the contact.  Local noise at low latitude stations is a real problem, of course,
and so even strong stations often leave you shaking your head in frustration,
but hey, that's life even for the big boys.  Now I need to get started on
improving my tx antenna - isn't that how it always goes?  Could it be
four-square or Bobtail Curtain time?

73, Ward N0AX


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