[3830] ARRLDX SSB N8II SOAB HP

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                    ARRL DX Contest, SSB

Call: N8II
Operator(s): N8II
Station: N8II

Class: SOAB HP
QTH: WV
Operating Time (hrs): 29.5

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
  160:   12    12
   80:   74    48
   40:  103    67
   20:  938   110
   15:  574    96
   10:   74    30
-------------------
Total: 1775   363  Total Score = 1,925,352

Club: Potomac Valley Radio Club

Comments:

TS-940S + AL800H

    160M - 1/2 sloper 80 ft
    75M  - 1/4 wave Vt base at 12 ft
    40M  - dipole N/S at 70 ft; 3 el wire yagi to Eu at 55 ft
    20-10M - 5 el Hy-gain monobanders; C3S fixed south at 60 ft. 

I'm going to pay for this, I'm due at work at midnight Sunday, Hi! There
was never a dull moment til the last couple of hours during the time I
operated; off 0445-1150Z Saturday and 0302-1152Z Sunday plus numerous
other short stints including 1 hr for walk on towpath. Total time on air
was 29.5 hours; a shame work was hanging over my head as time spent was
quite productive. I never intended to operate so much. The first night
featured 15 basically worthless with fairly long skip on 20 with plenty
of Carib/SA and ran about 20 JA's/KL7's. Having JT1M, XW8KPL and HS0ZDJ
answer CQ's made the slow rate worthwhile. 40-160 were in good shape
working CU2CE and HA5JI on top band and breaking Caribbean pile-ups
easily. It was fun to play DX'er for a few hours, though nothing really
rare was worked on 40/75M. Condx were great Saturday with an endless run
of Eu on 20 M with several UN's/RA9's calling in but no east Asians. I
think I timed my arrival on 15 just about right at 1315Z as a few great
hours ensued with only central/south Eu at first. Later, there were
plenty of northern Eu, but Russia was scarce. Rates were: 12Z - 147,
13Z - 131, 14Z - 98, 16Z - 99. A check of 10M around 1630Z caught CT3MD,
but to the South it was nearly dead! At 1730 only LU, CX, and CE were
worked. The whole day on 10M skip never shortened as close as PJ2, very
poor condx. 20M held up pretty well in the afternoon running Eu with
decent rates and fairly clear run frquencies. I ran about 20 JA's on
20 from 2230-2250 with HL calling in. I had a good JA run on 15 from
2315-2355Z running about 70 JA's with KL7, HL1, and DU3NXE calling in
(first time I think I've ever worked Chuck on SSB, tens of CW QSO's).
Total JA's about 80 on 15, surprisingly nice opening. A move to 40 worked
quite a few more including V5 and down to 75 showed incredibly loud
static crashes with loud Eu big guns. The noise discouraged any attempt
at CQ's. I found nothing on 160, not even the guys I had already worked.
  Sunday, the K index was 5 and at 12Z 20M was almost closed to Eu. I
found KH8SI and VI3 to the west while I was waiting. Then about 1230 it
was much better and by about 1240 I was back in the run mode. After a
breakfast break, I was able to squeeze onto 14152.5 and had a very good
hour of 82 Q's considering the condx at 15Z. GD3 and SU9NC called in. 15M
never opened to Eu. Surprisingly, 10 was a bit better to the South and I
went from 10 to 30 mults Sunday. ZF2NT, T49C, VP5, and C6ANM must have
been worked via Es.
  It was a lot of fun, all in all. My fairly modest station worked well
especially on 10-20 and I cracked many big pile-ups on first or 2nd call.
The only one missed on 20-10 was KH8SI who was working almost all West
Coast on 15. My 40 and 75M antennas favor the CW end, so I'm sure that
hurt a bit. I never could run effectively this time down there. Thanks to
the many Eu callers and those who had to repeat several times. I had line
noise on 20 and thankfully it wasn't there on 15 til Sunday when it didn't
matter that much. I missed a few callers in the 20M noise, sorry! I worked
no Eu or Af on 15 Sunday. I stuck with 15 to Eu Saturday while it was
open, good thing I did!


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