[3830] ARRLDX SSB N1UR SOAB LP

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                    ARRL DX Contest, SSB

Call: N1UR
Operator(s): N1UR
Station: N1UR

Class: SOAB LP
QTH: VT
Operating Time (hrs): 45
Radios: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
  160:   22    17
   80:   92    48
   40:  135    62
   20:  605    91
   15:  427    79
   10:   50    18
-------------------
Total: 1331   315  Total Score = 1,250,235

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club

Comments:

Wasn't Sunday the pits?  Friday night and Saturday were pretty good from here. 
But not Sunday.

Decided to start off by running on 40M.  As a Low Power entry, that is saying
something.  I wanted to have 200 plus Qs on 40 and I was sure that it wouldn't
happen unless I ran some.  I decided if I could hang on to a frequency before
the thing started, I would try it for 10 mins at the start.  I only needed a 30
- 40 rate to stick with it.  Well I actually did run 7 stations in the first 15
mins but then it collapsed.  I tried running 3 other times during the weekend. 
I never got more than 4 - 8 people to answer and gave up for more productive
things.  I would love to hear from anyone who has actually done what they felt
was a successful run on LP 40 SSB in a DX contest.

Needless to say, I didn't get 200 Qs on 40.  My feeling is that around 200 would
have been achievable S & P with a lot of effort and some better technique. 
There were many stations who could not hear me.

So, I did the typical Low Band S & P gig all night on 40/80/160.  Kept looking
for 20 to open around 8Z like it did in CW but it never happened.  The bands
seemed in pretty good shape the first night.  I had more Qs and mults on 80 and
160 by the end of the first night than I did for the whole contest in 2004.

The bands seemed very noisy both nights, especially Saturday night but sigs were
pretty strong and workable.  I heard no EU on the first night on 160 on my
antenna (50 foot high inv vee) despite being there at their sunrise.    I did
work a few the next night though.  Saturday started with a nice solid run on 20
moving on to 15 where I ran EU at 70 - 100 an hour for almost 4 hours.  Spent
quite a bit of time using the second radio to monitor 10M.  Heard no EU but was
pretty proud of myself for spending about 10 mins spacing calls on the 5H3
pile-up on 10 while I was running 15 at 80 - 100 an hour.  I eventually worked
him without missing a beat on 15, Pretty cool.

10 was all S America and some of the Carib, but not all,  Seemed like the close
in Carib was no where on 10.  Heard no Pac or EU on 10.

Things change fast as the sun is setting with the sunspots lower.  15 had JA for
a while on Sat night.  I am not strong into JA so I worked a couple but did not
try and break all the pile-ups into JA and didn’t try and run it.  I also didn’t
hear any other Asia on 15.  I found 15 South, 20 South, and 40M to be faster and
have more mult opportunity than trying to load up on 30 or so Jas on 15.  I also
worked JA on 20 (around 10),  Heard them on 40 but couldn't work them.

More of the same on 40/80/160 on Saturday night  S & Ping and a few attempts at
40 running.  Sunday morning 20 started out pretty well with a 60 hour but then
got really frustrating.  By 13Z, literally the whole world was on 20.  The band
was full of 3 to 4 layers deep of people CQing.  Numerous times over 2 hours
times I'd finally get a little run going and within 15 mins get elbowed out. 
Finally I started to hold my own around 15Z had a nice 4 hour run at 60 - 80 an
hour.  I spent most of the day waiting for 15 to open to EU (didn’t everyone?). 
 So it was all SA and Carib on 10/15 on radio 2 as I was running 20.  Worked out
well but sad not to see 15 open the second day.  I heard numerous Texas stations
running EU for a while on 15M Sunday  including low power competitor N5AW.  I
could not hear a whisper of the guys that they were working with an 8 el
yagii.

The contest ended as a mult and new station hunt with slow rates for the last
couple of hours.  The challenge of keeping motivated with no idea of how you are
doing in the standings is very interesting.  I usually try and set some
achievable goals for the last few hours like “hit 1.3 Million” or work 150 Qs on
40 or whatever.

Conditions weren’t good but I still had a lot of fun.  The only time I felt
frustrated all weekend was for the first few hours on 20 Sunday morning. 

I have been working on my sleep strategy.  I can now do 45 hours, which I did
this weekend.  I take a 30 min nap (in the bed) around 09Z, another around 19Z,
a third around 02Z and a 90 min sleep at 0830Z on day 2.  I finished the rest of
it out after that 90 min sleep.  I get none of the sleep deprivation problems
that you hear described by people doing the whole run without sleep.  I don’t
wake up napping at the radio and I actually feel better than when I was trying
to do 41 - 42 without an understanding of sleep cycles and the effect food can
have on you.

It will be interesting to see how scores come in.  Especially if some people in
the southern lattitudes got a chance to run EU on 15 on Sunday, which I know
some did.  My score is better than last year by 30% but that is due to the new
antennas.  I think I will be an exception to the rule on that score.

I enjoy the ARRL DX tests, both SSB and CW.  Now on to WPX where I will be using
NV1N, the club call at my company.

73,

Ed  N1UR

Station:  SO2R, FT-990, FT-1000MP Mk V, Dunestars, Trlog, DX Doubler, Array
Solutions Antenna Swiches

Antennas:

10M 3els, S, W, NE
15M 8el NE, 2el S, 3 el Rot
20M 4/4 at 71 and 34 feet (fixed NE)
40M 2 el at 80 feet
80M 2 el wire beam NE, inv vee
160M inv vee


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