[3830] IARU WC1M SO CW HP

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                    IARU HF World Championship

Call: WC1M
Operator(s): WC1M
Station: WC1M

Class: SO CW HP
QTH: NH
Operating Time (hrs): 21
Radios: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  CW Qs  Ph Qs  Zones  HQ Mults
-------------------------------------
  160:    24            4        7
   80:   130           13       18
   40:   586           25       27
   20:   924           30       35
   15:    95           13       15
   10:     4            2        1
-------------------------------------
Total:  1763    0      87      193  Total Score = 1,135,060

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club

Comments:

Antennas:

160M  -  trapped vee @65' (legs 100 degrees apart - a neighborly compromise)
 80M  -  trapped vee @65', delta loop @75'  
 40M  -  40-2CD @110', 4-square
 20M  -  4/4 @96'/64' (SteppIRs), C3E @50', 4-el @72'
 15M  -  4/4 @96'/64' (SteppIRs), C3E @50', 5-el @50'
 10M  -  4/4 @96'/64' (SteppIRs), C3E @50'
 
 580' beverage aimed 20-degrees

 Equipment:

Orion + Alpha 87A, FT-1000D + Acom 2000A, Writelog, TopTen and homebrew band
decoders and switches.

Could it be that we have a dead tie for first place USA/VE SOAB HP between
WA1Z at KC1XX and W6YI(N6RM)?!?? Has that ever happened? Can't say I've ever seen
two posted scores exactly the same, especially not on the leader board. Could
be a zone 9 VE with a higher score lurking out there, but it'll be really neat
if the tie for first holds up -- at least until the UBN checks. Total mults are
identical too, though the Zones and HQs are reversed. I guess that makes sense
between EU and AS. Wouldn't it be a gas if the scores were identical after UBN
checks? I think we should all chip in for a second plaque if that happens...

Anyway, congrats to WA1Z and N6RM for great efforts, and to K3WW and AA3B for
their fine scores as well.

This contest was the maiden voyage for my long-awaited stacked SteppIRs. Spent
the last few weeks finishing the tower cabling (MicroHam stack match, two runs
of heliax and five more control cables), building/mounting the second TIC ring
and building/tramming the second 4-el SteppIR. Lots of work. But it was worth
it. The 2-stack played very well on 20. It was pretty good on 15, too, though
it should play even better when I add the third SteppIR at 34' sometime in the
next few weeks. Then again, I don't think antennas are what we need for 15
these days -- we need sunspots! 10 meters seems a distant memory and a wishful
dream.

The antenna work wore me out to some extent. Adding to that, I stayed up late
Friday night finishing a PC program to tune the SteppIR stack (a complicated
story I won't go into here.) The program worked well, but I wasn't in the best
of shape Saturday morning. It was a bit more than the usual slog getting
through the next 24 hours. I ended up needing to take a couple of naps in the
wee hours to get my head clear enough for the Sunday morning runs (which never
materialized.)

I haven't done a serious effort in IARU since 2004, so it was nice to get back
to one of my favorite contests. I like the morning start, the compressed
24-hour format, the one shot at each opening, and the combination of zone and
HQ mults. 

Unfortunately, I lagged pretty badly on HQ mults this year. With the possible
exception of 15, I think that was more operator error than propagation or
antennas. It's always hard to tell. For example, my mults were quite good on
20. Was that a function of the new stack and good propagation on 20, or was it
a matter of spending more time on that band than others? My sense is that it's
a combination of these factors, but my log indicates I didn't hit the second
radio hard enough when other bands were open. At times the rate was so high on
20 and 40 that I couldn't concentrate on the second radio and I didn't want to
leave the rate for S&P. 

I need to work on juggling the two radios better, but I know I can do that when
I'm in top form. What I really need to work on is my S&P rate and technique. I
think that's the weakest part of my game, and it figures into both pure S&P and
using the second radio effectively. 

Like many contesters, I got my start doing pure S&P at low power with meager
antennas. I was primarily a DXer back then and used contests mainly as a way to
find new countries. I S&Ped for DX, not for rate -- I skipped stations I didn't
need for a new one. I was pretty good at listening, finding DX and timing my
calls, but I never learned to maximize rate while tuning. When I got into
contesting, I found running to be a lot of fun and concentrated on developing
that skill. As a result, my S&P rate is pretty low. It's not a matter of
calling the same station over and over -- with high power and good antennas
that doesn't happen often. It's more a matter of deciding when to continue
listening and when to move on without working the station, when to work every
station I hear and when to work only new mults, etc.

Also, to find the exotic mults I need to swing the antennas more. Having more
antenna choices will help, but I need to improve my knowledge of propagation,
too -- a never-ending quest, it seems.

Anyway, once I get all the hardware and software in place, I need to get back
to working on operating skills. It seems I'm always in one mode or the other:
building or operating, and it's tough to concentrate on both at the same time.
When I'm building, as I've been for about a year, I'm more interested in the
next task, redesigning, optimizing, etc. Sometimes I find myself tinkering
during contests when I should be focused on operating. Once the station
building settles down, I gradually shift my attention back to operating.

Hopefully all the work will be completed well before CQ WW CW and I'll be
focused on operating in the big one. See you then!

73, Dick WC1M


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