[3830] ARRLDX SSB N6WG SOAB QRP

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                    ARRL DX Contest, SSB

Call: N6WG
Operator(s): N6WG
Station: N6WG

Class: SOAB QRP
QTH: Newark CA
Operating Time (hrs): 24

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
  160:    0     0
   80:    6     3
   40:    1     1
   20:   45    14
   15:   55    23
   10:    4     2
-------------------
Total:  111    43  Total Score = 14,319

Club: Northern California Contest Club

Comments:

This was a lot more fun than the CQ WW DX SSB contest last month, 
with a 42% improvement in my score that made me feel pretty good.
Part of the improved score came from a special dipole I put up aimed
at JA that just happened to aim at PY and LU in the other direction.
It really helpled when my main E-W antennas were just not doing
the job.  It's really nice to be able to switch directions
instantly at the press of a button.

I blew the last half hour of the contest, trying to work a station
in Paraguay for a new multiplier.  I might have been better off
chasing some more JA Qs, even if they wouldn't give me a new mult.

I got up real early Saturday morning, expecting to work some DX in the
early hours, between 5 and 7AM.  Wrong.  In the first two hours, I worked one
station, and I could have worked him easily later in the day.  Missed
out on several hours of sleep with nothing to show for it.

Got up a bit later on Sunday morning after a good night's sleep.  On
20m, I heard a number of European stations, but only managed to work
OH6QU in Finland.  But at least I got my toe into Europe :-)

My money bands were 20m and 15m, and I suppose that was true for most
everyone else too.  I checked on 160m occasionaly, but nothing heard
there.  10m only produced one KH6 QSO and three LU QSOs.  Again,
nothing else heard.  Oh, how I miss 10m.

Our JA friends saved me from a much lower score.  I wound up with
19 Qs on 15m and 19 on 20m.  I found one lone VK on 15m, and never
heard a single ZL.  Usually it's the other way around for me.  Several
ZL and no VK.  My main 40-20-15-10m antennas point right at them, so
I know my signal blows in that direction.  Maybe the path just wasn't 
open during the hours I worked.

Forty meters was a complete mess with the SWBC stations.  I only worked
one station there, YW4D in Venezuela.  Eighty meters did a bit better
for me, with two Hawaii, two Alaska and two Mexico QSOs.

I took it a bit easier in this contest.  SSB is such a pain anyway, so
I took time off in the evening during the hours when the bands were very
unsettled.  Went back on the air around 9 or 10 PM and picked up Qs as
I found them.  Then got a good night's sleep :-)

As always, there were some alligator stations.  Huge signals, but they
must have had receiving problems.  I heard many stations call them and
never connect, me included.  Oh well, it's just part of the game.

One highlight for me was working AH7ZA in HI for a two-way QRP QSO.  Good
solid copy both ways.  Another was working VP8KF in the Falkland Islands.
This was my farthest DX, at a bit over 7000 miles.  Let's see, that's
about 1433 miles/watt :-)  Gee, nothing special after all.  People do
that all the time.  I also had my first UA9 SSB QSOs with two stations
on 20m.

My thanks to all the operators who worked with me to get my correct
callsign through.  Like I said before, SSB is a pain, especially at
QRP levels.

I hope the WPX will be easier, with better conditions.  Hope to work as
many of you as possible.
73, Bob N6WG
The Little Station with Attitude


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