[3830] ARRLDX SSB N4KG SOAB LP

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                    ARRL DX Contest, SSB

Call: N4KG
Operator(s): N4KG
Station: N4KG

Class: SOAB LP
QTH: ALA
Operating Time (hrs): 28

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
  160:   26    21
   80:   72    49
   40:  107    56
   20:  218    77
   15:  182    53
   10:   38    13
-------------------
Total:  643   269  Total Score = 518,901

Club: Alabama Contest Group

Comments:

ARRL SSB DX Contest 2007  -  N4KG  SOAB  LP (Icom 746 PRO 100 W.)

This contest reminded me of the old Clint Eastwood Movie, 
“The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly”

THE GOOD:

The Low Bands were GREAT from well before sunset to after sunrise.  Even with
Low Power I was able to work most of what I heard except for the (weak)
Europeans on 160M.  The “Have Radio, Will Travel” guys were EVERYWHERE
providing me with many Multi-Band contacts.

6 Bands:  6Y1V 8P1A FY5KE VP5H  (E-layer opening to VP5 and 6Y on 10M)

5 Bands:  HD2A(-160) HI3C(10) HI3T(10) LU4DX(160) P40A(10) PJ2T(10)          
PJ4G(10) TI5N(80)  TO5A(10) V26H(10) V47KP(10) VP2E(10) WP2Z(10)

4 Bands:  9A7A C6ANM CE4CT CN3A CU2A DL0WW EA7RU EC2DX EI7M HG1S HG6N  HR2DMR
IR4X KH7X LP1H OE4A OK5R P40LE PT7CB PX2A TM6M TO6T VP9/W6PH XE7S

THE BAD:

>From many parts of the World (and USA), 10 Meters was a BUST and 15 Meters was
characterized by short openings to limited areas of the world. The guys from
Wisconsin must have taken their “Black Hole”with them to PJ2T as I NEVER
could hear them on 10M, even when coordinating with the 15M station. This was
in spite of working 5 YV’s, FY, HK, HP, TI, and 8P1. PJ2T reported only 236
stations (all but 2 on Sunday) on 10M, mostly in W5 or west.

Even when 15 (and 10) Meters were open, activity was clearly lacking, with few
stations heard above 21350.  SC3A (SM) was the only station worked on 15M from
Scandanavia with NO stations worked from CQ Zones 16 and 20.  I was able to
establish short Runs on 21207 with ease.

This left 20 Meters as the MONEY BAND for most of the World and it was Wall to
Wall.  That’s just NOT FUN, especially when you live 1 skip zone away from
the upper East Coast!

Bottom Line:  QSO’s and Multipliers were way down from previous years.

THE UGLY:

PACKET PILEUPS get my vote for first place in the UGLY category.  As a Low
Power entrant, BIG pileups were a slug-fest that was best dealt with by
carefully TIMING my calls just right or loading a Memory Position and coming
back later.

Besides the size of the pileup, another Key Indicator of Packet Pileups was a
steady flow of New Callers who obviously knew the DX station’s Callsign in
spite of the fact that he had not identified in the last X minutes.  

I decided that if there was NO ID after 3 Q’s that I would just start
calling.  When answered, I would ASK for the DX Callsign BEFORE giving my
report.  If it was a DUPE, I informed the DX station that he could save BOTH of
us some time by Identifying More Frequently!  Sadly, Contesting is becoming more
of a Computer Game than a Radio Sport!

Yet another UGLY aspect of BIG (Packet) Pileups is people who STEAL other
peoples contacts, either by simply overriding them or ignoring the partial
calls given by the DX even when their call is nothing like what the DX station
was calling.  I heard this way too many times this weekend.

ALL of the above is why I find myself questioning why I work Phone Contests. 
Some aspects of this contest were definitely NOT FUN.  I ended up taking more
breaks than usual just to get away from the MADNESS, reducing my activity to 28
hours vs. my usual 32 to 36 hours.  I find myself questioning how serious I will
be about entering future Phone Contests.

Tom  N4KG in North Alabama (70 miles East of W5 – Mississippi)


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