[3830] CQWW CW VE1RGB SOAB LP

[webform at b4h.net]

                    CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW

Call: VE1RGB
Operator(s): VE1RGB
Station: VE1RGB

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

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Zones  Countries
------------------------------
  160:   53     8       22
   80:  245    17       70
   40:  223    20       71
   20:  478    19       82
   15:  107    16       46
   10:    5     3        4
------------------------------
Total: 1111    83      295  Total Score = 1,025,514

Club: Maritime Contest Club

Comments:

Oh man, that was fun!

This time last year I was sitting back and enjoying the 
results of the first contest in which I had ever scored over one 
million points. Thinking that I might never achieve that again, I 
told Bev right up front that my goal this year was to work the 
equivalent of DXCC – i.e., more than 100 countries – in a single 
contest. And yes, she knows what DXCC is – I casually point out my 
certificate every time she comes into my man-cave. In the end, I 
worked at least 111 DXCC entities. 

I'm quite pleased with that because I did it somewhat the hard way:

1. I did it with 100W; 
2. I did not use a spotting network (a rather useless tool if 
you are low power and without a beam, anyway. What are you going to 
do if you see a rare one spotted? Eat the ensuing pile-up?);
3. The first 100 DXCC entities were all S&P. No running;
4. All the CW was deliberately sent by my hand, not by the 
keyboard. That is because by my observation, repeated use of 
keyboard rig keying results in the ruination of a good CW fist (or 
does that make you go blind? I can't remember what my father told 
me.); and
5. All my antennas are omni-directional, so I cannot achieve any 
directional gain when I need a specific mult or geographical area.

DXCC #100 was 9H3HH and he had so much trouble with my call in the 
weak signals and pile-up that I was very reluctant to provide my 
exchange until I heard him repeat my call correctly. That delay lead 
to some smart-ass on the side who said in CW, quite distinctly, "Just 
send it, man!" I snickered to myself. (Sorry, guys.)

When I had reached that stage, I was only about 300 Qs short 
of the record 1111 I had made last year, so I took a page out of 
VE1AI's contest book and used my big multiplier base to run NA high 
up on on a relatively quiet 20M band on Sunday afternoon, with the 
keyer set well below the blistering stage so as to recruit the Sunday 
casual ops, and thereby build up my total score. That worked very 
well. I had a sustained rate of 116 Qs/hour for a full hour, with 
gusts to 240, which ain't bad for here. I quit when I saw that I had 
reached 1112 Qs, a tactical error inasmuch as re-scoring removed my 
bonus Q (I had duped our friend Joe, AA4NN) and so I only tied for my 
own record there. I should have worked a couple of "spares". 
However, the bottom line above is now my personal best for total 
score in any contest ever, and that now becomes next year's target.

At this point, with four hours still left in the contest, I 
was a mental and physical basket case, and simply went QRT. I just 
could not stay at it any longer. That was difficult to do because 
the bands were just jammed with new multipliers and new call signs. 

Favourites: KH6 on 80M; E5/s on two bands; 4U1ITU on 14138 
KHz (!).

Unsolved mystery: NY4A said to me, "You're doing great, 
Gary. See you next summer." NY4A is the Potomac Valley ARC, so who 
the heck was the op?!

There are some very, very clicky big guns out there. The PRO 
III fought valiantly with that, and I found I could improve the 
situation by changing the filter shape to sharp. Still, it's 
disappointing and awfully hard on the ears after a few hours. My 
K3/100 is now on its way from Canada Border Services in Montreal 
where it had been mistakenly held hostage (a whole `nother story), 
and we will see how well it deals with that problem. No better than 
any other rig, I suspect. And while the 80M band switch on the BigIR 
Mk I vertical is currently U/S, I did manage to coax it to work on 
the original configuration of 40M and up, and I am absolutely delighted with
its performance on 10M and 15M where signals were extremely weak, yet I 
could be heard and I could hear. 

See y'all in the next one.

73,
Gary, VE1RGB













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