[3830] CQWW CW K8CC(KK8I) SOAB QRP

Tue Nov 27 21:20:53 EST 2007

                    CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW

Call: K8CC
Operator(s): KK8I
Station: K8CC

Class: SOAB QRP
QTH: MI
Operating Time (hrs): 42
Radios: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Zones  Countries
------------------------------
  160:   40     9       14
   80:  126    18       57
   40:  166    21       78
   20:  351    24      100
   15:  127    22       65
   10:   27    10       20
------------------------------
Total:  837   104      334  Total Score = 988,566

Club: Mad River Radio Club

Comments:

2xFT-1000MP, 5W output
160m: 140' vertical
 80m: Vertical 4-square
 40m: 3ele at 120' fixed to EU, dipoles at 80â€™ and 40â€™
 20m: 5 over 5
 15m: 5 over 5 over 5 (fixed EU)
 10m: 5 over 5 over 5 (fixed south)
Logging with NA 10.65

This contest was way more fun than could be expected from running QRP at the
bottom of the sunspot cycle.

Preparation:

Dave had planned to have another Multi-OP event for CQWW, but some time before
the contest, it became clear that the broken rotor of the 40m 3ele beam would
not be fixed in time. Dave allowed me to use the station for the contest and I
weighed the options. A non-functional 40m rotor would probably hurt the least
when going QRP, so I decided to do another serious CQWW as SOAB QRP after 1995
(at DL0IU) and 2004 (at KT8X).

The bands did not sound good in the days before the contest. Therefore, I set
the goal to try and beat the 2004 953k score from KT8X's place, where I used
Dennisâ€™ fine 80ft single tower setup.  K8CC's antennas are quite a bit larger
and I would have an SO2R setup, but would this compensate for the lack of
propagation three years down the sunspot cycle?

The preparation part that did not work out was to get a good rest before the
contest, especially since I had been a little sick during the days before the
contest. The night from Thursday to Friday was bad, as I woke up after only six
hours at 5am and could not sleep anymore. For the first time ever, I went with
the Doorbuster Deal crowds but even later that day, I could not find any rest.
So, I went to Dave's place feeling like I had already gone through the first
day of the contest.

The Contest:

As others noted already, the bands did not cooperate too well. It wasnâ€™t too
bad either, considering what the sun could have thrown at us. During most of
the contest, I would be trailing behind the 2004 score from KT8Xâ€™s place.
Eventually, I had to make up for a difference of 197 QSOs and 54 Multipliers on
15m and 10m by a better performance on the low bands. 

I had prepared graphs for QSOs, Multipliers and Score over time from the 2004
effort. I updated these with the results from this effort and put them at 
http://www.wideopenwest.com/~dl2hbx/WWDX2007/WWDX_04_vs_07_QRP.html . I hovered
around the 2004 multiplier graph, but could never get the QSO numbers to reach
the 2004 curve. The 2007 score was off by 50k for most of the second day and it
only crossed the 2004 line in the final hour of the contest when propagation
gods would show some mercy on 20m (JA) and 40m (EU).

Over the duration of the contest, I made three attempts at calling CQ for five
QSOs in total, everything else was S&P. 40m did open early to EU, as K3LR
noted. There were two 10m openings that I caught, one on each day. I agree with
Doug, KR2Q that the major benefit of having a second radio when operating QRP is
the fact that you can quickly check for propagation on bands and can switch
there fast.

I normally try to limit the sleep periods to three to four hours. I slept for
one hour the first night (11z to 12z), then had to take two hours off early the
second night (1z to 3z) and later added an extra three hours from 8z to 11z,
since I was close (again) to having hallucinations. With the lack of sleep
before the contest, it would have been impossible to do with less sleep during
the event. Also, I had in mind that I needed to drive home for one hour the
after the contest. SH5 counts 10.5 hours of breaks larger than 15 minutes. 

Highlights:
 - Overall: Working so many stations whose patience I would often test. Thank
you for pulling me out of the noise!
 - 160m: CN2FF and 9A1P (at his sunrise) and several Caribbean / Central
American stations
 - 80m: Coming within 88% of the US 80m single band QRP record
 - 40m: Having a weak D2NX come back to me on the first call
 - 20m: AH2R, JA on Sunday night, working DXCC on 20!
 - 15m: Working zones 31 through 38
 - 10m: Making DX QSOs at all

Some stats:
 - 6 Band QSOs: 8P5A, HI3A, KP2M, P40W and PJ2T
 - 5 Band QSOs: 9A1P, HC8N, H7/K9NW, J3A, KH7X, PJ4A, VC3A, VE2TZT, VP5W, and
ZF1A
 - Highest Rate: 47/h (Sat 13z)
 - 118 different and 28 different zones worked.

Observations:

Some stations were really testing the patience of the audience as they were not
signing for a long string of QSOs. Apparently, they do not run out of callers
because of the packet crowds that believe they know who they are calling since
they saw the callsign on their PC screen...

Breaking pile-ups is really not what you can do running QRP, so I would usually
keep tuning when I came across a pile-up and not even bother to find out who was
there. This is quite the opposite of what you do in a High Power setup. There
were a few instances though where I would get through in a multi-caller
situation. In some cases, having antennas that are positioned very high up did
help, often in a seemingly marginal propagation situation. In other cases, it
helped to stay away from zero beat where everybody else would call â€“ some DX
folks are using pretty wide filters.

Propagation for a QRP station differs from propagation when running High Power.
While this seems to be obvious, a certain fluttery (I called it 'glazing') sound
on the signals indicates that you will not get through with QRP despite a still
strong signal of the station you are trying to reach. You have to find the
â€˜good waves in the oceanâ€™ and ride them as long as you can. Typically, a
good propagation situation does not last long for a QRP station and you have to
frequently look for opportunities on other bands.

Using Daveâ€™s well-known callsign definitely helped. Many stations were able
to complete the callsign after catching a portion of it. If I had used my own
callsign, I would have had more difficulties. I guess that many also wondered
about how poor conditions were, because K8CC came in so weak...

Afterword:

Now it will be up to the log checking to see if this effort beats the 2004
score, as the 2007 raw score is a mere 7k higher than the one from 2004. The
8th call area record (957k, by N8ET in 2000) is just a tad higher than the 2004
result at KT8X, so I hope to pass that score too. I would like to thank everyone
who read this writeup until this point, and a particular thank you to all the
stations that hung in there and spent time and effort in order to identify my
callsign. I remember spending some long five minutes with HI3A on 160m until we
had a good QSO and there were several other similar situations. Congrats to Paul
at 6V7D who put out a great QRP signal from Africa.

Finally, a big thank you to my host Dave, K8CC. It is always a pleasure to
operate from your place. 

73! Uli, KK8I

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