[3830] CQWW SSB NN3W(@N3HBX) SOAB HP

[webform at b4h.net]

                    CQ Worldwide DX Contest, SSB

Call: NN3W
Operator(s): NN3W
Station: N3HBX

Class: SOAB HP
QTH: MD
Operating Time (hrs): 45
Radios: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Zones  Countries
------------------------------
  160:   59    12       33
   80:  243    20       71
   40:  550    25       91
   20: 1358    34      132
   15: 1082    26      111
   10:   99    11       37
------------------------------
Total: 3391   128      475  Total Score = 5,513,832

Club: Potomac Valley Radio Club

Comments:

Thanks to John Evans N3HBX for letting me use the Poolesville station.  Most
things worked perfectly (including the new power splitting utility – it came
in handy!).  A couple issues to be dealt with.  BTW, if you haven’t heard,
John has been locked in a litigation battle concerning his amateur radio towers
which were code-compliant, fully reviewed and tested, and carefully constructed.
 The Court of Appeals for Maryland (the state “supreme” court) recently
found that all the permitting done was proper and that John had done all he
needed to do to get his dream realized.  Unfortunately, his neighbor continues
to feel otherwise and has continued to engage John in a civil lawsuit.  This
has cost John money in excess of six figures…..Thank you Mr. Evans for
persisting in your dream

That was quite a weekend!  15 was pretty damned good.  40 was good.  80 and 160
were not as good as I would have liked them to have been.  20 was mayhem.  10
meters – what 10 meters?  Sporadic E opening?  I heard KC1XX calling
CQ….HZ1GW.  Huh?  Nothing here.  Lots of LUs and PUs though.

I had several goals this weekend.  I met them all except one….  Raised my
score by 10 percent, improved my performance on 40 meters (wow!), work SO2R
hard, did not get bothered by QRM, etc.  All those goals were met.

I had to take 15 minutes off to switch rig pairs.  John told me that the
sensitivity on one FT1000 MP was shot but that I could use the preamp, the IPO
select, and RF gain to compensate.  Unfortunately, those techniques created
hash on loud stations and was very difficult to use.  It made running radio 2
(MP) nearly impossible in the crowded conditions.  So, I stopped using the
FT1000s and switched to the Orions.  And honestly, I’m now hooked on them. 
Unfortunately, there is a keying or line relay problem on one Orion and it
hangs the audio.  Sometimes stations are normal strength, other times they’re
rather weak.  You have to key the rig to break the “attenuation” problem.  

Rather than write narrative, I’ll free write thoughts.  

It feels great when you are a Stateside station and to face a pileup of three
stations calling you: a SV9, a ZS, and a 5R8.  Nice!  I guess I need to get out
more.

Rain static was bad on Friday night and continued into Saturday morning.  That
caused problems on 80 and 160 despite the fact that HBX put up a 350’ long
beverage in the rain Friday (thanks again John).  My multiplier count on the
low bands would have been a LOT higher had I been able to hear (or conversely)
had the EU guys heard me.  I heard T7, 1A and others on 80, and heard a
boatload of stuff on 160 that just were not hearing stateside.  Absorption
perhaps?

Where were the Russia guys??????  Not one zone 17 or zone 18 this year.  No
zone 22 again, for that matter.

Despite the fact that we have new allocations on 75, why do folks insist on
listening “up”???  I had clear frequencies around 3.675 but few callers. 
My highest rate was when I parked myself on 3833 and listened down below
3.700.

I slept 90 minutes, and may have taken the wrong off time this year now that I
look at my rate sheet.  To make matters worse, I frankly had NO idea what I was
doing for the first 30 minutes after I work up.  Hint for next year: shower
IMMEDIATELY after waking up…

I am starting to agree with NQ4I on the stateside QSO matter.  I had 231 W/VE
QSOs.  It got so frustrating with poor stateside ops covering up EU callers in
pileups that I reprogrammed my CQ message on Sunday (CQ OUTSIDE of the United
States).  Somebody said I should be DQed.  Fine…

Incredible levels of participation out of EU.  The Spanish guys (many using AO
calls), DLs, Is, Fs, and Gs were out in force.  For an African country, lots of
ZSs too!

Why do hams in a certain EU country persist in using the last two (or the
middle two)?  Granted I’m not going to get full calls on every QSX, but
c’mon.

I’m still working on SO2R, but I counted over 250 second radio contacts
(that’s close to 8 percent of all QSOs).  A LOT of multipliers were picked up
by sweeping up and down the bands on radio 2 and picking them off as I came
across them.

I had only three frequency wars this weekend.  Won two and bowed out on the
third.  No jammers this year which was nice.  I even crept up to 14.229 without
the SSTVers going ape.

Congrats to K5ZD.  I knew that the Day of Reckoning would come.  I think that
it has arrived…

CU in the next test!  Sweeps!!!!!111111


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