[3830] CQWW CW 7J1AAI(W1NN) SOSB/40 HP

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                    CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW

Call: 7J1AAI
Operator(s): W1NN
Station: JH1GTV

Class: SOSB/40 HP
QTH: Tokyo
Operating Time (hrs): 40

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Zones  Countries
------------------------------
  160:                    
   80:                    
   40: 1691    34       98
   20:                    
   15:                    
   10:                    
------------------------------
Total: 1691    34       98  Total Score = 602,712

Club: North Coast Contesters

Comments:

Thanks to Shige JH1GTV for allowing me to use his fine station once again.  

The QSO number does not include 67 dupes but does include 37 zero point JA
QSO’s.

During the week before the contest, Shige spent a lot of time getting the
station ready and I spent a lot of time learning to use N1MM, analyzing logs
and thinking about strategy.  We both thought we were ready to go and I was
getting some nice signal reports from Europe during the 30 minutes before the
contest.  But five minutes before the starting time, the worst happened:  the
SWR suddenly spiked.  I was off the air!  After examining all of the coax and
hardline connectors and splices, we determined that the problem had to be on
the tower.  To make a long story short, Shige made three trips up the tower
(thank you!) and two balun replacements later Shige had fixed the problem.  I
was finally on the air at 0442.  Fortunately, the missed hours were during the
daytime so I did not lose any prime operating hours, but the delay still
probably cost at least 100 contacts.

This was my first CQWW from Japan in a long time so I didn’t know what to
expect in terms of band conditions, although it helped a lot to look through
last year’s results.  It was also my first 48 hour contest in many years. 
I’ve been avoiding 48 hour contests because of how disruptive they are be to
one’s business and sleep schedules.  One of my goals this time was simply to
see if I could still manage 44-45 hours in the chair.  I made it to the end of
the contest only taking off four hours, so if it had not been for the time
missed at the beginning, I would met my 44 hour operating goal.  Of course, the
second night was pretty tough and I had my share of hallucinations and weird
experiences – and I spent a certain amount of time trying to think up a good
reason to quit early -  but somehow I forced myself to stick it out to the end.
   

This was a real learning experience and I think I can do a lot better if I have
another chance to operate this contest.  Clearly I need to do something about my
low country total.   I found it very tough to know when to go searching for
multipliers.  The K3 I was using does not have the sub receiver so looking for
multipliers meant giving up my CQ frequency and finding a new one is not so
easy on 40 meters.  As a result I probably CQ’d too much and didn’t do as
much S&P as I should have.  A new sub-receiver is on the list of things to do
for next time.

Over the years that I have operated in Japan I have become resigned to the fact
that Japan is not the best place in the world to operate contests from.  But I
now realize that 40 Meters single band is different and Japan is a pretty
decent place to operate this category.  We have pretty good propagation to both
NA and Europe where there are lots of 3-point contacts available.  It’s
probably a better place to operate from in this category than most parts of NA.
        
 
The best thing about this contest is hearing and working old friends and making
new friends and being part of this amazing 48-hour worldwide beehive of
activity.  99.9% of ops are decent and courteous and are just trying to have
fun and do the best they can.  When so many signals are crammed into such a
small space, there are bound to be problems, but on balance they seem pretty
few to me.  A little peer pressure and education would go a long way to
correcting some of the poor operating practices we hear about.  
    
I hope to see everyone in the next one.

73, Hal W1NN & 7J1AAI


Raw QSO Distribution by Continent

EU 812
NA 627
AS 242
OC 39
SA 29
AF 9

Total 1758

Country Totals
USA 581
EU Russia 198
Ukraine 145
AS Russia 69
DL 69


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