[3830] ARRLDX CW WX0B(AD5Q) SOAB HP

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                    ARRL DX Contest, CW

Call: WX0B
Operator(s): AD5Q
Station: WX0B

Class: SOAB HP
QTH: Dallas
Operating Time (hrs): 39.2
Radios: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
  160:   31    23
   80:  148    67
   40:  468    83
   20:  602    83
   15:  103    40
   10:    4     4
-------------------
Total: 1356   300  Total Score = 1,186,200

Club: North Texas Contest Club

Comments:

Bring on the sunspots, this one was rough! On 15, I worked D4C and an EA8, but
nothing on the European continent. I'm sure there were skew path opportunities,
but they were during the brief EU peaks on 20. On Saturday signals on 20 were
weak and watery during the early run, with rates averaging well under 100.
Sunday was somewhat better, with rate spikes (10 QSO's) approaching 200. I was
expecting 15 would also open to EU but it didn't. Let's not mention 10.

I thought lowband conditions were pretty good, but the weather was a huge
factor here. Between static crashes I worked a couple EU's on 160 both nights,
but didn't spend much time there. On 40 the rain static was S7 to S9 on both EU
and JA openings, but the beverages eliminate most of that. Still, they are
optimized for 80/160 and many callers are beneath the noise floor. Am thinking
about a 40M beverage system for next fall, at least on EU. With the QRN at
summertime levels on 160 both nights, and rain static on 40, I found 80 easier
to work. I had no trouble hearing the mults between static crashes, but didn't
do much running. After 0900z on Sunday morning, the bands quieted down nicely
and I enjoyed working the westerly mults on 80 & 160.

During the day neither the QRN nor the rain were a serious factor, but I had to
frequently shut down for approaching thunderstorms which turned out to be not
very severe. Usually there are nearby lightning strikes, so we disconnect the
rotor cables and coaxes - and wait. In once instance I had taken a sleep break
for the early afternoon doldrums of Saturday, awoke in time to sit down and run
20M JA's, then kaboom! I had to unplug instead. That particular off-time came to
almost 2.5 hours - ouch! There were a total of 5 shut downs, effecting mostly
20M.

There were also glitches. The Orion's RIT would stop working for up to an hour,
and I am still not sure what sequence of buttons I push to clear the problem. We
will try the latest firmware before reporting it. There are also several ongoing
problems in the contest software which I have already reported TWICE, and one is
substantially worse in the current version: after entering the callsign and
sometimes also the number, the QSO goes blank before I can log it. Sometimes
this happens a fraction of a second after I enter the call, sometimes later. In
the ARRL, this occurred 200 - 300 times. It only happens on Radio A, which is
usually the S&P rig (where I can recopy the info), but during runs it means I
must ask the station to repeat everything AFTER I have copied and sent it
correctly. The software is reportedly open sourced, and I could likely fix
these problems if I had the source code. It's time to ask for it (and learn
VB).

I thank Jay and Sharon for the hospitality and use of the station, which we
continue to tweak.

Roy -- AD5Q


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