[3830] ARRLDX CW WW2DX(@W2RE) M/S HP

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                    ARRL DX Contest, CW

Call: WW2DX
Operator(s): WW2DX, W2RE
Station: W2RE

Class: M/S HP
QTH: 
Operating Time (hrs): 48

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
  160:  104    60
   80:  501    77
   40: 1039    99
   20: 1305   101
   15:   87    49
   10:           
-------------------
Total: 3037   386  Total Score = 3,511,056

Club: Hudson Valley Contesters and DXers

Comments:

I really had no idea what to expect, this was going to be the first time I ever
put a real effort into a contest and the fact that I never stayed up for more
than 24 hours before, I had no idea what my body was going to do! 

Ray (W2RE) and I decided to try a MS and we quickly found out that we really
had a hard time figuring out the most efficient way of utilizing the band
change rule. We also realized that the operating design layout of a SO2R shack
in a MS did not work out very well. Needless to say we learned what not to do
for the next one!

On to the contest.

	Friday we came out of the gate on 40 and thought things were not as good as we
expected. After 2 hours of ok rates we then went to 80 and figured out why 40
was quiet!  80 was smoking! Some nice rates on 80 till around 0700 and grabbing
some nice mults on 160 seemed way too easy. Saturday AM like a light switch 20m
just comes alive and the runs are just awesome, some real nice mutls came by to
give us some jumps in the score and it was non stop for hours with some 5w EU's
that I had to ask twice to make sure I heard the power exchange because they
were so loud. We made a huge mistake Saturday AM and that was not checking 15M.
>From what we are reading we missed out on an opening that looks like hurt us
there. It really is a bummer since Ray has 5/5/5 on 15! 

	 At the 24 hour mark to the actual minute we hit 2000 Q's and 2 million
points, I figured now that I know what to expect for the next 24 hours I should
be able to ramp up the run rate and hit the 4000 Q's by the end. This was not
the case, for starters at 10z Sunday AM I was foaming at the mouth waiting for
the light switch to be thrown on 20M like the day before and soon found out
that the propagation gods must have slept in and forgot the throw the switch to
much later that morning. 
At this point we knew to watch for the 15m opening and we heard it all right,
we heard all the W1's working EU and we could not hear any of the EU! After
running outside to make sure the 15M stack was still standing and we had the
right cables going to the right place we started to hear some EU but it was a
tough road. 87 Q's and 49 mutls later I guess we could not complain but we
should have doubled that the day earlier. Won't make that mistake twice.
	
	Finally 20 opened late AM and rates picked back up nicely, by 20z we went back
to 40 and the band was now what we expected it to be! Wow! I think the rate was
around 130 there for a while and it was just wide open. What a great time and
what a band!  At 2200 the JA's on 20M were the strongest I have ever heard in
my life, 20-40 over S9 and it was fish in a barrel from the W2RE QTH. First
time in my life I ever ran JA's! I actually took some video and will try to get
it on youtube later this week. This was probably another mistake on my part to
go chase JA's while 40 was ripping but we are supposed to have fun in the
contesting thing right? ;)

	In the end we reached our goal, that was 3 million points and 1000 q's on
20/40m.  I have to say that I think it's official that I have been bitten by a
very large contesting bug and I am excited to see what the future brings. I
truly had a great time in the contest and what a treat to operate such an
awesome station and QTH. All the equipment worked perfectly, the pair of K3's
were flawless and wow what great rigs on CW! Special thanks to Ray for showing
a newbie the ropes and the great encouragement and hospitality. Additional
thanks to Ray's XYL Lori (KB2HZI) for showing up at 4PM Sunday with a "3 Guys
from the Bronx" Pepperoni Pizza! (Best contesting fuel there is!) Most of all
to the most understanding women in my life my XYL Andrea, Avery (4) and Lea (2)
for letting Daddy play radio for the weekend!

See you in the next one.

73!

Lee
WW2DX.com

A Few Pics.
http://tinyurl.com/b5uax4

Ray
W2RE.com

W2RE Station:

K3 #464/AL-1500
K3 #1965/AL-1200

160m 	Wire 4 Square
80M	Slopers
40M	3 Ele M2
20M	4/4
15M	5/5/5
10M	5/5/5

-.-


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