[3830] ARRLDX CW K5NA SOSB/80 HP

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                    ARRL DX Contest, CW

Call: K5NA
Operator(s): K5NA
Station: K5NA

Class: SOSB/80 HP
QTH: TX
Operating Time (hrs): 25

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
  160:           
   80:  631    83
   40:           
   20:           
   15:           
   10:           
-------------------
Total:  631    83  Total Score = 157,119

Club: Central Texas DX and Contest Club

Comments:

I decided that this year I would do a single-band 80M effort to make a possible
run at the W5 record. But it seemed as though fate was going to have a say in
whether I could do a serious effort or not.

The first problem was that my father and step-mother would be returning from a
funeral in West Texas on Saturday and that they might stop to visit us on
Saturday evening on their way home to East Texas. They would most certainly
stay all night if this happened and I would not be able to do much operating on
Saturday night.

But deciding that one night of contesting was better than no nights of
contesting, I committed myself to doing at least a Friday night effort.

Three hours before the contest was to start, I lay down to catch a pre-contest
nap when we discovered that the house suddenly had no water. Further inspection
revealed a lake was quickly forming in our side yard. The water pipe had broken
right next to the closest cut-off valve. A plumber was called and he arrived
about 30 minutes before the contest was to start. 

An attempt to turn off another water value further up the line resulted in
breaking the gate valve and now I had two water problems at two different
points in a ½ mile long water line.

The plumber worked on both problems while I held lights for him in the dark. I
couldn’t leave him to run to the radio. Finally at 0230Z the plumber was done
and he packed up and left. I made my first 80M DX Contest QSO at 0233Z having
missed the first 2.5 hours of the contest.

Band conditions were really great, the noise was low, and my new K3 was working
superbly. By the end of the first night I had already beaten the old W5 80M
record. My QSO numbers were good but my multiplier count was a little low. I
felt I had missed some multipliers that would have been best to work in the
first 2 hours of the contest; multipliers like 4X4, TA, etc. I felt I might
have a chance to get those multipliers early the 2nd night if the family visit
didn’t happen.

About an hour before sunset on Saturday night I heard that the family visit was
not going to happen and I was clear to operate the full 2nd night on the radio.
However, a weather front had passed through Texas during the day on Saturday
and the static and QRN was terrible. I could hear only the strongest signals.
For the next few hours my QSO rates were low and I would S/P for the stronger
signals. Every time I tried to run, I would struggle to copy call signs through
the QRN. Finally at Western European sunrise the QRN let up a little and signals
improved to where I could run a little. However, my multiplier count was still
down from what I wanted.

When tuning for multipliers it would take almost a full hour to tune from the
bottom of 80M (3500 kHz) to the last contest signal up the band (3580 kHz?).
Finding the right balance for running versus tuning for multipliers was a
challenge. In noisy conditions, it is almost impossible for me to do both at
the same time using the sub-receiver.

In spite of the obstacles, I enjoyed my weekend of contesting. And that’s
what it is all about.

73, Richard – K5NA


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