[3830] CQ160 CW K5NA Single Op Assisted HP

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                    CQ 160-Meter Contest, CW

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

Class: Single Op Assisted HP
QTH: TX
Operating Time (hrs): 30

Summary:
Total:  QSOs = 1482  State/Prov = 59  Countries = 82  Total Score = 793,971

Club: Central Texas DX and Contest Club

Comments:

Thursday night before the contest and Friday night during the contest were two
of the best nights I have ever heard on 160M for EU to NA QSOs. But conditions
dropped off significently here in Texas for Saturday night. 

With the great Friday night conditions for the contest, this was my best score
ever including my scores from New York in the 1980s. But of course I was
single-op/assisted for this contest and not just a single-op as before. I did
single-op assisted because I enjoy DXing as much as contesting and you never
know when a new Topband DXCC might be spotted.

But because conditions were so good to Europe I probably did more DXing than I
should have. There were times when I was search and pouncing for mults more
than CQing when the band was really open. I have no idea if this actually hurt
or helped my score.

This is my first serious effort in this contest in at least 15 years. My last
serious effort was back when the contest was 42 hours long and had no limit on
single-op hours. Now the single-op limit is 30 hours and I wish it were a bit
longer.

I started the contest soon after 2200Z and operated through sunrise the next
morning. At that time, I was surprised that I had already exceeded 16 hours of
operating. Though I still had a fair QSO rate going, I immediately QRTed and
headed to bed.

Knowing that I had less than 14 hours left to operate, I delayed starting up on
Saturday afternoon until after 2300Z although the band was already open. As I
operated through Saturday night I realized that I didn't have enough operating
time to make it until sunrise if I operated continously. So I forced myself to
take two 30 minute breaks during the night to extend my operating time. I tried
to pick times off when it was really slow, but that never really happened.
Eventually, I had to just push away from the radio, stop operating, and watch
the clock move forward.

If the purpose of the limited operating time is to keep the single-ops from
CQing all day long, then that is an OK thing. But I think single-op would be
better served by a slightly longer operating time. I believe 32 hours would be
ideal, at least for the sunrise/sunset conditions here in Texas.

I had a lot of fun in this contest. And that's why I contest - to have fun.

73, Richard - K5NA


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