[3830] CQWW SSB N2IC M/S HP

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                    CQ Worldwide DX Contest, SSB

Call: N2IC
Operator(s): N2IC,K0KR,N0QO
Station: N2IC

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

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Zones  Countries
------------------------------
  160:   20    11       17
   80:   84    24       59
   40:  738    32      102
   20:  692    36      136
   15:  986    35      129
   10:   44    14       27
------------------------------
Total: 2564   152      470  Total Score = 4,168,644

Club: 

Comments:

I haven't done a multi-X in this contest in a very long time. Just aren't very
many capable SSB operators in the area. I have been quite impressed with N0QO's
performance in SS, for a new ham, and Ken has indicated a desire to see learn
from the experts, since all he has done is single-op. I invited him down for
WPX SSB, but I got sick a few days before and had to cancel. This time, he came
down with my long-time friend Bob, K0KR. They had quite a harrowing drive
through a Colorado mountain blizzard, and were pretty wasted when they got down
here after a 15 hour drive on Wednesday. We mostly played around on Thursday and
Friday, getting to know each other, and the station. We did M/S, although we
considered doing M/2, or even 2 single-band entries.

As to the contest...N0QO is amazing. He would have been in the chair for 45+
hours if we had let him. K0KR did a great job, considering this was his first
contest in 7 years. I got to spend most of my operating time on the mult
station, which is perfectly fine with me.

Band-by-band:

160: Ugh. After being so good to Europe the previous 2 weeks, it was horrible
for the contest. Every QSO, except XE2S, was painful. No Europe. Best DX was an
LU. 20/17/11.

80: More Ugh. Now, I don't think I have a slouch signal on this band to Europe,
considering this is SW NM. The 2 element wire beam has something like an
effective height of 300 feet towards Europe. I did most of the operating on
this band, and every QSO except KH6 and KL7RA was a struggle. The first night,
the only EU was CT and EA. The 2nd night was slightly better, but never did
work a G ! Never had a JA running opportunity, and did not work a BY, which is
unusual. High point was working a UA3 for a double mult, long path at sunrise
Saturday AM. 84/59/24.

40: I knew we would never be able to run EU, but the band was crappy enough
that there were plenty of EU and west Asians who just CQ'd in our face. Lots of
missed mults. To my pleasant surprise, N0QO and K0KR had fine runs towards the
west, once Europe was in daylight. 738/102/32, 370 JA's.

20: Well, some sunspots are back. 20 was a transition band around sunrise and
sunset. Otherwise, the absorption was very high, or, at night, the MUF was too
low. Lots of mults couldn't hear us, even when no one was calling. 692/136/36,
140 JA's. The JA number could have been higher, but at the expense of 15
meters. The JA opening really isn't that long here - 2130Z to around 0130Z, and
during that time, we need to make the most of 15 to JA.

15: Started here, running JA. That was only good for 30 mins. A marginal EU
opening Saturday morning, mostly to I, S5, EA and F. Good JA from 22Z-01Z. Much
better EU opening Sunday morning, when we finally worked a G. Spent the last 2
hours here, again running JA, and cool deeper stuff, like XU, 9V, HS, 9M2, 9M8.
Just fabulous to work so many mults. 986/129/35, 355 JA's.

10: Not a peep heard either day until after 17Z. Nothing heard from AF. Fine
Caribbean and South American opening late Saturday afternoon. A few big-gun
JA's skew-path (first time in 3 years). Good ZL, E51, A3 openings, but not much
volume from that area. 44/27/14.

Factoid: 330 mults worked on the mult station.

After the contest, on Monday, team N2IC had a great hike in the Gila Forest
Wilderness. Just beautiful scenery and WX.


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