[3830] WPX SSB KQ2M SOSB15 HP

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                    CQWW WPX Contest, SSB

Call: KQ2M
Operator(s): KQ2M
Station: KQ2M

Class: SOSB15 HP
QTH: CT
Operating Time (hrs): 17.9

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
  160:     
   80:     
   40:     
   20:     
   15: 1598
   10:     
------------
Total: 1598  Prefixes = 786  Total Score = 3,022,170

Club: Frankford Radio Club

Comments:

WPXSSB has always been my favorite contest since my first "operation" back in
1975.  Although I routinely work about 90+ hours per week at this time of year,
and am particualrly busy now developing my two business websites
www.rlsfinancialgroup.com and www.jgbconsultingcorp.com ,the thought of missing
such a fun contest with great propagation, was simply unacceptable! :-)

With the top 20 meter antenna no longer attached to the tower, and dangling
vertically by its coax between the 20 yagis at 82' and 54', a 20 meter
operation was out of the question (the top 20 was torn off the tower on Friday
night of ARRLDXSSB in a violet windstorm).  So on Saturday I hooked up the 15
meter stack of HG155CA's 5/5/5/5 @ 109' (rotatable), 90' rotatable on a
sidemount, 60' rotatable on a sidemount and 29' fixed NE, and set up the
station, with very low expectations.

With a SF of 84 and SN of 27, I expected to work Europe for an hour or two and
mostly US.  The low A and K indices of 3 and 1 were very positive but the
Auroral Oval number of 1 was especially exciting. (More on this later).

At 1125z I worked ZS4JAN followed by ZS1JY for my fist q's.  I was hearing weak
EU, a good sign this early, and a few minutes later I started a EU crawl (not
run).  A smattering of EU big guns, Africans, SA and US called in for the next
20 minutes with many of the signals sounding like they were coming through a
"tunnel".  This happens when the muf is barely high enough to open the band. 
Right at 1215z signals came up about 2 s-units and a real run started. and by
1220z, 5 minutes later, the band EXPLODED to EA and I with a few Russians
thrown in.  By 1245z it was "off to the races" as the muf cleared 21.2 mhz and
kept rising.  When the band opened, zone 21 stations began to call in: A71CV,
7Z1HL, HZ1PS, followed by a rapidly increasing percentage of Russian stations. 
Whenever the band is open to Russia, cndx are GOOD and the rates spike 50%
higher.  By 13z, I was working everything EU and it was LOUD! with Russians,
all of Europe, Africa (5C2P, ST2AR, many EA8's) and loads of Italians.

15 was simply AMAZING with the SSN and SF this low.  What a blast!  Peak 10
minute rates were in the 260-280 per hour range and I had many 5 q's minutes
with one 1 q minute.  I finished with 14z with my first 200 hour in WPXSSB in
many years.  200 hours are rare in WPXSSB as a Stateside station working DX
because it is hard to correctly copy the serial numbers and the need to ask for
many repeats slows you down!

As 14z passed into 15z, propagation followed the greyline with enhancement into
Russia and the DL's getting louder.  HS0ZIN and 9M2TO called in with a few YB's
as I continued to work all of EU with a few W's thrown in.  I simply could not
believe how sensational 15 was!  At 1540z, 15 abruptly faded but came back a
few minutes later with more Russians and DL's. 16z was another outstanding hour
but it was clear that the noon-time absorption was keeping signals a few s-units
weaker than before and soon the muf would drop.  By 17z I had antennas in every
direction NE, S and W so that I could be heard in EU when the band reopened,
work the W's as they came on the band and still be loud enough for the
occasional SA/CA stations which would likely be another prefix.  

By 1730z, it was mostly West Coast (and very low volume) an occasional African
(5N7M, 6W2SC, 6W1SJ and 3V8SS with a few ZS's) and an occasional Big Gun EU
station.  At 18z it was work the US and chase the SA/CA stations.  Things
slowed down dramatically and there was very little rate to work the US/VE -
only about 60-70 per hour.  Occasionally an EA station would call in and tell
me that I was LOUD - (you always keep an antenna toward EU/AFR in the afternoon
on 15!) but no one else was there to work me.  My guess is that they were all on
20 and 40 by then.  19z and 20z were similar - CQ and slowly work West Coast and
VE and the occasional SA/CA station and hope the band stayed open.  At 2053z,
VK2APG called in followed immediately by VK3HR and ZL1OGX.  I was shocked to
discover that the VK's and ZL stations were coming in SHORTPATH and were
inaudible Longpath.  For the past 5 years, almost every VK and ZL station that
I have worked on 20 before dark, has been LONGPATH without exception, so the
idea of working VK/ZL shortpath on 15 in daylight, was almost unbelievable.  As
I continued to slowly work the West Coast/VE on 15 into the 21z hour, an
occational KH6, VK or ZL would call in.  Other pleasant surprise callers were
A33A, E51USA and E51COF!  I had high hopes of working a JA or two, but at JA
sunrise @ 2134z, nothing was heard, even with 10 elements pointed there.

As the 22z hour started, rate was almost gone and a few SA stations began to
call, HC8GR, CE4CT, PT1A and a few Northern stations, KL7RA and then JN1NDY @
2208z.  He was a real S7!  I quickly turned the two top antennas back to JA and
NOTHING!  At 2218z JG1WNO called in followed by 7 more JA's in the next 17
minutes, and that was all; my JA run of 9 was over!  But it was 9 more JA's
than I ever expected to work on 15.  With no rate I alternated calling CQ with
listening on the 2nd vfo of my FT1000MP and worked KH0UA (who was VERY hard to
understand).  VP8NO called in, but that was about it.  I took a few 15 minute
breaks, worked a few more stations and called it quits @ 0016z.  

At the "halfway point", I had 1327 q's, 681 mults and about 2.2 meg in 11.9
hours of operating.  It was vastly more than I could have reasonably expected
and I was thrilled that 15 was alive and well with such a low sunspot number.

I knew that on Sunday, I would have to stop operating at 18z because we were
having a family gathering and Dinner and there was a lot of XYL helping to do,
so I prepeared to get up early.

Well, things were VERY DIFFERENT on Sunday!  As good as Saturday was, that's
how bad Sunday was!  While I was able to work a few EU and SA stations at
1130z, there was no run.  In fact, at 12z, 15 DIED!  I called cq for the next
45 minutes and worked about 15 staions - mostly SA/CA with a few ZS's and 5D5A.
I figured that we must have had a solar flare and I when I saw the Auroral Oval
at 7! with the BZ @ -3 (Earth's magnetic field now pointing South), I knew that
the fun was over.  In the next 2 hours I worked about 30 stations, compared to
almost 400 on Saturday!  A few US, a few SA/CA, and a few ZS. At 1445z, there
was a brief burst to "G" with exceptionally rapid QSB, but by 1455z, the band
was struggling to open to EU.  Today it was mostly weak G's and a few DL's.  A
few Northern EU stations made it into the log in the next hour, but no opening
ro Russia or Eastern EU.  By 16z it was 5C5W, A65CA and SV9CVY calling in, with
a smattering of Southern/Westerm EU and little else.  At 1634z, J28AA called in,
followed by a few ZS's, but EU was basically gone and from then on it was the
occasional US/VE caller.  I stopped at 1808z after a steady stream of new US
prefixes, and I knew that the band would stay open, but it was time to
rearrange furniture, set the table and entertain the guests.

I finished with 1598 q's 786 mults at 3.022 Meg in 17.9 hours.  I learned later
than 15 had reopened to Western/Northern EU from about 1845z - 2030z and was
also good to the West Coast.  I had missed the opening when the Auroral Oval
satellite reading had fallen from 7 back down to 3!  You could make a nice
graph of the inverse correlation between the Auroral Oval and rate.  With low
SF and marginal band openings, the Auroral Oval rules all!, and that is with
low A and K indices at this point of the cycle on 15.  With a SF of 80 and a K
of 3, I never would have heard EU at all during the weekend!  But when the Oval
showed a reading of 1 on Saturday (its lowest reading), 15 was AMAZING!  The
higher you are in latitude, the more that this is a factor, especially in New
England.

Here is the ocmparison:

Day 1  1327 q's  681 mult in 11.9 hrs  Auroral Oval =1
Day 2   271 q's  105 mult in  6.0 hrs  Auroral Oval =6-7

I had an enormous amount of fun in this WPXSSB and it was great to say hello to
so many old friends!  It is wonderful to see how much activity there is in this
contest compared to 35 years ago when I first operated in WPXSSB!

Thanks for all the qso's and mults!  CU in the next one.

73
Bob KQ2M

kq2m at earthlink.net

www.rlsfinancialgroup.com


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