[3830] ARRLDX CW N2IC SOAB HP

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                    ARRL DX Contest, CW

Call: N2IC
Operator(s): N2IC
Station: N2IC

Class: SOAB HP
QTH: New Mexico
Operating Time (hrs): 44
Radios: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
  160:   62    36
   80:  195    56
   40: 1023    90
   20: 1109   108
   15: 1358   104
   10:   73    28
-------------------
Total: 3820   422  Total Score = 4,836,120

Club: 

Comments:

Wow ! What a weekend !

I have been monitoring the improvement in 15 meter conditions over the past few
weeks, but I never expected it to be that good, and have the low bands continue
to play as well as they did at the bottom of the sunspot cycle.

160: I made my first check on 160 at 04Z. It was quite good to Europe, but
unfortunately, I was late to the party, and the band mostly fizzled closer to
Europe sunrise. A pretty fair JA run during the 10Z hour. Thanks to the great
high band condx, never got a chance to check the band at our sunrise. With
local thunderstorms, the band was nearly a complete washout on Saturday night.

80: Worked most of the big gun EU stations Friday night, but the opening was
never good enough to try running EU from here. I think condx to EU might have
been better on Saturday night, but, just like on 160, the local thunderstorms
spoiled what could have been a good opening. Good JA condx both nights.

40: The nighttime workhorse. Great condx to EU and JA both nights, often at the
same time. I think it is underappreciated that sunspots help 40 meters, by
keeping the nighttime MUF higher. 

20: The surprise band. Usually when 15 and/or 10 meters are good, 20 meters
suffers from very high daytime absorption here in the SW USA, making it
impossible to run EU. Not so this year. The band was runnable an hour before
local sunrise, and again after I returned from 15 meters around 17Z. Some
interesting over-the-pole DX called in that I haven't heard in years - VU, 8Q7.
Worked two Saudi Arabia stations - that is a first !

15: Exceptional. Even better than it had been during the previous week leading
up to the contest. Both mornings generated huge EU pileups, even before local
sunrise. The EU opening extended all the way to UA6, and the JA opening lasted
until nearly 02Z. Not bad for a single 5-element monobander on a 30 foot tower
(yeah, on top of a mountain).

10: Not as good as it was Thursday AM, when I worked several Europeans.
However, it kept me focused on 15 meters, instead of being a distraction. V51YJ
and ZS1EL had good signals both mornings, and worked a few JA's. 

One side comment to the DX side: When you click on a packet spot, and hear a
large pileup, it would be better if you did NOT perfectly zero beat everyone
else. When everyone clicks on the spot, all the radios jump to exactly the same
frequency. On the receive side, it's like listening to a carrier ! Moving just
+-100 Hz would be a great help ! Any farther, and you will be out of my
bandpass, and QRMing the station on the next channel.

All-in-all, a weekend I will remember for a long time. A fine start to solar
cycle 24 ! Many thanks for all the QSO's ! A special thank you to those DX
stations who were willing to QSY to other bands for a needed multiplier.

73,
Steve, N2IC


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