[3830] NAQP CW VA7ST Single Op LP

Sun Jan 10 07:52:42 PST 2010

                    North American QSO Party, CW - January

Call: VA7ST
Operator(s): VA7ST
Station: VA7ST

Class: Single Op LP
QTH: BC
Operating Time (hrs): 10

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
  160:   19    12
   80:  178    42
   40:  200    46
   20:  269    47
   15:   69    17
   10:           
-------------------
Total:  735   164  Total Score = 120,540

Club: British Columbia DX Club

Team: 

Comments:

2010: Flux: 77 | Ap: 0 | Kp: 1 (SFI jumped to 82 in the evening)
2009: Flux: 71 | Ap: 2 | Kp: 0
2008: Flux: 76 | Ap: 4 | Kp: 2

SO1R Gear:
* FT-2000 + N1MM Logger
* SteppIR 3-element at 40'
* 40M SteppIR dipole at 40'
* 80M phased verticals
* Inv-L 160M (80' high, 55' horizontal)

Short version: 20M and 40M were great. Everything else wasn't. 2006 was better
for me, but this was my second-best ever and would have been tops if 80M and
160M hadn't been so crappy all night.

Took all my off-time in a single 2-hour break from 1 to 3 p.m. Pacific
(2100-2300z) and I think it was the right thing. By 2100z 15M was a ghost town,
and 20M was already going a bit pear-shaped. By 2300z 40M was actually quite
workable even from this far west with the low dipole.

15M: Flux was around 77 when the contest opened and had been low for several
days; there was a sharp rise to SFI 82 later in the day. 15M was not in good
shape, and that was very frustrating. As usual with low flux, the band was
mostly a W4-fest here, and only 16 states worked. (Other than W4 and W5, the
only states worked were NY, MI, OH, IL, and IN... prop was there, but not many
looking West, I guess).

20M: Very strong, very crowded, very fun. Started with solid running on 20M
during the first three hours. Rates were no hell after I left 20M and 40M.

Date          Hour     Total    Running Total 
2010-01-09    18       130      130 20M          
2010-01-09    19        76      206 20M       
2010-01-09    20        99      305 20M and 15M       
2010-01-09    21         1      306 Two-hour break          
2010-01-09    23        84      390 20M and 40M          
2010-01-10    00       116      506 40M    
2010-01-10    01        61      567 80M           
2010-01-10    02        51      618 80M          
2010-01-10    03        31      649 80M and 160M, big noise          
2010-01-10    04        58      707 80M
2010-01-10    05        28      735 80M and 160M, slow!          

40M: Started out strong at 2300z and kept going until 0110z when I went to 80M
for my first foray there. Returned to 40M for 15 minutes at 0200z and found
some nice extra mults (HI, NV and XE) before heading to the lower bands for the
rest of the night.

I thought the twin half-squares (which I used all of last year) made a killer
40M antenna, but the low dipole I used this year blew away everything I've used
before. Either the band was super-duper this year, or the SteppIR dipole at a
measley 40' is just right for this contest.

40M improvement:
* 200 for 46 mults in 2010 with SteppIR dipole at 40'
* 120 for 33 mults in 2009 with twin phased half-squares
* 112 for 30 mults in 2008 with E-W and N-S half-squares
* 137 for 34 mults in 2007 with 18AVQ/WB vertical and phased delta loops East
*  91 for 31 mults in 2006 with twin delta loops to East

80M: Started out all right, but something happened at 0311z just after VE4EAR
and VE9HF called in -- noise shot up and stayed high all night. Came on like a
knife-switch was thrown, and was very broadband but not powerline noise. Even
the Beverage was virtually useless though it had been great until 0311z. Ruined
my night, let me tell you. 

The band never did feel very strong, and at times there was pronounced fading
-- signals going from S9 down into the mud over a few seconds and it was
interesting to hear a station rise up from nothing just as the name and state
were sent, or the reverse. Perhaps due to less time on 160M, I managed to get
more 80M Qs than ever before, and just 1 mult shy of my best-ever, though until
the final hour I doubted I would get 40 mults this year.

80M improvement:
* 178 for 42 mults in 2010 with phased elevated verticals
* 150 for 44 mults in 2009 with phased elevated verticals
*  76 for 27 mults in 2008 with a full-size delta loop
* 143 for 43 mults in 2007 with 80M inverted-V at 60'
* 146 for 39 mults in 2006 with twin delta loops to East

160M: Noisy, noisy, noisy. Very few strong signals, most were barely audible in
the noise. Oddly, even the barely audible signals were actually pretty good copy
(classic case of if I could hear 'em, I was usually able to work 'em, because
nobody had a worse antenna or more noise than me). 

A few weeks ago I rolled out about a dozen 50' radials on the lawn for the
Inverted-L, hoping that would improve this dog of an antenna. Maybe it helped,
but sure doesn't seem like it. Must address this glaring gap in antenna
proficiency, as 12 mults does not feel very good. Far too much left on the
topband table.

2010: 19 Qs 12 mults -- Inv.-L with 12 radials, three 100 footers
2009: 56 Qs 27 mults -- Inv.-L with just a chainlink fence
2008: 48 Qs 15 mults -- Inv.-L with handful of random radials

Canadian contesters must have been snowed under. Couple of BCs but no AB heard,
two SKs, just one MB (VE4EAR), ON and QC were quite active, a couple of NBs
(thanks!) but no PEI, NS or NLs heard. 

Year  Qs   Mults  Score January NAQP CW
========================
2010: 735  164   120,540
2009: 687  171   117,477
2008: 646  149    96,254
2007: 587  143    83,941
2006: 737  172   126,764
2005: --    --        --
2004: 206   62    12,772
2003: 412  147    60,564

Discovered after the start that http://www.getscores.org was active, so fired
up N1MM's score reporting. For some reason, my score posts dropped out often.
Perhaps this will be ironed out with Getscores 2.0 coming in February. Sure
adds to the fun to horserace with fellows in the same category. 

Thanks for the Qs everyone. Next year, let's add 10M. 

-- Bud VA7ST
http://www3.telus.net/va7st

Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/