[3830] ARRLDX CW N4KG/4 SOAB(A) HP

webform at b41h.net webform at b41h.net
Wed Mar 3 19:12:19 PST 2010


                    ARRL DX Contest, CW

Call: N4KG/4
Operator(s): N4KG +PACKET
Station: N4KG

Class: SOAB(A) HP
QTH: ALA
Operating Time (hrs): 35

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
  160:   80    51
   80:  189    67
   40:  232    79
   20:  556    96
   15:  416    86
   10:   56    22
-------------------
Total: 1529   401  Total Score = 1,839,386

Club: Alabama Contest Group

Comments:

N4KG score with corrected 160M Muliplier (51 instead of erroneously typed 15)
plus contest summary / observations / statistics.
==========

WOW !  What an amazing combination of Good Low and High Band Propagation!

15 Meters appears to have opened to Europe at Local Sunrise and closed shortly
after the Sun Set across Europe with good rates until 1700Z or so.  Reports on
the 3830 website indicate that ALL of Europe was able to work ALL of the USA
and Canada on 15M.

It was refreshing to find 10 Meters open to the Caribbean and Central America
along with the usual opening to South America at 1800Z.  The short-range
openings on Sunday were not as good as Saturday.  6Y1LZ was heard weakly via
Backscatter and ZF2AM was not audible here in Alabama.

I found 40 Meters Wide Open to Europe 2 hours before my Sunset, behaving more
like 20 during higher sunspot levels.  My 40M contact and multiplier totals
were compromised by devoting several hours on end to the outstanding conditions
on 80 and 160M.  Signals from Europe on 160M didn’t seem very strong but they
were hearing well, most likely due to NO thunderstorms in EU, and I was Busting
Pileups to EU which is NOT a regular occurrence on 160M from Alabama.  The only
Single Operators I found with more than my 51 multipliers on 160M -K1ZZ, K3WW,
NN3W- were all using a Second Radio versus my Single Radio.  

Long Ago, I realized I could never compete with the High Contact Totals
achievable from the East Coast, but I could compile a Good Multiplier.  As a
Long Time All Band Dx’er I enjoy hunting Multipliers and typically operate
SOAB Assisted in Search and Pounce mode, especially when the Sunspots are Low. 


After the first 24 hours with only 4 Hours OFF (0830-1230Z) my totals were 789
contacts and 320 multipliers.  Sunday morning while tuning across 20M, I heard
a UA2 call someone near 14080.  I moved up 2 and started CQ’ing in hopes he
would call me.  No such luck but one hour and 110 contacts later, I decided I
needed to check 15 Meters.  After tuning through the band I heard another
multiplier call someone and found myself CQing well above 21100 with a steady
stream of callers producing a 114 clock-hour.  Alternating between 15 and 20
meters seemed to work well at this level of sunspot activity.

The last 3 or 4 hours of the contest can be an interesting and productive time
to chase multipliers from 10 through 80 meters.  I found CX7T, ZM1A, ZL1ALZ on
10M after 20Z, TX4T at 2231Z, several new Europeans on 40, and several new
JA’s on 15, followed by 5W0OU who graciously moved to 20M for me for
multiplier #399.  TO4D on Guadeloupe made #400.  After seeing EA9EU spotted on
80M I quickly QSY’d there for my last multiplier and several new Europeans,
including my 3rd band with F5MUX/QRP.

My plan called for 3 hours sleep Friday Night (actually the 3 hours before
sunrise Saturday) and 6 hours Saturday, with a nap/rest period sometime after
Noon Sunday.  In actuality, I ended up getting only 2 hours sleep the first
night as it took me an hour to ‘calm down’ enough to get to sleep. 
Saturday Night was just ‘too good to leave 160M’.  I did end up with 4
hours sleep, awaking just before Sunrise Sunday morning, in time to pick up
JA3YBK on 160M, several JA’s plus TX4T, UA0DC, and 5W0OU on 80M, along with
several more JA’s and Caribbean stations on 40M before going to 20.  My
afternoon nap turned into a 30 minute walk with my dog to stretch my legs and
get some fresh air and sunshine.
 
This was a FUN Contest and I was pleased with how productive my Band Plan
worked out, even if it required short-changing the Outstanding Conditions on
40M.  What Can I Say, I Love the Low Bands!  

As a Single Operator, it is just impossible to be everywhere at all times.  The
Best one can do is skim the cream of the top and hope you don’t miss any major
openings.  I believe this is my Best Ever Multiplier as a Single Operator in the
ARRL CW DX Contest and second best total score, surpassed only by year 2000 when
10M was wide open to Europe.

Station:  
Icom 746 w/cascaded 500 Hz filters, VBW + Audio Peak Filters
B&W PT2500 Amplifier (pr. 3-500Z) at 1000 to 1200W output
Antennas:
160M Inverted L – East, Elevated GP – NW, Common Reflector
80/40 = 140 ft Dipole between 130 ft towers NE/SW
80/40 = 100 ft Dipole with ends at 90 ft SE/NW  
20/15/10 = TH7 at 40 ft + Dipole

ALL of my MonoBanders are broken or damaged, 
primarily due to 30 years of tree growth.
Beverages were NOT used or needed. 

Tom  N4KG  in North Alabama
---------------------------

Cabrillo Statistics      (Version 06g)         by K5KA

 -------------- Q S O   R a t e   S u m m a r y ---------------------
Hour     160     80     40     20     15     10    Rate Total    Pct
--------------------------------------------------------------------
0000       0      0      0     30      0      0     30     30    1.9
0100       0      0     64      3      0      0     67     97    4.3
0200       0      0     39      2      0      0     41    138    2.6
0300       0     41      0      0      0      0     41    179    2.6
0400      21     10      0      0      0      0     31    210    2.0
0500       0     45      0      0      0      0     45    255    2.9
0600       9     10      1      0      0      0     20    275    1.3
0700       2      0     33      0      0      0     35    310    2.3
0800       2      5      1      0      0      0      8    318    0.5
0900       0      0      0      0      0      0      0    318    0.0
1000       0      0      0      0      0      0      0    318    0.0
1100       0      0      0      0      0      0      0    318    0.0
1200       1      4     10      0      0      0     15    333    1.0
1300       0      0      4     58     20      0     82    415    5.3
1400       0      0      0      0     69      0     69    484    4.4
1500       0      0      0     42      5      0     47    531    3.0
1600       0      0      0     12     33      0     45    576    2.9
1700       0      0      0      0     23      9     32    608    2.1
1800       0      0      0      0      0     32     32    640    2.1
1900       0      0      0     43      0      0     43    683    2.8
2000       0      0      0     13     11      6     30    713    1.9
2100       0      0      0      0     16      1     17    730    1.1
2200       0      0      0     15      0      0     15    745    1.0
2300       0      0     37      4      3      0     44    789    2.8
0000       0      0      0     14      0      0     14    803    0.9
0100       0     16      5      6      0      0     27    830    1.7
0200       9     18      0      0      0      0     27    857    1.7
0300      18      0      0      0      0      0     18    875    1.2
0400       7     18      0      0      0      0     25    900    1.6
0500       3      3      3      0      0      0      9    909    0.6
0600       7      0      0      0      0      0      7    916    0.5
0700       0      0      0      0      0      0      0    916    0.0
0800       0      0      0      0      0      0      0    916    0.0
0900       0      0      0      0      0      0      0    916    0.0
1000       0      0      0      0      0      0      0    916    0.0
1100       0      0      0      0      0      0      0    916    0.0
1200       1      7      8     12      0      0     28    944    1.8
1300       0      0      0     27     27      0     54    998    3.5
1400       0      0      0     32     24      0     56   1054    3.6
1500       0      0      0    110      0      0    110   1164    7.1
1600       0      0      0      7    107      0    114   1278    7.3
1700       0      0      0     34     35      4     73   1351    4.7
1800       0      0      0     77      0      0     77   1428    5.0
1900       0      0      0      1      0      0      1   1429    0.1
2000       0      0      0      0     13      3     16   1445    1.0
2100       0      0     11     12      0      0     23   1468    1.5
2200       0      0     16      0     13      1     30   1498    1.9
2300       0     12      0      3     17      0     32   1530    2.1
------------------------------------------------------
Total     80    189    232    557    416     56   1530

Gross QSO's=1553        Dupes=23        Net QSO's=1530

Unique callsigns worked = 1030

The best 60 minute rate was 125/hour from 1609 to 1708
The best 30 minute rate was 146/hour from 1610 to 1639
The best 10 minute rate was 168/hour from 1621 to 1630

The best 1 minute rates were:
 4 QSO's/minute    5 times.
 3 QSO's/minute   60 times.
 2 QSO's/minute  243 times.
 1 QSO's/minute  844 times.

There were 53 bandchanges and 2 (0.1%) probable 2nd radio QSO's.

Number of letters in callsigns
Letters  # worked
-----------------
   3         8
   4       441
   5       633
   6       422
   7        14
   8         8
   9         3
  11         1


Multi-band QSO's
----------------
1 bands     783
2 bands     122
3 bands      51
4 bands      32
5 bands      30
6 bands      12

The following stations were worked on 6 bands:

J38XX       8P3A        V31RR       P49V        P40L        PJ2T        
KP2M        KH6LC       YN2WW       PJ4X        KL7RA       TX4T/FO     


----- S i n g l e   B a n d   Q S O ' s  -----
Band    160     80     40     20     15     10
----------------------------------------------
QSOs     27     70     93    348    219     26


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