[3830] CQWW CW K4XD SOSB(A)/80 HP

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                    CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW

Call: K4XD
Operator(s): K4XD
Station: K4XD

Class: SOSB(A)/80 HP
QTH: NC
Operating Time (hrs): 16

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Zones  Countries
------------------------------
  160:                    
   80:  467    24       97
   40:                    
   20:                    
   15:    1     1        1
   10:    1     1        1
------------------------------
Total:  467    24       97  Total Score = 156,211

Club: Potomac Valley Radio Club

Comments:

I enjoy doing the CQWW on 80M since I can put in a semi-serious effort (given
the limits of my little pistol station) during the hours of darkness and still
enjoy the weekend.  I can also put in 16 to 20 hours of BIC and still feel
human at work on Monday.  

Conditions here were excellent.  I easily doubled my best previous 80M score in
CQWW CW.  At times 80M sounded more like 20M.  

The RBN changes everything.  The constant flow of spots kept me busy S&P'ing
for most of the first night.  I tried running but my rate dropped; I did manage
to pick up a Q every couple of minutes, but I was doing more like 45 Q/hr with
S&P so usually went back to that after a bit.

80M seems to be the most one-sided band for me.  I'm a reverse alligator - I
can hear guys than hear me.  EU stations start popping up an hour before
sunset, but I guess the absorption on my signal, even with 1KW, is killing it
before it gets halfway across the pond at that hour.  Every few stations will
yield a QSO, usually following the predictable pattern of Northern EU first,
but every once in a while the early Q's will be with middle EU.  Then I get a
bit of grayline enhancement until about 30 minutes after sunset, followed by
crummy conditions for several hours.  Usually around 0330 things start to open
up, and by 0430 I am getting answers on my first call with no requests for
fills.  

Then the sun starts coming up in Eastern EU, and things start slowly declining
again until 0700 or so.  

Which is a fine time to go catch some Z's and hopefully wake up before dawn to
see if I can add any Pacific stations to the log.

ZL8X cooperated this time, as well as a couple of the stations on Guam.  JA was
tough, but I managed to get the mult.  

Every time I CQ'd, night or morning, it seemed slow and like a waste of time,
and then a great mult would call in.   TG and YS made it into the log that way.
 

I finished the first night with a Q total ahead of my contest total for my last
80M SOSB effort, from 2008.  Saturday night was also good, and I doubled my
total before hitting the sack, a bit earlier than Friday night.  I managed to
get up Sunday morning in time to do some CQ'ing before dawn, and then put in
2.5 hours Sunday evening to wrap things up.  

>From the early reports on 3830, sounds like most people enjoyed the conditions
as much as I did.  

Time to get some sleep, ARRL 160 is next!

73,
Rowland K4XD


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