[3830] CQWW CW VA7ST SOAB HP

Sun Nov 28 22:14:03 PST 2010

                    CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW

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

Class: SOAB HP
QTH: BC
Operating Time (hrs): 32

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Zones  Countries
------------------------------
  160:    6     2        2
   80:  448    18       35
   40:  263    24       47
   20:  715    28       62
   15:  289    20       34
   10:                    
------------------------------
Total: 1721    92      180  Total Score = 1,033,056

Club: Orca DX and Contest Club

Comments:

* SO1R unassisted
* FT-2000 + SB221 + N1MM Logger
* 3 ele. SteppIR at ~40'
* 1 x 40M SteppIR dipole
* 2 x 80M elevated verticals (JA or US/VE)
* 1 x 160M inverted-L
* 1 x 270' bi-directional Beverage 

2010: SFI=78  A=2  K=1, SSN=22
2009: SFI=73  A=2  K=1, no sunspots
2008: SFI=68  A=2  K=0, no sunspots

=================================================

Generally rough conditions for yet another year, except on 80M which was rather
fantastic on Friday night, returning to average on Saturday night. Best-ever
outing on 80M for this contest.

40M wasn't good at this QTH. Tried a not-yet-useful 40M 2-el quad for Europe,
but the primary rotary dipole was better over the pole and much better to the
U.S. Conditions didn't favor domestic Qs on 40, and the antennas didn't favor
DX. Managed to be heard by a few over the pole using the low dipole, but it was
very hard work even QRO.

Bottom of the "future" 40M quad's diamond loops are almost on ground... more
like flat-bottomed triangles at the moment as I ran out of time to get it
raised properly. Funny how snow arrives at the exact moment antenna season
ends.

Goal was to beat my previous best, from last year. Knew on Friday night that I
was in good shape.... 

               First Night        Second Night     
          ------------------   -------------------  
             2009       2010       2009       2010 
          -------   --------   --------   --------      
QSOs          405        520      1,200      1,150  
DXCC           46         77        120        169    
Zones          36         47         76         88   
Score      70,028    140,120    493,528    658,691   

Enjoyed Friday night and Sunday. Saturday was a grind, with a very poor 20M
opening to Europe, causing some concern about maintaining my lead over last
year. 

Sunday, the 20M EU opening was pretty good though not good enough to run
stations. After several sweeps of 20M to collect European mults, I concentrated
on domestic contacts for some rate. The final two hours provided a good run to
Asia. I just pointed at Japan and ran as many 3-pointers as I could, working
lots of Ws off the back, too.

ZS2EZ called me on 20M almost exactly when he always does: local noon. He
checked in at 12:02 p.m. (2002z). Super double-mult!

The fun is draining out of CQing, thanks to the rising popularity of All
Pounce, No Search (APNS) mode (tm). Seems a large percentage of ops have
dropped hand-on-dial work in favor of chasing spots. I sure notice it when
running these days. Unless I had been spotted in the past few minutes by one of
those actually searching, I got no callers. Then five or six, then none for long
stretches. Overall rate remains OK, but when it comes in bunches, the gaps in
activity really stand out. I prefer the slower but steady stream of pre-APNS
vs. the intermittent blast from a firehose.

Can't see the sustaining fun in auto-point-and-shoot, with no raw thrill of the
surprise find? Unassisted puts the unexpected back in the game. Hand-operated
skimmer. It's new :)

I broke through 1M points at 2327z Sunday after a virtually unbroken five-hour
470-Q run on 20M, but still finished about 55 QSOs short of last year. The big
difference from last year was an increase in countries... thanks to 80M and an
actual VE7 opening to Western Europe.

Year over year comparisons:

80M totals
       QSOs  Ctry  Zones
2010:   448    35   18   2 x elevated verticals E-W
2009:   305    13   14   2 x elevated verticals E-W
2008:   377    27   17   2 x elevated verticals E-W
2007:   325    24   13   Delta loop E-W
2006:   240    24   15   Inverted-V E-W
2005:   119    10    7   2 x delta loops E-W
2004:   216    16   11   2 x delta loops E-W

Claimed scores...

       QSOs  Ctry  Zones  Score
2010: 1,721   180   92  1,033,056 < HP 32 hrs 
2009: 1,777   158   92    950,750 < HP 31 hrs
2008: 1,580   129   71    670,600 < HP 25 hrs
2007  1,470   129   69    615,582 < HP 32 hrs
2006  1,476   163   78    775,297      35 hrs
2005  1,014   126   61    411,587
2004  1,421   146   79    697,500
2003    865   115   73    351,936
2002    675   147   63    313,740

In the noise,

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

Check out the new Orca DX and Contest Club
http://orcadxcc.org

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