[3830] CQWW CW PZ5T(VE3DZ) SOAB HP

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                    CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW

Call: PZ5T
Operator(s): VE3DZ
Station: PZ5T

Class: SOAB HP
QTH: Paramaribo, Suriname
Operating Time (hrs): 46.5
Radios: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Zones  Countries
------------------------------
  160:  143    16       33
   80:  877    25       84
   40: 1463    31      103
   20: 1892    36      120
   15: 1735    36      119
   10:  575    24       81
------------------------------
Total: 6685   168      540  Total Score = 13,936,980

Club: Contest Club Ontario

Comments:

Arrived in Paramaribo early Tuesday morning after long flight
Toronto-Miami-Aruba-Paramaribo.
Did a station setup, found a noise on 17-15-12-10 m. Luckily, noise blanker on
K3 managed to almost eliminate it, on a cost of some sensitivty...
Everything was working pretty good, except 160 reception was far from perfect,
so with the help of Ramon I put some kind of the "Beverage On the Ground", but
it did not help at all. Felt like you simply connected your 
front end to the ground. :-)
Lost few hours with N1MM So2R setup on Friday morning, but luckily Nick NA3M
and Steve N2IC helped in time, so I couldn't even get upset too much.
Had complete SO2R ready by local lunch time, subject to some antenna
limitation, with one set ob band pass filters on the 2nd radio.
Even managed to sit down and think about strategy a bit, which usually never
happens to me on Friday, because I'm busy with setting everyhting up and fixing
antennas. I knew that pile-ups should be enormous, so I decided to 
concentrate on two things:
- focus on the main radio and get as much as possible out of it;
- try to stay all 48 hours thus maximizing operating time.
I decided to use 2nd radio only for moving multipliers and in slow rate times
to search for new multipliers, so it would not slow me downt higher rate. 
I took 2 pills on Friday morning, hoping to have a short nap before the start,
which is at 9 P.M. local time, but of course I couldn't really sleep and those
pills probably caused the fatigue and loss of concentartion on the 2nd
night...
I set myself a goal of 7000 Q's and 11 M points. 2 years ago from this very
location I was # 4 in the World, so I humbly hoped to imrove this standing too.
:-)
After the contest ended, I was a bit short on QSO number, but the multiplier
total was way over my expectations. 
And all this due to moving multipliers! I realize I was the needed one for
everybody, but still... 
Thanks to all who moved, too many to mention here.

High point: my personal best in CQ WW DX CW score ever. This is probably as
close as I can get to the top score with tough competition from the guys like
CR3E, V47NT, 8P5A, 4L0A, P40W and others... The pile-ups were really enormous 
(this is also a low-point). Nothing broke and I never lost power during the
weekend. Noise was almost inaudible, thanks to the NB of K3. PRO67A performed
as a real killer and I always felt strong, even on 40 m. Conditions were 
great on all bands, 15 sounded like in good old times and I even had few good
runs on 10.

Low point: I couldn't stay awake all 48 hours. Started to lose concentration on
the 2nd night while on 80... Found myself falling asleep several times after
sending an exchange... Also sometimes when receiving a call I was having
hard time deciding what to do next...Took cold shower few times, did
stretching, nothing helped. Finally had to sit down on a bed and just relax
(almost like in coma) for about 45 minutes, that helped a bit so I could
continue. Overall, I lost about an hour of operating time which cost me
probably close to a million points. :-) 
Pile-ups: sometimes very annoying. I don't know when and why it happens but it
seems like some Europeans lost the ability to listen. If you happen to send
IK5? then the choir of callers never became weaker. So, I ended up
just listening extra seconds to get a guy's complete call without asking for
repeat. It was pretty hot in the shack even with A/C running in the background.
Because of that I had to hydrate more, so I needed more health breaks than I
planned.
Did not pay enough attention to 160 m this time. Moved there too late for most
Europeans. As a result, missed many easy mults. Also, havind enabled the N1MM
feature "QSYing wipes out the call...", I realized by the end of the 
contest that when trying to move some guys I in fact did not log a previous QSO
with them, so I probably not only lost few valuable multipliers, but also will
get those guys penalized for "not in LOG" with me... I am so sorry.

Another thing. I am reading now a lot of complaints about not ID'ing. I need to
confess that I was the one who sometimes did send only TU after the QSO, not the
call. Sorry if I offended some of you that way. 
My strong opinion is it's Okay to send it once in 3-4 QSOs if you are a DX,
especially if you QRQ on 40 WPM. If you operate from a rare place (which I was
doing), you already have usually at least 2 or 3  dozens of stations 
calling you, but sending call after each QSO would not just sloe down your
rate, but also would bring more and more people into the pile-up, which you
sometimes really DO NOT want. Imagine, if you are the guy trying to work 
a DX, and there were just few others calling him, but all of a sudden the
pile-up increased to few dozens... 
Your chances dropped. This is more related to being spotted on the cluster, but
still. Of course, if are not ID'ing for 5 minutes, then this is not good and
unfair.

Another thing - those guys who just jump on your FREQ and start calling
non-stop without even listening. They don't even hear when you answer them. I
don't know what happens to people these days...

Had a couple of frequency fights, but not too tough - usually the opposite side
ended up working me for a new mult. 
:-)

Anyway, I would like to thank Ramon, PZ5RA and his XYL Ernestine for their
great hospitality and help. Ramon is a great host. Also big thanks to my good
friend and usual "life saver" Paul, VE3TA.
Thanks to all moved for me and helped to achieve this high score.

My set-up:

K3 + ACOM2000A (@ 1kW), IC746 + TL922 (@500 watts), Dell laptop with a pair of
RigExpert USB interfaces, N1MM Logger.

Antennas:
160 - Alpha Delta half sloper with apex at 40'
80 - Dipole with apex at 35'
40 - PRO67A at 40'
20 - PRO67A at 40'and 10 el. Log Periodic (30-10 m) at 40'
15 - PRO67A at 40'and 10 el. Log Periodic (30-10 m) at 40'
10 - PRO67A at 40'and 10 el. Log Periodic (30-10 m) at 40'

Full story and photos to follow.

73  de  Yuri  VE3DZ


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