[3830] ARRLDX SSB N8II SOSB/15 HP

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                    ARRL DX Contest, SSB

Call: N8II
Operator(s): N8II
Station: N8II

Class: SOSB/15 HP
QTH: WV
Operating Time (hrs): 

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
  160:           
   80:           
   40:           
   20:           
   15: 1346   106
   10:           
-------------------
Total: 1346   106  Total Score = 428,028

Club: Potomac Valley Radio Club

Comments:

I had numerous problems with the station including a broken rotator on the main
antenna, a 5 el. 105BA yagi. Thank goodness for the little force 12 pointed
south which did yeoman duty, but it did slow down the S&P a bit. Surprisingly
also, despite a perfect match, my 40M loop at 60 ft mid height hears very
poorly on 15M. The south antenna even in the wrong directions usually
outperformed it. So, there wasn't much hope of a winning score. 

There was a considerable difference in conditions on 15M between the days.
Sunday was much better (SFI in 140's!), particularly to JA. Saturday was just
average to a bit below and the auroral curtain effects were obvious. Russia was
pretty much nil except for UA6-7 and I didn't work a single OH. Just a few SM's
were worked and two LA's, OZ's were weak. The big gun JA's were S4 to S8 at the
peak of propagation, but I did manage to log a BA1 and two DU's all of which had
pretty good ears. Working the JA's was a wait in line proposition for the most
part, a W6 or W7 with 100W and a dipole could beat me out. I did manage a run
of about 6-7 JA's right as the band was closing (UA0IT and a RZ0 also called).
Finding an open JA run frequency was more than a small challenge due to no prop
to W6-7; you couldn't tell where they were. For that matter, even between the EU
and JA openings, 15 was full of signals; it was a happening place! The band was
even a bit strange to the south as J88DR was near the noise (I had to give up
and work him later when he was still weak) , and PJ4G was weak and hollow
sounding for quite a while. PJ2T was only heard once or twice Saturday. VP5H
(30 over 9) and C6ANM were not heard until Sunday.
Not having condx to northern and eastern EU left plenty of G's (quite a
turnout!), DL's, I's, EA's and F's to work. By 1815Z, my running was pretty
well done (only EA, EI, F, and I still mostly weak there) despite finally being
able to run low in the band on a pretty clear frequency. At the peak of the
opening for the guys out west, it was impossible for me to run for about an
hour. At 16Z, a check of 10M revealed only 2 EU, so I didn't switch gears to
work 10 instead; I know 10 was in pretty good shape for a while Sunday. Oh, the
joys of phone contesting, we need bigger phone bands! I knew a winning effort
was not possible and was feeling a bit tired and tired of the QRM, so I ate
lunch and walked the dog. I returned with a much better attitude and whittled
down the possible mults pretty well.

Sunday, the same pattern kept repeating itself. By 1145Z, the band was pretty
wide open yo EU, so I found the first clear spot around 21326 and started
running in spurts, then would go 2 minutes or more without a caller; around
1210Z, the rate picked up with no big change in condx. I had a perfectly clear
frequency which apparently invited others always below about 1 to 1.5 kHz to
fire up and hurt/destroy the rate. I did my best to stay in the clear, sliding
up until I was 1.5 kHz higher than where I started and finally reached the
point of futility around 1520Z with no Q's for 5 minutes. The band was really
packed all weekend, but most of the time most of the stations could be heard
fairly well. It was more of a matter of being heard thru the USA QRM.  The
Scandinavians were in early right at the start, but despite working some UA1
Russians and even southern UA3's, the band never opened to the mother lode of
Moscow area stations. The band stayed open to EU longer than decent activity
lasted Sunday, with some good signals still there past 20Z!

I had a real dearth of Africans from Saturday (couldn't break the huge pile up
on V51YJ), but actually had good luck on Sunday finding him again and being
called by a ZS, 9G1AA, TZ6TR, and 5X1NH. I also found ST2AR and 5C5W in the
afternoon for mults. 7Z1SJ called in and had good luck with the T's working 4
TF's, 4-5 TA's, and 3 TK's. Sunday evening was the best 15 has been into JA
since the last cycle. I had to QRT for dinner guests at 2245Z with the band
wide open; in about 15 minutes, two 5 watt stations and two or so 10 watt JA's
called in. If it had only been that way Saturday, over 150 JA's could have
easily been worked.

Best rates were 142/hr at 12Z, and 137 13Z Saturday and 131 at 12Z Sunday.

Thanks for all of the QSO's and your patience. Late in the EU run Sunday I also
had precip static from the rain which lasted all day and finished as a about 1
inch of snow. The overall quality of operating has improved. The stations with
poor audio and weak signals are the ones that are really difficult to copy.
Have a friend listen to your audio and fix it with enough processing to aid but
not distort your audio and your results will improve! RF feedback was also a
problem with about 10-15 stations; I always took the time to tell them they had
a problem if it was badly distorting their audio.

73, Jeff


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