[3830] ARRLDX SSB W5RU(@KN5O) M/2 HP

[webform at b41h.net]

                    ARRL DX Contest, SSB

Call: W5RU
Operator(s): KN5O K1DW N5HZ NX8G/5
Station: KN5O

Class: M/2 HP
QTH: COVINGTON, LA
Operating Time (hrs): 28

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
  160:    7     7
   80:   69    49
   40:  119    53
   20:  340    85
   15:  924   111
   10:  432    69
-------------------
Total: 1882   374  Total Score = 2,110,482

Club: Louisiana Contest Club

Comments:

Well, in a few words, "Mother nature is a B@#$H"  We knew we were in for it as
we had been watching the WX reports earlier in the week about the severe
thunderstorm breakout potential for our area over the weekend.  Normally the WX
forecasters get it all wrong - so we were hoping.

Well, starting from the beginning of the contest until late Saturday evening,
the thunderstorms "trained" over our area.  Basically it took us off the air
for many hours due to cloud-to-ground lightning, and when we tried to operate,
the static crashes made the low bands useless.  The beverages didn't help
either. I tried to run the night shift solo, but listening to the QRN just
drove me to turning the radio off and going to bed on both nights. Guess I'm a
fair-wx contester. So our 160/80/40 totals are pretty sad.  But I guess we've
been lucky for the 3 years we have been doing this.  This was the first time we
were severely affected by WX.

Compound the above with with only getting relief ops during the day Saturday
and they were idle for hours because of the WX.  Additionally someone wasn't
paying attention to the band change rule counter in N1MM and violated that -
now we were forced into M2 instead of our planned M/S operation.  

But there was some good news.. 15M and 10M really helped a lot on Sunday.  I
had almost a three hour run on 10M averaging 120/hr. It was phenomenal.. So
much so, I spent more time there than on 20M.  During that same time period, 
K1DW had a terrific multi-hour run on 15M.  

I would, though, like to ECHO many of you who posted about the ID'ing
situtation.  DX-stations, it would be helpful for you to ID frequently.  To
quote another comment, "QRZ is not an ID."  When tuning the band for additional
stations, I'm not going to sit there a long time and wait for you to ID.  I'm
gone.  And in many cases, you may need me as a mult because I'm from a small
state. Those that ID more often seem to generate longer and larger pileups.
Plus either accidentally, or maybe even intentionally, for those that rely on
the cluster, many of the cluster spots are wrong and it seemed paticularly bad
this time around.

Also, I agree with with another comment that was posted.. Arguing about dupes. 
Why argue?  It is just faster to work one another and let the software handle it
in the end.  Just work me and move on...

Thanks to all that particpiated as you make the contest.  See ya'll later this
year in October for CQWW Phone.

Ted, KN5O

W5RU
DeltaDX Association

- Ted, KN5O
- Dallas, K1DW
- Jim, N5HZ
- Rex, NX8G/5


Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/