[3830] WPX CW WC1M SOAB HP

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                    CQWW WPX Contest, CW

Call: WC1M
Operator(s): WC1M
Station: WC1M

Class: SOAB HP
QTH: NH
Operating Time (hrs): 35.83
Radios: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
  160:    1
   80:   47
   40:  982
   20: 1246
   15:  115
   10:   26
------------
Total: 2417  Prefixes = 923  Total Score = 6,968,650

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club

Comments:

Last year I wrote, "That was painful…" This year, not so much.

Conditions were challenging, but on the whole they weren't as bad as last year.
Actually, for most of the first day I thought this year's contest was going to
be very similar to last year's event, and even considered quitting early
instead of reliving last year's 2-day slog. But having done a serious effort in
10 of the last 11 WPX CW contests, I just couldn't bring myself to hang it up.
Glad I stuck with it, because conditions improved on Sunday.

We had a series of thunderstorms pass near our region during the first hour,
and the crashes lowered my rate somewhat. But that was gone by the second hour
and the rate took off. Like last year, I had a very good start on 40, with six
straight hours in the 90-100+ range. In fact, I was well ahead of last year in
Qs and mults when I took my first break at 0630z. Knowing that conditions were
going to be disturbed, I gambled that 20 wouldn't open to Europe very early and
slept until 1100z. 

20 wasn't open when I sat down at the radio Saturday morning, and it stayed
that way most of the morning. The K index was 6, which is very high. Although
the A index didn't get updated until later, it was about 36. Not good. The band
sounded exactly like I did last year, when 20 really didn't open at all in the
morning. The geomagnetic forecast was "Active" for Saturday and "Moderate" for
Sunday, so after about 90 minutes of bleating futile CQs, I decided to take
more off time and hope for better conditions in the afternoon and on Sunday. 

When I got back to the radio, 20 was still pretty sketchy, and remained so the
rest of Saturday morning and into the afternoon. 15 was open but weak to the
south and west, and no EU. Conditions started to improve by late afternoon
Saturday, and I was finally able to run EU on 20 at sort of decent rate.  By
the end of the first day my Continent report was showing about 47% USA and 47%
Europe. Normally, the ratio is about 35% USA and 55% EU. 

The geomagnetic field continued to be unsettled, but gradually improved from
Saturday. Rates on 40 were OK overnight, and thanks to the good start I
finished the contest with 982 Qs on 40, which is reasonable. 20 picked up on
Sunday as well, with JAs and a few Asiatic Russians coming in over the pole in
the morning and late afternoon. No deep Asia, though. 15 was fairly slow in the
morning, but picked up as the day wore on. At the end of the afternoon, we had a
short opening to EU on 15, which was fun. S&P only -- not possible to run. 10
opened up a bit as well, though only to the south. All in all, things got
hopping on Sunday, and somehow I made up for the EU QSOs I lost on Sunday. I
ended up with a more normal ratio of 37% USA and 57% EU, which definitely
helped the QSO points. 

Congrats to Krassy for a fine score. With AK1W only part time this year, I'm
expecting it may be a battle for first place in SOAB HP between our local
Bulgarians, K1LZ and KC3R(LZ4AX). I heard Alex and Krassy everywhere I went,
and they were always ahead of me.

I'm fairly happy with my score, despite missing 7 million points by a hair. At
halftime I calculated a final score of 6.6 million, so I was happy with 6.99.
Then again, I have a feeling my UBNs are going to be awful this year. For one
thing, it's been six months since I've done a CW contest and I'm a little out
of practice. Add the thunderstorms, static crashes, weak signals and QSB, and
it doesn't look good. Even worse, my UBN performance in WPX has deteriorated.
Before the contest I put together a little spreadsheet with my scores and band
breakdowns for WPX since 2000, and one of the things that surprised me is a
jump in my UBN deductions for the past three years. I used to have a very good
error rate, but it's gone downhill. Must work on that! Very hard to do when you
can barely hear the signals.

Like AK1W, I tried dueling CQs, too. At times, the poor conditions made it a
waste of time to keep S&Ping the same band over and over on the second radio,
so dueling CQs seemed like a good option. I never got a significant rate going,
so it wasn't all that hard to do. But I'm not sure I like it. Can't imagine what
it would be like with high rate. I also tried cut number, on a whim, but that
was a short-lived experiment. Seems like I got asked for more fills that way.
Cut-number fans take note.

I love WPX CW. Participation has gotten better and better, and new prefixes
keep rolling in. Hopefully, we'll get better conditions next year, when I hope
to work each and every one of you! 

Thanks for all the Qs and being patient when I asked for fills!

73, Dick WC1M


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