[3830] CQWW CW ND0C SOAB QRP

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                    CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW

Call: ND0C
Operator(s): ND0C
Station: ND0C

Class: SOAB QRP
QTH: Minnesota
Operating Time (hrs): 24.75

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Zones  Countries
------------------------------
  160:    3     2        2
   80:   26     8        9
   40:   55    13       27
   20:   97    21       48
   15:  155    23       52
   10:  192    25       68
------------------------------
Total:  528    92      206  Total Score = 424,948

Club: Minnesota Wireless Association

Comments:

I had originally planned to just play a little in the CW CQ WW - a few hours
during night-time hours.  But since my plans to operate in the ARRL 10 meter
Contest next month have had to be changed due to other "stuff", I decided I'd
spend more time contesting this weekend.  I still set aside plenty of time to
be a semi-normal dad/husband, go to church, go out to eat, etc.  - Hopefully a
reasonable compromise all the way around!  But wow, this was fun and it would
have been a blast to spend more time in the chair. 

I had hoped to get into Europe on 80, but it was just too noisy/congested.  But
I was pleased with the results on 40 - primarily on Friday night/Saturday
morning, since I slept most of Saturday night.  The low band numbers aren't
very impressive, but hey! - I'm running QRP from the Black Hole with fairly
mediocre antennas!  This was 100% S&P and it was challenging at times to know
which band to be on, and whether to work for rates or hunt multipliers.   

I'm not a great CW operator, so I am really amazed at the skills of so many of
you.  - Very impressive!  As always, thanks for listening to "the weak signal"
and pulling me through the QRM.  

I was thrilled to stumble on to 9M8/AI6V on 15 meters with just 10 minutes to
go on Sunday afternoon.  He was a little light at first, but fortunately few
were calling.  He was obviously not hearing me, but the band was improving by
the minute.  He started getting fragments of my call and hung with me and
finally we made a QSO at 2359Z!  Awesome!  A double mult in the last minute! 

I never did hear a Zone 2 station and CEs and XEs were hard to find on some
bands.  Weird.  I missed some good mults that I just couldn't break thru to. 
When I come across a huge packet "spot" induced pile-up, I may give a couple
calls with my puny 5 watts, then just check back later when the hordes have
moved on.  Not only do I always run unassisted in contests - it would actually
be counter-productive to use spots.  I have to find the rare ones before they
are spotted - or after the pile has been worked down.  

The ND0C super-station:
   Yaesu FT-897D running 5 watts out
   Wilson 3 element tribander Yagi at 15 meters and dipole at 14 meters 

73,
Randy, ND0C 

"You don't have to be crazy to contest with QRP ... but it helps"


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