[3830] CQWW CW W6QU(W8QZA) SOAB QRP

[webform at b41h.net]

                    CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW

Call: W6QU
Operator(s): W8QZA
Station: W8QZA

Class: SOAB QRP
QTH: San Diego, CA
Operating Time (hrs): 36

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Zones  Countries
------------------------------
  160:    4     4        3
   80:   13     7        6
   40:   72    18       27
   20:  118    23       47
   15:  139    25       57
   10:  236    28       68
------------------------------
Total:  582   105      208  Total Score = 495,792

Club: Southern California Contest Club

Comments:

Rig: Elecraft K-2, 5 Watts

Antennas:

10-15-20:  3 el SteppIR up 32 feet
40-80:     HF-2V Butternut Vertical
160:       Inverted L squished onto my small lot

Well conditions were excellent. There were times when it seemed like I was
running a 100 watt rig. I actually worked into Europe on 15 Meters about 10
minutes before sunrise on Sunday morning.

I have always thought about working 100 countries in a single 48 hour weekend
from my modest QRP station as a sort of impossible goal. Once, about ten years
ago during the last cycle, I got 91 countries in a contest. There were some
contests near the bottom where I had 35 or 40!

But this contest I got to 98. That was close! On the zone side, I only had 32
zones, and never even heard zone 2! Interestingly, I worked more zone 1
stations in this contest than I did in all contests last year put together!

I think I have finally figured out an antenna for 160. It got me a couple of
country and zone mults I usually never get. KH6LC heard my feeble 160 M signal
and gave me my first 6 band sweep for a station ever! The inverted L comes off
a 55 foot telescoping Spider beam fiberglass pole and goes into the back yard
and around the corner of the house! 

All antennas and the rig worked great. However, several hours into the contest
my laptop running N1MM locked up. I had visions of losing everything. But after
turning it off and rebooting, everything worked well for the rest of the
contest.

My most amazing Q was with A71EM late Friday night on 20 when that band would
usually be dead here! I have had only one Q with A7 over the last 20 years.
Another good one was VK6LW on the long path on Saturday afternoon for zone 29
on 20 meters. 

Finally, I realized that I still needed an XE for the double mult on 15 meters.
With only 5 minutes left in the contest I decided to take a very long shot and
go to 15 with the beam SW and see if I could get one. I also decided to start
at the bottom of the band. Incredibly, I came across XE1IM CQing with a strong
sig and he came right back to me with about 60 seconds left on the atomic
clock!

So it was a contest for the ages. I think I had 40 or 50 Qs that I would have
reported as outstanding QRP contest Qs just two or three years ago. 9M6, D2,
GU, ZK2, C5, ZS, VK6, etc etc. But sun spots make a difference!

So let the good times roll....!

73,  Bill Parker   W8QZA / W6QU


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