[3830] WPX SSB OG6N(OH6NIO) SO(A)SB15 HP

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                    CQWW WPX Contest, SSB

Call: OG6N
Operator(s): OH6NIO
Station: OG6N

Class: SO(A)SB15 HP
QTH: Mieto
Operating Time (hrs): 

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
  160:     
   80:     
   40:     
   20:     
   15: 1579
   10:     
------------
Total: 1579  Prefixes = 857  Total Score = 2,983,217

Club: Contest Club Finland

Comments:

FT-1000MP + 800W
5/5el yagis + 5el fixed yagi to JA @ 21m

Busy and long week at work took its toll and I did not have any time for
contest preparations. My aching right shoulder (rotator cuff inflammation) that
has prevented me any real so2r operating for half a year was still a bit sore so
I thought that 15m single band would be the logical choice for the WPX weekend.
The wiring of my tower compass had some problem so the lack of the compass
would not be such a big problem on 15m single band as on SOAB category. 

On Saturday morning when I took a spin on the VFO and heard that the band was
already very busy I knew that I had woken up too late. After working some time
a rain front reached my QTH and the static noise that it produced ruined any
copy of the weaker JA stations. When the noise just increased I had to go QRT
for 90 minutes. When I came back the best opening into the east was already
gone. On Saturday I managed to work only 40 contacts into Japan.

Around the local noon the band produced only contacts to Europe. Later in the
afternoon the band opened into the states. The conditions were not the best but
produced a steady stream of contacts. The propagation peaked at 15-16Z. After
17Z the propagation declined although I could still hear our rivals in the more
southerly latitudes working stateside with good rates. 

In the evening the west coast started to come through but I couldn't get any
run going. It was dark outside so I couldn't see anymore where I was beaming. I
just tried to turn the beam and look at the S meter for the highest reading. At
the time I didn't know that the tower was stuck into the east coast and would
not turn into the west coast. Later in the evening after a break I noticed that
the SWR was very high and I couldn't hear any stations on the band. The antenna
relay box at the tower base had lost its supply voltage. It was snowing sleet
outside so I was not in the mood to go out to fix the problem. I was seriously
considering something else for the rest of the weekend and went to bed.

When I woke up on Sunday morning I was shocked when I realized that I had just
pushed off the alarm clock and continued sleeping. I was missing at least 3
hours. Before I could start working I had to go out to the tower and bypass the
offending antenna relay box. Then I also realized that the tower was stuck into
the east coast. I tried to turn it to JA but it wouldn't turn clockwise so I
turn it to EU direction. I had to continue the contest with a fixed 5el JA yagi
at 21m. The 5/5 stack was now pointing to EU. The low 5 element yagi worked
surprisingly well into JA. Later in the afternoon the tower started to turn but
the conditions to JA were over. I guess that in the evening the sleet froze up
into the guy ring and prevented me to turn the tower. During the day it melted
away.

On Sunday the stateside propagation left a lot to be desired. It was extremely
difficult to keep the frequency clear. In the evening the path to the west
coast tried to open but a good path never materialized except for a brief
opening at 20Z when I logged 40 QSOs. The rest of the contest I was just
monitoring the propagation and S&Ping any stations that would peak up and be
strong enough to hear me. In last hours I could hear quite strong signals from
the north for example VY1EI and VE8GER. The latter was running 70W from the
battery supply and was a real S9 signal here.

The shortcomings and my failure to wake up resulted in a loss of at least 6
hours. At least 200 QSOs more could have been worked. It is a pity that the
full potential of the JA propagation could not be used this time. Also the west
coast opening on Saturday evening was lost due to the wrong beam heading.

Anyway it was nice to work the contest and give out some points. It is always
better to be able to work in the contest than be QRT.

Thanks for the QSOs and see you in WPX CW!


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