[3830] ARRLDX CW N4HB SO Unlimited HP

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                    ARRL DX Contest, CW

Call: N4HB
Operator(s): N4HB
Station: N4HB

Class: SO Unlimited HP
QTH: VA
Operating Time (hrs): 35

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
  160:   22    18
   80:   94    51
   40:  246    82
   20:  329    89
   15:  342    95
   10:   87    47
-------------------
Total: 1120   382  Total Score = 1,283,520

Club: 

Comments:

Conditions during the contest from my location varied from band to band.  160
was fairly noisy on both Friday and Saturday evening, and if I did not have a
receive beverage looking North and South it would have been difficult to work
much of anything.  The 80 meter band was in pretty good shape Friday evening
and in fair shape Saturday night. 40 was a very good band on both Friday and
Saturday nights, as well as late Sunday afternoon before the end of the
contest. There was also a very good JA/Pacific opening Sunday morning; but
unfortunately, I have no idea what I might have missed Saturday morning because
I overslept thought it: not good. The 20 and 15 meter bands seemed to be in very
good shape all weekend, but 10 was down with some strange behavior. It acted as
if aurora had set in over the poles. I had to point my antenna to the south in
order to work Europe, and their signals had that strange aurora watery sound to
it. I understand now that there was a blast of solar wind that hit the Earth's
magnetic field late Saturday night on the 18th and caused the Northern Lights
to appear over some of the northern US States. It did improve somewhat late
Sunday afternoon.

This was one of the first HF contests that I was able to "stress test" my
moderate system since retiring to a new location near the Chesapeake Bay. I use
an inverted "L" on 160 with a beverage to receive, a dipole on 80, a full size
vertical on 40 and Cushcraft A-4 tri-bander at 50 feet on 20, 15 and 10.  It
also doesn't hurt to have the "L" and vertical down in the marsh next to the
salt water!


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