[3830] ARRLDX CW W3EF SOAB LP

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                    ARRL DX Contest, CW

Call: W3EF
Operator(s): W3EF
Station: W3EF

Class: SOAB LP
QTH: MD
Operating Time (hrs): 43
Radios: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
  160:   29    22
   80:  179    60
   40:  788    87
   20:  761    90
   15:  839    95
   10:  123    56
-------------------
Total: 2719   410  Total Score = 3,330,840

Club: Potomac Valley Radio Club

Comments:

Station W3EF, Grid Locator FM19LA (Colesville, MD, USA):
Radios IC-7800 and IC-775DSP
Top Ten DX Doubler and Band Decoders; Dunestar 600 filters
Array Solutions WX0B Six Pak, Stack Master (15M) and Stack Match (20M)
N1MM Logger and K1EL WinKeyer; AEA Morse Machine and N2DAN Mercury Paddle

Antennas:
160M 2 phased inverted Ls w/elevated radials, hanging from tree and low tower
80M wire 4-square “ “ “, hanging from high tower and various trees
40M 4 element KLM 40M4 at 125’; wire GP in hickory tree
20M Telrex 6/6 (104’ / 54’ EU); A3S
15M Telrex 8/5 (96’ / 46’); A3S
10M 6 element Telrex 10M636 at 133’; A3S
Beverages: 750’ NNE; 270’ NW; 270’ W


As W2NO writes, “picked the wrong weekend to go LP.”  Fair enough! 
Certainly those of us who always compete in this category had our challenges
too…especially on 10m, which had been such a big band just a few months back.
 BUT looking at all the scores, I have to say we seemed to overcome those
challenges pretty well.  3 LP posts over 3 million so far, and a few of the
other Top 10 regulars who might well have been there had Murphy not intervened
â€" not bad at all for an off weekend!

For my part, I struggled to stay awake in this one.  Partly jet lag (rules my
life these days, with bi-weekly shuttling between W3 and HB9), partly
conditions.  And for about an hour at the end of the 10m “run” on Saturday
(the only--brief--one of the weekend, as people have pointed out), about 1400z,
I simply forgot that pointing my rooftop A3S south generates RFI in my WinKey
circuit and locks up N1MM, so I just kept rebooting, working one contact,
freezing the machine, rebooting, working another contact, freezing the machine
again, and getting more and more frustrated â€" until I finally remembered,
switched antennas, turned the A3S, and was back to the races.

To counteract such occasional memory loss, I also try to keep learning new
things, often from old hands, and more often than not from Fred, K1VR.  He took
one look at my score from CQWW and said “There’s something wrong with your
80m antenna.”  Now, I’ve probably known this for several years already, but
hearing him say it actually made me go out and check it.  I found two shorts
(out of four verticals) and fixed them, raised the drooping radials, and presto
â€" had my first good weekend on 80 in I can’t remember how long.  We also
re-strung the 160 inverted Ls, with some great bowmanship by my trusty helper
Paulo, bringing the flat tops of the two verticals (in inverted-U formation)
back up to 80 feet from the 35-foot level to which they had fallen last year. 
So my low-band scores were almost competitive, and I was able to work anything
I heard, and even had a short run on 80 the second night at about 0400Z (it has
been years since I was able to do this).  The direction selector on the 80M
4-square can now be trusted once again.  That alone made this contest worth it
for me.

But there was more that made this a contest to remember.  For one thing, it
looks like I can probably claim another new 3rd call area record (my third in 9
years).  For another, I’ve made up the gap between 1st and 2nd place (claimed
as of the moment, anyhow â€" given the superb, surprise entry by AD4Z we
can’t rule anything out of course).  I was really pleased to come in 2nd in
this contest last year, with nearly 2.5 million points, but I have to say I was
also rather blown away by Ed’s (N1UR) first place score, nearly 1 million
points higher â€" WOW!  A million points between ranks might be OK if you’re
in the multi-multi category, but in SOLP it’s embarrassing--not for Ed, whose
station is a real work of art, but for the rest of us!  OK, it’s partly
because the poor guy had the flu this year, but at the moment we appear to be
within 1% of each otherâ€"that should make for some animated conversation at
the very least….

Many thanks to my family, who actually bring me food and cheer me on, rather
than rolling their eyes.  Can’t ask for better than that!

73 and see you next year....
Maury W3EF


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