[3830] ARRLDX SSB ND0C SOAB QRP

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                    ARRL DX Contest, SSB

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

Class: SOAB QRP
QTH: Minnesota
Operating Time (hrs): 26.5

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
  160:    0     0
   80:    4     4
   40:   18    16
   20:  125    61
   15:  137    53
   10:  112    28
-------------------
Total:  396   162  Total Score = 192,456

Club: Minnesota Wireless Association

Comments:

Wow - this was really brutal... The conditions were really rough especially for
QRP.  It was a struggle to work Europe on either 15 or 20 (and of course 10 was
a non-starter for getting into The Continent from here.  So I spent a lot of
time with the beam to the SE.  And it seemed easier to work VKs, ZLs and
Asiatic Russians than central and eastern Europeans.  Besides being very poor,
conditions were strange at times with a lot of skew path on Saturday morning. 

The low bands were really tough going on Friday night/Saturday morning, but
seemed better on Saturday night and Sunday morning.  I was able to work into JA
on 40, but couldn't get any VKs to hear me on that band. (Maybe I need to move
some trees to re-orient my inverted vee.) 
I don't think I've ever been CQ'd in my face on the high bands as much as this
weekend.  Several times I checked to make sure I was using the right antenna
and was putting a signal out (although that is arguable in the best of
conditions!).  I missed several "gimme" mults in eastern Europe on both 15 and
20.  But there were a few bright spots, including stumbling across choice mults
like V51 before the packet hordes descended.  
I had originally hoped to get 500 Qs and maybe 200 mults this weekend.  And I
had hoped that I might even be able to do some running.  But the poor
conditions shattered both thoughts.  It was S&P the whole way - I didn't delude
myself into even calling a single CQ.  - A lot different than CQ WW!  Hopefully
things will be better for WPX. 
There are still the same old frustrations with general operating
techniques/ethics...  distorted signals and many stations calling out of turn. 
I'm amazed that some guys just don't care what the partial call is the DX asks
for.  There won't be a single letter in common with their call and they jump
in.  And for a QRPer, when you finally get that partial (e.g. "the November
Delta - come again" and some clown jumps on you it is frustrating.  And then it
really drives me nuts when the DX station takes them!   Arrgghh! 
As always, thanks to the DX stations' patience, persistence and good ears in
pulling me out of the noise, especially with such poor conditions.  Some of the
DX ops out there are amazing.

Transceiver: Yaesu FT897D running 5 watts out 
Antennas: Wilson 3 element tribander Yagi at 15 meters and inverted vee

73,
Randy, ND0C

"You don't have to be crazy to contest with QRP... but it helps" (especially
with these kinds of conditions!)


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