[3830] WPX SSB WX3B M/M HP

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                    CQWW WPX Contest, SSB

Call: WX3B
Operator(s): WX3B, K3WI, N8IVN, KB3CS, N3YIM, NE3K, K1RH, NH7C, WA3AER, N3VOP, N3AFT
Station: WX3B

Class: M/M HP
QTH: Maryland
Operating Time (hrs): 48

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
  160:  131
   80:  452
   40:  716
   20: 1504
   15: 1901
   10:  534
------------
Total: 5238  Prefixes = 1460  Total Score = 19,309,960

Club: Potomac Valley Radio Club

Comments:

Pre-contest station building crew:  K1RH, N3ST, K3RCH, NY3A, N3KS, N8IVN

Friday Night Dinner club:  NE3K, N3YIM, NY3A, N3SB, Shilpa, AK3Z, K1RH, AB3CV,
N8IVN, KB3YEN, K3WI

CQ WPX SSB Operators:  WX3B, K3WI, N8IVN, KB3CS, N3YIM, NE3K, K1RH, NH7C,
WA3AER, N3VOP, N3AFT

Team WX3B started early in this contest with several antenna parties, one
amplifier party and several beverage fixing instances.  

The 20 meter AB/577 had a small nub sheared off the top pipe section that keeps
the antenna stabilized; therefore I had a wind direction indicator in 20 meters
for several weeks.  

After a rock solid weld of that top section to the 5’ mast below, a gentle
straightening of the wind bent driven element and first director, 20 meters was
once again rock solid.

Onto the amplifier repair â€" ever smell that special smell of a burning step
start resistor?  It’s what happens when a relay sticks and you start
transmitting with a low plate voltage.  

Ameritron quickly (and correctly) diagnosed the sticky relay remotely and after
about a 90 minute repair we’re back in business….until…..the 80 meter
amplifier started a tell-tale snap…..snap……SNAP!  

That is the sound of bleeder resistor failure in the AL-1200, and my efforts to
FedEx a new HV board by Friday morning flopped miserably. 

K4VV and his wife Sharon rescued me and let me borrow a like-new AL-1500 (BOY
those things put out a lot of power with 30 watts drive).

The final fix was a minor beverage repair (only took me 3 repairs to get it
truly fixed).

We had a great dinner and then we were off to the races…

Our Saturday evening began with Mike, N3AFT sitting in the 75m chair for the
first time getting lessons from on how to mix and match the audio streams for
his listening pleasure to pick his CQ vs. his listening frequency.  Thanks to
Gene, WB4MSG for leaving a home brew multi-channel selection box at WX3B which
makes this a single movement choice.   You can put the main RX in both ears,
the Sub RX in both years, or have one RX in each ear.  Very nice for working
USA guys in one ear and DX in the other.

Joe, N3YIM spend a great first two hours grabbing Europeans on 40 meters by
packet spot.  We did that to try to put more DX in the log than our runs had
attracted in the past.  It worked for the first hour, but a high penalty was
paid when Joe left, because we had to create a run frequency.  As anyone who
operates 40 meters, run frequencies are not found, they are manufactured.  Joe
also ran 10 meters and did an excellent job attracting South Americans and Skew
path Europeans (if there was a real EU opening, we missed it)

Dennis N8IVN and Chris KB3CS found themselves operating for many, many hours
â€" and they carried a good percentage of the score by themselves.  Both of
these men have increased their skills nicely over the years.  It helps that
they are usually in front of a radio, and about 99% of the time calling CQ. 
Yes, those are two of the most important skills a contester can gain.  It was
fun watching Dennis on 15 meters as the JA opening started.  Boy those JAs were
loud on Sunday!  Chris toughed it out on 20 meters and the band finally gets
interesting in the late afternoon at WX3B when the rate greatly improves.  

Geoff NE3K had his first experience at WX3B and enthusiastically grabbed some
10 meter time when the band was still open to VK and ZL.  There is a LOT of
participation on 10 meters in this contest….especially at the beginning of
the contest.

Rob K1RH is to be commended for his superb Mechanical capabilities and the fact
that what most people consider work he considers fun.  Not only does Rob
cheerfully volunteer to do the hardest and most dangerous job at an antenna
party, I think he actually looks forward to it!  His son Robert, K3RCH was also
instrumental in the last session.  Rob missed the really good morning opening on
20 (I was happy to accept that job) and by the time 20 was handed off to Rob it
was the usual 40/hour rate while the entire world defected to 15 meters. 
Fortunately Rob also had some fun on 15 meters before his time was up and he
returned to family weekend fun.

Mike, N3VOP had fun on a wide variety of bands this year.  It is always fun
listening to Mike run pileups because his level of enthusiasm is second to
none.  For those of you that don’t know this story, the WX3B carpeting was
provided by Mike years ago â€" and it continues to hold up in excellent
conditions and keep us from being stuck on a bare floor.

Bill, K3WI did his usual stellar work, this time on 15 meters.   The pileup
started early and it just kept going.  I knew we were going to have fun when I
heard DR1A “warming up” at 5:45pm on 15 meters before the contest.  Bill
stuffed a lot of QSOs into the log before he departed Saturday evening.

Sid, NH7C joined us on Saturday evening to fish up some DX on 75 meters.  From
the results â€" he was very successful.  I am very pleased with how the phased
vertical array is working on 75, and the (finally fixed) beverages were an
important tool in the arsenal of tools for receiving.   The Europeans were
loud, however the static crashes were often louder.  A casualty of the
beautiful (warm) weather we have been having.

Ted, WA3AER enjoyed his first time at the WX3B 160 operating position.  Not a
very glamorous assignment when almost NOBODY uses this band in WPX (there is no
motivation unless you are M/M).   He stuck with it, re-recorded his CQ when
someone complained about the quality and managed to get some operating time in
on another band or two during the contest.  Ted is a welcome addition to the
team and perhaps the next 40 meter inductee!

I want to thank everyone that helped me set the station up and operate it this
past weekend.  It was great fun.  

It looks like there is a 2-way tie for second place in North America between
N6RO and WX3B…and log checking will determine the winner.  What a GREAT Score
for Ken and his team!

I also salute Bob NX5M and his winning team effort this year!  It looks like we
have a great 3 way competition going, that is until NQ4I gets back into the game
and clobbers all of us!

73,


Jim Nitzberg    WX3B


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