[3830] WPX SSB 8P5A(W2SC) SOAB HP

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                    CQWW WPX Contest, SSB

Call: 8P5A
Operator(s): W2SC
Station: 8P5A

Class: SOAB HP
QTH: Barbados
Operating Time (hrs): 36
Radios: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
  160:    0
   80:   65
   40:  974
   20: 1696
   15: 1948
   10: 1648
------------
Total: 6331  Prefixes = 1401  Total Score = 25,656,513

Club: Northern California Contest Club

Comments:

The contest culminated a two week trip that included a family wedding in
Liverpool and some planned business meetings elsewhere in Europe.  By the time
my wife Kathleen and I reached Barbados, we were very tired and my contest
motivation was low.  Fortunately, 80 and 160 are not critical in this contest
so there were no temporary antennas to install.

The antennas checked out just fine upon our arrival as nothing had failed since
the ARRL SSB weekend.  To avoid lugging equipment around Europe, I did not bring
as much stuff back home after the ARRL contest and the station was left mostly
intact.  After sorting out a few intermittent connections, the station was
ready.

Unfortunately, I got off to a brutal start.  Listening before the contest, I
could hear loud signals on 15, but did not want to start there in case the band
died after a few minutes.  However, as I tried to warm up, 20 sounded awful. 
Nonethess, I decided to open on 20 and it was very slow.  After 8 q's in 5
minutes, I jumped to 15 and made about 130 Q's in the next half hour before the
band closed.  Then it was back to 20 and I finished the hour at 220.  Two years
ago, I did 330 in the first hour.

Over the years I have learned not to panic after a bad first hour as eventually
the propagation will favor me. As it turned out, it did not, and I had a very
poor first night.  80 was mostly a waste and the most productive time turned
out to be running EU low on 40.  US activity on 40 seemed way down and I
eventually passed up the double points to run Europe at their sunrise for a
while.  Around 830, it was time for my first break and I was well behind my QSO
rate of the last two years.

Saturday brought much better high band propagation than last year with solid
openings to EU on 10, 15 and 20. The only shortfall was that the 15 meter JA
opening was not as good as last year and I missed the mults.  Nonetheless, I
clawed back to parity with last year's QSO number, but I beleived that my
percentage of 3 point EU Q's was up substantially over last year.  

As darkness fell, I still had 8.5 hours of off time to take.  I wanted to get
on by 12Z, so I had to wrap up by 330Z.  It proved to be a difficult call as 40
was very productive and I added a bunch of double point Q's.  Of particular note
was a very productive EU run on 40.  It was a rare 40 meter EU run that was able
to sustain without being overtaken by QRM.  I put about 200 more 6 pointers in
the log, something I did not do well last year.  40 to the US was also active
and it was very hard to pull the plug at 330.  After much mental debate, I
decided to go ahead with my plan.

In my prior two year's rate sheets, the early hours on Sunday were weak.  My
hope was that much better conditions this year would make them more productive
and propel me well above last year's score.  I did a quick mult pass on 10 and
then opened up on 15.  After a quick burst that raised my enthusiasm, it
quickly became a struggle and I only did about 85 in the 12Z hour, 50 less than
last year.  The 13Z hour was also slow at 140.

I moved to 10 earlier than the day before and it was good to EU, increasing the
rate.  The rest of the day was solid up until my last band change to 20 at 2230.
 I simply could not blow a hole in the QRM and limped home.  The only benefit is
that 20 was open to nearly everywhere and I put some good mults in the log right
up to the end of the contest.

When it was over, I had achieved my goal of breaking the NA record.  Hopefully
it will stand up to the log checking.  

Overall the contest had more than its share up ups and downs.  The EU runs were
great, but the poor start, shutting down too early on Saturday night, and
folding at the end probably cost me a lot of points.  Nonetheless, I overcame
my lack of motivation and had another enjoyable WPX contest.

Thanks to everybody for the Q's and to my wife Kathleen for all of her help

QSL via LoTW or NN1N

73, Tom W2SC


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