[3830] WPX CW P49Y(AE6Y) SOAB HP

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                    CQWW WPX Contest, CW

Call: P49Y
Operator(s): AE6Y
Station: P49Y

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

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
  160:     
   80:   13
   40: 1199
   20:  488
   15: 1495
   10:  615
------------
Total: 3770  Prefixes = 1097  Total Score = 16,233,406

Club: Northern California Contest Club

Comments:

This was a contest that wasn't meant to be -- for me.  My station co-owner John,
W6LD, had dibs on this contest since I had done WPX Phone, but work commitments
forced him to cancel out, so I decide to do a very quick trip.  Arrived in
Aruba on Thursday afternoon instead of the usual Wednesday, and traveled light
without my usual K3/P3 in the backpack, just intending to rely on the shack
K3.
  Having done this contest LP the past two years, I was looking forward to the
fun of going HP this time.  Our Alpha 91B had been sidelined by a blown filter
capacitor, but John had removed the board, and Ed, W0YK, had replaced all the
caps and bleeder resistors on it, so that all I had to do was reinstall it and
turn on the power.  Worked like a champ all weekend.  
  As others have noted, the conditions were quite amazing, on 15 particularly. 
It took a lot of discipline to gut it out on 40 Friday night, while 20 and 15
were open to EU all night long!  Although it's easier to run on those bands,
and the rates are higher, they are never so good as to make up for the double
low band points.  40 seemed very slow and noisy, and it was hard work to try to
get those numbers correct in the noise.  Never thought I'd have twice as many Qs
on 40 as on 20!  And it's been a long time since I had more EU (48%) in this
contest than W/K (38%).  
  Had a very strange computer QLF episode in the last 10 minutes of the contest
(thankfully not earlier).  Suddenly the computer seemed to become hesitant to
send reports but it would send CQ's fine.  There was some peculiar interaction
with the keyboard and screen display updates, such that there was a time lag
between pressing the keys and something happening.  Apologies to my last 7 or 8
contacts, but I actually had to log them on paper and send the serial numbers by
hand (not easy to do with tired brain/hand at the end of a contest!).  It all
seems fine now, and it's the same compute and software that worked flawlessly
in many previous contests, including ARRL CW a few months ago, so go figure...
  The usual lively Aruba social calendar was curtailed due to the short trip
and to some of the winter regulars (like P40V and P49MR) being back home, not
to mention W2GD taking a rain check, but did manage to stop in to see OK7MT and
his cohorts at P40H, also Chris and JP (P43C, P43A) and Lisandro (P43L).

  73, and thanks for all the contacts (and repeats),
  Andy, AE6Y

 Rig: K3, 756 Pro2, Alpha 91B, 86
 Ant: 1 el 80, 2 el 40, 4 el 20, 5 el 15, 2 el 10, C31XR, beverages (really
helped on 40)
 Software: CQPWIN 12.5


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