[3830] WPX CW W3EF SOAB LP

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                    CQWW WPX Contest, CW

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

Class: SOAB LP
QTH: MD
Operating Time (hrs): 36
Radios: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
  160:    1
   80:   32
   40:  635
   20:  474
   15:  891
   10:   76
------------
Total: 2109  Prefixes = 947  Total Score = 6,077,846

Club: Potomac Valley Radio Club

Comments:

2012 is shaping up to be a busy and somewhat stressful year for me, but boy am I
happy I made room for WPX, having missed it in 2011.  This was only my third
WPX, but I sure picked the right one to go all out.  What a blast!

I made and exceeded all my goals except 1000 mults (but got close).  I doubled
my points goal -- and I wasn't alone.  For me this contest is all about
6-pointers on the run radio and mults (only) on the mult radio.  That simple
formula kept me focused and going all weekend (except the much-needed, mandated
12 hours off, including a quick brunch Sunday with family and friends).  It
also, I believe, really maximized my score.

Despite poor conditions on 160 and 80 and noise (and limited openings) on 40, I
still managed 378 six-pointers.  This was key.  Even if I had been able to run
on 10 (there was just one short EU opening, on Sunday), those points were
largely irreplaceable.  I did not have the energy (or foresight) to stay up for
the all-night 20m EU runs, but tried to make up for it on (an amazing) 15m.

Of course, the high scores we are seeing are mostly due not to operator skill,
but to participation, prefixes, and conditions.  And not only are participation
in this contest still going up and prefixes proliferating, but the rare DX was
everywhere in this one.  Never would I have imagined working, for example, TWO
JTs and TWO FKs/TX8s, along with the rest of the juicy stuff.  Funny thing is,
those mults don't count any more than, say, a WB3 in this contest, but this
weekend is when I worked them all (which did not happen in CQWW or ARRL DX). 
Go figure.

Poetic SO2R moment: I interleaved a QSO with K3ZO (who called in) with a mult I
was working on the second radio.  Fred is one of my heroes and a brilliant
contester, but famously not a fan of SO2R.  It worked perfectly; there was no
way he could have heard even the slightest delay in the exchange.  That's one
of the many things I love about contesting -- perfecting that technique!

Lots of records will fall in this one.  Congrats to N5AW and N1UR (NV1N), as
well as W1UJ and anyone else who broke the previous USA SOAB LP record -- no
small feat!  And congrats to K5ZD for all his efforts in a contest well run.

Now back to work -- no holiday for me today, but what a weekend....

73 and thanks to all,

Maury W3EF


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