[3830] CQWW CW VE9AA SOSB/10 HP

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                    CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW

Call: VE9AA
Operator(s): VE9AA
Station: VE9AA

Class: SOSB/10 HP
QTH: 5
Operating Time (hrs): 22:43

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Zones  Countries
------------------------------
  160:                    
   80:                    
   40:                    
   20:                    
   15:                    
   10:                    
------------------------------
Total: 1319    27      110  Total Score = 456,073

Club: Maritime Contest Club

Comments:

Musings of a 10m madman: <LONG & Seriously convoluted> (((you've been warned)))

I laughed. I cried.  Sadly, the fact of the matter was even before the contest
started I knew this one would be more about tears of sorrow than of joy.
Seeing some of the NOAA Spaceweather reports leading up to the opening bell had
me convinced condx would be depressed,
 not to mention my state of mind at the half-way mark. (I was down 200Q's from
last year and had a better antenna this year to boot.)

What was one to do?

The only thing one could.  Press on and move forward. Onwards and upwards says
me.  Try to enjoy yourself I said.  Keep making beep beep noises in the shack
until noone was beeping back and don't give up.  Maybe there will be a miracle.
(ha!) OK, maybe not, but just keep having fun anyways.

I was doing a 10m single band effort, mostly due to compromise antennas here,
but the 10m aerial isn't half bad.

At opening bell 10m was dead. No surprise there. The sun had been down for
hours.  I decided to leave the rig on and tune a bit
here and there.  Surprise surprise, about 45 minutes later, some very weak JA's
and PAC stns began to creep out of the noise.
  After some real effort I work a few of the louder JA's...
I was elated to get into the KG6DX log. How that guy hears my pipsqueak signal
amid the din of callers never ceases to amaze me.  
Someday if I am lucky enough, I'll work him on 6m !

 That ended Friday night.
  
Saturday 6am. Dark. Groggy.  Need coffee. Drink 3 cups. OK, let's call CQ..
Nope that's not working.  S&P....Wee bit better.
Overall  Saturday morning was horrible.  The Zone 33 stns were loud, but where
was mainland EU ?  After a bit, I swung 
the wee little yagi to the SE and began working them sidescatter whilst looking
at ZS.  I think I wasted a bunch of time not thinking of this sooner.
They were all weak and I am not convinced the EU's were doing the same.
  I heard some W4's and 5's making it through which could only mean one thing. 
We've been hit ! Ol' Sol, you are sly.

That CME and flare activity has bombarded us with electrons, protons and
whatever-ons and now I am too far north to play
in the direct game to EU on 10m.  Drat-foiled again !  After lunch the 'event
of electron evil' subsided somewhat and the EU's were coming back in on the
direct path,
 but there weren't many of them and signals were weak & watery.  I think I
missed the switchback time by a margin and no doubt lost some Q's here too.
 I latched onto the big signals while I could.  Whoa, that didn't last long.
 Ahh phooey, everyone has now moved to 15m I'll bet...I wish this were a 10m
single band contest. Come baaaaack everyone ! Come back !
The band is heating up, honest !

Suppertime.  Darkness encroached.

I was ready to give up.  Carib and SA was loud, but with only a smattering of
big EU & NA stations in my log, I was down 200 Q's from last year at the
halfway mark. 
That can't be good. Last years only antenna was a piddly wire ground plane at
30' or so. 
 This years main antenna is a HyGain 5-el LJ-105CA @ only 24' but it does seem
to play fairly well on the hill I am on.

  Quit! Quit! my brain screamed. Cut your losses. What are you waiting for ? 
You could be putting winter tires on the car, or watching TV or sleeping or
whatever it is normal people
do on weekends ! Nope, I had to think of the team.  MCC's Team #1 "The 257km
Ring of Awesomeness" is counting on you Mike. Even single band scores help.
 Last year we accidentally got dropped from the official TEAM listings (see
CQ's errata) but we were #1 NA and #6 World (if memory serves) so this year we
had hoped to duplicate
our effort.  I doubt it will happen, but us frozen MCC northerners are not
quitters and we forge ahead, despite the ring of awesomeness
lurking above our heads. (in this case it's  "The AURORAL Zone")...10m is not
the band to be on this weekend with a small stn up here.

Sunday morning.  Groggy. 6am. Not this again.  uhhh.. What can I say?  Get some
coffee. Now get more. 7am.
 I've been hearing the zone 20 guys for over an hour now, but can't get anyones
attention just yet.
Well, it's not their fault.  It's dark as the inside of a cow here and there is
very little in the way of ionization going on just yet. 
 I hope after sunrise I'll hear some EU on the direct path, otherwise, I may be
forced to go and watch TV or do that other stuff the normal people do.  
To us CW contesters, 'normal' means sitting in a dimly lit room and repeating
the same beeps over and over, while listening to others do the
same.  It's so crazy, we even write all this stuff down in our computers and
try to make some sense out of it after 2 days of speaking in beeps. 
 It's medieval torture or some variation thereof.  (that may be the case,
however my vocal chords are intact this weekend and thanking me after last
weeks SS)

Hmmm,ok, I just worked Z38N half hour before sunrise.  Maybe things are looking
up ?  Maybe there'll even be a rip in the Space/Time continuum
and I can fold back time 24 hours and start again with better condx ?
Nahhhh....<insert 8 hrs of cacophony here>.....OK, worked the contest for about
8 hours steady
 and am typing again.  My butt is surely flat.  I am also fairly certain I can
no longer stand.  Note to self: Add "comfy chair" to Santas wish list.
Condx only average to EU but missed a lot of the Middle East and the northern
guys.  Seemed to stop 2000-3000 kms (or more) short of where I would normally
work.
Managed to barely squeak out a QSO with a JY4 but no 4X,A73,EY8, 9K2, ST2, FR5,
5R, VU2 or anything at all distant like that.

The EU's have all dropped out now and the rate meter is back into the low dbl
digits.  Score is way down from last year.  I should go have another coffee or
three.
But what about the team? the little dude on my shoulder says...Hurry up and
drink up that mug o' joe and get back into the game Mike.....It's a S&P race
for some more zones
 and countries.  I haven't worked a new zone all day.  Stuck @ 27 and it's not
looking good for any more.  Country count is still way down.  Maybe a TF or OX
will pop by to say hey.

What's a boy to do?  My VFO dimple has worn 3 layers of skin off my finger.  My
back is getting crooked. Have to lean back in the chair some.
Can't tune with the keyboard.  It feels weird.   K3LR and D4C are both calling
CQ now.....OUCH....not looking good for my peanut whistle stn.

These next 5 hours are gonna be in the single digits and really try my patience
and my chairs old seat cushion...

Now I have too much time to think. . . .(never a good thing)....tune tune tune
goes the VFO dial... Have I mentioned how I hate guys who won't send their call
very often?  
There are some supposed elite dxers who will  work 10, 20 or more stations
before sending their call. What's up with that? ARGH!
Fiddlesticks! There should be some kind of rule.  We're not all on the packet,
telnet or internet to have the calls presented to us ya know!
While I am on the soapbox, what's with skimmers anyways?  Some juicy DX shows
up somewhere and its hand fed to the masses
for them to click on while the guys who tune tune tune are forced to be in the
same massive pileup! There should be some skill involved there somewhere. I
dunno.
 I could probably write a book why I don't agree with skimmers, but I'll leave
it right there at that I guess. ;-)....I had a bunch of dupes today from
seasoned contesters
who I thought for sure would get my call correct.  I am waiting for 00 hours so
I can go look at the cluster.  I am sure someone busted my call earlier and now
everyone
thinks they are working VE8AA or VE9A  or something. Swammi Mike says "I'll bet
a loonie on that".. BTW, there are no VE9-single letter suffix calls. Nor is
VE8AA active in contesting (that I know of)

Where is zone 40 ? That's usually a gimme !...No OX, no TF, Only 1 zone 2
VE2(EKA) and barely heard him.... hardly any northern guys.  Musta hit them
really hard. 
 I am sure they stayed on the low bands like smart fellows would.  I am very
curious to see how the northern guys found 10m.

Gahhh, I stayed in that ZP9 pileup way way too long.  Lost precious daylight. 
Half hour til sunset here, then we roll up the 10m streets 'round these parts.

It's now dark.  Three hours to go.  Wife is cooking Chinese food. The aroma is
wafting into the shack. Can't resist....I am into the single digit hours now. 
 Gonna have to get me some grub. <insert food into stomach here>
OMGosh....belly full....can't stay awake.  Dark outside.  Signals in the
dumper.
Praying now for JA's.....tune tune tune....nil-a-dit.

Two hours to go.  Not looking good.  . . Just took me 10 minutes to work
VK4CT...nuts? Yup...band 99.9% dead here, may as well. He peaked 529- Good ears
dude.
Went back for dessert.  Radio is not surprisingly a very low priority right
now. Must rest.....sugar high weakening.  I think I see the outdoor Xmas lites
by my tower flickering
to my CQ's...or I have had too much chocolate cake. Neighbours think we have
bad electricity.

 Only hearing weak W7's (all aimed the other way). . .. I can see that I am
gonna have to drag myself over the finish line on this one and it ain't gonna
be pretty.
Single band contests can be a real test of staying power.

Calling CQ into a dead band now.  Need head inspected.  No chance to match last
years score.  Why do we do this Sigmund ?...wait, I hear signals, 
OH NO ! They are all VE6 and 7's.... :-(

I am praying for the end now.  I am running on fumes and it's all for the good
of the team. <in a weak n' scratchy voice,MCC flag fluttering> Go team !

An hour and a half to go ... Worked four W7's in the last half hour.  Bless
them.  I hear a couple KH6's running JA's.  What would that be like ?

If you have read all the way to this point, I would seriously ask Randy/ZD for
bonus points for your log.  You deserve it.  

I have just called CQ for 24 minutes straight. I need commited.  Alright, tune
from 28.000 thru 28.100 not a single signal.  Break time !
Fifteen minutes have passed. Back at it with a fresh outlook.  52 minutes left.
 I tune from 28.000 thru 28.100 and not a single signal.
I do hear a computer birdie on 28.0725 but he won't work me.  He never gave his
call anyways. Where's that rift in the space time continuum when I need it ?

Called for 20 more minutes into a dead band.  Has there been some kind of
message that the contest ended early? Tune tune tune. Nil-a-dit. 

I just went 68 minutes and finally worked a W0...He needs an award for keeping
me awake. I was fading fast. 
 This is what it must be like being a 160m contest operator in the daytime.
20 minutes left....only thing I hear is NQ4I calling someone.   The band is
mostly silent.

Down by 5 zones and 26 countries from last year. ~380 Q's less for the same
work.  

The witching hour has arrived.  The ether is once again at peace. <fade to
black>


Mike VE9Eh?Eh? MAR, NB, FN66na, Zone 5, (take yer pick)
IC-746, 250/500Hz cw filters,  MLA2500 at 749½ watts, 5el HyGain@ 24' =
power-split with a HB Wire Groundplane @ 30', N1MM, WinKeyer-USB
MCC Team#1 - "The 257km Ring of Awesomeness"


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