[3830] CQWW CW VA7ST SOAB HP

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Mon Nov 26 02:02:20 EST 2012


                    CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW

Call: VA7ST
Operator(s): VA7ST
Station: VA7ST

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

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Zones  Countries
------------------------------
  160:   38     4        3
   80:  303    10       13
   40:  444    22       62
   20:  659    24       70
   15:  563    22       62
   10:  358    22       39
------------------------------
Total: 2365   104      249  Total Score = 1,888,550

Club: Orca DX and Contest Club

Comments:

* Unassisted -- FT-2000 + SB221 + N1MM Logger
* 3 ele. SteppIR at 27'
* 40M SteppIR dipole at 27'
* 2-element 40M diamond quad, apex 50'
* 2 x 80M elevated verticals (JA or US/VE)
* 1 x 160M inverted-L
* 1 x 270' bi-directional Beverage 

2012: SFI=118  A=6  K=2, SSN= 84
2011: SFI=135  A=4  K=1, SSN=139
2010: SFI= 78  A=2  K=1, SSN= 22
2009: SFI= 73  A=2  K=1, no sunspots
2008: SFI= 68  A=2  K=0, no sunspots

=================================================


Conditions were good here for the most part, but not even close to the best.
The bands were far better last year. As an example, only 5 EU mults on 10M, and
25 on 15M.

Biggest disappointments were 10M and 80M -- neither provided much for mults
compared with last year.

Had hoped for 40 hours but managed to put in just 36. Tried using the second
radio for a couple of hours on Friday afternoon, but it just seemed to get in
the way. Ended up with good rates for most of the time I was on this weekend,
and turned off the second rig to focus on running. Officially, I had 47 Qs on
radio two, and 2,318 on radio one.

I was well ahead of last year until Sunday morning, but despite "hopes to the
contrary"(tm), 20 through 10 simply didn't perform any better than Saturday's
lack-luster showing.

          End of First Night                   1220z    
          ------------------------------------------  
             2009       2010       2011         2012    
          -------   --------   --------    ---------
QSOs          405        520        620          632
DXCC           46         77        100           73
Zones          36         47         49           55
Score      70,028    140,120    201,299      180,608

Broke through 1M points at 0520z Saturday evening, then took a 2-hour snooze.
80M offered no real DX and a weak JA opening with stations already worked by
0837z. Quit for night two after hitting 300 on 80M.

          End of Second Night                  0840z
          ------------------------------------------  
              2009       2010       2011        2012
          --------   --------   --------   --------- 
QSOs        1,200       1,150      1,313       1,647
DXCC          120         169        188         190
Zones          76          88         99          97
Score     493,528     658,691    850,668   1,081,703

As mentioned, watching the propagation numbers, I hoped for better on Sunday.
But things improved only modestly. I did beat last year but it took 4 more
hours in the chair. Ended up with one more country and five fewer zones than
2011. Just wasn't the year for a repeat of great conditions. I wonder if we'll
get another crack at it before we start the slide to solarmin?

Worked some all-time new DX (7P Lesotho on 20M and 15M). Recapping the bands:

160M: Hey, that inverted-L got out to the region a little bit. Will have some
fun with it in ARRL 160M next weekend. No real DX, but KH6 is always fun to
work for a double mult no matter when or where.

80M: Lousy multiplier production (17 zones, 33 countries in 2011, and just 10
zones, 13 countries this year). Band was really great for some good US action.
A few JAs (baker's dozen) but relatively few Qs with the Caribbean or South
America this year. I'm sure they were there, but not heard on this system this
year. Heard a tempting but unworkable GM station under a pileup that included
some powerhouse VE6 and W7 stations for a while Saturday evening. Been a while
since I heard anything from Europe on 80M. ZS1JX is often heard with strong
signals at the bottom of 80M -- too bad I didn't hear ZS on 80M in this
contest.

40M: the 2-element quad worked very nicely on Saturday afternoon, but
conditions weren't nearly as super on Sunday afternoon. Enjoyed landing the
mults there -- until Sunday, 40M was the mult leader across all bands. Will
have to work on the quad geometry and height, as it keeps promising to be the
answer for my poor Europe access on 40M. Just a few tweaks might get it
configured just right. Still too many ??? responses from stations that ought to
be able to hear me well with high power to a full-sized quad.

20M: Workhorse as always. Left it alone until Sunday afternoon, arriving there
at about 2100z with just 260 Qs logged. Racked up long runs through the
afternoon, having a great time of it, finishing with my highest mult and
contact totals for any band.

15M: Thank goodness this band didn't totally crap out like 10M did. Had some
good access to Europe both days, but nothing at all like last year's stellar
openings over the pole.

10M: Good NA propagation, but virtually nothing from Europe either day. Even
the JA runs that were awesome last year were much, much less awesome this
weekend.

My heartfelt thanks to the thousands of US operators who make this contest so
much fun to work from across the line. I can't imagine what it's like to get
zero points for all those callers, but from here in Canada it sure is a
wonderful experience to provide a few contact points to as many as we can.

-- Bud VA7ST

 Band    QSOs    Pts  ZN    Cty
   1.8      38      73    4    3
   3.5     303     624   10   13
     7     444     986   22   62
    14     659    1570   24   70
    21     563    1280   22   62
    28     358     817   22   39
 Total    2365    5350  104  249
Score: 1,888,550

       QSOs  Ctry  Zones  Score
2011: 2,365   249  104  1,888,550 < HP 36 hrs
2011: 2,114   248  109  1,725,024 < HP 32 hrs
2010: 1,721   180   92  1,033,056 < HP 32 hrs 
2009: 1,777   158   92    950,750 < HP 31 hrs
2008: 1,580   129   71    670,600 < HP 25 hrs
2007  1,470   129   69    615,582 < HP 32 hrs
2006  1,476   163   78    775,297      35 hrs
2005  1,014   126   61    411,587
2004  1,421   146   79    697,500
2003    865   115   73    351,936
2002    675   147   63    313,740


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