[3830] ARRLDX SSB KE3X SOAB LP

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                    ARRL DX Contest, SSB

Call: KE3X
Operator(s): KE3X
Station: KE3X

Class: SOAB LP
QTH: Washington, DC
Operating Time (hrs): 32

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
  160:    9     9
   80:   53    36
   40:  115    59
   20:  200    70
   15:  244    72
   10:  200    54
-------------------
Total:  821   300  Total Score = 738,900

Club: Potomac Valley Radio Club

Comments:

After spending most of the last 18 months at other stations it was very
satisfying to finally operate a full 48-hour DX contest from my home station
here in the city.  Hopefully between W3DQ and me the DC multiplier was easily
accessible this time.

Special thanks goes to my four sons (Patrick, Kody, Aidan and Connor) who let
Dad 'play radio' all weekend when Mom was in Europe for the week.   As you can
imagine, a lot of takeout food was consumed in our house - yesterday's menu was
donuts for breakfast, pizza for lunch and chinese for dinner.   Not as good as
K8AZ's or NR4M's barbeques but we did our best!

I made my first trip to the beer frig at 2300 so the last hour was a bit
downhill, but overall this was quite fun.   I am entering some contest notes
here, mostly for my own benefit later:

- The award for 'Best Exchange' goes to P40P with '59 88'.   I probably tuned
across him 25 times this weekend entering Unassisted, and instead of waiting
2-3 minutes for an ID (like with some stations) I would hear the '88' and know
form the exchange exactly who it was.   Those little things really add up.

- Funniest moment was running across Pete K2PS at W3DQ's Multi-Single at 9AM
Sunday (the only other DC station I heard on) and comparing QSO and Mult
totals, to discover we were within 1% of each other on both!   That was great
motivation for me for the rest of today - thanks Eric, Pete and Tim for the
local competition.   I ran across you guys in several pileups this morning
(M0WLF comes to mind) and you whupped me every time.

- Missed several easy mults, including 4O3A and LZ9W on 10-meters (4O3A had a
big pile and LZ9W CQ'd in my face) and missed 'G' and 'XE' on 80.   Not sure
how that happened.

- On the other hand, got most of the DX-peditions across 5- or 6-bands and did
not make any tactical errors, except for maybe not focusing on 160 enough.  
After 400 stations in the log last weekend in CQ 160 Phone, conditions this
weekend on 160 were much worse from here.

- New definition of 'Frustration' is waking up early Sunday to hit 40-M and
look for some Asian multipliers, then hearing JT5DX, JA0JHA and VK4TS all
within 15 minutes of each other, with only 1-2 stations calling, and not
getting through.   Also could not get a JA, VK or ZL on 10, 15, or 20 this
weekend.   Washington DC city life is normally great, expect when it comes to
low power Asian DXing.

- This effort was 99% Search & Pounce.   The 1% exception was one short time on
Saturday lunch when I called CQ on 10-meters and had 5 Europeans call in 8
minutes.  Not sure that qualifies as a 'run' ... more like a 'shuffle'?   

-  Got 4-hours sleep the first night and 6-hours the second night.   Also took
2 hours off Sunday afternoon from 2-4PM local to attend an Eagle Court of Honor
for one of our Troop's scouts.   Overall I feel much more rested vs. last year
at N4RV's.  In fact the only thing sore from this weekend is my left index
finger from spinning the VFO dial on the left hand radio.

- Going Low Power Unassisted this weekend reminded me of High School years with
no Internet, no amplifier and very limited antennas.   The only thing missing
was my Dad helping my troubleshoot my HW-101 and Boston playing on the radio.

- Overall this claimed score would have made the Low Power Top-10 last year, so
I am quite happy about it.   As a motivational factor I had printed off the 3830
postings from last year's Top-10 and this morning I crossed #'s 10, 9, 8, 7 and
6 off sequentially as I caught them.   However, I heard the top guys (N1UR,
AD4Z, N5AW and N4TZ) all in the pileups this weekend, so it appears the Low
Power scores will be very competitive again this year as usual.

Thanks to all the DX stations for getting on, and CU next year!  73,

Ken KE3X

Station:
FT-1000MP, Tribander at 50' and wires on DC city lot.


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