[3830] WPX CW NR3X(@N1LN) M/2 HP

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                    CQWW WPX Contest, CW

Call: NR3X
Operator(s): KU5B W0UCE N4YDU N3ND WA4PSC N1LN
Station: N1LN

Class: M/2 HP
QTH: NC
Operating Time (hrs): 48

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
  160:   40
   80:  294
   40: 1202
   20: 1661
   15: 1205
   10:  135
------------
Total: 4537  Prefixes = 1217  Total Score = 13,825,120

Club: Potomac Valley Radio Club

Comments:

This wasn’t exactly a weekend of high rates, big signals and bigger pileups. 
However it was a weekend to share 48 hours with friends, telling and listening
to many stories, some even true, sleeping less than we would prefer and
â€" yes, you guessed it â€" enjoying yet another Chef Archie dinner
creation. Let the wine flow! This weekend also turned out to be a mini reunion.
Colin, KU5B, came over from Houston to join our M2 team. My wife Laurie, N1YXU,
and I first met Colin in 2002 when we lived in Houston. It has been over 7
years since we have seen each other and we had lots of catching up to do. Truly
amazing that Colin got 7 years older, is out of high school, finished with his
masters and getting ready to start his PHD in the fall. Laurie and I are the
same age that we were in Houston. As Colin’s degrees are in physics he is
having issues with our assumption that we were able to stop time. Last but by
no means least, we even had a secret weapon. Everyone knows Howie, N4AF, but
did you all know there are actually two Howie Hoyt’s and both in North
Carolina? Howie, WA4PSC, joined us for his first major CW contest and he did
well. Hopefully he will be a regular for many of the future multi-op events.  

Now on to the radio stuff. Yes, the bands may not have been their best, but we
continued to push for as much as we could get. Not a big surprise, but our
first 3 hours of the weekend on 20 and 40 turned in the highest rates of the
entire contest. Saturday morning did bring some excellent rates for Dan on 15
meters that started us on the way to a very respectable QSO and mult total.
Colin and Nate kept watch for a 10 meter opening and were successful for a few
Qs, but the big opening is still out there somewhere. Both nights were plagued
with high QRN levels when listening to the west on the low bands making painful
copy of the western states. Fortunately we had a relatively clear and quiet path
to Europe and the 6 point Qs. On Saturday night 80 was not being real productive
so off we went to 160. No, not super rate, but we did add 2 additional mults to
the total. 

Saturday afternoon we started to discuss what our QSO, mult and overall point
goals should be. We agreed on a Q count in the mid 4000s and a point total over
14m. Well, we made the Q total but fell short of our total point goal. We did
beat our 2011 results by almost 30 percent, but as we did not enter in 2012 the
only scores to compare to were the VERY high scores from other station entries.
Needless to say, we did not know how our final score would hold up. Just to
make things more interesting, in the final hour we lost our 15 meter stack. So
we quickly switched to the backup antenna, a single log periodic.  That was the
only equipment issue for the entire weekend.  This was the first 48 hour test
with the two Acom 2000As.  I don’t know why it took so long for Jack, W0UCE,
to talk me into buying the first one.  What a great piece of equipment and
companion for the K3s.

Now it is time to wait to read the 3830 postings and see where we finished.  
Regardless of our final standings, our 2013 WPX CW weekend will go into our
record books as a total success. Thanks to everyone for the Qs, being patient
when we needed repeats, and making it possible for 6 guys to have such fun time
playing radio.

73,
Bruce â€" N1LN


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