[3830] WPX CW C4Z(5B4AIZ) SOSB15 HP

[webform at b41h.net]

                    CQWW WPX Contest, CW

Call: C4Z
Operator(s): 5B4AIZ
Station: 5B4AIZ

Class: SOSB15 HP
QTH: CYPRUS
Operating Time (hrs): 35.5

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
  160:     
   80:     
   40:     
   20:     
   15: 1802
   10:     
------------
Total: 1802  Prefixes = 823  Total Score = 3,850,400

Club: Chiltern DX Club

Comments:

Since moving out to Cyprus several years ago I have always entered the majors
with low power. This time I was looking forward to joining the big boys in the
high power league.

 With a tiny urban plot where I am unable to even orientate a 40m inv vee in a
favourable direction the only way to be in any way competitive is to do single
banders aiming for a top spot in the triband overlay category which has worked
out pretty well. An aside comment here, not that I have any wrtc ambitions, 
but when I look at the wrtc tables I can't figure out how that works and it
does seem loaded against single band entrants since, for instance, I 
invariably make world top 5/10 box finishes but am pretty well down the list
for my area whereas members of a multi-op outfit are awarded a pretty high
rating with unknown individual participation.

Come the day an early start, 0515 (all times local, utc + 3 hrs) looked
promising with a couple of Zl's, Vk  & By's on the long path. That path
faded out, turning to short path was pretty well zilch, a few strong By's who
needed fills and little else, then what's this? calls from 4X, LZ. YO, SV,
close in areas I usually struggle to work on this band, big gun E7 &, S5 
calling off the back. Where are the UA9/0's, no JA yet. Well they did come but
in dribbles with spotlight openings and mainly struggling for fills. The
morning wore on in same vein, quite a few of those close in areas but not even
one OK/SP, occasional UA, UY but nothing west when by mid morning EU should be
in full swing.

It is seldom that I struggle with motivation but at 15.30  with 3/4/5 minutes
between qso's and still no eu's I asked the XYL to cancel the working lunch,
prepare a meal after which I would take a couple of hours nap. I quit at 16.00,
after 11 hours just 501 contacts in the log. After listening to my grumbles for
half an hour over lunch the xyl said to me 'you always tell me that these
competitions are fun'  - I struggled to find an answer to that.

Back in the chair at 18.30, things a bit better, some west eu, and usa now
coming through but weakly and mainly east coast,  fills were hard work. Canada
was very tough, even those beacons VY2TT & VE3EJ were in the mud so VE9AA
can take heart that he was as strong as any from that patch. At least now the
rate was over 60 per hour  (I never nudged the meter over 140 the whole
contest)  I wrapped it up at midnight  with 840 in the log. I took a peep at
the indices, A index of 30  and K 6 - ugh, I'm gonna take 8 hours sleep and
pray for tomorrow.

08.00, the A index  has gone up to 39 !!!,  but K has dropped a couple - what
lies ahead? In the event it was much better, JA coning through, close in eu now
gone, the SP's are OK's are back followed by DL's ( I pretty well cleared out
the Store that issues DL prefixes) then other west eu's. Again it was all
spotlight switching here and there. Usually with singe band efforts  second day
is hard work to find new contacts so I was pleased to add a further 1k q's in
those difficult cndx. USA was so much better, sometimes strong, sometimes weak
but the band had become quiet so the fills were not such a problem with
repeats. When eu faded out it was great to work mid west and west coast plus
VE7. I had anticipated a midnight finish when the band closed up but tonight
was different, the usa spotlights were still working whereas normally after
west coast fades out that is it and we are left with south and central ameicas
and they were not there. I still had a couple of hours in the bank from my
earlier nap time so, still needed 20 or so to hit the 1800 qso's.after dupes, I
just made it with about 40 minutes before end time but at almost 2.30 am local
time I found myself typing into the keyboard the s/n my own F1 keyer was
sending I knew it was time to wrap it up.

How did the switch to high power go, I certainly chose the right contest to do
it looking at the low numbers submitted by the lp stns, very noticeable that I
had to request many more repeats than I was asked for. Copying esp sigs from lp
& qrp stns with fading, band noise and qrm clicks from some closeby stns let
me know how  I have sounded in the past. There was always room to find a clear
frequency so why so many guys just wade in on top of me without listening or
caring beats me. It was uncanny also how often you could hear somebody else
sharing the frequency who was very weak without hearing his callers, two lots
of qso's sharing the same qrg for such long periods I never experienced before.
On the other hand it was remarkable the number of times ED1R chose to land on my
qrg. He was weak and I am not saying he was hearing me but I was hearing his
callers who were busting up the esp numbers I was trying to get..

What great efforts from P33W & P3N from the other end of this island, so
now we have two superstations, that rivalry must have been intense, what a
close finish!.
.
Congrats to HK1R who operated in my category, he sure got a flying start giving
me a s/n close to 400  at only 03.30 z first day, yet he still had time to
s&p, calling me on the long path.Can't see anyone getting close to his
2,800+ q's. For the Asian crown on 15m I see from declared scores already that
UN9GD is ahead of me, but it is close, we shall see what happens with the log
checking, there is going to be a big ouch! factor with our UBN's this time
around.

A breakdown of leading countries  wkd shows 

DL - 232,  USA -170,  UA3/6 -  170,  JA - 136,  UY - 93.. UA9/0 - 88.

Eqp't  TS570 + Acom 1010.   3 Ele Tribander up 15mtrs.  Logging with 'SD'

73  Brian C4Z / 5B4AIZ.


Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/