[3830] CQ WW RTTY VA7ST SOAB HP

[webform at b4h.net]

                    CQ Worldwide DX Contest, RTTY

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

Class: SOAB HP
QTH: BC
Operating Time (hrs): 35

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  State/Prov  DX   Zones
------------------------------------
   80:   82       33       7     7
   40:  240       43      44    17
   20:  521       48      59    26
   15:  605       38      64    21
   10:  110       23      27    14
------------------------------------
Total: 1558      185     201    85  Total Score = 1,848,675

Club: Orca DX and Contest Club

Comments:

* FT-2000, FT-920, N1MM Logger + MMTTY
* 3-ele SteppIR at 47'
* 20-10 trapped vertical dipole (2nd radio)
* 40M SteppIR dipole at 27' / 2-el 40M quad at 2'
* 80M 3-ele triangular array (6 directions)
* Beverage 270' aimed due east
* No spotting network

Um, I guess for starters, I should note that 10M was wide open to Europe on
Sunday. A shame more stations didn't point to the West Coast, as the signals
from Europe were huge -- but only 10 from Zone 14 and 12 from Zone 15 were
heard. Other than that, 10M was sketchy most of the weekend, and nothing at all
like it was last year.

For the 2nd radio on the high bands I used the driven element of the old Mosley
Classic 33 as a vertical dipole (hanging from an elm tree branch). It sucks.
With only 100W it felt like nobody could hear me on any of the three bands, but
a few did and this poor second fiddle added about 60 Qs I wouldn't have had
otherwise.

Lowlight: The USB cables I use for CAT seized up about a dozen times during the
contest, locking up N1MM in mid-QSO (curiously, always when trying to send
confirmation TU at the end). Had to wait as long as 2 minutes for the problem
to end, so my apologies to those I didn't respond to at end of a QSO. Still not
sure what the problem was. At first I thought it might be related to using 2Tone
as second RX windows, but the most likely culprit is RF on the cables, as the
seizing never happened when making Qs on the second radio (100w).

Lowlight: 80M -- wanted to really try out the new 80M array, but the band was
quite punky and no real DX worked. Not much activity there, either.

Highlights: 40M to Europe on Friday night (not as good Saturday night). And
long runs of JA stations (88 on 15M), and strong openings to EU on 15M and 20M
(300 and 200 respectively).

Before the contest, I studied VA7KO's very impressive HP score from last year.
He made 481 Qs on 10M last year -- I knew the bands wouldn't be as strong as
they were in 2012, but I still set my sights on 1,600 QSOs and 1.95M for a HP
score (that's what Koji had last time). Fell just short of both goals with
1,558 Qs and 1.85M points, but still tripled my 2012 low-power score and
surprised myself with good totals despite 10M not really being in the mix.

Thanks for the contacts. See you in one month for the SSB leg -- not my fave,
but still looking forward to it.

-- Bud VA7ST

        QSOs     Pts  Cty   ZN  Sec     Score
2012    1558    3925  185   85  201 1,848,675  35.0 hrs HP
2012     777    1759  119   67  168   622,686  21.5 hrs
2011     619    1345  110   67  171   468,060  18.0 hrs
2010     799    1846  128   63  155   638,716  29.0 hrs
2009     703    1643  107   55  126   473,184  26.5 hrs
2008     784    1750  111   55  135   526,750  29.0 hrs HP
2007     599    1295   74   46  119   309,505  23.0 hrs HP


        Band    QSOs    Pts  ZN    Cty
         3.5      82     160    7    7   33
           7     240     540   17   44   43
          14     521    1323   26   59   48
          21     605    1643   21   64   38
          28     110     259   14   27   23
       Total    1558    3925   85  201  185


            Score : 1,848,675


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