[3830] IARU K8CN SO CW QRP

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                    IARU HF World Championship

Call: K8CN
Operator(s): K8CN
Station: K8CN

Class: SO CW QRP
QTH: NH
Operating Time (hrs): 19

Summary:
 Band  CW Qs  Ph Qs  Zones  HQ Mults
-------------------------------------
  160:    1             0       1
   80:   23             1       1
   40:  179            14      26
   20:  286            16      33
   15:  123            18      24
   10:   23             5       5
-------------------------------------
Total:  635     0      54      90  Total Score = 242,928

Club: 

Comments:

After entering the IARU HF contest in 3 successive years with varying degrees of
seriousness, I have come to the studied conclusion that there really is a
difference between fall/winter and summer propagation patterns (at least here
in the Northeast U.S.).  I count on 20 meters opening strongly to Europe in the
early morning local time in the fall/winter DX contests and find that I can hold
a run frequency on that band even as a QRP station when conditions are good. 
Not so in the IARU HF contest, at least in these past 3 years.  Nobody can hear
my 5 watts in Europe until about 1830Z, so I have learned to be content with a
lot of 1- and 3-pointers until well into the contest.  I have yet to dig up
last year's log and compare rates vs. band/hours to see if my perceptions are
accurate, but this year felt much different once over the slow Saturday start. 
And to think this is with recent solar flux indices running near 200 and sunspot
numbers in similar territory - yikes!  Now bracing myself for the declining
years of Cycle 24.....

I did persist longer in the chair this year and it paid off in total Qs, but I
think my overall average rate stayed about the same.  Not by nature a night
owl, I forced myself to stay at it until 0700Z Sunday, then exercised the
"rate too low to justify this self-inflicted punishment" option to
catch 40 winks, and rose to catch the final 2 hours of the contest.  In
addition to having worked all the weaker DX stations the previous afternoon and
evening when propagation was favorable for QRP, the Sunday morning propagation
seemed no better than Saturday morning's drudgery, so I did a lot of
band-bouncing to try to find the right place to be for new entrants who could
hear my puny signal.

I would be remiss if I didn't comment on the superb operating skill of the
WRTC2014 competitors, who were perhaps 50-60 miles south of my QTH. They
experienced the very same propagation conditions I did.  They each had
tribanders at 40 feet, and orthogonal 40/80 meter inverted vees hung from the
same tower.  The top scoring teams (all 2 person teams) compiled around 4500 Qs
and averaged 50 IARU zones per band!  If one feels humbled by what can be
accomplished with 2 radios at 100 watts to a shared tribander plus low wires in
the hands of the best contesters in the world, you can join me in the Club of
Awe. Listening to the ground wave or back-scattered signals from the WRTC
teams, I marveled at their efficiency in making every Q and their ability to
accurately copy on first call the weakest DX callers that I could barely hear
at all.  No more excuses from me after witnessing what these teams did under
Field Day operating conditions!  Congratulations to all of the teams for their
efforts, and thanks for the inspiration to the rest of us!

Hearty thanks are also due the many other excellent (and extremely patient!)
ops who make that extra effort to close the loop on challenging Qs with us QRP
devotees.  I can almost see you straining to dredge our signals out of the
noise and QRM at your QTH!

Bottom line: This year's point score was more than double last year's score so
something must have gone better than it felt on Saturday and Sunday mornings. 
I'll study the logs........

Rig: K3 @ 5 Watts; Lazy-H gradually falling back to earth from its once lofty
height of 60 feet, but still doggedly launching signals into the aether;
Johnson Matchbox for nostalgia even though I've got a newfangled ATU.

73,
Mike, K8CN
Durham NH


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