[3830] WPX SSB VA7ST SOAB HP

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                    CQWW WPX Contest, SSB

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

Class: SOAB HP
QTH: BC
Operating Time (hrs): 24

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
  160:    0
   80:   27
   40:  230
   20:  155
   15:  574
   10:  288
------------
Total: 1274  Prefixes = 717  Total Score = 2,724,600

Club: Orca DX and Contest Club

Comments:

* FT-2000 and SB-221
* N1MM Logger (unassisted)
* Steppir 3-el. at 27'
* 40M  -- Steppir dipole and 2-el reversible quad
* 75M  -- three-vertical array

Winds are dead calm two hours after the contest ended, but they were blustery
all weekend so the yagi was left at 27' for the contest. 

I edged past my previous best from 2012 with fewer Qs but more mults, then
coasted almost to the finish on Sunday afternoon. Near the end 20M was
marginally open to Europe but it wasn't strong, and the band sounded noisy with
weak domestic signals, so I packed it in with a couple of hours remaining after
expending way too much energy getting the exchange across to a loud EC2
station. Band just wasn't playing well from this end. 

The big X-1.0 flare at 1740z Saturday was amazing -- 15M was packed with
European needle-pinners and suddenly they were gone. I figured I had found a
supernaturally quiet frequency and started calling CQ with no takers. Didn't
realize we had been hit hard until I flipped the Steppir and worked half a
dozen W6 stations who commented that everyone had disappeared. Checked the
Space Weather Prediction Center to see the flare spike rising to a peak at
1748z, then rapidly falling off. And 15 minutes later, the band was back.

10M was in good shape for a while both days, but 15M was the money band all
weekend. 40M and 75M were better than last year, but not a lot of DX worked.
Made my first phone contact with EU on 75M on Saturday night with a magical
sudden path to G-land, though I heard no others.

DXCC count across all bands was up from 68 last year to 87 this year. Added at
least a couple of new band-slots.

I noticed contest protesters out in fine numbers, complaining about us idiots
using up all the bandwidth swapping numbers. Then after clearing 10 khz of
space for their old farts' net, they's swap local temp and precipitation stats,
number of goats on the porch, etc., and pretend their own version of inane
numbers was somehow of higher value. I laughed at that -- very entertaining to
take a break and listen to the uninformed (and apparently unable to Google)
wonder aloud, "what contest are they in, anyway?" To each their own,
but some guys just have no tolerance for anyone but themselves. Well, except
for livestock in the house.

Thanks for the contacts.

        Band    QSOs    Pts  WPX
         3.5      27     111    8
           7     230     900  114
          14     155     427  104
          21     574    1640  343
          28     288     722  148
       Total    1274    3800  717

            Score : 2,724,600

Year-over-year...
2014-03-30      SOABHP  1274    717     2,724,600
2013-03-31      SOABHP  1030    504     1,380,960
2012-03-25      SOABHP  1401    663     2,618,850       
2011-03-27      SOABHP   907    527     1,482,451       
2010-03-28      SOABHP  1172    570     2,014,380       
2009-03-29      SOABHP   519    294       429,534


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