[3830] WPX SSB K9CT M/M HP

[webform at b4h.net]

                    CQWW WPX Contest, SSB

Call: K9CT
Operator(s): K3WA K9CT K9QQ K9ZO KB9OWD KB9PPY KB9UWU KC0TOT N7MB WE9V
Station: K9CT

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

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
  160:  136
   80:  419
   40: 1408
   20: 1924
   15: 2100
   10: 1740
------------
Total: 7727  Prefixes = 1703  Total Score = 32,544,330

Club: Society of Midwest Contesters

Comments:

Wow...we had a blast in the is contest! The conditions were only fair in the
first 24 hours but improved the last 24 hours for us. Activity was very good
with many prefixes on the air. 

Our team goal was to break the 1980 W9 record set by W9ZRX team. We had never
done a M/M from K9CT but decided that it was "rate" contest and that
we would be able to utilize our setup for that purpose in this contest. K9CT
contest is optimized for M/2 or M/1 operation. 

The team was assembled right after my return from FT5ZM and it was exciting to
see that conditions have been very good. Each person expressed their excitement
for what could be done under the right conditions. 

The contest started well but as usual the early hours were not as fast as we
would like. There had been some solar activity that absorbed most Asia signals
on the high bands and few JA were worked. EU was working each other on the
other bands so it was harder to run...so we went up and down each of the lower
bands trying to snag the QSOs. Both K3WA and 

N7MB spelled the team during the night and chased down many QSOs on 40, 80 and
160. It was a pleasant surprise to have a good opening on 15m to EU in the
early morning hours.  

Saturday morning we had hoped for rate on 20, 15 and 10 but the flare had
throttled back the time of the openings and intensity. 20 and 15 finally
allowed us to run but at less 

rates than anticipated. 10 was a disappointment as we could only work S&P
on a SE path for most of the morning. By 1600Z we could finally call direct to
EU and hold a run frequency. We watched www.cqcontest.net as NQ4I was running
all morning and we could not match their QSO total or mults.

By 1300Z we had surpassed the old W9 record....and now what? Our M/2 record was
set in 2013 and embarked on beating our 13.5M points and 1307 mult records. Each
operator was having a blast running as we were not limited by band changes any
more...we were on three bands most of the time and would try to be on a fourth
if possible. The morning and 

evening grey line periods were very good. We could have used 5 radios to catch
all of the action....(next time?) Anyhow, it did not take long for us to
overcome the M/2 W9 records. The team was getting word that the band conditions
were now improving as looked forward to better conditions. We quickly setup two
stackmatches in the shack to allow 

operators to be in two different directions...need to figure out a better way
to handle this for next time. 

The openings to JA, OC and AS were much better on the second night. Long
opening to JA on 10m with our best rates so far. Stations were cranking away on
20, 15 and 10 for many hours into the night. This was tough as we needed to get
more QSOs in the log on the low bands where the high QSO points were waiting.
40 was very good but 80 and 160 were 

tough....lots of noise greeted us each night from spring storms across NA. This
is where a 5th radio setup would have been quite helpful. Maybe it was a
coincidence, but the rate was quite high after the operators each had a Bud
Light....

The team started early mentioning our other frequencies to callers and it was
accepted very well. Lots of stations moved to other bands...most of our 160
QSOs were moved there from  80 and 40 QSOs. We had several stations who were
#1,2 and 3...obviously they had as much fun as we did working them. Thanks to
all of the stations that did work us on many bands! 

We also had several ham visitors during the weekend. Two were new contesters
and sat with our ops and listened to them operate. Both were encouraged to sit
at an open radio and operate....KC0TOT and KB9PPY made several QSOs....in fact
did a great job! KC0TOT and his wife, KD0EKA joined SMC during his stay.

Again N7MB and K3WA filled in on the second night so that our operators could
get some needed sleep. KC0TOT also filled a seat during the night and helped
out. Operators were anticipating good runs in the morning when they awoke. And
they were not disppointed....Sunday was a better day. 20 started early with 15m
close behind. 10m opened quickly and was there all day. Good LP openings to AS
and OC on 20m as well. 

The team kept at it and watched as WX3B joined the online scoring on
cqcontest.net. Wow..all day horse race. NQ4I had a good lead on us but WX3B was
in our zone. It was back and forth all day....Jim's team got an early jump with
the east coast advantage to EU. But we pressed on not knowing that all of us
would surpass the USA mark set by KM3T team in 2000 and the prefix record of
K1LZ set in 2010.  

Matt, KB9UWU was to leave with an hour early to make it to a band practice. No
way was he going to leave the chair! He kept pounding away...each operator was
pleading for mults and QSOs like mad! We watched the live scores like the
finish to many of the NCAA basketball games this weekend....back and forth with
WX3B. We held our collective breath as the clock ticked to the end. We resynched
and rescored the log and uploaded our final score....just squeaking by WX3B.
Just like a last second shot from half court swished through the net. Now to
find out how accurate we logged... :-)!

Thanks for all of the team members... K3WA, K9CT, K9QQ, K9ZO, KB9OWD, KB9PPY,
KB9UWU, KC0TOT, N7MB, WE9V for their comradery during the 48 hours. The food
and conversation were great. 

Also, thanks and congratulations to the teams of NQ4I and WX3B for a fun
weekend! We truly enjoyed the competition.

73, Craig K9CT
www.k9ct.us


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