[3830] WPX SSB CQ8X(OH6KZP) SOAB HP
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Mon Mar 31 16:48:20 EDT 2014
CQWW WPX Contest, SSB
Call: CQ8X
Operator(s): OH6KZP
Station: CR2X
Class: SOAB HP
QTH: Ribeira Grande
Operating Time (hrs): 36
Radios: SO2R
Summary:
Band QSOs
------------
160: 0
80: 304
40: 786
20: 1111
15: 1777
10: 1609
------------
Total: 5587 Prefixes = 1394 Total Score = 21,216,680
Club: Contest Club Finland
Comments:
This was my third time visiting the Azores, the first two trips being for CQWW
CW 2012 and CQWW SSB 2013. It was different this time, because I felt that I
arrived to a familiar locale with familiar people, routines, and places (and
car!). In addition to the station being in good shape after the ARRL contests,
this lack of the unknown made pre-contest preparations much less stressful. The
Azores is a wonderful place, and I really enjoyed visiting once again. My usual
travelogue follows, so that I can remind myself later what actually
happened...
I set a new European SOAB HP record as my target. It was not to be an easy
target, with the current high of 20.4M having been set by Emir E7DX/E77DX in
the record-breaking year 2011. Accordingly, I devised an operating plan that
took into account the peculiar WPX scoring system and my one-point EU location
in the middle of the Atlantic. In other words, double-pointer low-band
operation was going to be really tough because of distance, the EU QRM wall,
and "everybody" enjoying the post-sunset high bands anyway. The real
strides thus had to be made by maximizing the number of DX (NA) on the high
bands, while still getting all needed EU multipliers. To add into the mix I
also had no receive antenna for 80m.
With those parameters in place, I went on 40m half an hour before the contest
started to find a good spot. I found one, proceeded with making QSOs, was
getting 59+ reports from both EU and NA, and felt good! So imagine my surprise
when a Central European M/M parks less than 1 kHz above just minutes before it
all starts, with the operator probably being scared to lose face in his team if
he doesn't find a spot to call CQ on. Add to that another station that strangely
starts rattling off numbers less than 1 kHz below me. Neither pretended to hear
my QSY requests, despite their 59+ signals and my received 59+ reports from
others in their regions.
So frankly, please somebody tell me what it takes to keep a frequency on 40m in
the worst heat, because obviously 2 x 2el, 1.5 kW, and common courtesy aren't
enough...! And while you're at it, could you also tell me how I can best deal
with SSB contest splatter during the moments I think I'm literally going insane
:)
Anyway, 20m and 15m were boiling, so after some 10 slow QSOs on 40m I move
there and am off to a nice start. The high bands were in really good shape all
weekend, and I was surprised to work stations from the Far East very late in my
local evenings. I had anticipated working only a few JA stations (and
multipliers), so the coolest thing was an interesting short-path JA opening on
15m on Sunday evening local time. The good band conditions are also partially
problematic for the Azores: NA and EU are both pointing their beams at each
other and you are caught in the middle of this "highway" at a
suitable skip to both, and thus at times the bands sound like QRM walls. The
bands were very crowded, so a good number of stations must have been on the
air.
I've often had problems with the prolonged contest use of headphones, with my
earlobes becoming sore and the situation easily developing into an ear
inflammation (I seem to be a late bloomer, doesn't everybody get those only as
small kids?). Toni OH2UA suggested a solution involving around-the-ear Bose
headphones combined with a specially attached boom microphone, and this was my
second SSB contest using his solution after having assembled it. Wonderful, my
ears are happy! The weather was stormy and rainy all weekend, but fortunately I
only got some S9+ static problems for 10-15 minutes on Sunday evening. The storm
continued today with high winds, and it's saying something when you have to use
serious force to pry the hamshack door open.
The end result is a new claimed EU record, but I was shooting for more margin
(21.5M). I was ahead of my target curve when I started my final break on
Sunday, but things just didn't take off as I had expected in the afternoon.
Also, my targeted pts/Q was 3.18 but I ended up with only 2.72, consistent with
not reaching my low-band targets. That in turn is perhaps a combination of my
psychological low-band SSB splatter abhorrence and the lack of regular workable
stations there due to good high-band conditions. I can now afford -3.6% during
the log check, so we'll see! Anyway, this was a lot of fun. I've put some
statistics below. Live scoring and audio/video streaming were in action as
usual.
Thanks to the entire Radio Arcala team for making this operation possible. In
particular, my appreciation goes to Juha OH8NC and Martti OH2BH for their
special support, and to Toni OH2UA for station engineering. Thanks to José
CU2CE and Francisco CU2DX for the local support, and to all of you for the
QSOs!
Kim OH6KZP
-----------------------------
Cabrillo Statistics (Version 10g) by K5KA & N6TV
http://bit.ly/cabstat
CONTEST: CQ-WPX-SSB
CALLSIGN: CQ8X
CATEGORY-OPERATOR: SINGLE-OP
CATEGORY-TRANSMITTER: ONE
OPERATORS: OH6KZP
-------------- Q S O R a t e S u m m a r y ---------------------
Hour 160 80 40 20 15 10 Rate Total Pct
--------------------------------------------------------------------
0000 0 0 17 168 2 0 187 187 3.3
0100 0 0 0 73 132 0 205 392 7.0
0200 0 64 1 0 105 0 170 562 10.1
0300 0 43 57 13 3 0 116 678 12.1
0400 0 39 94 0 0 0 133 811 14.5
0500 0 81 70 0 0 0 151 962 17.2
0600 0 37 58 0 0 0 95 1057 18.9
0700 0 1 79 4 2 0 86 1143 20.5
0800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1143 20.5
0900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1143 20.5
1000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1143 20.5
1100 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1143 20.5
1200 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1143 20.5
1300 0 0 0 0 0 114 114 1257 22.5
1400 0 0 0 0 0 220 220 1477 26.4
1500 0 0 0 0 3 156 159 1636 29.3
1600 0 0 0 0 130 38 168 1804 32.3
1700 0 0 0 0 206 0 206 2010 36.0
1800 0 0 0 0 8 212 220 2230 39.9
1900 0 0 0 0 0 211 211 2441 43.7
2000 0 0 0 0 0 225 225 2666 47.7
2100 0 0 0 0 34 129 163 2829 50.6
2200 0 0 0 88 76 0 164 2993 53.6
2300 0 10 2 17 91 0 120 3113 55.7
0000 0 0 87 0 21 0 108 3221 57.7
0100 0 0 28 31 0 0 59 3280 58.7
0200 0 0 0 195 0 0 195 3475 62.2
0300 0 0 0 170 0 0 170 3645 65.2
0400 0 0 58 89 0 0 147 3792 67.9
0500 0 0 135 0 0 0 135 3927 70.3
0600 0 29 74 0 0 0 103 4030 72.1
0700 0 0 25 0 3 0 28 4058 72.6
0800 0 0 0 0 83 13 96 4154 74.4
0900 0 0 0 7 44 7 58 4212 75.4
1000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4212 75.4
1100 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4212 75.4
1200 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4212 75.4
1300 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4212 75.4
1400 0 0 0 0 3 0 3 4215 75.4
1500 0 0 0 0 16 155 171 4386 78.5
1600 0 0 0 0 89 72 161 4547 81.4
1700 0 0 0 2 56 50 108 4655 83.3
1800 0 0 0 2 192 0 194 4849 86.8
1900 0 0 0 2 157 3 162 5011 89.7
2000 0 0 0 6 151 2 159 5170 92.5
2100 0 0 0 128 39 0 167 5337 95.5
2200 0 0 0 8 116 0 124 5461 97.7
2300 0 0 1 108 15 2 126 5587 100.0
------------------------------------------------------
Total 0 304 786 1111 1777 1609 5587
Gross QSOs=5648 Dupes=61 Net QSOs=5587
Unique callsigns worked = 4248
The best 60 minute rate was 233/hour from 1341 to 1440
The best 30 minute rate was 244/hour from 0027 to 0056
The best 10 minute rate was 270/hour from 0027 to 0036
The best 1 minute rates were:
6 QSOs/minute 15 times.
5 QSOs/minute 137 times.
4 QSOs/minute 409 times.
3 QSOs/minute 563 times.
2 QSOs/minute 553 times.
1 QSOs/minute 381 times.
There were 250 bandchanges and 103 (1.8%) probable 2nd radio QSOs.
Number of letters in callsigns
Letters # worked
-----------------
3 27
4 1692
5 2266
6 1534
7 22
8 23
9 14
10 9
Multi-band QSOs
---------------
1 bands 3362
2 bands 572
3 bands 199
4 bands 91
5 bands 24
6 bands 0
------- S i n g l e B a n d Q S O s ------
Band 160 80 40 20 15 10
----------------------------------------------
QSOs 0 136 362 629 1119 1116
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