[3830] CQWW CW P49Y(AE6Y) SOAB Classic HP

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                    CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW

Call: P49Y
Operator(s): AE6Y
Station: P49Y

Class: SOAB Classic HP
QTH: Aruba
Operating Time (hrs): 24

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Zones  Countries
------------------------------
  160:  181    12       29
   80:  424    22       61
   40:  346    17       49
   20:  657    36       80
   15:  964    34       92
   10:  876    28       77
------------------------------
Total: 3448   149      388  Total Score = 5,481,696

Club: Northern California Contest Club

Comments:

A very enjoyable 24-hour adventure.  Thanks to the Contest Committee for
inventing the Classic category that allowed me to have a great contest
experience, but still spend Sunday with the family, who are on the island for a
Thanksgiving vacation.  Beautiful weather, great for beaches and fine dining
outdoors in the evening (except for a violent rainstorm Sunday night, that
is).
 The 24-hour part was great, but my score would have been better if the 40m
antenna hadn't suddenly failed at 0800Z. Not sure what went wrong, as the next
day it all seemed to be there physically, but could well be an open feedline
issue.  Fortunately, I had already spent 2 hours on 40 (which was in great
shape) earlier, but missed out on several dozen mults that were expected
later.
 It seems clear that the strategy to win the Classic overlay would be to pick
and choose hours to operate, but I basically took 24 out of the first 25
1/2(and, but for the 40m antenna problem, had planned just to operate the first
24), so as to have the rest of the time free for family.  Per strategy advice
from Aruba pro W2GD, I did spend more time hunting for mults (4:40 hours, per
the log) than I had in 2012 when I operated low power from here.  Ended up with
100 fewer QSOs after 24 hours than in that contest, but with 120 more mults. I
really did miss the second radio though, and several times picked move
frequencies blindly that turned out to be very busy. Apologies to those who
suffered. 
 Pileup behavior seemed a little more unruly than in the past. For example, I
had a great deal of difficulty on 10 getting an insistent EW station to stand
by so I could hear what I thought was a weak VU, which delightfully turned out
to be VU4KV.  Only one frequency fight, when I was QRM'd on 160 off an
otherwise clear frequency that I had been using for about 5 minutes by a very
loud and insistent mainland zone 9 station which apparently believe in spectrum
ownership rights. 
 A delightful Thanksgiving dinner was shared with JP and Cris (P43A, P43C),
John (W2GD, P40W), and Alex (KU1CW, P40C) and Natasha.  
 Thanks as always to co-owner John (W6LD, P40L) and frequent user Ed (W0YK,
P49X) for keeping the sation in good order.  And thanks for all the QSOs, and
to the organizers for the new category and the terrific world-wide
participation. 

73, Andy, AE6Y, P49Y

Rig: Just one K3/P3!, Alpha 86.
Ant: 160 vert dipole, 1 el 80, 2 el 40, 4 el 20, 5 el 15, 2 el 10, C31,
beverages.
Software: CXQPWIN ver. 12.8


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