[3830] CQWW SSB WB4OMM SOSB(A)/20 QRP

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                    CQ Worldwide DX Contest, SSB

Call: WB4OMM
Operator(s): WB4OMM
Station: WB4OMM

Class: SOSB(A)/20 QRP
QTH: NFL
Operating Time (hrs): 10

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Zones  Countries
------------------------------
  160:                    
   80:                    
   40:                    
   20:  130    29       73
   15:                    
   10:                    
------------------------------
Total:  130    29       73  Total Score = 34,680

Club: Florida Contest Group

Comments:

Yaesu FT-2000 @ 5W output; Heil ProSetPlus;  A3S Beam with 10M/15M/20M/40M at
38', Yaesu G-450A Rotator;   HP Compaq dc7800 MiniTower dual core; with Windows
XP and N1MM+ contest software.
Could only work a part-time effort on Friday and Saturday nights for a few
hours; but learned much for my next QRP contest entry!  Took lots of notes: 
Called KL7RA, he responded first call, as did some others that really surprised
me (some on my first call, but usually no more than 2-3 minutes of calling
them)...some were much more work and many, many calls.  Called VK9LM and JAs
for long time Friday night without luck (and they were very strong here), got
both Sat nite in a few calls.  Ditto KH7XX, TX7G, RI1ANC, ZF2AH and UP2L. 
Heard BY2AA, VR2S, YB1AR, FR/DJ7RJ and an FW/ to name a few juicy DX stations,
never could get them to respond.  I actually told a few folks I was QRP and got
several responses with, "you're doing a good job".  Sunday afternoon,
getting ready to leave the house, I went to the shack to make sure everything
was closed down, got on and worked 5 new countries in 3 minutes �" and
all calling CQ and responded on one call!  (OK, so they were all Western
Europe).  My surprise for the weekend....heard JV5A Friday night calling CQ, he
was readable but not strong here on the Florida East Coast.  I called him since
he was kind of “under” several strong adjacent stations, and he came back
to me on the first call!  With 5W and a tri-bander at 40 feet.  WOW!!!!  (I was
so worried it was a mistake, pirate, or slim, when he appeared again Saturday
night calling CQ about the same time/frequency, I called him again - and he
again came back on the first call again with "59, 23").  My longest
shot - VK2BCQ, at 9,376 KM or 1900 KM per watt!  (He took a few minutes to
get!).
Once again, I am absolutely amazed at what I did with 5W.  Had I had more time,
I am sure I could have worked much more, and maybe get those zones I missed
since I was operating the same time window pretty much each night.  I heard
someone in every one of the 40 zones, but just couldn't make the trip on 11 of
them.   Ditto with some usually easy countries, I couldn’t believe how long
it took me to get Italy, and I never could work Germany �" maybe better
in the daylight!
AND.....even though I used the built-in voice keyer in my FT-2000 (just my
call), I still started to get hoarse a bit at the end of each of the two
sessions.  I found QRP SSB labor-intensive, and the rates very slow as
evidenced by my measly 1.3 Q/hr rate!  Working QRP RTTY and QRP CQ is nothing
near as difficult or frustrating than QRP SSB.  And just because they are loud
here, doesn’t mean they can hear you!
But still fun!  As always, I learned much enjoyed my time on the radio.  To
those who also had to work to get my exchange, “THANKS” for the extra
effort!
73 to all…….
Steve WB4OMM


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