[3830] CQWW SSB N0HR SOAB(A) HP

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Mon Oct 27 22:58:00 EDT 2014


                    CQ Worldwide DX Contest, SSB

Call: N0HR
Operator(s): N0HR
Station: N0HR

Class: SOAB(A) HP
QTH: IA
Operating Time (hrs): 32
Radios: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Zones  Countries
------------------------------
  160:                    
   80:    3     2        2
   40:  110    19       55
   20:  271    32       96
   15:  374    29       97
   10:  783    33      130
------------------------------
Total: 1541   115      380  Total Score = 2,156,220

Club: Iowa DX and Contest Club

Comments:

Mostly, I post these comments so that in the future I can remember what happened
in a given contest and then see what changed and how that impacted my score.
This year, I added a lot of hardware and the result was a drop in score from
3.8M to 2.1M points - ouch!

Spent the past couple months preparing to go to SO2R. This included adding a
K3, Microham micro2R SO2R box, 5B4AQN BPFs, a multiband vertical, and so on. I
also made the leap to N1MM+. My goal was to test some of this out during the
Iowa QSO party, but I was still piecing things together leading up to CQWW.
Lots of last minute scrambling which included N1MM+, making connectors for
micro2R cables, putting together a new desk to support all the new hardware,
and (on Friday) installing a inverted L for 160m. 

Once the contest started, I was eager to see how everything would play. During
the second hour I made an attempt to move to 40m. In doing so, I noticed that
the micro2R was acting funny and the PC was losing it's connection to it. I
couldn't push the footswitch and key the K3 (which was the rig connected to the
amp). Really frustrating. 

I spent most of the first few hours troubleshooting and trying to limp along.
By about midnight, I realized that I was off to a bad start and went to bed. 

Saturday morning, I woke up wondering if I could switch radio 1 (the IC-7600)
vs radio 2 (K3) on the micro2R to at least get going again. That seemed to be
working except when on 40m. On 40m, the micro2R would stay keyed up for a few
seconds after releasing the PTT and the CW light would light up. 

I suspected the issue was RFI... added some ferrites in key places, maybe only
marginal improvement. Disconnected the micro2R from the 5B4AQN BPF on the
IC-7600 which was acting strange. That was better. Then, I started moving
cables around on the desk. Bingo! The culprit was the cable going my paddles
which I had placed next to the amp. Once I moved that away from the amp, things
were good. In arranging the things on the desk to look clean/neat, I had setup a
RFI issue or two. 

However, by that point, the damage had been done to my score. 

Oh well, I guess I can write it off as a learning experience. On a positive
note, my shack has been upgraded. 

Station details:
Radio 1: K3
Radio 2: IC-7600
Microham Micro2R
Elecraft 1k-fa
N1MM+
5B4AQN BPFs
10m - 20m: SteppIR 4ele @ 72 ft
40m: XM-240 @ 80 ft
80m: inverted V @ 50 ft, 1/4 sloper
160m: inverted L (installed Friday)
Multiband vertical: 6BTV @ 10 ft

Future improvements to make:
* more ferrites
* more practice (actually use SO2R)
* setup N1MM+ to record QSOs
* another monitor 
* better chair
* more radials


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