[3830] CQWW CW KQ2M SOAB Classic HP
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Sun Dec 27 14:16:07 EST 2015
CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW
Call: KQ2M
Operator(s): KQ2M
Station: KQ2M
Class: SOAB Classic HP
QTH: CT
Operating Time (hrs): 23.9
Summary:
Band QSOs Zones Countries
------------------------------
160: 0 0 0
80: 426 14 62
40: 303 24 70
20: 723 37 107
15: 1236 31 91
10: 137 24 64
------------------------------
Total: 2825 130 394 Total Score = 4,316,712
Club: Frankford Radio Club
Comments:
My mother-in-law passed away during CQWWSSB while we were all with her at the
hospital. In the weeks that followed there was no time for radio or fixing
antennas and frankly, I had very little enthusiasm for either. Even though
this was CQWWCW, it was still just a radio contest �" not real life. But
I had missed both modes of CQWW in 2014 due to poor health and the thought of
missing CQWWCW for the second year in a row was simply unacceptable. So I went
into the weekend with no 160 antenna, a broken and useless 40 wire beam for
Europe and not having been on the air for almost 8 months.
I reassembled the station on early Friday morning ( I usually disconnect
everything during the Summer months ), attempted to fix the inside the shack
problems and then went upstairs for my professional work. Since my health
problems are severe and ongoing, plus the difficult side-effects of the
medications, how much I operate depends on how I feel each day, and more
specifically, how I feel by the hour. And, when you take meds at spaced-out
intervals of at least 8 �" 10 times per day, you are forced to plan your
operating around that schedule and the requirement for sleep each night. There
is no planning for a competitive single op. all-band operation.
This makes my choice of operating category really easy: 1 radio
Unassisted.
My goal was to operate 6 �" 8 hours with an optimistic target of 10
�" 12 hours if I was feeling well and the pain and discomfort were
tolerable.
On Friday afternoon, I put up my 80M wire 4-square and finished at dark
�" 4:30 PM in the Northeast.
At 5 PM I tested the 4-square. It didn’t work. UGH! Now, no 80 or 160.
And with a pitifully puny signal to Europe on 40 ( my 40M 4-square normally 1
�" 2 s-units weaker to Europe than the 40M wire beam ), I decided to opt
for sleep, planning to get up early for the 20 M run ~ 1130z. This meant no 40
- 160 operation on Friday night �" usually the best night for low band
activity. It also meant I would have only one night to work everything on 40
and 80, IF I could fix the 80, which would have to be done in daylight hours on
Saturday �" during prime Europe running time.
My 20 meter run started with very auroral sounding signals and only an
occasional zone 17 station. The rate started to pick up until DL6JF decided to
zero beat me and call cq endlessly. Eventually he went away and the rate
soared, but at 1215z it was time to go to 15. With the solar flux and SSN in
decline on the downside of the cycle, it was imperative to get to 15 and 10 as
soon as possible as it was unknown how long and how well I would be able to run
there.
At 1215z I made my first 15 meter qso and at 1218z I had my first of many “ 5
minutes “ culminating in a 218 hour, my second best ever from the US. However
I was NOT prepared for this level of rate. With the meds kicking in full force,
even with a full night’s sleep, I was having micro sleeps between almost every
qso and strange dreams in-between cqs. At 12z on the first day after 7 hours of
sleep, I was feeling like I used to on Sunday afternoon after I had been
operating for 40 straight hours! It was a very surreal experience and a
poignant reminder of why I cannot do competitive SOABHP anymore. But the “
training “ of having done some 200 plus competitive SOABHP events over the
past 30 years does have some compensating factors �" even at a low level
of consciousness my brain and fingers know what to do.
And so at 1247z I hit my peak rate of 302.5 / hour for last 10 and shortly
after that my peak last 100 hour hit 234.8 ! Eventually I started to wake up
and enjoy the run even though it was subdued with no z17 stations and extremely
weak Russians. The poor propagation forced me to make the decision at 1330z to
leave a great run on 15 for what would likely be a marginal opening on 10.
Apparently other EU stations were also avoiding 10 so after a quick burst the
rate slowed and propagation started to change. No matter. At 1347z, prime EU
run time, I was forced to take a break to eat, take meds and do other things.
Back on 10 at 1405z, propagation was different - scattered Southwestern EU with
low rate even though the band was open well enough �" which meant a
painful decision to leave potential 10 M mults that I might not hear again in
favor of what would be high rate 15. Since the whole world had now figured out
that 10 was marginal, 15 was absolutely cram-packed. I spent almost 5 minutes
trying to find a run freq. ultimately opting for “ nose-bleed “ territory.
At 1440z I was able to find a good freq. lower down where I stayed for the next
2 ½ hours as the rate picked up . With polar propagation effectively shut
off, mults calling in were scarce �" a lot of volume but few mults. This
was a mixed blessing. With two radios I would be able to tune for mults
�" but with one radio if the mults are not calling you then you are
missing them! This creates enormous uncertainty and stress makes you fear that
you are always in the wrong place at the wrong time and doing the wrong thing!
I don’t know if it was the stress or not, but about 1400z, my heart started
to beat very erratically. I have had persistent problems with heart
arrhythmias and Atrial Fibrillation ( AFIB ) and it is one of the many health
issues that I have to manage. I decided to try to fight through it since I had
not brought my heart medicine down to the shack �" this was not a smart
move as the irregular and uneven blood flow made me lightheaded and physically
weak with a dramatic loss of concentration and memory. It also made me
extremely physically uncomfortable and feel somewhat queasy. It was a very
high price to pay for a good run, but after all it IS CQWWCW. The heart
palpitations, pounding and intermittent AFIB continued into the 17z hour. I
was looking forward to my next break to take the heart meds.
At 1709z in the middle of a great run on 15, I knew that I had to qrt to try to
fix the 80 4-square. I figured that it would be a minor issue and that I would
be back in time for a great 20 M run since I would be “ fresh meat “ after
only making 96 q’s on that band, but It didn’t work out that way. I had to
rebuild two elements of the 4 �" square and string up it up in-between two
rounds of meds and meals. Finally I came back in exhausted at 1946z ready to
run on 20; well that was my plan anyway. Radio propagation’s plan was
different. Instead of a great run, I was working about 60 per hour on a band
that was barely open. DARN �" I had missed my chance to run on 20! I
tuned 15 quickly for a few mults and then it was time for more meds and another
meal. Off from 2022z �" 2048z it was time for my weakest band of all
�" 40 M. Even though I had yet to make a single qso on 40 my puny sig
was forced high in the band with many unanswered cqs until 2204z when I was
thankful to be able to qsy to 80 M with a good rate but then it was time to
hunt mults again on 20 and then a JA run on 15. The Saturday night JA run on
15 is a lot of fun for a New England station but it means two things �"
you will have almost no mults call in and you are too weak to run on 40.
Neither of those are good if you are trying to maximize your score! Since I
was too weak to run on 40 I skipped it and found a good freq, on 80 with RD8D
in zone 17 calling in at 2347z and a few other nice mults. At 0004z it was
back to mult-hunting since I had done almost none up until now on the high
bands. 20 was exciting with a mult �" per �" minute and zones, 23,
24, 25, 26, 27, and 28. No 29 even though I knew that it was on. 15 provided a
few Pacific but I couldn’t afford to DX any more as I was not running. You
get the idea �" always pressure to be doing whatever you are NOT doing
and doing it on a different band!
Yes, I now had to go to 40. Back in “ nose-bleed “ territory at 0044z, I
had a burst call in at 0046 z, a RARE 6 qso minute! but then the run was over
by 0053z and back to mult-hunting on 15 and 20 with another try at a 40 M run
at 0100z, but with a poor 40 M EU signal there was no run for me, so back to 80
at 0107z with a decent run until 0124z. And that was the new operating pattern
�" 10 - 15 minute runs in short bursts and then it would rapidly peter
out and then qsy to another band for another 10 �" 15 minute burst and
then qsy again. It is very mentally tiring to operate that way especially when
you are already physically and mentally exhausted ( from the meds ). At 0124z,
when I should have been running on 40 and 80, I took a two hour break to take
more meds and eat and rest.
After the two hour break I felt stronger and mentally more alert and decided to
push my operating target to 15 hours. At 0324z I was back on with mult �"
a �"minute operating through 20, 40 and 80 and then started to run on 80
at 0418z. Signals became really loud �" no doubt a result of the drop in
MUF below 40 M. Signals were loud on 80 but HG6N two-tone half kc wide signal
was badly qrming me �" evidently he was doing something that was not
proper. I ran until 0543 and then quickly hunted mults on 20 and 40. With EU
sunrise approaching in central Europe, it was time to try to run again on 40.
At 0550z I went high in the band with a solid 10 minute run and then it was
back to 80 for another 10 minutes and then a quick qsy for few mults on 20 and
40 and then back to running on 40 at 0617z for another 15 minutes. 40 was wide
open but 20 was opening as well and that meant mults that I would need to get so
I would run for 15 �" 20 minutes on 40 and then work the next bunch of
mults on 20 and then go back to 40, but at 0639z it was time to get my last
brief run on 80 before I went qrt. Then back to 40 at 0659z for mults, a quick
qsy for 2 mults on 20 and then running again on 40 at 0711z for a solid run
until at 0729z it was time to qrt for sleep. 40 was hot and I was finally loud
enough to run but I was completely exhausted and had to sleep if I was going to
be in any condition to run on 20 and 15.
I got back on at 1102z and DXed until 1127z picking up 7 double mults on 40 and
80. While I couldn’t break though the pileups on 40 for the BY and HS0, I did
get zone 24 on 40 by finding a lonely BV1EL!
My 20 M run started at 1135z along with the constant micro sleeps. I was
simply unable to send coherent cw. Normally I send cw by hand rather than use
the keyboard �" this helps me stay awake and focused although I do sound
a bit sloppy at times. But on Sunday morning I needed to use the keyboard to
operate - my hands were shaking too much ( one of the medicine side-effects ).
I persisted and was rewarded with a rate of 292.7 in the last 10 minutes. RM5A
who had moved close to me was starting to badly qrm me. His signal was more
than 500 hz wide and had three distinct tones! I can’t even imagine what
radio equipment would produce a cw signal like this but I hope that the CQWW
committee decides to investigate. At 1241 I left a wide-open 20 for 15 where I
needed all the Asian Russian mults. 15 was hot also but not open well other
than Europe with 4L3A in z21 being the lone deep double mult. At 1336z RA9X
called in for z17. UR7GO was the third station that I had heard with a
distinct and very wide two-tone signal. 15 stayed hot with great rate but I
was neglecting 10 which had all kinds of mults that I had not yet worked so I
left a great 15 M run freq. and collected 23 10 meter mults in 16 minutes!
Well THAT was fun! But now I had to find a 15 meter run freq. again. Back to
nosebleed territory I found a good spot where RW0BG called in at 1440z for z18!
D4C and CN2AA also called in followed by the wonderful surprise of 3B8HB at
1521z for a double mult. The last time that I was called by a 3B8 in a cw
contest was in 1976 when a 3B8CW called me on 80 cw when I was operating as
WB2SJG and using a low dipole! I have never forgotten that thrill �" one
of the greatest that I have ever experienced in a radio contest. 3B8HB calling
was definitely a thrill!
The rate stayed high but I had to qsy for 10 M for mults and so I left a great
run at 1610z, worked 5 mults and then tried a cq at 1617z. I worked quick 7
stations but then the run was over even though the band was open �" once
again everyone was on 15. Back to mult hunting on 10, picking up 9 more in the
next 12 minutes and then while the rate would be best on 15, I had to go to 20
because I still only had ~ 350 q’s and was missing a huge number of easy
mults.
At 1638z I began my 20 meter run which culminated in a 175 clock hour with
several double mults calling in, most notable being VU2ABS at 1703z. However
the run was short-lived as propagation deteriorated quite early. I started to
feel stronger and decided to push to operate 20 hours and maybe even go for “
half-time” or 24 hours.
At 1819z and missing almost all of the Caribbean and South and Central American
on 10, 15 and 20, I started to chase mults picking up 39 in the next hour on the
three bands. Since 20 was wide open, I tried to run at 1920z with only a few
stations calling. Back to chasing mults at 1924z sprinting from 20 �" 15
�" 10 then back to 15 and 20 for 22 more in the next hour. Well, now it
was time to run on 40 again. I went high in the band working about 1 per
minute with some brief forays after 2235z to 20, 80 and 15 with 3 new mults and
25 q’s. I had had enough by 2300z and went qrt.
Summary:
1 radio Unassisted 24 hours operating No 160 One night on 40 and 80
2825 qsos 130 zones 394 countries 4,316,712 points.
I was really pleased with my score operating under my physical and station
limitations and with missing many prime run hours. It was only after the
contest and reading some write-ups on the reflector that I stumbled upon the
Classic Overlay Category which just happened to be Single Op 24 hours with one
radio. How fortunate and unexpected - quite by accident - I actually have a
competitive score!
This past week I completely rebuilt my 40 M 3L wire beam and put it up �"
in the balmy 65 degree wx which I have NEVER seen in New England in December.
The 40 M 3 L wire beam is 2 s-units better to EU than the 4 �" square. I
also hooked up my 2 L 40-2CD at 65’ pointed SE. It is 2 s-units better to
long path Asia than the 4 �" square. And I also put up the 160 antenna
�" an inverted arc which looks just awful �" but it is an antenna
�" probably good for a few qsos. Now if I can just keep these antennas
in the air through the rest of the Winter and can stay relatively healthy, I
should be able to have some fun in the ARRLDX as well.
Congrats to N6MJ ( ZF2MJ ) on an AWESOME effort and taking single op to a new
level! Congrats also to N2NT ( V47T ) and N5DX for their great efforts.
Thanks for the qsos and mults and Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!
73
Bob KQ2M
kq2m at kq2m.com
rshohet at rlsfinancialgroup.com
BREAKDOWN QSO/mults KQ2M CQ WORLD WIDE DX CONTEST Single Operator
HOUR 160 80 40 20 15 10 HR TOT CUM TOT
0 ..... ..... ..... 0/0 ..... ..... 0/0 0/0
1 . . . . . . . 0/0
2 . . . . . . . 0/0
3 . . . . . . . 0/0
4 . . . . . . . 0/0
5 . . . . . . . 0/0
6 . . . . . . . 0/0
7 . . . . . . . 0/0
8 ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... 0/0
9 . . . . . . . 0/0
10 . . . . . . . 0/0
11 . . . 76/35 . . 76/35 76/35
12 . . . 21/2 164/43 . 185/45 261/80
13 . . . . 99/3 42/28 141/31 402/111
14 . . . . 106/6 23/6 129/12 531/123
15 . . . . 180/6 . 180/6 711/129
16 ..... ..... ..... ..... 165/1 ..... 165/1 876/130
17 . . . . 22/1 . 22/1 898/131
18 . . . . . . . 898/131
19 . . . 29/10 . . 29/10 927/141
20 . . 17/12 23/13 4/5 . 44/30 971/171
21 . . 94/26 . 3/4 . 97/30 1068/201
22 . 41/21 3/0 7/6 31/2 . 82/29 1150/230
23 . 104/22 . . 18/1 . 122/23 1272/253
0 ..... 5/2 18/3 29/28 3/4 ..... 55/37 1327/290
1 . 34/1 3/1 . . . 37/2 1364/292
2 . . . . . . . 1364/292
3 . 2/1 25/28 8/4 . . 35/33 1399/325
4 . 97/15 . . . . 97/15 1496/340
5 . 85/5 20/3 2/3 . . 107/11 1603/351
6 . 49/3 29/5 6/6 . . 84/14 1687/365
7 . . 50/7 2/2 . . 52/9 1739/374
8 ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... 1739/374
9 . . . . . . . 1739/374
10 . . . . . . . 1739/374
11 . 6/6 5/8 66/3 . . 77/17 1816/391
12 . . . 112/4 48/0 . 160/4 1976/395
13 . . . . 129/9 7/10 136/19 2112/414
14 . . . . 58/3 10/13 68/16 2180/430
15 . . . . 149/5 . 149/5 2329/435
16 ..... ..... ..... 72/3 20/0 27/15 119/18 2448/453
17 . . . 175/5 . . 175/5 2623/458
18 . . . 50/2 22/21 23/11 95/34 2718/492
19 . . . 25/9 . . 25/9 2743/501
20 . . . . . . . 2743/501
21 . . . 5/4 12/6 5/5 22/15 2765/516
22 . 3/0 39/1 15/5 2/2 . 59/8 2824/524
23 . . . . 1/0 . 1/0 2825/524
DAY1 ..... 145/43 114/38 156/66 792/72 65/34 ..... 1272/253
DAY2 . 281/33 189/56 567/78 444/50 72/54 . 1553/271
TOT . 426/76 303/94 723/144 1236/122 137/88 . 2825/524
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