[3830] TBDC N7GP(N5IA) Single Op HP

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                    Stew Perry Topband Challenge

Call: N7GP
Operator(s): N5IA
Station: N5IA

Class: Single Op HP
QTH: DM52 - AZ
Operating Time (hrs): 2
Remote Operation

Summary:
Total:  QSOs = 49  Total Score = 148

Club: Arizona Outlaws Contest Club

Comments:

This report is for my daylight only operation.

>From Southeast Arizona the sun is nearly one hour high in the morning sky at
the time the contest starts.  35 minutes of operation yielded 24 stations in
the log.  This is 2 less than last year when I had 26 Q's; 13 LESS than 37 Qs
in 2013.  In 2012 I made 33 Qs during this morning operation.

The best DX was KH6LC at 1533Z, a full hour + 18 minutes after my sunrise.  I
was also surprised to be called by K5ZO with a good signal from EM13, east of
Dallas.  The time was 1503, almost two hours after his sunrise in east Texas.

I had worked 10 JAs while warming up the station just prior to my sunrise, most
of them new call signs in the log for this season, so I thought the conditions
for this SPDC might be on the upturn.  How wrong my prognosis.

In the afternoon I started at 2230Z for 1.5 hours of operation before it was
sundown and time to start my N5IA core operation.

The conditions were NOT very good; down from last year and much poorer than
2013. Only 25 Qs were made compared with 60 Qs made in the same time period
last year. 

In 2013 I made 51 contacts during this period (more FM & FN stations), and
in 2012 I made 55 Qs during the same period of time.  This was a preview of
what was to come in the core nighttime operation.

I ended my core operation as N5IA one hour early at 1300Z Sunday morning
because conditions were so poor.  Therefore I did not do the Sunday morning
final hour of this operation.

IMHO the propagation this year was significantly poorer than last year, 2014,
which was much worse overall than the two previous years.

HURRY UP SUNSPOT MINIMUM!!!!!!!

And all of this has to be taken in the context that the 2012 and 2013
operations
were with a single vertical element.  Last year, 2014, was the first full
outing for the 8-Circle TX antenna.

73 to all; thanks for the Qs.

CU all in CQ 160 CW in 4 weeks.

Milt, N5IA, operator of N7GP


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