[3830] WPX CW N1LN M/2 HP

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                    CQWW WPX Contest, CW

Call: N1LN
Operator(s): N3ND WA4PSC KK4UNZ N8BR NW4V N1LN
Station: N1LN

Class: M/2 HP
QTH: NC
Operating Time (hrs): 48

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
  160:     
   80:  129
   40: 1124
   20: 1959
   15: 1687
   10:  105
------------
Total: 5004  Prefixes = 1353  Total Score = 19,212,600

Club: Potomac Valley Radio Club

Comments:

What a fun contest! That can be said now with a high level of confidence and
comfort as it is over and the team is very pleased with our results. The early
weather forecast for our area indicated rain and storms for the entire weekend
but they never came.  Two of our regular team members were not able to attend
this year, one due to a command performance defending for his PHD and the other
was under the weather and recovering from the flu.  Both were missed! Not having
Dr. Colin (aka: KU5B) and Chef Archie (aka: W0UCE, Jack) provided the
opportunity for Bill, N8BR and Ed, NW4V to try their hands for the first time
in multi-op contesting. During the contest there were times when the
propagation was not conducive to a decent rate, key clicks seemed more
prevalent than usual and static crashes seemed to occur exactly when the
sequence numbers were being sent. However, we kept focused and tried to
maximize the return on every moment. When the starting flag was waved we had
good weather, we had a team and we had OK propagation.  Let’s GO!

Our typical start would have been on 15 and 20 meters but Dan suggested that
station 1 should open on 40 meters instead of 15. That turned out to be a great
suggestion. Being fortunate to live on the east coast the 6 point Europe Qs
started coming immediately. We were able to hold our 40 mtr frequency until
0800 UTC and really enjoyed watching the QSO, Mult and Point totals grow.  
That worked so well that we decided to do the same thing on Saturday night /
Sunday morning. At 0000 UTC Sunday station 1 moved from 15 to 40 and stayed
there until moving back to 15 meters at 1000 UTC. Yes, we made the occasional
move to 80, but that was only after European sunrise. Most 80 meter Qs were
domestic with a few Caribbean and South American contacts that helped the
points per QSO average. The decision to start station 2 on 20 meters was also a
good one. 20 stayed open all night (both nights) so station 2 stayed there
virtually for the entire contest. Occasional moves to 10 were made but they
were all very disappointing. 10 meters just never opened for us.   

It was obvious very early Saturday morning that this WPX was going to be a
three band effort, and good conditions on 15 meters were going to be a
requirement for good results. Saturday was an OK day, but Sunday was
outstanding. As stated above on Sunday morning we moved from 40 meters to 15
around 1000 UTC and station 1 stayed on 15 until the end of the contest. The
remainder of the contest was spent with Station 1 on 15 meters and Station 2
moving between 10 and 20. We did manage to lose our run frequencies
occasionally when jumping off to work the needed mults, but fortunately another
run frequency was not that hard to locate. The very last QSO happened to be a
mult on 15 meters. Thanks to KX6X for our final QSO. What a way to finish a
weekend.

On the social side, we had a great time also. Yes, Chef Archie was not able to
attend, so my wife Laurie (N1YXU) volunteered to be the substitute Chef for
Saturday night.  We had the opportunity to enjoy the aroma of sauce, sausage,
peppers, onions and the appropriate spices slow cooking all day in the crock
pot. That combination was enjoyed served over pasta and with tossed salad,
Italian bread and your choice of wines. Dinner was excellent and no one left
the table hungry. It was also great to spend some time catching up with
everyone. The last time the CW gang got together was for ARRL DX CW, so we had
lots of things to share and some were actually true!

Thanks to the many that called us. Hopefully we were able to get everyone in
the log.    

Station info:  see QRZ.com for N1LN
Antennas:  see QRZ.com for NC4KW

73 from the Camp LN crew, 

Dan - N3ND
Howie - WA4PSC
Tucker - KK4UNZ
Bill - N8BR
Ed - NW4V
Bruce - N1LN


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