[3830] ARRLDX CW KQ2M SOAB HP

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ARRL DX Contest, CW

Call: KQ2M
Operator(s): KQ2M
Station: KQ2M

Class: SOAB HP
QTH: CT
Operating Time (hrs): 21.8

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
  160:   32    31
   80:  170    53
   40:  411    74
   20:  652    79
   15: 1188    94
   10:   85    55
-------------------
Total: 2538   386  Total Score = 2,939,004

Club: Frankford Radio Club

Comments:

1 Radio Part-time NO spotting nets/packet.

It's hard to keep up the rate AND hunt mults at the same time with only one
radio!

I had to drive my xyl to the airport on Saturday at 1800z and then, as a Board
member, help Newtown Friends of Music put on the concert of world renowned
classical pianist Diane Walsh on Sunday.  I missed 1700z until the end.  The
president of the Board and a dear friend of mine had sadly passed away the
weekend prior.  She will be terribly missed.

When the contest started, I attempted to get a run going on 40.  I had a good
clear freq. but NO ONE called.  I moved to 20 where I was greeted by a pileup
of TF3DC, BG3IAY, 7K4QOK, 9M6XRO, E21EIC, E21YDP and a few JA and EU stations. 
That got my blood pumping!  Unfortunately it lasted only 10 minutes so it was
back to 40.  I found a good spot and got a nice run going with A93JA and UN7LZ
calling in but then K0ZR decides that he likes my run freq. and wants to call
CQ on it.  No reasoning with this lid - he hears me, knows it was my freq. and
just doesn't care. I sometimes wonder what is going on between the ears of
someone like this? I persevered and he eventually went away and the run
continued. 30 minutes later I decided to make a quick qsy to 20 for lots of
SA/CA and other mults and then onto 80 meters at 0121z where RB9CA called in
among the EU stations as well a barely audible ET7L.  As the muf fell and the
80 meter run became spotty I qsyed to 160 and found LOUD UA2F and RU1A with no
other EU stations audible!  Remarkable spotlight propagation!  I bounced around
on 20 for the over-the-pole mults then back to 40 and 80 where I alternated
running and s & p.  And that was the pattern - no run lasted for more than
about 10 minutes, qsy to the next band, have another 10 minute burst and
repeat.  Very odd.  20 was still open South at 03z so I worked a few mults and
went to bed so that I could get up early for 20 meters.  Well there was no 20 M
at 1100z so I hunted mults on 40 and 80.  I was amazed to hear about 20 !! JA
stations on 80 all S5 or louder with minimal flutter, easily workable.  But
while DXing is fun, that is not what build the score.  You have to RUN so at
1140z I cut short my DXing and started to run EU on 20.  A few UN stations and
AT2IO called in but it was a marginal opening even if some of the Russian
stations were very loud.  I qsyed to 15 at 1234z and the rate soared up to
272.7 last 10 and 231.2 last 100!  UA9MA, 4O3A, A65BP, UN7LZ,4L1MA and 9K2NO
were welcome callers.  But there was also a CONSTANT barrage of no-listen CQers
who were equally determined NOT to move even if they couldn't hear anyone
through my loud pileups.  Truly obnoxious operating by more stations than
usual! I had a very promising potential and special 240+ hour with many 5 qso
minutes, but it was battered by constant qrm and freq. fights and I wound up
with 201 as my best hour.  10 Meters was marginal and my line noise was very
bad - I apologize to the many stations that called me who I simply could not
copy through the S9 line noise.  Then back to 15 and run as long as I could
before it was time to qsy to 20, which I did at 1648z.

The band EXPLODED in a massive and LOUD pileup of EU multis who must have found
me through RBN because they were all ZERO BEAT and nearly impossible to
distinguish.  The stations that called me 100 - 200 hz away were immediately
worked because I was tuning AWAY from the center of the pileup.  Incredibly,
even though I was working 4 - 5 stations per minute, the pileup continued to
grow but then the audio dropout and arcfault issues started, getting worse and
worse until the switching died.  End of pileup and QRT. Later I would take out
all the switching and use the upper 20 only.

Saturday afternoon was NOT a happy time at my qth.  I had been having fun until
the 20 meter stack switching network completely failed in the middle of a big
pileup Saturday afternoon.  The audio had been cutting out hundreds of times
with the sigs dropping or rising by about 5 s-units each time adding a new
element of challenge to making q’s.  It also caused the ACOM amp to “arc
fault” hundreds of times as well necessitating a restart after almost every
qso and causing me to be low power in between with a pileup of unruly EU
stations.  That gets old pretty fast!
 
The ACOM had trouble on 10 as well constantly arc faulting and dropping the
power level to about 500 watts even though the SWR was almost flat.  That has
been an ongoing problem but became much worse this weekend.
 
Then the indicator on the low 10M rotator died.  I had just replaced the blown
control box with a new one Friday afternoon. 
 
Normally my station behaves better than this, but maybe it didn’t like the
fact that because of serious illnesses I had not been able to operate the
ARRLDX in 2014 or 2015?
 
After a break, some rest and a few rounds of medicines, I mult hunted on 20, 15
and 10 ( with one radio you cannot mult hunt and run simultaneously ) and then
had a few short runs on 20 where 9K2NO, 4U1ITU and 4O3A found me.  At 2300z I
headed for 15 meters which surprisingly had a good opening to Japan and I had a
fun 20 minute run into JA with BG2AUE calling in.  The band closed quickly and I
went to 80 to run Eastern EU and after a nice 10 minute burst, it dried up and
it was off to 40 where ET7L and a few nice mults called in.   Then another
break and some 160 mult hunting at 03z before another brief 40 meter run and
more mults on 40 - 160 before qrt at 06z.

The bands sounded better on Sunday and 20 Meters was off and running at 1124z
before a qsy to 15 at 1158z, where I enjoyed a few nice 150 - 160 hours with
notable callers 4K6FO, 7Z1JA, E21EIC, and EK4JJ.  I qsyed to 10 at 15z to work
some much needed mults and had a brief run of Eastern and Northern EU stations
before a quick qsy to 20 at 16z.  Having had so few qsos on 20, it seemed like
a good move but it was probably a mistake as signals were quite weak although a
few needed mults called in.  The contest was over for me at 1723z as it was off
to the concert.

It was good to be on again and see so many old friends.  Propagation even had a
few pleasant surprises despite the disturbed cndx.  Friday evening I was amazed
how loud the UA2F and UW5M were on 160 with no other EU stations audible.   And
20 was outstanding at times to Russia.  The late Sunday 10 meter opening was
typical “spotlight” propagation and was quite good but got swallowed up by
my S9 line noise from the NE �" NW.  Very frustrating. Still the contest
was a lot of fun and during the runs quite a few interesting mults called in,
including A65 on 3 bands!
 
Thanks for all the qsos and mults!

73
Bob KQ2M

kq2m at kq2m.com
www.rlsfinancialgroup.com


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