[3830] CQWW CW K1LT SOAB HP

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CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW

Call: K1LT
Operator(s): K1LT
Station: K1LT

Class: SOAB HP
QTH: Ohio EM89ps
Operating Time (hrs): 35
Radios: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Zones  Countries
------------------------------
  160:   71    12       35
   80:  121    15       49
   40:  260    25       79
   20:  619    30      104
   15:  360    26       88
   10:   39     9       20
------------------------------
Total: 1470   117      375  Total Score = 1,949,796

Club: Mad River Radio Club

Comments:

This post completes the epic story started in last year's CQ WW CQ
3830 post.  Note that "epic" does not imply "interesting".

In the late summer of 2015 I started a tower project that reached 40
feet and supported a fix-pointed tribander for the 2015 CQ WW CW test.
The feed system was 400 feet of 1.25 inch Heliax connected to the
aluminum tower.  Part of the plan was to spread purchases over a
period of time.

In June I rolled up the Heliax to get it out of the way.  In August,
Bill and Rick helped me stack 3 more sections to get to 70 feet and
the next set of guys at the 61-foot level.  The original plan was to
purchase 2 new sections of Rohn 45 to extend the original 80-foot
tower to 100 feet.  Then I made one more "want-to-buy" request on
the club mailing list, K3LR said he had some used Rohn 45 available.

Being cheap, I pulled all of the seats from the ancient Grand Voyager
(my ersatz truck) and drove up the K3LR to retrieve 3 sections of
tower (one section as a spare).  I got the deluxe tour and met
160-meter arch-nemesis NO3M for the first time.

On the way home, my credit card was 'skimmed', apparently at a gas
station in Gerard, Ohio.  The lack of a working credit card caused a
delay in ordering more J732 insulator clevis hardware.  The ordering
delay in turn resulted in a back-order which took 2 weeks to fill.
Thus there was a total delay of about 3 weeks between acquisition of
the final tower sections and the corresponding guy hardware.

Meanwhile, various people helped me stack the last 3 sections various
evenings in September.  When the hardware finally arrived I added the
top set of guys at the 95-foot level.  But I had ordered the wrong
size guy thimbles, so I could not tension the top set of guys
correctly.  Nevertheless I put up the top plate and one of two rotor
plates since the lose top guys were better than no top guys.

CQ WW SSB weekend I finished the guys.  Emboldened by a stable tower,
I installed a 40-meter dipole element at the top just to have
something to play with in the SSB contest.  Installing that antenna
was exhausting and I didn't finish until Sunday evening, just enough
for an hour or two at the end of the contest.  I could not see any
improvement on 40 to Europe over the ground mounted vertical.

A warm weekend in November allowed me to practice the "tramming
method" of raising an antenna.  I installed the Cushcraft A3S at the
45-foot level.  Thus far, this antenna lacks a feedline.

The Thursday and Friday before Thanksgiving appeared to be the last
warm weather of an unusually pleasant fall.  Thursday I went with Mike
to W8GUS's residence to take down Ron's 80-foot aluminum tower.  That
tower becomes the likely next tower project.  Friday Mike came over
and we raised the 22-foot 100-pound chrome-moly mast that had been
sitting inside the tower since 2015 and installed the thrust bearing.
Saturday and Sunday were cold and wet, so I worked on the software to
enable remote control of the rotator.

Monday I installed the rotator and a second rotor plate.  The second
rotor plate provides a way to support the mast (using a muffler clamp)
while the rotator is removed.  Tuesday I lowered the mast 3 feet into
the rotator and removed the mast-raising rigging.  I also installed
600 feet of 12-2 romex and PVC conduit to bring 'power to the tower'.
Wednesday I installed the tram wire and pull rope about 3 feet up the
mast (as far as I could reach without standing on the top plate).
Thursday I pulled the X7 to the top and then spent all afternoon
wrestling the antenna up the last 3 feet.  My mistake was not having
ground crew to remove tension from the tram wire.  Thursday night I
installed the rotor control box.  Friday I removed the tram wire and
pull rope and installed the remote controller and Ethernet connection.
Friday I rearranged Ethernet switches until I found a combination that
would work.

Friday night, Saturday and Sunday I operated a contest, which was the
point the epic story.

In short, the X7 at 101 feet works about the same as the X7 at 61
feet.  But having 2 turnable antennas makes SO2R so much nicer.  The
high antenna might be marginally better than the lower antenna on weak
JAs.  Unfortunately, there were few really long-haul paths open where
the higher antenna might shine.

I didn't use any filters this year to isolate the 2 radios.  I had to
avoid pointing the 2 antennas at each other.  The most noticeable
interference was that transmitting on 40 meters from radio 1 would
cause the COR in the Hardrock-50 to click when radio 2 was listening
on the Beverages.  Also, 40-meter harmonics should be suppressed.

But now I can cross off a bucket-list item.

Conditions were obviously worse than last year.  Since there was no
10-meter opening to Europe, there were only 2 bands to hold most of
the daytime activity instead of 3.  Nevertheless, 20 and 15 were not
particularly crowded.  So maybe there was less participation.

QSOs were way down.  I could not run as usual on 40 Friday and
Saturday night.  Running on 20 and 15 seemed to run down much quicker.
I got very tired Saturday night, so I did not stay up late.  For these
reasons my score is about half of last year's score.  But adding to my
station is my main motivation for contesting, so I win anyway :-)

Surprise multiplier: VP8NO on 15 meters.

Called but not worked: XX9TXN, HS0ZAR, A44A, A93JA.

DX worked: 3B9, 3V, 4O, 4X, 5B, 5H, 6Y, 8P, 8Q, 8R, 9A, 9H, 9Y, A3,
CE, CE9, CM, CN, CT, CT3, CU, CX, D4, DL, E7, EA, EA8, EA9, EI, EL,
ER, ES, EU, F, FG, FH, FK, FM, FY, G, GD, GI, GJ, GM, GM/s, GU, GW,
HA, HB, HB0, HC, HI, HK, HP, HR, I, IG9, IS, IT9, J7, JA, K, KH0, KH2,
KH6, KP2, KP4, LA, LU, LX, LY, LZ, OA, OE, OH, OK, OM, ON, OZ, P4, PA,
PJ2, PJ4, PY, PZ, S5, SM, SP, SV, TA, TI, TK, UA, UA2, UA9, UR, V2,
V3, V4, VE, VK, VP2E, VP2V, VP5, VP8, VP9, XE, YB, YL, YN, YO, YU, YV,
Z3, ZA, ZD8, ZF, ZL, and ZS for a total of 119 entities, way down from
139 last year.  Notably missing: OH0, zone 21, UN, and zone 24.

Just a few stations worked on 6 bands: PZ5V, PJ2T, HK1NA, PJ4Q, TI5W,
ZF2MJ, and 9Y4/VE3EY.  There would have been many more if they had
come to 10 meters.

Equipment: K3/100, P3, Alpha 8410; K3/10, Hardrock-50, ETO 91B
(thanks, Jeff); high bands: X7 at 101 feet and X7 at 61 feet; low
bands: full sized 40 vertical over 32 radials, full sized 80 vertical
over 60 radials, 65-160 "tee" over 75 radials.


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