[3830] CQ160 CW PA3FYM Single Op Assisted HP

[webform at b4h.net]

CQ 160-Meter Contest, CW

Call: PA3FYM
Operator(s): PA3FYM
Station: PA3FYM

Class: Single Op Assisted HP
QTH: Zaltbommel
Operating Time (hrs): 30

Summary:
Total:  QSOs = 1334  State/Prov = 43  Countries = 79  Total Score = 946,110

Club: 

Comments:

A priori: 'Wow, what a contest! My best claim ever!'

Arriving at the contest QTH unfortunately all 'middle' bamboo
poles of all Beverage antennas were destroyed. This meant Friday 
was spent with hard work and repearing all RX antennas
instead of relaxing, get some 'prior sleep' and tweaking the station. 

When the contest started I couldn't focus enough and at some point
even felt irritated because of a saturated band. 

Not a good sign . . .

In order to relax I chose a different strategy after 15 minutes of running:
Try to work as much S&P multipliers as quick as possible to 'fill the
bucket'
and then see what happens. 

Saturday morning propagation seemed poor, or was there something wrong
in the setup? Doubts, doubts . . . 

At around 0300Z for whatever reason I felt better and more confident
and even was in a flow running with >30 wpm. The first stint was 
closed at around 0730Z with ca. 240000 points, even with poor propagation.

Not a good sign . . . 

Lying in bed I thought: "Why am I doing this, participating in the
CQ160CW? It's madness!"

After waking up I went outside and checked all the (RX) antennas and
everything looked and worked fine. 

In order to compensate my (in my opinion) bad score from the first
stint, I started running as fast as I could. The second stint went
flabbergastingly well with lots of multipliers and 10 point QSO's. 
Suddenly the band went open towards the US with good signals.

After the second stint the score was around 820000 points, my 
best claimed end score ever. This stint I earned around 580000 points
with one more stint to come!

The third Sunday stint was spent with collecting QSO's and try to 
fetch as much points as possible. End score around 946000 claimed points.

This contest was also my first time with live scoring. 
Yes, it has an added value, just like other sports. In fact, I felt
motivated looking at the live scores. I know, looking at the live 
scores on the website you're looking to reality through a straw, but
it's nice to see your results in real time in comparison with others.

Summarizing, despite a mediocre start, this contest turned out 
to produce my best claim: 946000 points.

Special thanks to Richard PA7FA and Marion for their friendship
and hospitality and to Anton for using his property.

Equipment: 

Rig: IC-7800
Antennas: TX: 30m toploaded shuntfed vertical 
          RX: 2 x reversible Bevs (NE + SW and NW + SE) 220m long
              1 x reversible Bev  (W + E) 100m long
              2 x FYM optimized K9AY loops

See you next contest!

73, Remco PA3FYM


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