[3830] ARRLDX CW KH7M(@KH6ZM) M/S HP

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                    ARRL DX Contest, CW

Call: KH7M
Operator(s): NA2U K1YR
Station: KH6ZM

Class: M/S HP
QTH: HI
Operating Time (hrs): 48

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
  160:  230    49
   80:  481    56
   40: 1113    60
   20: 1092    59
   15: 1195    58
   10:   60    15
-------------------
Total: 4171   297  Total Score = 3,716,361

Club: Arizona Outlaws Contest Club

Comments:

ARRL DX CW WRITE-UP

Lou and I arrived in Hilo mid-evening on Thursday.  Max, KH6ZM, picked us up at
the airport and we were off on the 45-minute drive to Max’s QTH.  By the time
we arrived it was too late to operate radio.  You know what they say about
getting a good nights sleep the day before a contest. 

We did do some computer set up.  Then I needed to network the two computers.  We
would log on one and run a backup log on the second.  These two “new” used
computers had been networked using Writelog but not N1MM.  I have networked two
computers a few times using N1MM+.  It’s a piece of cake.  The computers saw
each other but would not pass data.  More hair-pulling.  Unable to solve this I
sent off an email to the N1MM reflector.  John, K3CT, responded overnight
(thanks, John) with a suggested fix and commented that it might be a firewall
issue.  I found that the Win7 firewall was blocking the data exchange.  I made
some adjustments and we were in business.  

We were prepared to use an MP1000 in the contest.  Max toasted his FTDX5000 in
the Oceania contest in October and it had not yet been returned from the Yaesu
doctor.  It was expected at any time.  My fingers were crossed because I’ve
never even seen a 1000 and I wasn’t looking forward to learning a new radio in
a trial-by-fire.  I’ve used the 5000 here before.  

Not long after breakfast Friday morning Max announced that the 5000 would arrive
“sometime” on Friday.  The contest was to start at 2:00pm.  We had to decide
on the deadline for swapping out the rig.  We decided that we would use the 5000
if it arrived by noon.  It arrived just before lunch.  We ate and then began
swapping rigs.  

Max got everything hooked up by about 1:15pm.  I had to reset the radio and CW
comports now in N1MM for the 5000.  This took way too much time but we finally
got the ports configured.  I’ll write  documentation for this and leave it
with Max.  It was now only 20 minutes before the contest.  This would not be the
relaxed start we would have preferred but we were ready to go.  Pretty hairy but
not as hairy as the guys at KH6J(@KH6YY) who were installing their new 2-ele 80m
yagi with a helicopter Friday morning!

Once these issues were settled all hardware worked well throughout the contest
with one exception.  During a thunderstorm just after noon on Sunday we lost
power but only for an instant.  Once the computer rebooted we were OK again. 

Just like last year I started on 15m and in less than an hour moved to 20m.  Our
best 60-minute rate was in the first two hours.  Friday night was fairly
uneventful.  Noise on 80m/160m was not too bad. Saturday morning Lou told me how
dreadful the 1200-1600 UTC time slot was.  Very slow.  

We were monitoring 10m on an SDR and watching Telnet spots.  Predictions were
for brief but poor openings.  We caught those openings both days.  Initially we
thought 10m would be a total bust but we were pleasantly surprised.  

Saturday night local thunderstorms caused terrible, relentless static crashes
throughout the night severely hampering our low-band efforts.  It was my turn to
take a shift starting at 4:00am local (1400 UTC).  It was more dreadful than Lou
had described, including a button-busting 14-Q hour.  This confirmed why these
are my sleep hours when I do single-op here!

Rate slowed greatly Sunday afternoon.  After the 45-minute 10m opening we moved
to 15m and then to 20m.  The rate seemed slow as the end approached.  Then, with
about 10 minutes remaining, it was like guys had been waiting behind a rock and
then all of a sudden they ran at us.  In the furious final 5 minutes I worked 15
guys and by the end we were laughing so hard we couldn’t stop.  At one point
Lou saw the 10-minute rate hit 202.  We had all the signs that we would, at
best, crawl across the finish line.  We’ll remember this one for a long time!

Congrats and thanks to the 20 stations we worked on all six bands. 

Score compared to my single-op effort last year:

+591 Qs, -12 multipliers, +404,190 points

Lou and I last did multi-single here in 2015.  It was fun doing it again.  More
sleep (my contesting nemesis) than single-op, too.  Lou introduced me to Max in
2013 and I’ve contested here each year since then.  Thanks, again, Lou. 

Thanks to Max and his XYL, K-A-T-H-Y, for being gracious hosts.  The great food
doesn’t stop.  The local papayas with fresh-squeezed lime are to die for!

And thanks to all for the Qs. 

73 and aloha from the Big Island,

Fred/KH6/NA2U


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