[3830] CQWW CW AE0EE SOAB LP

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                    CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW

Call: AE0EE
Operator(s): AE0EE
Station: AE0EE

Class: SOAB LP
QTH: MN
Operating Time (hrs): 20

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Zones  Countries
------------------------------
  160:    8     5        4
   80:   30    10       16
   40:   51    18       35
   20:   62    15       30
   15:   38    16       27
   10:    0     0        0
------------------------------
Total:  189    64      112  Total Score = 83,776

Club: Minnesota Wireless Assn

Comments:

100 W, dipoles up ~5 m, keyed with either a vibroplex bug (doubling as a
straight key) or, rarely, an iambic paddle.

Inbound propagation seemed fairly good most of the weekend, and there was lots
of DX to hear.  However, outbound propagation left something to be desired. 
Often if there were a pileup I wouldn't get through until it was gone, and even
then there were many stations who CQ'ed in my face.

I heard more DX on 160 m than I recall hearing in previous years and contests,
though my setup has been unchanged.  I'm not sure whether propagation is better
or my ears are more attuned to the weak ones, but it was nice to hear quite a
bit of activity.  That said, I would love it if more of those stations had heard
mine.  I suspect that the wet ground here may have eaten up quite a bit of my
power.

Sunday morning local had a strong opening to Europe, and I was able to pick up a
bunch of contacts and multipliers.  Around 2000z, 40 m began to open as well,
and yielded several multipliers I would have been embarrassed to have gone
without given the intent of a high effort weekend.

While the contest was my primary focus, it was very hard to stay motivated when
the rates were so low.  I did some antenna work and poked at other projects, and
took a few naps to try get some utility out of the slow periods.

I worked Senegal for a new one, and hopefully will fill a few band slots as well
particularly on the low bands.  One of the four on 160 m was new for that band
from my station.

Improvements for next year include rethinking the low band strategy---the 80/160
m fan dipole works well for W/VE (usually), but not so well for DX.  Clearly I
need a better option here to really bring the score up.

Another improvement would be more activity on 10 m.  I spent a few minutes
calling CQ on a few occasions, but to no avail.  I heard K0RF calling CQ, but
got no response when I called back.  There were even a few meteor pings where
the K0RF signal jumped way above the noise floor, then quickly dove back down.

See you again in the pileups!


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