[3830] CQWW SSB ZM4T(N5ZO) SOAB HP

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                    CQ Worldwide DX Contest, SSB

Call: ZM4T
Operator(s): N5ZO
Station: ZL3IO

Class: SOAB HP
QTH: Hawke's Bay
Operating Time (hrs): 43+
Radios: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Zones  Countries
------------------------------
  160:    7     5        6
   80:  231    26       48
   40: 1117    32       93
   20:  382    28       62
   15: 1129    16       23
   10:    2     2        2
------------------------------
Total: 2868   109      234  Total Score = 2,806,426

Club: Bavarian Contest Club

Comments:

This was 26th zone for me to operate CQ WW contest from, and Southernmost
location I have ever operated radio from.   I arrived to station on Tuesday
after some 30 hrs of travelling of which 20 hrs on plane.  Saw bit of
countryside and couple wineries during week leading to contest that started
Saturday 1 pm local time.  There were not too many things to prepare other than
connect few items I brought with me from my own station for familiar SO2R setup.
 Holger ZL3IO (+complete ham family of ZL2YL, ZL4YL, ZL2GQ) has built impressive
station near hilltop (~300 m high) with clear shot over water to all main
directions except Africa where mountain rises bit more and blocks the way, but
one can try to work it via LP.  There are 2 "multi-monobanders", both
with also 2 el 40 stacked on small crank-up tower.  Also there was additional
4.5 el 15 m monobander without rotator further up on the hill with short 160 m
vertical.  For 80 there was nice 4-square on lawn next to house.  Inside 2x K-3
radios (other on loan from Gary ZL2iFB, thanks !) and KPA500 amp and I brought
with me SPE 1.3 amplifier (which Oliver W6NV loaned me, thanks !)

Contest started interestingly with power outage 10 minutes before the bell, so I
was off the air for first half an hour.  There was another similar outage on 2nd
hour.  I guess power company was doing some maintenance and was not aware of my
CQ WW contest plans.  Locals told me that it is very unusual to have such
outages in this highly developed country, and recorded message was exactly
telling where outage was (exactly same small area where I was) and how long it
was estimated to last.

There were small hick-ups with equipment and antennas but mostly things worked
well.  SO2R is hard on SSB and I don't think I was very effective with it.  I
have barely got comfortable with it on CW, but SSB SO2R is different animal.  

I did not have access to 160 m antenna on 2nd night as there was a problem with
some antenna switching gear.  I think I could have easily worked several more
mults there as brief time I spent there during 1st night was surprisingly
productive (I worked zones 1, 5, 23, 30 and 31 during 1st night rather easily
but I was not there much time at all, so there were many easy zones and
countries missed based on that 1st night experience.) 

80 and 40 worked surprisingly well and far exceeded my expectations, also based
on what historical results from ZL have been.  

20 was complete bummer.  I think what happened is that conditions over Atlantic
were rather good on 20 compared to other high bands and everyone was aiming
either North America or Europe.  We here in ZL were on the side and heard some
stuff but could not get response when trying to answer stations or any attention
when calling CQ.  This I hear from locals is common problem here on edge of the
planet.  In historical results 20 is often weaker band here than 40 and 15, and
in my case that seems extreme.  I'm sure I made also some mistakes on time
allocation for bands, as it was quite complicated with lots of LP openings to
keep in mind on various bands to various directions etc.  All in all, I only
made total of 66 QSOs to zones 14-16 and 68 QSOs to zones 3-5 on 20 meters. 
Lack of Europe was of course disaster for multiplier count on that band.

But 15 was even more interesting.  It gave highest rates on both days with loud
signals especially on Saturday.  1021 QSOs on that band were to zones 3-5, so it
was mainly North America only with some JAs.  Just one QSO to Europe on 15 m.


On 10 m the only station I could hear on band was KH6J M/M. 

When I 1st contacted Holger about possibility to operate from his station, he
commented to me that he thought with current conditions about 2k QSOs would be
possible with one radio.  Since I was able to exceed it quite a bit I guess
result was reasonably good...  Few hours of good 20/15 m opening to Europe would
have probably doubled the score. 

Some other interesting curious statistics:
I worked 17 Qs with stations from KL7 and 13 Qs with stations from XE.  It feels
like a lot.  Also worked 107 VKs.  
But then I worked just 19 YBs and 18 BYs, which feels like very few.  BYs
clearly have hearing problem with all their local noise.  Also just 366 Qs to JA
across all bands.

It doesn't matter where one operates CQ WW from.  It is magic 48 hrs party on
the bands, and whatever the propagation from your location it is always
interesting and lots of fun.  It is hard for me to step away and take a rest
from operating CQ WW.  I did sleep couple hours this time and it was well worth
it to be able to better focus on last few hours on Monday morning local time.

This was great contest trip to ZL, and I might come back here some day for more
contesting and sightseeing, maybe next time with XYL.  But now in CW portion it
is time for next zone...

Thanks to Holger, Birgit (ZL2YL) and Xenia (ZL4YL) for great hospitality and
check-out http://www.kiwi-dx-lodge.com/ if you are interested to combine ham
radio with travelling to New Zealand.


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