[3830] CQWW CW KQ2M SOAB HP

[webform at b4h.net]

                    CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW - 2019

Call: KQ2M
Operator(s): KQ2M
Station: KQ2M

Class: SOAB HP
QTH: CT
Operating Time (hrs): 42
Radios: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Zones  Countries
------------------------------
  160:  197    14       66
   80:  526    23       88
   40:  796    31      108
   20: 1758    32      123
   15:  200    22       74
   10:   28    11       18
------------------------------
Total: 3505   133      477  Total Score = 6,090,850

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club

Comments:

I am thankful to be here to post this writeup after surviving near-fatal
complications of my December 2nd surgery. Earlier this the year I found a
surgeon who was willing to do the complex procedure encompassing four different
surgical sites in my groin, abdomen and stomach. Given my health history is was
quite risky.  He wanted to operate in April but I pushed back the surgery until
early December because of several large and critical professional projects and
also to be able operate both modes of CQWW.  If I didn't survive then at least I
would have been able to enjoy the contests first!

Knowing that this vital surgery would be potentially dangerous for me, I left
nothing to chance. In early October after returning from vacation, I began to
mentally and physically train every day for two months with intense daily
physical activity (power-raking, lifting free-weights, log moving, treadmill,
erecting antennas in the woods, etc.) to lose weight, and to build up muscle
mass, stamina and mental focus.  I knew that I would be facing excruciating
systemic pain and inflammation and that would make it difficult to figure out
what I might need to do to save my life; I would need that mental focus and
determination to do what was necessary when my brain was mush and I could not
metabolize food or water for days.

I had made two lengthy lists; one of physical projects and one of regular
projects - both had to be completed prior to surgery. Really though, the
majority of both lists had to be completed before CQWWCW so that I would be
ready.  There were also some important side-benefits to this.

First, my wire antenna work would have to get done prior to CQWWCW so that I
could contest and DX on the low bands post-surgery and throughout the Winter.
Since it would be months post-surgery before I could do any antenna work, it had
to be ready by CQWWCW or bust.   :-)  Second, my getting into much better
physical shape pre-contest, would give me more energy and help me operate more
efficiently and effectively during the contest thereby increasing my score.
Third, a lot of important and physical yard and property work would get done. 
And finally, just it case anything bad happened to me, I would have a lot less
stress when recovering knowing that all the important projects and professional
work had gotten done.

This was a fine plan.  However, the antenna work had other ideas about getting
done.  Post CQWWSSB we had two truly vicious storms, one of which had wind gusts
approaching 80 mph. It tore up what was left of my 40, 80 and 160 meter wire
antennas.  It confirmed what I learned years ago - that you wait until just
before the contest to fix your wire antennas, or, if you 
don't, you will be punished by needing to fix them AGAIN, AFTER the latest storm
and just before the contest; so you might as well wait.  25 years of living on a
hilltop in extreme Western Connecticut has repeatedly taught me this lesson. 

But I have learned a few things too.  One of which is that you can still be
proactive about replacing the ropes in the trees that will support the antennas.
 So I got out my trusty slingshots and proceeded to shoot the fishing weight and
fishing line into the trees, then attach twine and pull it up and then attach
the rope and pull it through.  I pulled back 
Slingshot 1 and SNAP ! End of slingshot band 1.  No problem I will use slingshot
2.  SNAP.  End of slingshot band 2.  UGH! With no spare slingshot bands left I
had to find alternatives.  It had been a few years since I had to replace them
and I quickly discovered that now all the replacement bands made by the better
slingshot companies were made in China and they basically snapped if you looked
at them wrong. Also, virtually every place that I used to be able to walk in and
buy them, were no longer was selling them or the slingshots.  

Thus began a complicated and maddening hunt for bands, slingshots and
alternatives.  I ordered replacement bands from a promising source but they were
the same Chinese crap and immediately snapped.  After wasting 10 valuable days
on useless bands, researching slingshots and other methods, I found my old Daisy
slingshot that I hadn't in about 10 years. Meanwhile, 
after extensive research, I had discovered that Therabands ( used in physical
therapy ) might just work as a replacement for the old slingshot bands.  I
bought the red and the green bands and decided to try it.  I created a pretty
looking slingshot but it didn't work.  Another day wasted. It was now Thursday
afternoon before CQWWCW and I was out of time.  I went out with the Daisy
slingshot, and, working at 60 % of the power that I needed, I got a low line up
in a tree - I would have a working 80 meter 4-square after all even though it
was 15 feet too low.  One of the elements had broken and I fixed it before
putting back up.  YAY !  But I knew better.  It was 5 PM and there was still
light out.  It would be foolish to assume that it working properly without
testing it. Sure enough, there was no directionality which meant that another
element was broken. In the process of putting the antenna back up, another one
of the element connections had broken.  I was exhausted after four weeks of non
- stop antenna work and physical projects and 4 - 5 hours of sleep each night.
Didn't matter.  Suck it up and go outside, drag the ladder out, and, with
breakneck haste, take the antenna down and work on it and finish it in the dark
; which is what I did and then I put it back up, dragging the ladder and all
extension cords back in. Then I had to climb up my dangerous ledge in the dark
and tighten the lines to pull up the radials.  Then I could finally collapse. 
YAY !  NOW it was working.

It was Thursday evening when I came back inside.  Tomorrow was Friday and 160
would be rip-roaring this contest - I had to get my Inverted L back up and
working.

In desperation I tried a different slingshot design and way of tying the bands
to the leather pouch.  This appeared more promising. I visualized my new
slingshot working perfectly and my pulling it back perfectly.  I had also made
another crucial adjustment.  Realizing that the new design did not have the
power of the old design I used my high school Physics equation taking into
account the height of previous sinkers in the air, the weight of the sinker and
fishing line and then I calculated the max weight allowed for the  height that I
needed plus another 20%.  I went from 2 oz sinker and 30 lb test fishing line to
1 oz sinker and 15 lb test and hoped for the best.  After a few false starts, I
visualized the perfect sling again and this time achieved it.  Exactly in the
right spot on the correct branch at the perfect height. Visualization works ! It
was a good thing too because right then the skies opened up and the winds came I
got drenched over the next 2 hours. It would have been impossible to attain the
needed height and aim with such miserable weather !  40 F with 30 mph winds and
a half inch of rain really sucks when you are in the woods trying to solder a
broken antenna and 
radials and put ropes up through trees.  I realized that it was the last
desperate act of a grand weather conspiracy to prevent me from operating on 160,
and, being stubborn, I redoubled my efforts. There was no way that I was going
to let the weather win, not after all of this ! I prevailed at 2:30 PM Friday
afternoon and I went inside and tested the antenna which 
resonated at 1.880 mhz.  UGH !  Back outside in the wind and pouring rain with
another 5 feet of antenna wire, I spliced it in.  I tested it and the antenna
now resonated at 1.842 Mhz.  It was 3:30 PM 20:30 z and I was finally done.  I
did some work, took a hot shower and then lay down.

Fortunately, after realizing that I was going to be exhausted on Friday
afternoon and would not have time to adequately set up the station before the
contest, I decided to tackle that project on Tuesday evening.  Three hours later
the setup was done including making some in shack repairs.  Things somehow
inexplicably manage to break when you don't use them between 
WPXCW and CQWWCW and you have to be prepared to fix them ahead of time.

So Friday evening after resting for an hour and then making my food, I was able
to come downstairs and be ready to operate. I wasn't worried about staking out a
freq. on 40 and then spending 30 min to an hour battling for it up until the
start of the contest.  I would cq on the high end and RBN would spot me and
eventually Dx stations would find me.  I am not loud on 
40 or 160 and have only an ok signal on 80, so knocking myself out to try to
fight for a run freq. in prime real estate would be a waste of energy.  I had
only had 20 hours of sleep in the previous 5 nights so it would be much better
to save what I had left for 20 and possibly 15 on Saturday morning !


THE CONTEST :

With ZERO Sunspots, K = 2 and A = 2, the MUF would be too marginal for me to run
well on 40.  That 140 miles from the Atlantic would be worth another S-unit down
from Eastern W1. A 3 L wire beam would mean another S-unit down.  That meant a
long slog all night on the low bands.  From 000z, my run lasted 12 minutes,
quick qsy to 80 and then back to 40 where I had better success starting at
0026z.  Slow steady run of weak EU with a few nice mults calling in TK0C, P33W,
HQ9M. The rate was slow enough that mult hunting on the 2nd radio was productive
with 3B8M, CN3A, D4C, HQ9M and Carib and SA stations plus a few loud EU.  At
0139z 6V7A called in on 40 and I noticed that cndx started to improve - I was
hearing solid Northern EU sigs on 80 now as well as on 40.  I tuned up and down
80 while slow running on 40, mixing a few mults on 160.  By 0220, Russian
signals were getting louder on 160 and I bagged 31 160 mults in the 02z hour ! I
continued on my 40 meter run freq. 
while now also tuning 20 and at 03z I began working some ZL and VK stations with
JH8YOH at 0317, an unexpected surprise.  The MUF started to drop out for me on
40 so I tuned for mults and worked many African, Middle East and SA stations
while and I attempted running with poor success on 80 at 0434z.  I limped along
until 06z when I figured that I had nothing to lose trying to run on 160.  I had
a brief pileup but the run was mediocre - I knew cndx were good but the rate was
not.  My antennas just were not good enough on the low bands and I was too far
from the Coast - this was made clear by the fact that every big SO station in
Eastern MA, NH or ME that I listened to was running like crazy on 40 and 80 and
doubling my rate on 160.  I continued to limmp along with consistent 60 - 70
hours and focused on working the plentiful DX mults - it was like DXing during a
contest.  At 0755z I found RW9DX on 20 and had hopes for an early opening, but
it was just a tease.  In the 08z hour I heard lots of loud EU signals but there
was no rate.  I suspected that most of them were on 20 and possibly 15 
for the E - skip qso's.  I picked up some VK, ZL and SA mults as I repeatedly
swept the bands from 20 - 160.  I had been fighting heart arrhythmias all night
leaving me out of breath and lightheaded and a bit nauseous. It was hard enough
operating but I was fighting my body too and that was just too much.  I went qrt
at 0928z and set my alarm for 11z.

Stumbling out of bed at 11z I quickly prepared some food and my meds and headed
down to find a run freq.  20 was open and sounded good.  I found an open spot
and quickly noticed that while Northern EU had good signals, Russia was
noticeably absent.  But this is CQWWCW and the activity levels and rates are
ENORMOUS ! In the 12z hour The last 10 rate got up to 
366, the last 100 qso rate was 223 and the 60 min rate was 224, one of my best
hours ever from stateside. In the 13z hour the band began to open to Russia
providing another burst of activity but there was no opening to UA9 adn 15 was
teasing but not opening so it was just run guys as fast as you can while fending
off all the would be frequency stealers, which lowered 
the rate quite a bit.  Clock hour rates were 103, 218 and 188 respectively from
12 - 14z. 

In the 14z hour, cndx got a bit more interesting starting with a very auroral
VK9CZ double mult calling in at 1408z, followed shortly after with 4Z4DX, A65CA,
9K2DU, OD5ZF and TF3W calling in but now even the DL stations had auroral
flutter as the K index spiked to 3.  15 meters had begun to open and who knew if
it would ever open again so I qsy'ed at 1441z. Quite a few mults called in
although the rate as not very good.  At 1511z I decided to tune for mults and
picked up a loud 3B8M and quite a few others.  Back to running with a steady
flow of mults including SV9DJO and CN3A but then the band petered out and it was
time to go back to 20.  I had caught the 15 meter opening just right with 94
qsos in the 15z hour but it was going to be a 20 meter show with mult hunting on
15 and 10, if it opened.  The 16z hour was solid on 20 with 127 qsos and 142 in
total.  P33W, OY1CT, MU2K, EA6ZS, A44A, CR3X and HC5DX calling in made the hour
more fun.  15 opened well 
to Africa and I quickly worked 5T0AA, V55A and a variety of Carib and SA mults
along with some SA on 10.  The 18z hour provided another 114 qsos and 31 mults
spread across 20, 15 and 10, with notable FR4SC, ZD7W and 6V7A on 15 and 5H3UA,
ZS4TX, V55A and 6V7A and a raft of fun SA, CARIB and Pacific mults on all three
bands. 

The mults were extraordinary and made the contest far too much fun to take a
break even though I needed one.  In the 19z hour, 10 meters opened
simultaneously to zones 7 - 13 with some very loud signals.  It was the best
opening to CariB and SA that I heard on 10 meters in years but it was much to
brief. The 19z DX hour provided only 43 qsos but 24 mults, and then it was time
for 40 to run.  But I was weak and not able to do much, so I tuned 20 for Africa
and found some exciting double mults 5U9AMO, KL7RA, and TR8CR.  VP9I although
loud would not answer me. That was very disappointing.  Back to running 40 and
continuing to tune on 20, I found LP VK2IM, XP2I, CN3A, PZ5W, RN9A, WH7M, ZD7W
and a horde of other good mults and double mults.  The rate on 40 was a solid 90
per hour in the 20 and 21z hours but the mult hunting on 20 was the real payoff,
adding another 10 mults per hour above what called in on 40.  What was different
about 40 now was that Russia was 
in and hearing me.  5T0AA called in at 2131z but no other good mults.  20
continued to produce on the 2nd radio into the 22z hour but 40 slowed down.  The
MUF was dropping and I was not being heard.  I qsy ed to 80 at 2303z and the
rate was slow about 55 per hour but some wonderful mults started to call in 
EA6FO, EI5KF, MI5K, HH2AA, UP4L, ZD7W, RM9A and CR5O all called in between 2343
- 2356z.  WOW!  

At 0000z I had 2089 qsos  120 zones and 398 countries 3,081,582 in 21.2 hours of
operating.

I knew that my qso total was far too low to be competitive but the mult totals
were quite good.  I already had 135 mults on 20, 112 on 40, 92 ! on 80 and 61 on
160.

I continued to cq on 80 while finding KL7RA and 3B8M on 40.  By 01z the MUF had
dropped for me below 80 and I tried to run on 160 - a few EU stations with YL2SM
calling in, then it was back to 80 for a few mults, a few more on 160 and
starting a run on 40 at 0137z.  Now I was down to having 40 - 45 hours from 00z
- 02z picking up a few mults here and there but aside from Tf3SG, Z39Z and a few
CARIB SA calling in, it was a slog.  I spent most of the 02Z hour hunting mults
on 80 getting NP2P, VP2MDM, MW2I, VP5M, A44A, 6V7A, HB0A, and SZ1A and then mult
hunting on 160 with TK0C, FY5FY, EI0R, R6A in the 03z hours while catching
IH9/OK6RA and 5H3UA on 40 and then running a few EU stations and mults on 160. 
It was back and forth constantly across 20 - 160 with extremely low rates and a
few mults.  04z was an awful hour with 17 qsos and 4 mults, SN1W, OM2XW, VP2MDM
and ES9C on 160.  At 05z I was running again on 160 with better cndx - LN8W
called in and then I tuned and found 8R1/AG6UT, Eu1WW and then R2F and 9G5W on
80.  At 0534z I started a run on 80 and this continued into the 06z hour when
160 really opened up wide with better signal strengths than 80!  IR2C and GM3YTS
called in for mults.  Although 160 was still open well into the 07z hour, my run
was over at 0710z. It did not help that there were very loud static crashes and
a lot of band noise from the heavy sleet that we were having.  I didn't have a
beverage or other listening antenna so I would just have to use my ears for
filters.  For some reason the noise was worse on 80 than on 160, but there was
no volume for me on 160 so I had to qsy to 80, where I worked another 48
stations in 07z hour.  80 was still open well at 08z but there was no volume for
me and the noise level was just too high.  40 was also open but no one was home.
 I went to sleep setting the alarm for 1030z.

I had one hour to catch all of the Pacific and North pole stations but either
very few were on or I could not here them. I found KL7RA and HP1XT on 80, but
only TI7W on 160 and only UN6LN and XE2S on 40.  It was very disappointing not
to hear or work any KH6, ZL, VK or JA.  I did heard 2 China stations on 40 but
they did not hear me.  Cndx were poor to the West 
and North.

20 started slow with only 50 qsos on the 11z hour, an awful total even for the
second day.  But then the band opened in spectacular fashion to Russia starting
about 1210z. 4K4K called in at 2125z, followed by GD5F, Ua9CDC, UN4L, LX7I,
RL8C, RF9C and VU2AE !  It was 179 hour followed by much slower 132, 137 and 143
hours between 13 - 15z.  15 was busy teasing again but not really opening and no
one seemed to really be able to run so I stayed on 20, gambling that having a
good run freq. on 20 would pay off.  At one point I had a good burst with last
10 of 339.6 and last 100 of 150.8 but it quickly 
petered out.  IN the 13z hour 9H3TX and 4L6Ql called in for mults but then
nothing more for two hours ! I found 5H3UA and 9G5W on 15 but then 15 pretty
much shut down.  I continued running on 20 and had 98 qsos in the 16z hour with
101 and 6 mults including 15 and 10.  7Z1SJ called in at 1619z and I found D4C
on 15 @ 1623z.  The big surprise was a weak ZD7W at 1630z on 10 meters ! who was
apparently hearing everything.  CU2ARA called in at 1638z and HB0A at 1756z but
the rates fell off a cliff because of enormous and unrelenting rain static.  It
got so bad that I had to call cq on the upper 20 at 130 feet and listen on the
lower 20 at 54 feet but after 15 minutes of that, none of the antennas made a
difference.  It was S5 callers and S9+ rain static that could not be filtered
out.  My rates plummeted to 55 qso at 17z and 28 at 18z.  I had a brief burst at
19z with 46 qsos between 20 and 40, with quite a few new mults on 20 including
5T0AA but then it was all 40 
and trying to run way up in nosebleed territory where GW5R found me at 2020,
part of a 66 qso 20z hour. 

I was running on empty but about to wake up as the the 21z hour got interesting
very quickly.  At 2115z, Robert T6A called in ! followed by a LOUD long path
JH4IFF for a double mult at 2129z and then VK9CZ for another double mult at 2144
! and UA9W at 2148z.  I continued to run slowly on 40 in the 22z hour while
picking up mults on 160 and 20 - giving me only 36 
qsos but 6 mults for the hour.  I spent the final 23z hour picking up OH0R and
some CARIB mults on 80 and alternating running and S & P.

I finished with 3505 qsos 133 zones and 477 countries for 6,090,850. 

The mult total really shocked me  - way beyond my expectations even with poor
cndx to the Pacific and North.  I couldn't believe my country totals of 66 on
160 and 88 on 80, so far beyond anything that I had worked before. Even the 74
countries and 22 zones on 15 was amazing to me with really only 2 hours of
operating on the first day.  Even the 11 zones and 18 countries on 10 was
startling.

I had a LOT of fun!  It sure was worth all the hard work and effort that I put
into it.  I couldn't have been more pleased, except if I had better low bands
antennas which would have given me another 500 - 800 qsos and probably another
30 mults.

The physical conditioning had paid off allowing me to operate 42 hours, a total
that I had not even imagined was possible anymore.  But the best part as always,
was saying hello to so many old friends and new friends as they showed up all
around the globe with new callsigns.  

Since Thanksgiving falls on the 5th weekend of November every 6th year, I was
able to enjoy CQWWCW and then enjoy 

Thankgiving the following weekend, get the last of my projects and work done and
then prepare for my surgery.

While the surgery went well, the complications became dangerous right at the
start and within 48 hours and a trip to the ER in an ambulance, my blood work
showed that I was Anemic and my liver, kidneys and heart were very stressed and
beginning to fail.  Nothing was moving in or out of my body and there was not
enough fluid in my circulatory space for my heart to pump 
leading to Tachycardia and AFIB. I had gained 8 lbs in two days because nothing
was being processed or metabolized.  I had to stop all pain meds and anti -
inflammatories and gut out the extreme pain and inflammation without any help. 
Two days later I was near death and preparing to face the end.  This was what I
had feared could happen and why I had prepared so thoroughly for two months
prior. The contest that I had just operated was childs play compared to what I
was going through now but five decades of serious contesting had taught me how
to block out pain and exhaustion and focus on what I needed to do to survive. I
had done all that I could do to help myself and now I needed a miracle and
prayed for one.

The next day as I was preparing to call an ambulance to go to the hospital for
emergency inpatient admission and extremely invasive surgery to save my life,
part of my body began to work again - I had my miracle and that bought me some
time.  

Over the next five days I passed some crucial tests and began to slowly improve
and I lost 14 !! lbs - the 8 lbs that I had gained plus another 6 lbs since I
was barely able to eat. Now I will need several more months of hard work and
healing to fully function again but I will get there.  I hope to be on at least
part-time in ARRLDX.

Thank you for all the qsos and multipliers !  And a special thanks to all of the
DXpedition stations and operators who have made such an effort to travel all
over just to make qsos with us !

73 and happy Holidays and Happy New Year !

Bob KQ2M

kq2m at kq2m.com


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