[3830] ARRLDX CW WO1N SO Unlimited LP

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                    ARRL DX Contest, CW - 2019

Call: WO1N
Operator(s): WO1N
Station: WO1N

Class: SO Unlimited LP
QTH: EMA
Operating Time (hrs): 32

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
  160:   27    23
   80:  228    73
   40:  351    90
   20:  512    98
   15:  105    55
   10:    0     0
-------------------
Total: 1223   339  Total Score = 1,243,791

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club

Comments:

Station: FTdx5000, C3-SS at 38', 40M Dipole at 50', 80M Vertical-C, 160M Trap-L,
N1MM+

Soapbox : 

Contest prep included re-positioning the top leg of the K2KQ inspired 80M
vertical "C". Re-positioning the top ropes gained around 10', the top
leg
is now level with the top corner.

As such, I was doing some testing every night prior to the contest
observing signal levels via the RBN. I noticed my signals were reported
by RBN stations to be much stronger to the west, though not taking path
distances into account. 

Thursday night I had the pup out for a walk where I just let him explore
and he took me on a path that I was able to notice the vertical section
had a significant slope favoring the west. That was easily remedied by
re-positioning the bottom leg supports so now the vertical section is now,
er, um, vertical!

Unfortunately 80M conditions were really poor that night and I was not
being heard into Europe at all. So, I don't really know if the
re-positioning has made a difference.

That led up to the contest. What a difference a day makes, the low bands
were rocking! I opened on 80M just to get a sense of the conditions.
A low band contest it is!

Mark, K1RX made a comment on the Topband reflector regarding 160M ROI. I get
it, having deployed a 160M Inverted "L" on a seasonal basis for many
years;
it takes a ton of effort and time. The last time I deployed a temporary
Inv-L was 2013. Desiring at least "something" for the band, I now
deploy
an Alpha Delta DX-LB trap loaded dipole in an "L" configuration.
Takes about 45 minutes. Good for 23 mults. Mostly owing to conditions. Though, I
could have worked Dennis at HQ9X Sunday morning with a better antenna. Only managed
to raise a few "?" out of him before he left 160. 

As for the contest proper, personal energy management continues to be
one of my biggest challenges. Only 32 hours in the chair. 2nd day is always
better than the first for some reason. Some of it is with a LP,
under-provisioned station there are times only S&P yields contacts and the
adrenaline feedback is just not there. On the contrary there are times in the
pig-piles that happen on Sunday that it is just not fun. Time for a break. 

However, I was up before sunrise both days and rewarded with working China
on 40M Sunday morning for a new band country.

I did manage to call CQ on 80 through 15. Best run was 181Q on 20M Sunday
morning for an overall rate of 108 and a peak hour rate of 131. A half hour
run on 15 Saturday morning. I closed out Sunday afternoon with a 45 minute
run on 40M at a 91/hr rate.

All in all the station performed well. I recently upgraded my keyboard to
a G.SKill mechanical keyboard with the Cherry Brown keys (less force). It
was surgical. The IF shift feature was real useful when carving out a run
frequency. Ran skimmers all weekend. Contrary to CQWW they were useful
with only a couple busted calls.

CU in the next one,

Ken - WO1N


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