[3830] CQWW CW VE2IM(VE3DZ) SOAB Classic HP

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                    CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW - 2019

Call: VE2IM
Operator(s): VE3DZ
Station: VE2CSI

Class: SOAB HP
Class Overlay: Classic 
QTH: Canada
Operating Time (hrs): ~42

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Zones  Countries
------------------------------
  160:  686    15       71
   80:  800    19       78
   40: 1202    28      102
   20: 1648    24       98
   15:  244    18       62
   10:    8     3        6
------------------------------
Total: 4588   107      417  Total Score = 5,885,568

Club: Contest Club Ontario

Comments:

This was by far my worst trip to Zone 2... Going there since 1999, and I've
never experienced something like that.

Left on Monday around noon and already wasn't feeling well. Took gallon of hot
lemon tea and bunch of 
medication with me, but by the time I arrived in Sept-Iles on Tuesday night, I
was totally sick...
Took me more than 12 hours to get there from Montreal instead of usual 10-10.5.
I was so weak at times
so had to make few stops on the way and take short naps because I just couldn't
drive... First I thought it was
cold, but it appeared that I caught flu virus a day or two before my trip.
Needless to say, with such an unusually early winter in Ontario and Quebec,
there was a lot of snow everywhere
which didn't really help my trip either.
Anyway, though Wednesday and Thursday were the worst days, I managed to restore
a EU beverage and complete my
rather sophisticated set-up (which included High Power Triplexer and BPF's by
VA6AM) and a bunch of
band decoders and interfaces... Thanks to great help of Frank VA2FGG and Serge
VE2/UT3UA... Couldn't
do anything without them.
While testing my SO2R set-up on 160 and 80 on Thursday night, the K3 developed a
"HIGH SIG" error - 
most likely front end problem
because of the close proximity of two antennas. Obviously, I never used any
front end saver for my K3 
because I never experienced a problem like that. And since I didn't bring any
spare radio with me, that
"solved" my SO2R problem. Still had few hours to revert everything
back to SO1R classic setup.
Friday afternoon heavy snow turned into the freezing rain and by the start of
the Contest all wires were
covered by thick layer of ice which de-tuned the antennas. I had to start the
contest on 3500.4 where SWR was
still tolerable (2.5:1) and amplifier wouldn't trip. I operated there non-stop
for almost an hour
because even 40 m Yagi was not usable. Finally I found out that 40 m dipole
works O.K. and I used it on the first night.
In a few hours 160 m Inverted L started to work better too. 
Since I still wasn't feeling well I decided to stay on the band with higher rate
for as long as possible just to get the best 
out of it and give rare zone to as many people as possible. That's why I didn't
bother too much
catching the best conditions on 15 while 20 meters were more productive, and as
a result, my 15 meter count is not so high and
10 meters only yielded 8 QSO's.
Surprisingly, N1MM shows almost 44 hours of operation, but I guess it didn't
count numerous 10-30 minutes breaks I took for 
taking medication and get some rest in the moments when I really felt dizzy...
Also slept few hours on the 2nd night.
Again, conditions on Low Bands were great, and if not for my sickness I would
probably fulfilled all my plans 
(which among other things included the installation of 2 phased verticals for 80
and a beverage to Asia/West
Coast) to be more loud and hear better... But illness cancelled all of of that.
After the Contest I had pretty good 9-hour sleep and on Monday morning I felt a
bit better. Quickly
teared down the station and left for Montreal. It was snowing and the road was
very slippery. Just
some 150 km away from Sept-Iles in the mountains I got trapped in the traffic
jam because of tractor trailer rollover
which blocked both sides of the road. It took almost 4 hours for emergency
service to move it and 
free one lane... I arrived in Montreal way after midnight. Got home Tuesday
afternoon.
Now still recovering after the flu... 
I don't know...I still think I am that young guy who would accomplish just about
anything, but the truth is I probably don't have 
much of adrenaline left in me to be able to do such things again...
Not sure if I would want to drive another 3,500 km again next year to put Zone 2
on the air. 
Would be so nice to sit at some warm place in Zone 9 or 10 (or 33? or 35?) with
a couple of station managers doing all the 
tech work fo you :-) or at least to have a station host who would prepare the
station for you in advance, and just not 
doing field style thing when it's minus 5 C and snowing outside... :-) But it is
what it is.
Thanks to all for the QSO's and congrats to Jose st D4C, Dan at ZF1A, Andy at
V47T, Tom at 8P5A and aAte at HI3CC on
their outstanding scores, and especially to Chris KL9A who managed an incredible
19 Mil score from a 2-point
location of TI7W! 
I wish I could be of some competition this year. But who knows, it might happen
next year? :-)


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