[3830] WPX CW NB4N(N9NB) SOAB LP

[webform at b4h.net]

                    CQWW WPX Contest, CW - 2020

Call: NB4N
Operator(s): N9NB
Station: N9NB

Class: SOAB LP
QTH: VA
Operating Time (hrs): 36
Radios: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
  160:   11
   80:   70
   40:  774
   20:  985
   15:  270
   10:   55
------------
Total: 2165  Prefixes = 875  Total Score = 4,881,625

Club: Potomac Valley Radio Club

Comments:

This was a lot of fun! Heard a couple of Europeans on 10 m for the first time in
years! Nice to work EU on 15.

I am up against very stiff low power competition in my WRTC district. Kudos to
Rich NN3W for piloting Steve's NR4M super station to the low power USA win.  I
feel pretty good about my effort in comparison to his score. If I get the
energy, I may do a RBN analysis to see what signal strengths look like.

My Heil boom mic headset broke on the last day of the contest, and thankfully I
had a spare headset without a mic, so no down time there. If this was a phone
contest, it would have been a major problem. Does anyone have a good light
headset with a mic to recommend to me?

After working Rich on Saturday night, seeing that I was down about 150 QSOS, I
made a concerted effort at dual band CQing in a major contest for the first
time. I made many fumbles, but kept at it for several hours on the last day and
became much more proficient after doing it for an hour - I didn't really know
what I was doing consciously after about an hour, as I was "in a zone"
but it was working, sort of seamlessly!  Wow, is that intense, but very
exhilarating! I began to sweat after 30 minutes from the workout....I cant wait
to do more of that in the next one.

I am guessing that my call was spotted as N6VN throughout the weekend, as many
operators sent that call sign to me, and then duped me later in the contest,
perhaps when they realized they had the call wrong earlier in the contest. About
half way into the contest, I began to send my call manually with an exaggerated
spacing between the B and the 4 and the last N, and invented a new morse code
character for the number for 4 by inserting a couple of extra dits in it: 

 " ......_". 

That seemed to help many operators.

Extra spacing between "NB" and the "4",  and the "4'
and the "N" helped somewhat, but its hard to overcome the power of a
visual spot that is wrong. I spent so much time correcting my call sign - maybe
had to resend it to over 300 ops, and wonder if I should just go on with each
QSO and not spend the time correcting? 

A few people called me "NB6N", and I am guessing they visually see the
B and the 6 in their head as being similar for the characters, just as they are
written on paper. Or, maybe there was an errant spot that propagated the 6? 
Maybe I need to get a new WPX call? Thanks to those last year who wrote me and
showed me how to put a spacing in between the B and the 4 in N1MM -- that did
help somewhat. 

For me, it nice to not have spotter assistance, so that such things don't
interfere with my joy of copying the CW over the air. But its nice that there is
such diversity in the radio sport.

If anyone reads this and has any suggestions, regarding how to handle the call
sign issue when it is often miscopied, or your ideas for a good new replacement
boom mic headset, I would welcome your feedback. 

Thanks to CQ Magazine and the organizers and volunteers of CQ WPX contesting! It
is truly a wonderful contest, and the participation this year was truly amazing!


During this bizarre time in the world, I realize how lucky we are to have this
great hobby of ham radio! It was so sad to miss everyone at Dayton this year,
but kudos to Contest University and the great team that ran the all-day Zoom
session - still up on the web - it sure was a bright spot to see the great
presenters and to see the chat during the day, and to be able to live ham radio
like we do at Dayton every year! 

Be safe and healthy, and hope to work you in the next contest ! 73 ted n9nb


Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/