[3830] WPX CW WC1M SOAB HP

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                    CQWW WPX Contest, CW - 2020

Call: WC1M
Operator(s): WC1M
Station: WC1M

Class: SOAB HP
QTH: NH
Operating Time (hrs): 33:09
Radios: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
  160:    0
   80:   95
   40: 1121
   20: 1461
   15:  242
   10:    0
------------
Total: 2919  Prefixes = 1027  Total Score = 9,075,599

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club

Comments:

Congrats to Bob WA1Z for smashing the USA record for CQ WPX CW! Monster effort
by Kevin N5DX, too, also a record-breaker (as is Kevin's 134,025 QSOs but I'm
sure that's a different story ;-). 

Before I forget, best callsign of the contest: OH5STAYHOME. Really.

Bob didn't mention 2BSIQ, so presumably he used plain-old SO2R, once again
proving that big antennas almost always prevail (I know those antennas well,
having done many a multi-op with Bob @KC1XX.) Only stations with super antennas
on 80 can afford to run huge numbers on that band in CQ WPX CW, and I'd say
2-over-2 delta loops with the tops at 300' qualify! That said, no matter what
antennas you have, there's plenty of skill, strategy and stamina involved in
making the top spots in this contest, which clearly Bob and Kevin have in
spades.

I don't need to do a propagation writeup. Just read K5ZD's post. My experience
was pretty much identical to his, and he always tells it better.

This was my 21st consecutive outing in CQ WPX CW, 17 of which were 30+ hour
efforts. As always, my goal is to win, but realistically I shoot for top 5 and
have been lucky enough to get there in my full efforts since 2002. But it won't
happen this year. I'm #6 now and will drop down when the rest of the scores are
posted (including KQ2M, I'm sure.) Right now I'm hangin' on to the top ten by my
fingernails. 

To be fair, my standings in this contest have benefited over the years from
having to battle only one or two or three ops with great skills and maybe a big
station to boot. Used to be that a lot of contesters thought it was a boring
rate contest, but participation and fancy calls have grown so much in the past
20 years that it's gotten really fun and when ops who may not have liked WPX CW
tried it again they liked it. As that's happened, I've managed to stay in the
game by optimizing my station for this contest and developing some strategies to
boost my score (I think I'm the only station in the top ten with less than 3,000
Qs, which should give you a clue about what I do.) Now I'm drifting down in the
standings. I guess remote Easy Coast super-stations are part of it, but I think
the big game changer is 2BSIQ. Only a few stations can do it now, but reading
K5ZD's post I think we're going to see a lot more of it. Like SO2R, I think
there will come a time when you can't win WPX CW unless you do 2BSIQ (or have a
monster station with a gifted op.)

It's possible the pandemic changed the competition this year. Judging from the
3830 reports that have flooded my email since the stay home orders started in
March, there's more participation in contests lately. After all, what better
activity to do when you're stuck at home? Also, with no Dayton Hamfest this year
some ops who normally go there and can't get family permission for two ham radio
weekends in the same month were free to do WPX CW this year. And it wasn't on
Memorial Day weekend, either. With multi-op stations only able to be operated
remotely, compromising the social and team aspects, some big stations went
single-op. Has there ever been a contest where KC1XX and W3LPL both did SOAB
HP?

All that said, my results could have been better. That was mainly due to a
less-than-stellar performance on my part and, to a lesser extent, a T-storm
knocking me off the air for over an hour at the beginning of the contest (about
an hour and a half after it hit N1UR's place in VT), heavy rain static on and
off for several more hours, and disturbed propagation on day one. Like Ed, I
have a hard time sustaining motivation when trouble at the start of the contest
makes it certain that I won't be able to put up my best score. But I did manage
to rally on day two and pushed myself to step it up, partly because the score
was rising faster and faster (a great feature of WPX) and conditions improved
significantly -- enough for decent day two rates on 40, a run of 50 JAs on 20
the second morning (lots of prefixes), followed by a nice two-hour opening on
15. I fought disappointment and fatigue on day one, but by the end I felt better
and can't be too unhappy finishing with 9m points and 1000+ prefixes after
seriously considering shutting of the radios and going to bed. 

Once again I didn't do the full 36 hours, though I did better than last year.
The three hours I missed would likely have made a difference. These days I
struggle with full efforts. It's not poor physical shape or work stress. 
There's a bit of "contest burn-out" involved, and maybe some
age-related factors (say it isn't so!), but the main culprit is not getting on
the air enough, not doing enough contests, not doing enough full efforts -- in
summary, not practicing enough. Also, I haven't been doing multi-op stints,
haven't been going to club meetings, and most important haven't improved the
antennas in a long time. Finally, I keep promising myself to learn and practice
2BSIQ, but never seem to get around to it. 

If you want to be a champion, you have to practice, practice, practice and hone
every edge you can find. Maybe getting knocked on my tail in the contest where
I've done best for 20 years is a wake up call to get back in the game.

Hope so and hope to see you in IARU.

73, Dick WC1M

Antennas:

160M  -  trapped vee @90'(broken, not used in this contest)
 80M  -  delta loop @75, trapped vee @90' (broken, not used in this contest)
 40M  -  Cal-Av 2D-40A @110', 4-square    (used together for Diversity RX)
 20M  -  4/4/4 SteppIRs @96'/64'/34' on TICs, C3E @50', 4-el @72'
 15M  -  4/4/4 SteppIRs @96'/64'/34' on TICs, C3E @50', 5-el @50'
 10M  -  4/4/4 SteppIRs @96'/64'/34' on TICs, C3E @50'. 6-el @115' (not used in
this contest)
 
Tower#1:   Force 12 EF-610, Cal-AV 2D-40A, 4-el SteppIRs, 160/80 trapped vee
770-MDP:   Force-12 EF-420
AB-577 #1: Force-12 EF-515
AB-577 #2: Force-12 C3E

Delta loop hung from a tree

dual 580' beverage aimed 20/220 degrees

Equipment:

Elecraft K3/P3 + Alpha 87A, Writelog, YCCC SO2R Box (never switched for Classic,
homebrew Windows antenna switching/tuning software ("AntennaMaster"),
iPad Pro running Touchmon USB for touch-screen "button box", K1XM MOAS
II USB Switch, TopTen and KK1L SO2R switches (second radio not used), Green
Heron and Hy-Gain rotor controllers, microHam Stack Switch and StackMax


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