[3830] WPX CW KE2D SO(A)AB TB-Wires HP

[webform at b4h.net]

                    CQWW WPX Contest, CW - 2020

Call: KE2D
Operator(s): KE2D
Station: KE2D

Class: SO(A)AB HP
Class Overlay: TB-Wires 
QTH: SNJ
Operating Time (hrs): 33.5

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
  160:    5
   80:  159
   40:  787
   20:  755
   15:   99
   10:   19
------------
Total: 1824  Prefixes = 754  Total Score = 3,440,502

Club: Frankford Radio Club

Comments:

This was my first time in the HP class from home.  It’s like a different
contest altogether.

My previous record was just short of 800k (raw).  At the start, all I wanted to
do was exceed last year’s score and break 1m pts.  I ended up more than
quadrupling last year’s score and went past 3m.  At one point, it seemed as if
3.5m might be possible.

Friday night had a bit of a lumpy start.  The WX was bad in the area and we were
all watching websites and apps as a line of thunderstorms passed through the
region beginning about 1 hour before the start and then for a couple hours past.
 I kept my iPad opened and watched a squall line roll by and just barely pass to
the north of me.  I never had to QRT but the QRN from the storms made for some
rough copy.

On Saturday evening, I started running on 40m a little before 6:30 pm (2230z). 
When I left 20m and went to 40m, I could see a fair amount of European stations
spotted and I could hear and work the majority of them.  I picked a frequency
low in the band and called CQ.  Things didn’t cool off for the next 4.5 hours.
 It was the best run I’ve ever had at home.  It went on so long and was so
constant, that I began to understand why baseball players get superstitious when
they’re on a streak.  The band was quiet and my beverage antenna facing NE
sounded great.  I had salted the ground rods at both ends with Epsom salt a few
weeks ago.  No way to tell if that paid off but that antenna sure sounded good.
If my modest run on 40m on Sunday evening had rivaled Saturday’s, I might have
managed 3.5m.

20m was a disappointment both days.  Very challenging trying to work EU early in
the day on both days.  They would be there for a little bit and then gone again.
 At one point on Saturday, I ran on 20m for a bit.  I was rubbing elbows with an
EU station just below me on the band.  At one point I heard him disappear and he
fell off the band map.  I figured he had moved on.  30 minutes later he was back
in the same spot.  He never moved. The conditions just got so lousy the band
closed and then opened (barely) again.  Around 1800z each day, as the sun was
setting in Europe, things would smooth out and it was easier to work Europe on
20m for a few hours till it was time to move down to 40m.

15m was not worth much, but was not as bad as 10m.  I scraped a few extra Qs and
mults from both.  I only went to 160m to quickly grab a few easy VE stations
worth 4 points and one NJ renegade operating west of Pittsburgh.


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