[3830] WAE CW KF6NCX Single Op HP

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                    WAE DX Contest, CW - 2021

Call: KF6NCX
Operator(s): KF6NCX
Station: KF6NCX

Class: Single Op HP
QTH: CA
Operating Time (hrs): 6.5

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  QTCs  Mults
-------------------------
   80:                 
   40:   3     0      9
   20:  17     0     22
   15:                 
   10:                 
-------------------------
Total:  20     0     31  Total Score = 620

Club: Northern California Contest Club

Comments:

Well, this was fun and a challenge. Signals were weak on 20 meters at my
peashooter station in Northern California. However tough it might be, I think
the WAE CW contest is about as good an opportunity as I have to work EU
stations. If I had the chance, it would be interesting to do something close to
full time in this event. Instead, this year, I chose to have something
resembling a balanced weekend.

I operated half an hour or so Friday evening and was heartened to work a couple
of Russian stations on 40 meters. I put in a couple of hours Saturday morning
and found some stations to work on 20.  Signals were OK but not as strong as I
recalled them being last year on 20 in the morning. However, when I checked, I
actually did a little better this year.

I operated some more Saturday afternoon. I guessed the pattern of things was
going to remain the same and it did: weak signals and only on 20 during daylight
hours.  I kept hoping 15 would open up, but I didn’t hear a single station
whatsoever on 15 and likewise on 10, which I checked from time to time.

One approach I tried was listening to QTCs. I’d listen to EU stations sending
“R” and if they were strong, I figured they were likely prospects. I’d
hang around till the QTC was finished and hope the EU station would start
calling CQ. I made a few Qs that way.

Saturday night was OK, but pretty much the same drill — straining my ears to
copy the weak signals and praying they would be able to hear me.  One thing that
made it more interesting was turning the WAE into a dual contest/SWL event. So I
kept track of stations I “decoded,” just like with FT8. I decoded 15
stations that I couldn’t work in addition to the 20 I did work.

For me, it’s still a thrill to work DX. I don’t think I got any new
countries last weekend but at the end, my creel contained Spain, Poland, Italy,
Czech Republic, Sweden, Isle of Man, France, Hungary, Russia, Lithuania and
Germany. My SWL list included England and Ukraine along with a number of the
same countries I worked. 

I had hoped to make 25 or 30 qsos after I saw how conditions were for me, but as
Sunday proved to be a continuing grind, I gave up after making 20 qsos, with an
hour and a half left in the contest.

Thanks for the qsos. Maybe the WAE will be easier when we get some good
sunspots.

73,
Larry


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