[3830] WPX CW KQ2M/1 SOAB Classic HP

[webform at b4h.net]

                    CQWW WPX Contest, CW - 2021

Call: KQ2M/1
Operator(s): KQ2M
Station: KQ2M

Class: SOAB HP
Class Overlay: Classic 
QTH: CT
Operating Time (hrs): 24.0

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
  160:    0
   80:  191
   40: 1003
   20: 1247
   15:   77
   10:    0
------------
Total: 2518  Prefixes = 944  Total Score = 7,942,816

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club

Comments:

KQ2M 2021 WPXCW  SOABHP  NON-Assisted   1 Radio and 1 Amp.

No 20 meter stacks and No 160. 


Classic   24.0 hours:    2,518  x    944  =  7,942,816

One Radio 36.0 hours:    3,412  x  1,093  = 11,424,036
NON-Assisted

TOTAL     36.0 hours:    3,412  x  1,093  = 11,424,036


This was the first time in 5 years that I was able to make a solid effort in
WPXCW - in the recent past any attempt at a serious effort was derailed by
severe medical issues or antenna damage from mid-May violent storms.

However, this year's effort was NOT unscathed - it was compromised by the
failure of my left radio ACOM2000a and my inability to fix it, ensuring that it
would be a 1 radio operation.  Also, my 20 meter Stackmaster had failed and
therefore I had no ability to phase antennas - all 20 meter qsos were made using
one 20 meter yagi at a time.  This was a major disadvantage this year since with
the return of some sunspots, cndx were good to excellent and I could not phase
antennas to work JA and EU or EU and US - and, only the top 20 at 130' rotates!

Thankfully the antennas on the the bands were working and I was able to set up
the station Friday afternoon and tune the amp on each band.  I even had time for
a quick shower and a 90 minute nap which was desperately needed after only 27
hours of sleep the preceding week.

I started on 40 and noticed right away that I was being heard well and that I
was getting called by lots of stations from the start. I had 39 qsos after 13
minutes and 86 qsos by 0030z.  I had had great starts before that rapidly died
but this time cndx seemed to be improving with lots of Russian stations calling
in.  Even after some freq. stealers appeared and I had to fight for it, I still
ended the 00z hour with 156 qsos!  But not all was well.... in my haste to set
up the station I had forgotten to properly set the COM ports for my computer so
as a result I had NO computer keying!  I had to manually call CQ TEST and work
everyone by paddle and keyer. Eventually I saved the program, initialized the
COM ports and restarted it while I hand logged qsos but then after the restart I
had to quickly type in the previous calls and serial numbers while I
simultaneously worked new stations. This is harder than it seems! After another
15 minutes I realized to my horror that computers 1 and 2 were not talking to
each other because one computer was set for CQWPXCW and the other for CQWWCW.
ARRGGGHHH!  There was no time to 
worry about that even though I only had the log on one computer instead of two. 
I would have to deal with that later.

The 01z hour run was excellent - I maintained the rate and had 307 qsos at
0159z. Cndx were very good with loud US and loud stations EU stations.  I had
400 qsos by 0246z, the earliest ever for me and 40 was still hot.  I wanted to
stay but realized that it was now or never for 80 and I reluctantly qsyed to
find a wide open band with loud Northern EU signals - the 80 meter 4-square was
working well in its new location but I had missed the best part of the opening
and after 100 qsos in 56 minutes it was time to hit 20.  Once again I was late
in the opening but I logged 94 qsos in 30 minutes with some nice Russian
prefixes.  At 0418z I was back on 40 with a solid EU and US run.  Signals stayed
strong thanks to the sunspots which increased the solar flux, raised the MUF and
kept 40 open for my modest 3 L wire beam.  By 0559z, I had my best ever 786 qsos
despite using 1 radio.  Even though 40 was still open to EU there were few
stations left to work. 20 was barely open so it was time to go to sleep; but not
yet. In my haste to reset the computers I had mistakenly set up CT DOS
incorrectly one one computer ensuring that I did not have a backup for the log. 
To fix this I had to connect the two computers via LapLink, transfer the files,
reset CT on both computers and then network them.  This took a while and cost me
valuable sleep.  But now I had a backup computer working. 

I was up at 09z to prepare my food, meds, etc.  At 0930z I was at the radio and
20 was open, but not as well as I expected.  RW9DX called in at 0949z followed
by a surprisingly loud JP7DKQ at 1003z but when I turned the 
top 20 to JA there were no callers and EU stations tried to steal the freq.  I
had to swing the antenna back to EU to maintain the run.  A loud A71BX called at
1042z followed by a TF run of TF1AM and TF/KA1IS at 1044 and 1047z.  A few
Asiatic Russian and JA stations called in but it was clear that cndx were not
good over the pole as the K soared to 4 and the solar wind picked up sharply
with a high proton density.  EX0M was a pleasant surprise at 1112z with an even
bigger surprise of a long path KH6LC at 1158z.  I had a 131 10z hour followed by
a 100 hour at 11z split between 20 and 15 but 15 was very mediocre and I had to
go back to 20 where the rate was steady but not great. The 12z hour produced 123
qsos but 20 was fading badly and 15 was not open well.

DECISION TIME

I had planned to operate Classic which only allowed the FIRST 24 hours of
operation to count so if I wanted to maximize my score, I would have to take
several hours of offtime NOW with the high bands open to EU so as to have 
some time left for the low band DX qsos at night which would give me twice as
many points per qso.  SO2R stations would not have to make this decision since
they were allowed 36 hours while I could only operate the first 24 for
Classic score purposes. I reluctantly went QRT at 1325z and took 4 hours and 10
minutes off returning at 1736z.

By the time I came back on 15 was nearly dead and only open to a few loud EA, F
stations which called in.  3V8SS and a few weak West Coast US stations also
called but the rate was poor so it was back to 20 for the next 5 hours - about
1/2 US and 1/2 EU at 110 qsos per hour.  

There are two main drawbacks of operating 1 radio.  1) You miss a ton of mults
and qsos from stations that are on other bands while you are on your run freq. 
And you can't find them on your band since you only have one radio to operate;
it is far too hard and inefficient to use the other VFO on the same band.  2)
You can't really check propagation since you only have a few seconds between
cq's or qso's to change frequency, change antennas and then get back in time to
cq again.  This makes it very hard to know when to qsy to another band or to S
& P the band that you are on and makes for VERY stressful operating since
you are always wondering: Am I on the right band?  What mults am I missing?  Am
I doing the best things for my score RIGHT NOW?  
Fortunately the cndx were mostly decent and the rates were very good most of the
time so it always felt like I was doing something useful.  Still, it hurt to
have 100% of my signal in ONE direction on 20 all weekend which meant I was down
30 - 50 db in most other directions which is NOT what you want with a work
everyone in the world contest format.  

20 continued or produce and late in the 22z hour HZ7C called in at 2246z
followed by a long path VK4DX at 2253z and then by TA7I and XQ5ME.  20 was still
open but it was time to work 6 point EU qsos on 40 and I qsyed there at 2309z,
setting up a 108 hour.  The EU stations were really loud and at 2353z I had 1939
qsos x 801 mult = 5,027,476 in 16.4 hours of operation.  Only 7.6 hours left for
Classic.

Then the cndx improved, the rate jumped and I hit 2,000 qsos, 815 mult =
5.356.180 in 17.2 hours @ 0038z. 

The 00z hour provided 96 qsos with ZP5AA calling in at 0033z followed by a loud
VK6LW calling in long path at 0034z.  The rate slowed abruptly as the stations
either took offtime or qsyed to another band.  I then qsyed to 20 a bit late but
caught a short run of 63 US, Russian and Asiatic Russian and Northern stations,
UP4L, UN8PT, UI8C, UA0SR, OX3XR, Al7LO, UN4L, RD0A, EX8MJ, UZ0U.  That was FUN! 
Unfortunately the run died quickly and then I qsyed right to 80 at 0155z but the
run was mediocre and the qrn level was extremely high with static crashes
lasting as long as 10 seconds and making it almost impossible to copy anyone at
times.  40 was not very good so I had to try 20 again because the qrn was less. 
It was open  at 0240z but not well- RC1W, RT0O, RC9F, UA9JNT, UA9D, RA1QD and
VK2PW longpath all called weakly mixed in with a few EU , US and VE stations. 
The rate was poor enough that after 28 qsos I qsyed back to 80 where I struggled
for another 31 qsos, then back to 20 for ZM4T and finally to 40 where I probably
should have gone in the first place and then stayed there.  Live and learn. 
LOL!  40 was solid and produced 96 qsos in the 04z hour followed by a mediocre
56 qso 05z hour but lots of prefixes. At 0502z I had 2,370 qsos x 898 mults =
7,083,424 in 21.6 hours and when I went qrt at 0558z, I had only 1.4 hours of
operating left for Classic.  I hoped for a good 20 meter run in the morning. 
Just before I went qrt I noticed that 20 was open but I doubted that there would
be much volume.

I expected that with cndx improving, 20 would be open better on Sunday than
Saturday and I was correct. UR4IZ greeted my first cq at 0930z with a loud RA0QD
- an impressive signal for so early! Sure enough, HL5FEI called in at 0952z
followed by UN9L at 0959z. There was a VERY loud JA cqing next to me raising a
HUGE EU pileup. UA0JFG called in at 1011z and then JP3WEL and JA6UDI at 1016z. 
Cndx were very good and I turned my antenna to JA since I had worked almost no
JA stations up until now.  I proceeded to have a good JA run but then my freq.
kept getting attacked by impatient EU cq callers.  I spent 15 minutes fighting
for the freq. with the antenna at EU while the JA stations disappeared. UGH!
Then I turned the antenna North again and BY1AS called in at 1114z followed by
another dozen JA stations and then back to EU in another freq. fight.  With
regret I gave up on the idea of a much 
needed JA / Asia run and focused back on EU. RO9A called in and then Classic was
over.  

24.0 hours 2,518 qsos x 944 mult = 7,942,816. which was more than DOUBLE the
previous US record but I had no idea at the time.

Cndx were good and I was having fun so I decided to continue operating - I still
had enough operating time left for a full 36 hours of SOABHP and I decided to
continue operating NON-Assisted with 1 radio as though I was still operating
classic.  This turned out to be a very good decision.

I continued to run on 20 but the rates were poor and worsening - Northern EU and
Russia almost totally disappeared and I was struggled for 60 - 70 qsos per hour.
Each morning of the contest there is a point at which 20 goes long, EU
disappears and then I have to guess whether 20 is about to open to JA and Asia
or there will be no over the pole Asian opening and the EU stations have already
qsyed to 15 and 10 in which case I have to hope for a 15 meter opening too or my
qso rate will fall even more if I stay on 20.  

I felt that 15 would open and, having made only 77 qsos at this point (since I
had to take offtime on Saturday during the 15 EU opening), thought that I should
go there NOW, so at 1216z I qsyed to 15 and PILEUP!  Stations were 
loud on 15 and there were not that many of them but it was much better than 20. 
The 12z hour produced 107 qsos with 92 on 15 and 15 on 20, 13z gave 89 qsos and
the awful 14z hour only 56 qsos. The biggest surprise was RL9Y calling at 1340z
on a band that had almost no audible Northern EU stations!  15 was erratic and
had spotlight propagation - it was fascinating to hear a LOUD DL9 and then a
very weak DL2 big gun staton 15 seconds later knowing that BOTH of them had BIG
contest stations. EU would appear and disappear and then reappear - same with
the US.  At 1417z I went back to 20 where I was greeted by JA, Russian and US
callers and then a fadeout.  Back to 15 at 1447z for a better run and a 104 hour
of mostly US. At 1611z I qsyed to 10 and called CQ with beam South and made 13
qsos with some SA. I took my last offtime at 1620z - 1 hour and 4 minutes,
calculated so that I could get on and operate straight to the end of the contest
and get my 36 hours total.

At 1724z I was back on 20 with mediocre cndx and low rate. Some Northern EU and
Russian stations would occasionally call in but with one antenna at a time I had
to choose to either point it West or point it at EU since I could not phase
them.  This hurt my rate and reduced the mults that I was working.  I slogged
along with 71 qsos in the 18z hour, hampered by no 2nd radio with which to make
S & P qsos.  In the 19z I logged 80 qsos split between 20 and 15, then heavy
and horrendous rain static forced me off 20 to run 36 qsos of SA and US on 10
and then a run of 26 SA and US qsos on 15 and then back to 20 which was trying
to reopen to Northern EU.  The rain static was awful 
and worst on the top antenna - I had to cq on the top antenna and immediately
switch to the middle or lower antenna to hear - it was a nuisance!  In the 20 -
21z hours I ran 69 and 59 qsos on 20 with a long path WH7T calling in at 2051z
followed by UA0AGI at 2059z.  ZA1ME was a nice surprise at 2114z followed by
A42K at 2118z, and then my next three qsos were CN8KD, VP8NO and VK2IA long
path. WOW! I stayed on 20 and RZ9A called in at 2147z, JG6YLY at 2153z and B1Z
at 2208z followed by KL7RA at 2211z.  The rate fell to 47 in the 22z hour as
most stations were QRT, or on a different band.  ZM1M called in longpath on 20
at 2253z followed by OY4M and at 2304z I qsyed back to 40 which had awful qrn. 
The rate improved and I ended with a 68 hour - with 66 qsos on 40.

FINAL SCORE before UBN: 3,412 qsos x 1,093 muilts = 11,424,036           
36.0 hours with 1 radio and 1 amp NON-Assisted.

I was thrilled with my score - I had felt pretty loud most of the weekend - a
definite improvement from the typical struggle I experienced the past 5 years at
the trough of the sunspot cycle. Being at the extreme Western New England (12
miles from NY - W2 land) and 140 miles from the Eastern Mass coastline, my
openings on 15, 20 and 40 are marginal and Eastern New England stations often
run for periods when I can't, but with some sunspots this 
weekend, I was on an even footing with them for the first time in many years and
it showed in the qso rates and my score.  It felt good to be ahead of almost all
the single ops in qsos right from the start and throughout the weekend.  Even
though I made almost all the right operating decisions, the bottom line is that
I had propagation this weekend that I haven't had through during the bottom of
the cycle years and those sunspots kept the MUF high enough for me on 40, 20 and
15 to be able to run stations that I couldn't in prior years. 

This was the first time that I ever broke 9 Meg points from my qth and I beat my
previous best score by 35%!  

If my score holds up after logchecking, I appears that I may have won both the
Classic and the NON-Assisted categories (Unassisted Challenge - yay Axel and
Dan!) even though I used 1 radio and had no 20 meter stacks. But, 
regardless of what happens, I'm glad that I continued operating for the full 36
hours and that I had the health to do it this year!

As always it was great to say hello to so many old and new friends around the
world.  Each time I qso someone that I haven't seen in a long time, my mind
flashes back to the last time that I saw them, sometimes decades ago in a
foreign country.  There are lots of wonderful memories that I get to relive each
contest!

Thanks to everyone for all the qsos and mults!  Stay healthy and safe and see
you in the next one!

73

Bob, KQ2M

kq2m at kq2m.com


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