[3830] WPX CW AB1J SOSB20 TB-Wires LP

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                    CQWW WPX Contest, CW - 2021

Call: AB1J
Operator(s): AB1J
Station: AB1J

Class: SOSB20 LP
Class Overlay: TB-Wires 
QTH: Walthaam, EMA
Operating Time (hrs): 31:15

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
  160:     
   80:     
   40:     
   20:  549
   15:     
   10:     
------------
Total:  549  Prefixes = 404  Total Score = 431,472

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club

Comments:

Solar stats at start of contest:
SSN = 28
SFI = 77
Kp drifted to and fro between 1 and 2, ending at 3 Sunday evening

Hard travelin' in a tough neighborhood. We'll see what my LCR says. (Rumor says
it will be written by a certain Mr. S. King of ME) I beat last year's score with
slightly fewer QSOs but more points and prefixes. I concentrated more on working
prefixes; anywhere I saw red on the bandmap. I had 9.5% running QSOs. I was
hoping for more like 15%.

Bad weather ruined the weekend for many, but I liked the feeling of being warm
in my snug shack while it rained and drizzled outside. I've always enjoyed
contesting in rainy, cool weather. And it relieves me of the burden of any
outside work. I spent a lot of time during the week planting my garden. Now I
just have to wait for it to grow. The cucumbers may not survive the cold and
wet. If so, I'll replant.

20m is challenging since I'm up against beams. I thought conditions were
generally poor except toward evening, but Saturday evening was extremely QRNish.
I pulled up the lightning map and saw a huge electrical storm along the East
Coast, mostly offshore, from GA almost to Cape Cod. Over time it diminished and
I got back to my normal 20m noise floor (around -120 dB) which is pretty good
for living in an industrial city.

But almost everyone was weak, both stateside and Europe. EUs were hard to copy
and the skip seemed long for most statesiders which limited my prefixes the
first day. Too bad, since prefixes are an important part of our country's GNP.

QSB was bad all the time and made for difficult copy coupled with the weak
signals. I copied serial numbers by listening for the dahs, based on location in
the character, beginning or end, and then how many. Still the QSB could be so
sharp and fast that it would notch out individual dashes. One big EU station
sent what I copied as A68 late in the contest. On reflection that seemed low, so
I stuck around for his next QSO where he sent A6T9. QSB had completely wiped out
the T. I hadn't heard it at all. When conditions are poor, folks shouldn't use
cut numbers. Same for when conditions are good.  Eschew cut numbers.

Everyone, including me, was asking for repeats. Repeats should be just the
serial number twice. Please. I know my call and I'm always 599, so just gimme
the number, 2X.

Before the contest we were discussing rare prefixes. I heard AZ1A (LU) but had
no luck with him. The trickiest call I worked was VX31IGY.

All in all, it turned out to be a good contest, but trying at times. I'm getting
worse at copying fast CW as I age. Slow brain and inattention.  I read somewhere
once that elderly people have "fewer attentive resources."  I can QSL
that.  In the middle of the contest I was discouraged and considered that this
might be my last stab at the WPX-CW and I'd stick with RTTY in the future. But
my guess is I'll forget that by next year. Ah, the Golden Years!  Every few
years I can watch the same movie over again for an entirely "new"
experience.

Thanks for the QSOs and your patience.

73,
Ken, AB1J

Flex 6500
N1MM+  
LoTW, eQSL and Clublog
Antenna: 20m outside stealth full-wave fed through an old manual Dentron tuner.
Out the window to a sapling tree. As the tree grows, I keep raising the distal
end of the antenna. About a foot every two years. Given time and a long life,
sometime I'll have an actual aerial up in the aer.  I fertilize the tree.


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