[3830] CQWW SSB TM2Y(N5ZO) SOAB HP

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                    CQ Worldwide DX Contest, SSB - 2021

Call: TM2Y
Operator(s): N5ZO
Station: TM2Y

Class: SOAB HP
QTH: France
Operating Time (hrs): ~47
Radios: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Zones  Countries
------------------------------
  160:  181     6       39
   80:  623    15       58
   40:  425    15       64
   20:  704    27       69
   15:  891    30       71
   10:  569    29       60
------------------------------
Total: 3393   122      361  Total Score = 3,395,490

Club: Southern California Contest Club

Comments:

This year due to ongoing travel restrictions there were still not many zones
accessible of my remaining list to work them all so it was good that I had
“saved” zone 14 for year like this.  Couple months ago I contacted Jacques
F6BEE to see if his contest station would be available to operate something on
either mode and he answered that he had no plans for SSB and I could do SO from
his station if I wanted.  I flew to Paris early arriving Monday to try to mute
jetlag effect on contest weekend and then we travelled to station Wednesday
morning.  Station is somewhere in Normandy maybe about couple hundred miles from
Paris.  We had few things to prepare with usual small problems but nothing that
could not be solved by 2 engineers and everything was ready before start and I
was able to get reasonable amount of rest although I still felt some jetlag
effects on Friday.  I set up my own SO2R boxes and there were 2 K3 radios with 2
amplifiers.  There were total 4 towers, perhaps around 60 ft high each and
antennas were top loaded vertical on 160, wire 4-square on 80, 3 el shorty 40, 5
el on 20, 5 el on 15, 5 and 6 el on 10 and there was also small tribander with
triplexer.  We also strung 2 beverages and there was K9AY loop also but at the
end something was wrong with switching system configuration and I did not use
those listening antennas at all.  But QTH was very quiet in countryside, so it
was not big problem.  Perhaps those listening antennas would have helped on 160
somewhat, but on 80 I never really even tried those.  There was also small issue
with 160 during 1st night and after 10 Qs SWR went high but then on 2nd night I
was able to use it OK with other station.  Overall everything worked very well
during the contest.
I did recognize it about mid-way through that somehow mults were not coming in
with Qs and I tried to “repair” it and was actually making good progress on
it.  However on 2nd day high bands all suddenly died early and there were no
stations at all even on 20 meters after it got dark.  Looking at past high
scores from France and even from same station, I should have worked 100 more
country mults and my mults are really poor especially on 40 through 10 meters. 
But then it seems that those mults are not that far behind other unassisted EU
SOAB stations this year, so perhaps there was something different going on this
year too.  I actually felt best on 80 meters and also 160 for little time I
spent there worked wery well.   On 40 and 20 it was very difficult to try to fit
anywhere on band with very wide high powered EU signals in this neighborhood. 
There is some really ugly splatter from some stations and committee should
really address this problem aggressively.  I realized that I did not enjoy the
contest like I should, especially on those 2 bands.  And even on 160 there were
2 wide splattering Italian stations whole time that covered 30 kHz of 40 kHz
band allocation available in France (1810-1850)…  On 15 and 10 there was more
room to fit in and so it was more manageable.  Overall I figured that I was not
able to use 2nd radio very effectively as there was so much QRM going on all the
time that it required so much attention just to try to manage things effectively
with one radio.  It was quite different operating experience from this part of
the world.  Great to see 10 meters coming back.  Opening to zones 4 and 5 on
Sunday afternoon was nice and I think I was there for most of it as I just
happened to check on 10 meters and heard couple weak US stations and after 10
minutes band opened quite well.  But I see I only worked 3 stations from zone 3
during that opening, so it was still mainly East coast event.  Surprise was that
I was able to operate whole 48 hrs relatively well and stay coherent with
perhaps 30 minutes unplanned nap on chair sometime during 2nd night.  I had
actually planned to take some time off during second morning but didn’t really
feel need for it.  
On Monday we then disassembled few things and I was back in Paris by afternoon
and was even able to do my Covid test required for Wednesday’s flight just
couple hundred meters from hotel and I had results emailed back to me before I
had walked back to my hotel.  I just hope airline does not cancel my flight as
the one I’m on seems to have major problem going on right now.  I’m actually
coming back this way in 2.5 weeks as I will be operating CW from J42L in zone 20
this year.      
It was another great contest event/party and great to say hello to so many
friends.  And big thanks to Jacques F6BEE for letting me operate from his great
station !  It was 2nd time he helped me in my 40 zones mission as couple years
ago we were together at his other station 6V7A.
73 de Marko N5ZO


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