[3830] CQMM DX KU2M SOSB/15 HP

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                    CQMM DX Contest - 2022

Call: KU2M
Operator(s): KU2M
Station: KU2M

Class: SOSB/15 HP
QTH: Wayne, NJ
Operating Time (hrs): 13.5

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Prefixes
----------------------
   80:            
   40:            
   20:            
   15:  612     55
   10:            
----------------------
Total:  612     55  Countries = 68  Total Score = 268,263

Club: Frankford Radio Club

Comments:

Some comedian once said "Nobody ever expects the Spanish Inquisition"
- but maybe I should. What's that mean? In the ham radio version of that
aphorism, I'm beginning to expect this: if it's a contest weekend, there'll be a
solar storm to keep us from getting too happy. So, on Saturday morning, with A
indices close to 30 (28, to be precise) and G1 storm notices, conditions weren't
looking too upbeat. 

But that wasn't all - as if the the propagation situation wasn't enough, I found
that my main antenna wouldn't rotate. I yelled at the control box, but it wasn't
listening to me. I could coax the antenna to go a few degrees, but that's as far
as it would turn. Worse, when I did a visual check to verify the antenna was
actually pointing, I found that the indicator was not showing an accurate
heading.

Since running outside every 5 minutes to see where your antenna is pointing is a
poor contest strategy, I dumped my all-band plans and decided to do 15M monoband
(again), using my motley collection of fixed 15M antennas. 

So much for this weekend's planned "serious" all-band CQMM fun. I
consoled myself by doing a more or less part-time effort, taking time off for
other weekend activities, but tried to stay optimistic, as I firmly believed
that the storm was just a one day event, and the next day, conditions would be
good again.

Silly me. 

On Dupeday (some people call it Sunday) morning, when I sat down in front of the
radio, I was dismayed to find that conditions had worsened, with Saturday's G1
storm conditions having elevated to G3! There was almost zero activity on the
band - the panadapter readout had flatlined. Should I go back to bed? - wait a
minute, what's that? An EU station? Wow - F5IN! The only problem- he's coming in
on my SOUTH antenna - and if I switch to the EU stack, he becomes inaudible,
totally covered up by band noise. You know, when you can only copy EU stations
with your south antenna, it's one of two possibilities - either conditions are
fantastic and Europeans are coming in long path, or conditions are really
terrible.

Of course, it was the second possibility.

Luckily, prop didn't stay horrible all day, and perked up later when the
absorption went down a bit. Most signals weren't very loud, but I was fortunate
enough that the line noise stayed away and made it possible to copy weaker
signals.

So let's see, anything else I can complain about? Oh yes... as the weekend went
on, I was impressed to see a constant parade of juicy, unworked SA prefixes
scrolling down my Telnet screen.... on 10 Meters. Gee Whiz. You'd think some of
those guys might wander down to 15 where I was - but no - I guess they like it
up there on 10 all working each other with their TV antenna rotators that still
work (or their coat-hanger antennas that actually have gain on 10 meters). Oh
well. Maybe by next year (if there is a next year) I can persuade my supposedly
heavy duty rotor to turn my multiband yagi when there's a little breeze and
allow me to join the fun up on 10 meters- but you know what? I'm not holding my
breath.


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