[3830] ARRLDX CW TO4A(VE3DZ) SOAB HP

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                    ARRL DX Contest, CW - 2022

Call: TO4A
Operator(s): VE3DZ
Station: FM5BH

Class: SOAB HP
QTH: Ducos, FM
Operating Time (hrs): ~47
OpMode: 2BSIQ

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
  160:  290    48
   80:  765    58
   40: 1390    58
   20:  560    59
   15: 1458    58
   10: 1341    58
-------------------
Total: 6804   339  Total Score = 6,913,566

Club: Contest Club Ontario

Comments:

My trip to FM in February of 2020 was my last DX trip before the official start
of the pandemic. It is very symbolic that my 
first DX trip after 2 years was to the same place.
Since I booked the flight originally in October of 2021 my itinerary was changed
(and once even cancelled!) 7 times. After many hours of negotiations and 
and adjustmnets on the phone with airline company and travel agency, finally 7th
change became the final one and the itinerary was finalized
with overnight stay both ways in MONTREAL. 
Arrived almost a week ahead of the Contest and had enough time to play on the
air and get acquainted with the setup which changed big time since
I was here last.
Took part in all three CWT sessions on Wednesday which also contributed a lot to
my ability to do SO2R in full swing.
It never stops amazing me how Laurent managed to put this station together which
is fully automated, with two towers very close to each other 
on a small city lot. A combination of triplexer, band pass filters makes its
possible to do full SO2R on all bands. The only trouble I experienced when I 
operated on 80/160 using receive antennas. If the RX antenna was selected the
front end would become overloaded by another radio which made it
impossible to decode weak signals when the 2nd radio transmits.
When the Contest started, I think I got everything prepared, but very
embarassing thing happened to me in the middle of the 2nd hour - a high rate
prime time. 
The wireless mouse suddenly stopped working and I carried on without it for a
while until I accidentally pressed something and the computer got locked. 
I realized I never asked Laurent for a spare battery and it took me good 20
minutes to find it, replace it and get everything rebooted.
Otherwise I operated pretty much the whole contest, only losing these 20
minutes, a couple of 10 minutes breaks for cold refreshing showers and 
few minutes of my now usual passing out (Sunday morning) with my finger suck on
Enter key. I had Dual CQ turned on at that time so I hope I didn't sound like 
a LID.
It was easy to be awake on Saturday with propagation Gods giving us excellent
conditions on high bands. I think I could do better on 160 and 80, but 
I guess I overstayed on 20. 
10 was open here on Saturday from about 1400 to 2100 Z and I made over a 1,000
QSO on 10 meters on the 1st days which never happened to me in last 4-5 years.
Sunday morning was a bit upsetting with few slow morning hours on 20 and weak
15, but then Gods flipped the switch around 1800 Zulu and awarded
us with a couple of more good hours on 10 and 15.
I haven't been on live scoreboard for a while, but John W2GD convinced me few
hours before the Contest that "I have to be more transparent",
so few hours into the contest I figured out "on the fly" how to
connect to it and after couple of errors and trials I got connected.
Felipe CR6K got me worried a bit, at some point the gap between us was less tha
200 Q's, and he sounded great on 160  I heard him
but at the end I think I was ahead of him by about 800 Q's.  Seems that he has
great QTH to run U.S. and pretty capable of winning this contest some day.
Now about few disappointments.
I worked over 500 Q's!
I haven't analyzed the spots yet, but seems like a usual story packet guys (one
of the reasons). I vener get it what drives a person to spot 
a goofed call (like TO3M or T04A etc.) right away, without even veryfyig it?
Yes, maybe I haven't ID after each QSO at the start, guilty as charged,
but later I tried to do it EACH time and still sometimes I would get 3, 4 or
sometimes 5 dupes in a row!
Another question is to the guys who work  let say TO4A and then, just 2 minutes
later work "TO3A" on the some frequency. Shouldn't it ring the
bell???
No, they just click on the spots...
Year after year I work same guys, same calls, who use not even what sounds like
hand keys, but probably something like two spoons or just two wires as
electrodes for keying.
Many times I couldn't figure out what was the right call sign, because it was
sent differently each transmission...
Also, if someone runs 36-40 WPM, what makes them come back to you at 10 or even
5 WPM in the middle of huge pile-up?
U.S. is one of the highest developed countries in the world. I can't imagine
that getting a simple computer is a problem nowadays. BTW good not only for 
decent keying but also for Dupe checking.
I know we all should be grateful for casual activity, and I really am, but
shouldn't the desire for improvement be a part of human nature?
Some guys worked not 2 or 3 times on the same band, but 4 and (two guys) even
5!
Sorry for complaining, but 500 dupe QSO's are good 2.5 - 3 hours of my work.
Wasted hours.
Anyway, after all it was a great contest and I believe that everybody was happy
to finally get the long forgotten taste of 10 m pie-ups back. Hopefully it
will only improve in the coming years.
I operated 99% on CQ with probably 75% being a "Dual CQ" or 2 BSIQ
like they call it nowadays.
The multiplier could be better, but I didn't manage to move a lot of guys this
time. Chris VO2AC called on only two bands, and I had only 1 North Dakota this
time, and didn't work few easy states on 160.
Thanks to everybody for the contacts, the activity was pretty high.
Special thanks to my hosts: Laurent FM5BH and his XYL Micheline. Without their
care and help my effort wouldn't be possible. Laurent is not only a great guy
and a good friend to many, but also a skilled engineer, who managed to put and
maintain such incredibly competitive station on his small city lot, considering
that he still works full time. Honestly, his dedication and passion always
serves me as an example and inspiration in my HAM developments and activities.
Those of us who complain about the lack of space, not enough time, etc. should
really take a closer look to his station setup.
Good to all in the Phone part and thanks for reading my (rather long) story.

73, Yuri


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