[CCF] CQWW CW OH2BH(OH6KZP) SOAB HP

[Kim Östman]

Hienosti oli väkeä möykkäämässä bandeilla.

73
Kim EA3/OH6KZP


-----Original Message-----

                    CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW

Call: OH2BH
Operator(s): OH6KZP
Station: OH2BH

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

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Zones  Countries
------------------------------
  160:  163    11       45
   80:  778    26       84
   40: 1129    32      102
   20: 1072    35      103
   15:  832    36      105
   10:  884    37      109
------------------------------
Total: 4858   177      548  Total Score = 7,045,550

Club: Contest Club Finland

Comments:

And so the main contesting event of another year is again in the books. A
mix of high rate, juicy DX, frequency fights, and exotic band openings, all
in real good fun, perhaps apart from the fights...! My usual
travelogue/workalogue diary entry follows.

I often have trouble getting sleep before major contests that start at 00z,
probably due to adrenaline-filled anticipation and the pressures that come
with a serious Formula One radiosporting effort. In addition to the usual
sleeping rhythm change during the contest week, this time I also
experimented with a melatonin supplement, and succeeded in switching off
already before 18z (8 pm local) on Friday. Eventually I woke up after 23z (1
am local) without the double alarm clocks, and have never before felt as
rested at the contest start. Very positive!

As the contest progressed I thought about going for the entire 48 hours, but
by Sunday morning I opted for my usual 30-minute lie-down instead. For some
reason my heart was pounding hard and I had real trouble calming down for a
nap; eventually I managed to "cut the movie" (a Finnish colloquialism for a
micro-nap) for a short moment. I've found that however short those "cuts"
are, they are a significant help in re-booting my brain. I
also took a refreshing shower, and saw that winter had arrived outside
during Saturday. Nonetheless, it was physically painful to operate on
Sunday, as I
felt very tense and restless. As Ranko 4O3A put it some time ago, having
this hell twice in a month is tough. So I repeatedly vowed to myself that
this is
the final time that I'm doing this crazy 47/48-hour SOAB stuff, but I'm
hopeless: already now the fun of the next effort is in my mind... :)

Propagation was nice on Saturday, and it made for some exciting times on
80m-10m. But the high bands closed very early in southern Finland, and I saw
my 600k lead over Toni OH2UA @OH8X practically vanish thanks to him
utilizing the later polar-path W/VE openings up in northern Finland. I
feared the same would happen on Sunday evening, so I did all I could during
the morning and day on Sunday to regain some edge. Sunday's propagation was
not as good, although even 10m sported a nice U.S. opening. Both 15m and 10m
were at first promising in that they opened early before sunrise, but a lot
of difficult echo emerged in many signals later during the opening. Once 15m
& 10m closed, my QSO rate collapsed and mostly just 20m provided minor
3-pointer relief. The biggest disappointment was 160m, where I didn't log a
single North or South American station, and only heard one during the entire
contest. Even southern Europe seemed tough to reach at times.

Uploaded my score to the real-time cqcontest.net scoreboard by Dmitry
R4WW/RW4WM. It is growing in popularity every year, which I think is really
cool. He works hard to maintain and improve it, and does a great service to
the ham community in this way.

I also streamed live SO2R audio/video with all strategic equipment and
indicators visible (but sufficiently low bitrate to blur the VCO frequency).
It's at once fun for the family and other interested people, and a type of
voluntary "doping control" to those who know what to look at. Perhaps
a no-sweat modern version of the aborted observer program to consider by the
CQWW CC in the future?

I left for a business trip after driving home to Helsinki on Monday
afternoon, just changing the contents of my suitcase on a quick pitstop. The
rigors of the contest took their toll, as I forgot to pack the shirt and
suit jacket that I had prepared for myself already on Thursday evening. So
I'll just have to wing it, fortunately I at least changed my clothes...

Thanks to Martti OH2BH and Leena OH2BE for their support and for again
allowing me to use the fine station at their summer cottage, resulting in a
claimed Finnish SOAB HP record. I also much appreciated the local
competition with my friends Toni @OH8X and Tomi OH6EI @OH0Z. Now if we could
just get Tomi to start uploading his score too :) Thanks also to the Radio
Arcala team for support, and to all of you for the QSOs!

Kim EA3/OH6KZP