Zone 2 Ramblings - VE2/N6AA

[Richard Norton]

    Callsign Used : VE2/N6AA
         Category : SOAB, CW
 Default Exchange : 59902
        Location  : Sept-Iles, Quebec
 
   BAND   Raw QSOs   Valid QSOs   Points   Countries   Zones
 ___________________________________________________________
 
  160CW      301         300        634        30        11
   80CW      510         509       1074        45        13
   40CW      518         517       1073        55        22
   20CW     1379        1375       3342        84        30
   15CW      609         609       1502        66        24
   10CW        3           3          4         2         2
 ___________________________________________________________
 
 Totals     3320        3313       7629       282       102
 
  Final Score = 2,929,536 points.
 
Tri-band beam at 63 feet
W9INN Parallel Dipoles at 60 feet for 160, 80, and 40
 
On the airplane from Montreal to Sept-Iles I heard the two
guys in the seat behind me talking about running stations on
40 and 80. Turned around and asked them their calls. Turned
out to be K3TM and NB3O, who were on their way to VO2WL for
the contest. You guys thought this only happened in
Miami airport.
 
They said that I was far enough south that I would have good
low-band propagation to Europe, and that they were going to
have problems getting through the auroral zone. "Hah," I
said to myself, thinking that I've heard VE1ZZ on 160 from the
other side, and he's really loud, and we are all in the same
general area.
 
Well, not only did they have problems, but so did I.
We certainly didn't have the low band propagation to Europe
that the US seemed to have. For example, I could hear the USA
running Europe on 40, and could not even hear any of the
stations they were working. VE2XY also said the same thing.
I could sucessfully call and work the loud, CQing Europeans
on 40.
 
      Continent List  1995 CQ WW CW - VE2/N6AA
 
                   160    80    40    20    15    10    ALL
                   ---    --    --    --    --    --    ---
  USA calls   =    221   370   431   676   270     2   1970
  VE calls    =     14    25    10    29    15     1     94
  N.A. calls  =      3     8    17    18    10     0     56
  S.A. calls  =      2     5     6    14    17     0     44
  Euro calls  =     60    98    45   610   279     0   1092
  Afrc calls  =      0     3     5     9    12     0     29
  Asia calls  =      0     0     2    13     5     0     20
  JA calls    =      0     0     0     3     0     0      3
  Ocen calls  =      0     0     1     3     1     0      5
 
  Unknowns    =      0     0     0     0     0     0      0
 
  Total calls =    300   509   517  1375   609     3   3313
 
I never expected low-band propagation to Europe to be so poor,
especially since, from a W6's viewpoint I was almost in
Europe. The ultimate insult was getting beat out to OH0MEP on
160, yes - 160, by N6TR/7. In spite of the humiliation, I was
able to recover, and did finish the contest.
 
Ten meters was also a lot of fun. In addition to working VE2UA,
a local, I finally got K5GN and KE5FI. Missed the rare zone 5.
 
VO2WL made around 2100 QSOs. VE2XY and VE2UA, who both live
in Sept-Iles, each made about 600 QSOs. Zone 2 was easy to
get, particularly if you live in the Northeast USA.
 
Thanks to the VE2CSI-the Sept-Iles Radio Club for letting me
use their clubhouse and antennas, VE2XY for arranging the
operation, and WB2K, who gave help and advice on zone 2.
 
73,
 
Dick, N6AA     ae327 at LAFN.ORG

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