N6ZZ 1995 ARRL CW DX SCORE

[N6ZZ at aol.com]

    Callsign Used : N6ZZ         Operator : N6ZZ

    Category : Single Op Assisted  - Those packet folks

    Default Exchange : 599 TX

    Team/Club : North Texas Contest Club

    BAND    Valid QSOs   Points   Countries   
 ______________________________________________________

  160CW              2           6           2 
   80CW           106        318         51 
   40CW           294        864         70 
   20CW           224        672         67 
   15CW           407       1218        81 
   10CW            44         132        23 
 ______________________________________________________

 Totals           1081       3210       294 


                    Final Score = 943,740 points.

Electric Radios:  TS850
                         Alpha 76

Antennae:  10-15-20:  Force 12 C-3 tribander, 50 feet
                 40:  Force 12 EF-240, 60 feet
                 80:  Shunt-fed tower
                 160:  Shunt-fed tower tuned for 80 meters

Software:  TR LOG

Comments:  I'd forgotten what fun it is to have an operable station at home,
after 10 years of not having one.  Antennas finally went into position with
one weekend to spare.  Wife vacated for the contest, so I could spend 40
hours in front of radios/computer, curse loudly at missed multipliers at any
hour of the day or night, survive on nuked leftovers, and generally smell
bad.  I did all of these things this past weekend and found them to be an
enjoyable pastime.

The untimely occurrence of Valentine's day during the week before the
contest, and spousal duties associated therewith, prohibited proper attention
to a 160 meter antenna.  And lacking the time to build a beverage or even a
EWE (not to be confused with you-all), I quickly laid 200 feet of #22 across
the field behind me to serve as a lower-noise receiving antenna.  At least, I
didn't risk frying a terminating resistor by transmitting into a beverage
(which I would have done approximately 3 hours into the contest, using the
850 and with its lack of separate receiving antenna).

Neat stuff that happened:  ZS6QU calls on 80 after I work a European.  I'm
able to work Europeans on CQs on 15 a lot, especially the second day.  I know
that the appropriate term is "run", but what I was doing was definitely not
running.  Maybe trotting or walking would be appropriate.  Got a few on CQs
on 40, and even some on 20, along with HZ1HZ who called twice in deference to
my bodacious signal.

Not so neat:  The world turns faster than my antennas.  The tower is over
200' from the shack, which given the speed of electricity, requires
significant advance planning prior to antenna rotation.

Packet users beware!  Many of the callsigns that pop up on the cluster aren't
particularly close to what's really there.  If a packet spot kind fit into
what I was doing at the time, I'd go after it.  If not, it would wait for
later (after the rush had subsided)  It was helpful in helping me tell what
bands were open to where when.

Maybe Texas isn't the Mecca that New England is for this contest, but
compared to doing it from California, this is mighty swell!  

            73, Phil - N6ZZ