[CQ-Contest] W4AN CQWW CW Reflections

[Bill Fisher, W4AN]

Just a brief overview from my perspective...

I had a hard time sleeping Friday afternoon before the contest.  Not sure I
really got to sleep to be honest, but at least my eyes were closed and I
was horizontal for 3 or 4 hours.  I got 10 hours sleep on Thursday night
which I'm sure helped.  

Steinman and I had calculated that the CW event had a very good chance of
having great conditions based on the 27 day cycle.  Turned out to be true.
With an hour before the contest I was on 28Mhz working a pileup of JA's.  I
had thought about starting on 15 meters to Japan, but thought better of it
with 10 mins before the contest.  40 meters is very important in this
contest and the place to be is always the place where you can work Russians.  

I had goals posted on the wall for every hour for the first 10 hours.  I
knew I wanted to maximize the first night.  I'm glad I posted the goals
because it pushed me to work the 2nd radio very hard.  I had 25, 23, and 19
2nd radio QSO's the first three hours of the contest.

I had worked very hard the month of November on a new phased beverage array
for 80 meters to Europe.  I got to use it remotely the two weeks prior to
the contest and it was hearing substantially better than my 4-square.  In
the past my 4-square has always been better than a single beverage even
when it was noisy.  So I was hopeful that the new antenna would help my 80
meter numbers.  Still I knew my transmit signal in Europe was not the best.
 I have compared my signal with N4RJ there and consistently get beat my 1
S-unit with his inverted vee from 160 feet.  


The first three hours I work 15 and 20 meters pretty hard with the 2nd
radio and then move to 80 meters.  All the while working the first radio on
40 meters.  All bands seemed very noisy to me the first night.  I was even
hearing loud static crashes on 20 meters.  I'm still not sure where this
was coming from since the national radar map was clear.  At least this year
the guys in Europe seemed to be able to hear me fine.  160 meters was more
of a struggle.  I had a hard time hearing there.  

In 1992, when I was lucky enough to win, the reason was a European sunrise
opening on 20 meters.  It seems to open for us and more limited in the
northeast.  Friday night I stayed on 40 meters as long as I could stand it
and when the European signals on 20 were over S-9 I moved there where I
remained the rest of the night.  Around 1000Z the opening peters out for
about 90 minutes and then the band comes back to life.  

One lesson I learned on SSB was that I needed to get to 10 meters early and
often.  I didn't want to take a chance of a flare screwing up my numbers on
Sunday.  So with the rate meter (last 100) on 155 I move to 10 meters.  I
find a mostly lousy frequency around 065, but it is quickly douched and I
get the rate back to where I was on 15 meters.  I try switching between the
5/5 stack power divided with the high 7 element for awhile, but quickly
realize that the 8/8 stack is hearing the northern Europeans and Russians
just as well.  I stay with the 8/8 stack the rest of the weekend and use
the other antennas for quick switching.  

The bad thing about the CQWW CW contest for us W4's is the proximity to the
winter solstice.  Less daylight is not in our best interest.  For this
reason 10 meters is a pretty short opening to eastern Europe.  By 1500Z
I've made the decision to get back to 15 meters and rack up some eastern
European QSO's before the band closes.  By 1800Z I'm on 20 meters.  


Saturday afternoon I keep peeking over at my notebook running Geocron in
anticipation of the sun rising in Japan.  By 2100Z the Europeans are
getting pretty thin on 20 meters and I'm anxious to do something else.  I
manage a few QSO's to Japan on 15 and 10 meters, but mostly get unanswered
CQs.  Signals were excellent from Japan, just nobody home.  

The 2nd night I could hear a pin drop on 80 meters.  My numbers on 80 and
160 were well below expectations and I knew if I was going to meet my goal
of 500 multipliers I would have to work these bands hard.  I CQ'ed on 40
meters for a couple of hours, working 80 with the 2nd radio and then around
0130Z I start CQing on 80 meters.  I'm hearing anyone who calls but rates
are still poor. I stick it out just for the multipliers and I'm happy I
did.  I did, however, miss a 20 meter opening to Japan pointed out to me by
K1TO after the contest.  I'm not sure it was a big mistake though
considering the all the mults worked on 80.

Just before sunrise in eastern Europe I'm working the 2nd radio on 160 when
I hear CLEARLY A61 calling EA8EA.  I try to get his attention and move him
up 1KC.  He didn't hear me, but after several calls I throw out a CQ for
the hell of it.   My 160 meter antenna is about $10 of 14g wire and I'm not
overly confident in my signal on this band.  But I'm surprised by a small
pileup of Europeans that are calling on my very first CQ.  Maybe next year
I will try calling some other really rare station to get some attention!  I
work about 25 guys on 160 in about 45 mins and rack up 15 more mults
putting me over my expectation of 30 countries for the weekend.  


The 20 meter European sunrise opening was even better Sunday morning and I
was treated to a great run of Russians.  It's not tough to take a 105 hour
at 0700Z when just last year the same hour I did 20.  Again the opening
craps out around 1000Z and I'm off to 40 meters where I work a fair run of
(20) JA's.  I stayed longer than I should hoping for a multiplier or two to
call in.  Unfortunatley none did, and I'm quicly off to 15 meters.  

Sunday plays out much as Saturday except that I stay on 15M longer and try
to pump up the QSO's there.  Regardless of where I am on Sunday I'm working
the 2nd radio very hard on another band.  This contest was different in
terms of fatigue for me.  I was VERY tired Saturday morning and seemed to
come back to life Saturday night.  I had no problem staying up the 2nd
night and Sunday I felt pretty normal.  I was having some problems copying
calls from time to time but this was mostly due to my brain failing to sort
out the audio coming in from both radios.  

All day Sunday I was very focused on multipliers.  I even left a run on 10
meters with the rate meter around 150 to S&P the band once.  Almost every
station was new that I came across.  Unfortunately I didn't find as many
mults as I had hoped and probably would have been better off just doing the
same with the 2nd radio while CQing on 15 meters.  My goal was 100 mults on
10 and 15 meters, 110 on 20 meters and 105 on 40 meters.  I knew I wouldn't
make the 40 meter number and the other bands would be a stretch.

I manage to move several stations on Sunday.  While waiting to work an HK
on 10 meters, I hear K1AR ask him if he will move to 20 meters.   I get to
the 20 meter frequency and hear the wisps of K1AR's CQ's.  I call the HK
and he immediately comes back.  I then ask him to QSY 15 meters and then
back to 10 where I didn't get a chance to work him earlier.  AR was never
the wiser.  HE HE HE.  Sorry Kenny.  

The last 2.5 hours are spent on 40 meters CQing to Europe.  Luckily I made
the decision to get there early.  The contest ends with me finding ZF2NT on
20 meters for a sweep of ZF.  The last 4 hours of the contest is the best
ever for finding mults.  Normally I finish poorly in that department.  

My hearty "FB OM" to N9RV from all the way back in Indiana, N6IG in
California, and N5TJ LP in Texas,   These are the 3 numbers from the states
to be marvelled at from this contest IMO.  

73

Bill 



Bill Fisher, W4AN (EX KM9P)
http://www.contesting.com 






--
CQ-Contest on WWW:        http://www.contesting.com/_cq-contest/
Administrative requests:  cq-contest-REQUEST at contesting.com