[CQ-Contest] N2IC/0 IARU Long Writeup
Steven London
smlondon at lucent.com
Tue Jul 28 09:48:00 EDT 1998
After reading K5ZD’s fine writeup of his IARU CW experiences, I felt inspired to contribute a
writeup from the Colorado perspective (about 2000 miles west of K5ZD). I really enjoy reading
detailed writeup’s like Randy’s, and hope that other serious participants will offer to share their
experiences in future contests.
Here in western Zone 7, the contest starts at 6 AM local time, about 20 minutes after sunrise. It’s
really great to get a good nights’ sleep and start the contest with the interesting conditions that
sunrise brings. I always start the contest on 40 meters, working JA, the Pacific and the far east,
and try to move a few multipliers to 80 meters in the first 30 minutes before the absorption is
excessive. Summer propagation also gives me the opportunity to move to move these same
stations to 20 meters.
The contest started with a flurry of JA and USA stations on 40. Listening on 80 on the 2nd radio
early in the contest was disappointing. The only DX heard was KH2D, who couldn’t hear me.
David, VK2AYD called on 40 at 1218Z, and we quickly moved to 80 for a successful QSO. While
chances are good I could have worked Zone 59 near the end of the contest, why pass up an easy
QSO ?
I had my only station problems early in the contest. The indicator on the 2nd tower rotor (40 meter
beam and KT34 2nd radio antenna) was inoperative. I immediately knew why. I began irrigating
the pasture the night before, and the rotor cable had several splices which were now underwater.
I had replacement cable, but was stupid for not installing it prior to the contest. I enlisted the aid
of my XYL to install the new cable through the pasture-turned-swamp. My instructions to her
while trying to run on 40 weren’t very clear, and she ended up inadvertantly cutting the rotor cable
to the ring rotor on the other tower ! Anyway, to end this sorry tale, I lost 27 minutes of operating
in the first 2 hours before all was again well.
N2NL/KH2 called on 40 at 1234Z. We moved successfully to 20. After my experience with
KH2D, and now nearly an hour after sunrise, I didn’t even suggest 80. I stayed on 20 after that
move, with the band open well to JA, and mediocre to EU. I pointed the high XA on EU and the
low XA on JA. HS0ZAA called at 1239Z for a rare Zone 49 QSO. RW0A (Zone 32) and UA9XS
(Zone 20) were nice ones at 1247Z. and 1257Z. EU faded into daytime absorption shortly after
1300Z, and 15 showed little sign of life. I pointed both antennas NW, and worked K9AW/DU6
(Zone 50, 1310Z), UA9KJ (Zone 21, 1318Z) and numerous JA’s.
15 came alive right around 1330Z. I went there at 1338Z, and was treated to a really fine EU run
(by Colorado standards). Some of the notable goodies were C4A, RZ9SWR, JY9QJ. VX4YU
called at 1400Z, and I quickly moved him to 20, 40, 80 and 10. I always move mults based upon
the likelihood of success ( best bands first). The 80 meter QSO was tough – he’s about 900
miles away, 2 hours and 20 minutes after sunrise.
While running on 15, I kept checking 10 for many-hop Sproadic-E to EU, like we had last year.
Not much doing – worked some Zone 7, 8 and NU1AW, but no DX. I also kept checking 20, but
little USA activity combined with high daytime absorption meant few QSO’s. PR2W was my first
10 meter DX QSO at 1528Z. About the same time, 15 started sounding wattery and weak to EU.
None of the far east goodies worked by K5ZD made it out this far west ! VE1ZJ (Zone 9) called
on 15 at 1531Z. No luck with him on 10 meters. XK6JO (Zone 2) was worked on 15 at 1540Z,
and we did make it on 10 with no problem. I stayed on 10 a few minutes, running USA, then back
to 15. Found 6Y6A (Zone 11) on 10 at 1549Z on the 2nd radio.
By 1600Z, 10 was open quite well to LU and PY. In fact, 10 stayed wide open to southern SA all
day. Pretty unusual for summertime, regardless of the sunspot numbers. UA0LEC (Zone 34)
called on 15 at 1606Z. I quickly pointed a beam NW, and worked JH4ADK a minute later.
Despite keeping a beam NW for the next 20 minutes, no other far east stations were worked.
Had an easy QSO with VE1ZJ on 10 at 1623Z, as well as XJ3EJ and several more South
Americans. By 1630Z, 15 seemed to be fading fast. It was time for some serious HQ stations
mop-up before it was too late – OM8HQ, HG5NHQ, R3HQ/6, PA6HQ I kept running on 15 until
1813Z – a mix of EU and USA keeping the rate reasonable. All this time I kept checking 20, but it
was really quiet. KH6TO was worked on 15 at 1749Z – pretty early for KH6, and PU1KDR (Zone
15) at 1756Z.
Beginning around 1815Z, I tried to make something happen on 20, but just too much midday
absorption. Many big gun EU stations just CQ’d in my face, although I was surprised to have
R1FJL answer my CQ at 1816Z. Had a heck of a time breaking a pileup to VO1MP at 1821Z –
Gus must have been beaming the EU. More attempts to run were made on 15 and 20 over the
next hour. Runs on 20 between 1940Z and 2036Z produced 0 EU QSO’s, but a bunch of 3 point
USA QSO’s. WL7KY called on 20 at 2023Z, and, not wanting to risk missing a multiplier, I moved
him to 15. A quick scan on 15 found TL5A (Zone 47) at the same time. 20 improved slightly after
2040Z, but USA QSO’s outnumbered EU by 8 to 1. Staying competitive with the USA east coast
in this contest depends on having a solid, high signal strength opening on 20 to EU between
2030Z and 2330Z. It just wasn’t happening this year !
Not having much luck on 20, I kept checking 15. It opened pretty well to JA a bit after their
sunrise, beginning with JA1NLX at 2142Z. Activity from JA seemed slow, however. KL7Y called
on 15 at 2146Z, and after some effort we made it on 10, for my only 10 meter DX QSO to the
NW. My friend David, VK2AYD called on 15 at 2152Z, but we had no luck on 10. DU1ODX was
a nice 15 meter mult at 2200Z. The last 15 meter JA of that limited opening was at 2212Z. Back
to 20 where I continued to struggle. Really frustrating to hear K5ZD and W4AN working EU
stations that were inaudible here. Bouncing around, I had solid QSO’s with VK2IA and VK2AYD
on 10 at 2303Z, as well as KH8/N5OLS and CT1BOH on 15 at 2301Z. It seemed that Jose was
“in” hours after the last EU had faded out on 15. Spent the 23Z hour bouncing between short
runs on 20 and 15, and S&P on the 2nd radio on the band I wasn’t running, and was rewarded
with ZL1AIZ (Zone 60) and WH0AAV (Zone 64) on 15, KH8/N5OLS on 10, C4A and TL5A on 20.
By 0000Z, I had 963 QSO’s – not too shabby. 20 died to EU for the 00Z hour (or was everyone
on 40 ?). Local sunset is at 0320Z, so 00Z is too early to think about 40. Worked a few JA’s on
20 just after 00Z. Seemed odd considering the summertime absorption – more like wintertime
condx. Some good mults during the 00Z hour – UP6F (Zone 21) and OH3X (SRAL) on 20,
UA0KCL (Zone 26) and 9V1YC on 15, KH6TO on 10. 20 continued to tease me during the 01Z
hour – a smattering of EU and JA.
I made my first 40 meter EU QSO at 0142Z (although I tried earlier during the 01Z hour). It was
strictly S&P EU on 40, with many repeats of my call. I just kept running on 20, and S&P on 40
through 0325Z. 20 actually was beginning to play as local darkness approached. The limited
common darkness between here and north eastern EU limited me to a single Zone 29 QSO on 40
– RW2F. At 0325Z I started running on 40. Lots of USA, and a few EU QSO’s. The QRN
situation in the west-central USA made me feel like a real alligator. Lot’s of EU stations called me
that I just couldn’t pull through.
I went back to 20 at 0351Z, and was greeted by a wide-open band. Finally, the over-the-pole
opening I had been waiting for. It was great fun until 0520Z, when EU suddenly vanished. Some
of the more interesting QSO’s were ES9A, UA0QMU (Zone 25), UA0KCL (Zone 26), VK4DHF
(Zone 55), RA0JX (Zone 33). After the disappearance of EU, I swung the beams around to JA
and had a nice run until 0615Z. Kept checking 40 for mults – LT1F, YW5LB, KH7R, as well as 80
– which seemed devoid of activity.
Made my first check of 160 at 0615Z. QRN ! Did manage to work K8AZ, NU1AW and K5MR –
all new mults, of course. Back to 20 for more JA’s until 0700Z. Kept doing S&P on 40 and 80,
even looking for USA. What seemed like a packed band of USA on 40 at 0200Z was now quiet.
Did all the east coast guys get their fill of EU and hit the sack ? Back to 160 at 0700Z, working
N6AA for Zone 6. 0705Z was time for my first run on 80 –picking up Zones 2, 7 and 8 ! Didn’t
spend long there, since 20 was still open to JA. Back to 80 at 0731Z, working VK4EMM ,LT1F,
and KH6TO. I was particularly happy with the LT1F QSO, since I put up a beverage especially
for that purpose. My usual wintertime assortment of beverages is down in the summer for
farming activities. Back to 20 until 0755Z with JA, HL, BV. Another quick trip to 80 “on the hour”
got me ZF2NT (Zone 11), LU1VZ (the other LU zone) and VE3KP (Zone 4). More trips to 40, 80
and 160 during the 08Z hour helped fill in some easy zones.
First 40 meter JA of the night was at 0851Z, although I suspect the band was open earlier. The
JA opening was full of echo and multipath before JA sunset. I suspect this was caused by the
southwest path being in full darkness, while the northwest path still had daylight at the JA end.
As soon as JA sunset hit, the signals lost their echo, and I was treated to an extremely good JA
opening. DS4CNB (Zone 44) and EM1LV (Zone 73) were both worked on 40 just before 0900Z.
I spent the final 3 hours of the contest running mainly JA on 40, while S&Ping on 80 and 160. It
felt pretty low key. There was so little activity on 80 and 160 that I had difficulty staying awake. It
was really fun working Pacific/Asian zones on 40, such as RU0LAX (Zone 34), VK6HG (Zone 58),
ZL1AIZ (Zone 60), 4F3GDX (Zone 50), RA0JX (Zone 33), 9V1YC (Zone 54) and XUF2B (Zone
49). Every year it’s a challenge to see how far east I can work on 40 before daylight on the
western end of the path, or daylight over the polar region through which our signals must pass
become overwhelming. This year, either 9V1YC or XUF2B share the honors !
P40HQ at 1000Z on 80 was a nice HQ mult. Worked JH7PKU on 80 at 1024Z for my only JA on
that band. HC8A was worked at 1030Z on 80. The op (Steve or Trey ?) let me know they would
be on 160 at 1100Z, where we had a good QSO. I moved KL7Y to 160 at 1049Z. It amazes me
to work Dan every year on 80 and 160 in this contest. Isn’t it broad daylight in Fairbanks ?
Finally got the QSO with Jim, KH2D on 80 at 1119Z that eluded me 23 hours earlier. I
sometimes end this contest on 20 meters, but this year 20 was slow to open and still virtually
dead right up to 1200Z. Made me wonder if I had fried my RX front end.
A really fun contest, but I believe several factors led to being less competitive from Zone 7 than
last year – 20 was not good to EU during our daylight hours, 80 and 160 were quieter than usual,
allowing Zone 8 stations to work the plentiful EU HQ stations on those bands (high QRN is the
great equalizer for us !).
I don’t understand why this contest isn’t more popular in the USA. The 24 hour format, and
interesting summertime condx make it a real winner in my book.
Continent List
160 80 40 20 15 10 ALL
--- -- -- -- -- -- ---
USA calls = 13 51 134 312 184 19 713
VE calls = 2 6 10 26 14 7 65
N.A. calls = 1 4 9 9 10 3 36
S.A. calls = 1 4 9 12 17 15 58
Euro calls = 0 0 41 251 230 0 522
Afrc calls = 0 0 1 1 2 0 4
Asia calls = 0 0 18 36 9 0 63
JA calls = 0 2 136 135 20 0 293
Ocen calls = 0 5 15 13 8 5 46
Unknowns = 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total calls = 17 72 373 795 494 49 1800
HOUR 160CW 80CW 40CW 20CW 15CW 10CW TOTAL ACCUM
---- ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ----- -----
12 0 3 41 48 0 0 92 92
13 0 0 2 53 23 0 78 170
14 0 1 1 1 95 10 108 278
15 0 0 0 0 109 9 118 396
16 0 0 0 0 73 8 81 477
17 0 0 0 0 65 7 72 549
18 0 0 0 32 36 3 71 620
19 0 0 0 75 14 0 89 709
20 0 0 0 52 16 2 70 779
21 0 0 0 49 25 1 75 854
22 0 0 0 41 15 0 56 910
23 0 0 0 30 13 4 47 957
0 0 0 0 48 6 3 57 1014
1 0 0 5 57 1 2 65 1079
2 0 0 21 52 0 0 73 1152
3 0 0 65 22 0 0 87 1239
4 0 2 0 88 0 0 90 1329
5 0 0 4 75 3 0 82 1411
6 4 0 11 49 0 0 64 1475
7 6 27 6 23 0 0 62 1537
8 5 13 37 0 0 0 55 1592
9 0 13 72 0 0 0 85 1677
10 1 9 53 0 0 0 63 1740
11 1 4 55 0 0 0 60 1800
TOTAL 17 72 373 795 494 49
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