[RTTY] CQ/RJ Worldwide RTTY - ZC4DW - SOAB LP
Dez in Cyprus
dez@cytanet.com.cy
Wed, 3 Oct 2001 18:11:57 -0000
CQ/RJ Worldwide DX Contest, RTTY
Call: ZC4DW
Operator(s): ZC4DW
Station: ZC4DW
Class: SOAB LP
QTH: E. SBA
Operating Time (hrs): 44
Summary:
Band QSOs Pts States DX Zones
------------------------------------------
80: 47 138 0 19 6
40: 151 437 6 44 11
20: 401 1158 17 70 23
15: 584 1632 17 73 28
10: 667 1911 28 62 22
------------------------------------------
Total: 1850 5276 68 268 90 = 2,247,576
Club/Team: Chiltern DX Club - CDXC
Comments:
Transceiver: FT-1000mp MK-V
Power: 75 Watts
Ant 1: 28 MHz ¼ wave ground plane
Ant 2: Doublet
Ant 3: Inverted-L
TNC: KAM
Software: Writelog
This was my first entry in the all-band category in CQ/RJ WW RTTY. Last year
I
had great fun challenging VR2BG in the race for the Asian 10m title. Brett
came
out on top and won 1st place in Asia on 10m in 2000. This year I stepped up
to
try an all-band effort.
A quick check at the low power records revealed that 4Z5CP was the all-band
Asian record holder setting his 1.2 million points record in 2000. So that
was
my target - a tall order without any beam antennas or gear capable of
delivering the permitted 150 watts. Incidentally, can anybody explain why
the
low power limit is not 100 watts like the SSB or CW leg? Just curious that'
s
all.
My setup is very basic, just a couple of wire antennas no higher than 10
meters
up, and a CB type groundplane shortened for 28 MHz. The latter antenna
performed amazingly well - 28 MHz being in very good shape both days, as I'm
sure JY9 found out.
The States and Canada are both difficult areas to work from the Middle East;
I
said difficult - not impossible. 10m was my best band for working North
America, yet 15m was the best overall for zones/dxcc. Both the two higher
bands
seemed good, and it was a trade-off when to change between either band.
On day 1 I was really surprised how early North America appeared on 15m. The
first two stations were worked around 1100z - this was about 2 hours before
Stateside usually appear on the higher bands. On the whole, propagation didn
't
chuck up many surprises, except 10m seemed to close earlier than
anticipated,
again by a couple of hours.
Despite 10m and 15m being in great shape, it was still difficult to work
sufficient North American mults to seriously challenge the big guns like
P40MM,
AA5AU, or W2UP. Realistically one can't expect to put out a big signal to
where it really matters with 75 watts and a wire.
This showed on 80m; I could hear lots of Europeans extremely well, but very
few
of them copied me. Quite a few could 'hear' me, but said "sorry no print".
This
was very frustrating, and for me it's the main difference between RTTY and
CW.
On the key, whatever I hear I can usually work with low power on 80m or
40m -
not so on RTTY.
Overall I thought conditions were almost as good as they get. I don't recall
ever working 10 VK's in a weekend before! HC8N and HO1A both on 4 bands,
K7WD/KH0 amazingly on 3 bands. Other highlights were being called by V73UX
and
C98DC on 15m, working JY9NX on 10m and 15m back-scatter to complete a rare
5-bander.
Several commented on the fluttery signals, especially day 2. I noticed this
on
American and Canadian signals during my evening. On Sunday, P40MM worked me
on
20m with his huge 599 signal, and requested a QSY for the 15m mult at a time
when 15m should have been even more favorable. Rather surprisingly, he was
almost inaudible on 15m and we never made the QSO.
For an hour or so, when 20m was fluttery, 15m was virtually dead. At the
same
time I went through a brief spell around 9pm local when I seemed to have a
direct pipeline into Oceania! AH8, KH0, 9M6, ZL called within a 30 minute
time
frame. I was longing for an Hawaiian to call in, but it was not to be! I
never
heard a KL7 either.
The ones that got away were JT1, Zone 23. I heard him on both days on 15m
and
quite a good signal; he seemed to be struggling with me. Also missed XE, but
Mexico is very difficult to work from the Middle East.
The bands were so open it was difficult to know when to take a break. The
contest for me starts at 3am local - not the best time in the world! I
operated
the first 24 hours without stopping, reached the 1,000 QSO mark after
exactly
18 hours. After 24 hours in the chair the score had crept up to 1.1 million,
just a shade off 4Z5CP record 1.2 million set last year. It was a good time
to
go for a sleep!
5 hours later I was back at the rig; the home QTH is in 5B4 land
incidentally,
so I have to sleep in a different DXCC country! Who else has such quirks?
Anyway, after 1 hour back at the radio the score passed the magic 1.2
million.
What a satisfying feeling you get looking at the clock and seeing there's
still
another 18 hours left to push the score up even higher and hopefully out of
reach of any others who are surely enjoying the condx. I worked 4Z5CP twice
and
was tempted to ask how he was doing, I might have been disgruntled if he'd
have told me his score. I chose not to inquire in-case he suspected I was
chasing his Asian record!
The pile-ups were huge, especially on 10m and 15m, but easy to control. I've
never worked 1850 stations on RTTY in a single weekend. The rate meter
looked
impressive at times. What a lot of fun!
80M 40M 20M 15M 10M Total %
EU 43 120 302 403 493 1361 73.6
NA 0 10 35 32 66 143 7.7
SA 0 1 8 10 9 28 1.5
AS 3 16 45 120 90 274 14.8
AF 1 4 4 12 6 27 1.5
OC 0 0 7 7 3 17 0.9
Shalom and God bless; thanks to all who called in, and thanks to the
sponsors.
Dez Watson - ZC4DW, G0DEZ