[SCCC] WPX CW NI6W (W4EF at W6BCQ) SOSB20 HP

[Michael Tope]

                  CQWW WPX Contest, CW

Call: NI6W
Operator(s): W4EF
Station: W6BCQ

Class: SOSB20 HP
QTH: CA
Operating Time (hrs): 34

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
  160:
   80:
   40:
   20: 1403
   15:
   10:
------------
Total: 1403  Prefixes = 686  Total Score = 2,075,836

Club: Southern California Contest Club

Comments:

Rig: Ten-Tec Omni 6+
Amplifier(s): Homebrew 4-1000 and Alpha 78
Antenna: 5 element monobander @ 120'

I wasn't feeling so hot on Friday morning when I left Los Angeles for 
W6BCQ's
QTH in Hemet, Ca. At first I dismissed it as just residual stress from work,
but by the time I got to Hemet it was becoming clear that I was coming down
with a head cold. In a case of what was likely too little - too late, I
stopped at a Target store in Hemet and loaded up on orange juice and vitamin 
C.

After Keith and I got things setup in the shack, I took a quick nap hoping 
that
it would revitalize me. It helped a little, but I was still pretty out of it
when zero hour rolled around. Things started out slow for me as I couldn't 
get
a run going, so I spent the first few hours of the contest doing search and
pounce. By 1 AM local (0800 UTC) I was starting to hurt all over and asking
myself if this was really worth it. A winning strategy would have dictated 
that
I keep going, but I decided that self-torture is only justified if there is
ample compensation involved (hobbies are supposed to be fun - right?), so I
opted to let my body rather my ego dictate off-time selection (e.g. I went 
to
bed early). I set my alarm for 12:00 UTC (7:00 AM local) and then hit the 
sack.
After a few hours of rest, I got back in the chair around 12:30 UTC. Things 
were
slow and I was still feeling rather bad, so in keeping with my new strategy
(lose, but have fun doing it), I went back to bed. I didn't get back to it
until around 17:00 UTC. By this time I was actually starting to feel a 
little
better, so I pressed forward. As the day wore on, conditions seemed get 
better
and by late afternoon I was actually getting some Europeans to answer my 
CQ's.
As night fell, conditions just kept getting better and by European sunrise, 
I
felt as if I was actually tunneling down to the dipole in the attic layer of
European stations (gotta love that spring time polar express). After Europe
started to fade, I turned the antenna toward Asia and had a decent run of 
JA's.
At this point, I got the feeling my rate was activity limited more so than
propagation limited as it seemed that the JA's that did call were as loud 
and
crisp as I had ever heard them (I wish there was more activity over there).
James, 9V1YC called in and was so loud I had to scrape myself off the wall 
of
Keith's shack after our QSO :):) This kept up until 4 AM local at which 
point
the opening and the operator both started to fade.

While Saturday night/Sunday morning felt like a DX contest, Sunday was more
like the Sunday doldrums in SS CW. I had gone to bed at 11:00 UTC on Sunday
morning with 1195 QSOs in the log. The next 10 hours on Sunday only produced
another 208 QSO's (I think I wore the lettering off the F2 key on my 
laptop).
The goal of hitting the 2.0 Meg mark (and a bunch of diet cokes) kept me
motivated.

All-in-all, I had a great time despite the cold. Keith's QTH is awesome. 
Except
for a few times during the early afternoon Saturday and Sunday there was
absolutely no line noise and the INRAD filters in my Omni 6+ allowed me to
squeeze in between the other CQ machines and hear right down to the noise 
floor
(I am really impressed with the receiver in this rig).

A huge thanks to Keith W6BCQ and his XYL Marge for letting me invade their
beautiful country homestead for the weekend.

73, Mike W4EF.............................


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