[SCCC] KQ6ES @N6WIN M/S CQ WPX RTTY
John Simmons
kq6es at roadrunner.com
Wed Feb 15 20:01:11 PST 2012
CQ WPX RTTY
Call: KQ6ES
Operator(s): N6WIN, K6GEP, KQ6ES
Station: N6WIN
Class: Multi Op Single Transmitter (High Power)
QTH: San Bernardino County, CA
Operating Time (hrs): 48
Summary:
Band QSOs Points Prefixes
----------------------------------
80: 172 391 49
40: 619 1940 208
20: 410 588 116
15: 344 603 140
10: 155 227 34
----------------------------------
Total: 1700 3750 547 Total Score = 2,051,250
Club: SCCC
Total DX worked was 71 in 39 zones. Missed zone 2.
----------------------------------
QSOs: 2-pt 4-pt 6-pt
----------------------------------
80: 154 21 2 = 404 pts = 11% of the points in 12% of the time
80m was quite disappointing and almost useless the second night. I had hoped we'd work quite a few JA's there to boost the point total, but we had only ONE Japanese station on 80m the whole contest, and only TWO 6-pointers.
40: 423 47 154 = 1956 pts = 52% of the points in 38% of the time
This was by far the biggest point station for us and I think the most fun to work despite having to listen over the roar of the Chinese Dragon. 98 JA's logged here and a mere 59 JA's on all the other bands combined. The lack of JA's on 15 and especially 20 was probably mostly a matter of choice, as we had our best rates in the late afternoon/early evening when beaming to the US. We'll analyze that later and see if it could have been more productive to aim at Japan.
----------------------------------
QSOs: 1-pt 2-pt 3-pt
----------------------------------
20: 300 43 68 = 590 pts = 16% of the points in 21% of the time
We might have had better numbers on 20m if 15m hadn't been so good. Perhaps in hindsight we should have switched more between 15 and 20 during the DX openings, but when we did work 20 it seemed curiously unproductive for prefixes.
15: 199 32 114 = 605 pts 16% of the points in 17% of the time
15m was very good, but mid morning Sunday with Tim K6GEP in the chair and me just off to get us some revitalizing pancakes and eggs, it was clearly in trouble with not much power out and almost as much reflected, and we decided to stop working the band except for a few new prefix spots. Apparently the balun is at fault. I remember this happening once before at another station during another multi-op, also during wet weather. Did the rain contribute to this? Fortunately, Tim's antenna has a separate feed for each band, and we were able to continue without much time lost.
10: 114 10 32 = 230 pts = 6% of the points in 12% of the time
10m was occasionally productive for US calls but I expected better. No Asia and only Spain for Europe.
----------------------------------
Comments:
Using my call sign was a treat, although my only new DX was Nepal on 15m very early in the contest. The K3 and the amp worked well, as did all software. I confess to not knowing how to work the K3 more than the minimum needed to operate, but that will change. Aside from the 15m balun, the only other real problem was the occasional discrepancy between the actual antenna orientation and the readout, which required occasional visits and recalibration.
Many thanks to Tim N6WIN for the use of his station, all the initial setup he had ready, and for taking the very early a.m. first night shift before leaving K6GEP and I to it. And thanks to Tim K6GEP for being a good team player, a pleasure to operate with, and for making a tasty lunch decision on Sunday.
At least one of us was in the chair for the entire 48 hours. We put out a good effort, had a great time, learned a lot, and we'll do better next time.
John kq6es
Elecraft K3 with Acom 2000A
LM354HD 54' Tower
Force 12 C31XR and Cushcraft XM240
80m inverted-v
More information about the SCCC
mailing list