North American QSO Party, CW
Call: VE7FO
Operator(s): VE7FO
Station: VE7FO
Class: Single Op HP
QTH: BC
Operating Time (hrs): 10
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
160:
80: 14 9
40: 70 35
20: 194 47
15: 170 47
10: 188 45
-------------------
Total: 636 183 Total Score = 116,388
Club: British Columbia DX Club
Team:
Comments:
Wow, that was great. Those who read my RTTY Roundup story will be pleased to
know that the keyboard is still OK except for the right Shift key. No horror
stories this time so won't be as much fun to read as some others. Well, it
turns out that there is one horror story.
Times are PST. Add 8 hours for Z.
Actually was ready for the start. Was making Qs while finishing my breakfast.
Started on 15. Worked VA7RR. There go my hopes for top BC score.
10:57 29 Qs, 18 mults. Well, that wasn't very good so switched to 10
12:03 129 Qs, 53 mults. Hey. That's better. Had a 94 hour. Mult production
falling off so switched to 20.
12:26 150 Qs, 68 mults. Hmm... rate is down. Switched to 15. In retrospect I
probably should have stayed on 20 longer. 15 mults in 23 min not too bad.
13:23 197 Qs, 86 mults. Had a 55 hour but rate getting worse. Switched to
10.
14:46 287 Qs, 96 mults. Now have 45 mults on 10. Not likely to get many more.
Don't have that many on the other bands. Rate is falling but did have a 58
hour in there. Half way there. Looks like 600 Qs might be possible. Band is
getting noisy. Usually I stay on a band too long. Not this time. Switched to
15, never to return.
16:12 378 Qs, 107 mults. Now have 47 mults on 15. Had a 56 hour and, even
better a 70 hour. The 600 Qs are looking attainable. Decide to take a peek at
40.
16:32 388 Qs, 111 mults. Well, 40 was open to 4, 5 and 9 land. Signals were
weak, though, and a bit of a tough slog so decide to come back later. Checked
80 but all quiet, including the noise. Switched to 20.
18:22 562 Qs, 158 mults. Now have 47 mults on 20. Had a 63 hour and a
fabulous 101 hour. I'm 62 Qs better than the average I need to hit that 600
mark. Sitting at about 89,000 points and wondering what to do to get past 100K.
Starting to get excited but have learned from past experience that the bottom
can fall out at any moment so have to just keep plugging away. Better get those
mults on 40 and 80 if I'm going to make that 100K so switch to 40.
19:15 612 Qs, 169 mults. 103,428 points. Zowie. Lots of air punching. Very
exciting. Switch to 80 as there should be some easy mults there.
19:19 613 Qs, 170 mults. Aaarrgghhh.... Suddenly there's an S9 noise level
and the only one I can work is Tree. Back to 40 but going to check 80 often.
19:49 628 Qs, 174 mults. 109,900 points. Noise on 80 has gone so go there.
Pick up another 13 Qs and 9 mults.
19:59 641 Qs, 183 mults less 5 dupes = 116,000 points and my ten hours are
up.
Checked 160 a few times. Heard nothing (using 80m dipole).
This was my 3rd Winter NAQP CW. There is improvement. Station is pretty well
the same but op seems to be getting better.
Improvement over Default
Year QSOs Mults Score previous year CW speed
2001 241 126 30,000 20 wpm
2002 469 174 82,000 173% 23 wpm
2003 636 183 116,000 41% 26 wpm
After the 2001 I was really excited by my score and carefully watched as each
3830 score summary was posted, printed it out and wrote on it where I stood
overall, in Canada and in VE7. Well, overall, I ended up at 121/139.
Did the same for 2002. Just as excited. 110/148 overall but 1/2 for VE7.
Hmm... don't see a certificate on the wall. Guess whichever VE7 beat me didn't
post to 3830. I'd better check this out.
Well, I'm still excited and trying to predict where I'll be from last year's
scores.
I thought that conditions weren't that good so felt the score doesn't fully show
the improvement. However, others have said conditions were really good and that
they had achieved their personal bests. Oh well, will have to await the final
results.
When I look at others' scores it is apparent that I have a long way to go.
First time I have averaged better than 60 Qs/hr over a 10 hour period.
I guess you can tell I'm pretty happy about this one.
All of a sudden, after reading K1AM's post on 3830 where he mentioned that some
stations didn't sound like they were keeping to the 100W power limitation, I'm
not at all happy. For some dumb reason I thought this was an ARRL contest and
that the LP limit was 150W, so, you guessed it, I ran 150W. Consequently, my
effort of which I was so proud is only good for a check log. Oh, the horror of
it all. Still, I had a good time but the competitor that lives inside me is
pretty upset.
73, thanks for the Qs and HNY de Jim Smith VE7FO
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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