CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW
Call: N4TZ/9
Operator(s): N4TZ/9
Station: N4TZ/9
Class: SOAB LP
QTH: IN
Operating Time (hrs): 42
Summary:
Band QSOs Zones Countries
------------------------------
160: 32 7 16
80: 121 16 56
40: 244 24 75
20: 301 28 86
15: 510 26 86
10: 584 26 81
------------------------------
Total: 1792 127 400 Total Score = 2,623,406
Club: Society of Midwest Contesters
Comments:
With the two big-time contest stations on opposite sides of me,
(W9RE and N9RV) both suffering hardware hexes, it stands to
reason that some would rub off on the low-profile guy in the
middle. While Mike, W9RE, was troubleshooting his rotor
before the contest, I was looking into the very high SWR on a
Cushcraft 40-2CD. Removing and reinserting the connectors in
the connection box at the bottom of the tower eliminated the
symptoms. That killed the time for trying to fix the
beverage coaxes. They are RG59 with F connectors; with
changes in temperature, the center conductor moves an inch
or more, So, no receiving antennas on 160m. During the contest,
the stack switching on the 20m system developed an intermittent,
so I could use one or the other, but not both 20m antennas.
Pat, N9RV, had some amplifier problems during the contest,
which diminished his desire. As a low power guy, I didn't
have that problem. However, one of my radios kept turning
itself off when I keyed it. After 15 minutes of trying to
figure out the problem, I turned it off and decided to use
the remaining radio for the remaining 47.5 hours of the
contest. Unfortunately, the remaining radio was the
one used by my very sore right hand, so I had to move the
remote knobs. Saturday, I decided to listen on the "bad"
radio but the knob for it was now on the floor. Sunday I
fished the knobs back to the proper locations and the radio
worked flawlessly for the remaining 8 hours of the contest.
To prevent the recurrence of the locked up tuning/typing right
wrist and thumb from last year's contest, I took prophylactic
ibuprofen and tried to S&P more with the left hand than the
right. The net result was I made it through the contest
without having to go to the doctor, but now both wrists are
still very sore two days later. The thumbs and fingers have
recovered by now.
The actual contest was not at all what I expected. I guess
that's a large part of the fun! Ten was open to JA at the
beginning of the contest (when my rig went belly up). Eighty
and 160 were quiet noise wise, but was unable to work anything
more than last year on those bands. Despite frequent (for me)
CQs on 40, I only made 24 QSOs from CQing on 40m. Twenty
wasn't so hot, because I couldn't use the stack. On the
other hand, 15 and 10 were open all three afternoon/evenings
to JA, although mostly for S&Ping from here. Western and Central
Europe were quite steady on both 10 & 15 from here. Mults were
down on most bands, even though my QSOs were up 40%. I don't
know how much of this was due to using only one radio for most
of the contest and how much was due to activity levels.
TRLog shows I operated 42 hours. I took a one hour nap before
EU sunrise the second night and a two hour nap after EU sunrise
that night. The rest of the offtime was used for things like
refilling the pop cooler, washing the dishes, and fixing the
jammed computer printer for my wife. Although things didn't
go according to pre-contest plans, I think the results exceeded
my expectations. Although another contest passed without a
big win, I am content that I did all I could this time around.
A special tip of the hat to Mike, W9RE, for overcoming his
problems to post his fine score, and kudos to my hero,
Mel, KJ9C, who ran up 1.6meg while having fun with his
truly low-profile low-power black hole station.
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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