CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW - 2020
Call: WW4XX
Operator(s): LZ4AX
Station: WW4XX
Class: SOAB LP
QTH: Atlanta, GA
Operating Time (hrs): 41
Radios: SO2R
Summary:
Band QSOs Zones Countries
------------------------------
160: 25 7 11
80: 115 18 46
40: 259 25 72
20: 368 26 75
15: 271 23 66
10: 71 17 29
------------------------------
Total: 1109 116 299 Total Score = 1,255,790
Club: South East Contest Club
Comments:
Yep, it is WW4XX. Not W4XX, not W1XX, not WJ4X, not W1VXX, not WW1WW - the last
one is beyond me. Seems like only the top CW operators get WW4XX right away.
Well, will keep trying ...
This was my 30th consecutive CQWW CW and one of the very few (2017 @PX2A being
the other exception) when I did not have to do anything on Friday before the
contest. Not getting another antenna up, not climbing roofs, trees or towers,
not fixing computers - just plain nothing. Part of it is due to my XYL. She did
the phone Sweepstakes a week before CQWW, using her German toy amplifier, and
everything that could catch fire already did burn in flames and was deemed
unrepairable. The setup now is ultra optimized, without any redundancies - K3,
KX3/KXPA100 plus 2 dipoles, the longer one of which plier-magically turns into
an 80/160 vertical.
This whole week the bands sounded great and I went into the contest all pumped
up and fully determined to beat my last year's score, even if that would take a
full 48-hour effort. Soon after the start, however, it did become obvious that
the low bands are not that great. EU was still booming on 40 and 80 but I was
having troubles being heard. 40 was still bearable but 80 was quite tough.
Stations that I never had problems working before, this time were quite
hesitant, requiring multiple repeats or not hearing me at all. EW5A and CW5W
were pleasant exceptions.
160? Fuhgeddaboudit! Only CA and Canada. Still, better than nothing, so I wasn't
worried much. At EU sunrise things got better on 80 but still no 160. A bit
later on 80, ZM4T (great ears!) hears me on the second call, PX2A needs a bit
more work but gets in the log as well. 40 is wide open, from VK/ZL to JA. The
JAs that I needed a full size 4L OWA @200 ft to work from K3CR, now easily get
in the log using a 100ft dipole @60ft and a 100W. Life is good!
Life gets even better when 20, and later 15 and 10, open. Things are moving
along quite smoothly, time flies and by the end of the first day I only need 300
QSO more to get to the last year's count. The mults number, however, is way, way
below what it should be. This is not that bad as I still have hopes for 80 and
160. On 80 I still need half of the EU multipliers and on 160 I need all of
them. Early QSY to 160 and I hear EU! Europe, though, doesn't hear me at all.
Only CR3W makes me drop my jaw all the way to the floor, coming back to me right
away and becoming my only out-of-NA/SA 6-bander. Thanks guys!
So, back to 80 where things do not look good. EU is still loud here but roughly
1 out of 3 attempts is successful. The level of frustration is slowly rising,
reaching the boiling point when I loose 4 mults in a row to mouse clickers, who
do not bother to listen and ruin almost completed contacts. CATCH YOUR OWN FISH,
WOULD YOU!
Anyhow, this is where I felt I have had enough and it is time to throw the towel
in. Went to bed around 04Z and told my wife not to wake me up in the morning.
Luckily, she knows very well that only idiots don't change their minds, so at
11Z I was back in front of the radio with a fresh cup of coffee and feeling like
a million bucks. Tuned 40 and there he was - a weak, lonely CQ-ing YB, a double
mult. We slowly start the negotiating process, quite quickly we settle on
"4XX" and then, when the only thing left to re-negotiate is the
prefix, the first mouse clicker drops his call in. The YB is confused. The mouse
clicker keeps insisting, and so do I, but only one of us has an amplifier and it
is not me. As the mouse clicker finishes off his QSO, more people become aware
of the YB existence and I realize the retreat is my only option. Did I get mad?
You bet! It didn't last long, though. 7 hours of sleep do miracles.
Compared to my last year's log, at this point I was doing quite well on QSOs but
was significantly lagging in mults. So much, that I wasn't really seeing how I
can make up for it. A bit disappointed, I kept going, jumping between 20,15 and
10, collecting loot on the way and hoping that something might happen. Well,
nothing happened but as the end neared, I was getting closer and closer to the
dreaded 1.2M. Finally, 3 double mults in the last hour decided everything and I
finished roughly 30K above my last year's score. Ugh!
That felt good. Really good. So good, as if I had won CQWW CW. Well, in fact I
had. In addition to holding the US SOABHP CQWW CW record, now I was claiming a
new CQWW CW record on our street. Yay!
This year's CQWW CW was also the final contest in another of my
"nut-case" experiments. After last year's CQWW CW, I was astonished to
find that I did get into US LP top 10 from W4 using 2 dipoles in our 20x30m
backyard. Then I decided to keep the same setup for a year and see if I could
make the top 10 in each of the contests included in the WRTC qualification
series. I only skipped All Asia. A year later, I'm happy (or perhaps not that
happy) to report that this is doable. Not only doable, but easily doable.
Unfortunately, it is so easily doable because in the whole US there were fewer
than 10 LP operators willing to compete seriously in DX contests. Yes, fewer
than 10! Why is this the case? I have my own answers but I'd rather keep them
for myself.
It would have been quite boring to compete with me and myself for the No 1 spot
on our street if it wasn't for Bryant, KG5HVO. Luckily, he doesn't live on our
street. Bryant convinced me to try the Online ScoreBoard and I must reluctantly
admit that it does indeed introduce a new dimension in contesting. However, I
still wonder how would this thing react if sprinkled with a few drops of holy
water ...
Throughout this last year Bryant and I have been competing on the ScoreBoard.
Even though he is using only one radio and my contest experience is double his
age, Bryant has won each and every one of the contests, small and big, including
the current one. Look out for Bryant - you will soon hear great things about
him, if you haven't already.
Overall, it was a good year and I did enjoy being a small-small pistol (that's
much smaller than small). Seriously!
LP is a great category, much harder than HP and requires a lot of stamina,
patience, perseverance and "cohones". I'm not sure I have any left
after this one year. Ever since CQWW ended I keep hearing this voice in my head
- "ohhm powah, ohhm powah ..." - so perhaps I will soon need another
20 Amp circuit in the shack. After all, next year we are all going to be
"disabled", errr - "assisted", and I don't intend to wait in
the pileups forever. Then again, only idiots don't change their minds, so who
knows ...
CU in ARRL DX CW!
73, Alex LZ4AX
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