CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW - 2021
Call: WO1N
Operator(s): WO1N
Station: WO1N
Class: SO(A)AB LP
QTH: MASSACHUSETTS
Operating Time (hrs): 32.7
Summary:
Band QSOs Zones Countries
------------------------------
160: 45 11 19
80: 200 15 58
40: 244 25 81
20: 260 25 79
15: 310 22 82
10: 35 14 21
------------------------------
Total: 1094 112 340 Total Score = 1,338,092
Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club
Comments:
Station: FTdx5000, C3-SS@38', 40MDi@60', 80MVertDi, 160MInvL, N1MM+
Soapbox :
Pre-Contest energy management was a total fail this year. It started with a
12 man tree crew complete with massive crane showing up Wednesday morning to
remove 3, 80+ foot trees from my neighbor's yard and perform crown work in my
yard. That made a mess, was a bit stressful and took all day, though I did
manage to replace one end of my 40M dipole rope that when I got it on the
ground saw that it was literally one good wind gust away from fail.
Rain was expected Friday, so Turkey day included "final" fall leave
cleanup but the damn Red Oaks were not cooperating this fall and still had
substantial leaves that had yet to drop. This weekend was the last
opportunity for the town fall yard waste pickup. I was outside for four hours
chasing every available leaf.
Turkey day meal was superb, including the after dinner nap. At which point
it was back outside to deploy the Inverted L. 3 hours later it was all
connected and about 1/3 of the radials deployed. Folks with better sleep
habits than me probably could have done this all in daylight. For me, it
was under the headlamp. Finished up about 0330Z.
Unfortunately, I was wiped Friday and this feeling lasted through all of
the first day of the contest. It ended up impacting total BIC time in the
end. N1MM says 35:45 based on 60 min intervals but real BIC time is
calculated at 32:45, though I did make Qs in 40/48 hours.
The station was ready to go but I got off to a really slow start, as usual.
The low bands seemed in good shape. Hacked and napped until 0943Z when I took
a 2 hour sleep break. 165Qs in the log. At this point it started looking
like an exact duplicate of the 2020 running. So, 1000Qs and 1M points
should be doable, I thought.
I often neglect to attempt runs in the first day as they generally are
unproductive for a low power/low antenna station. I was surprised to see 7
attempts during the first day/night. All generate Qs but were short duration
and not really high rates. The best was 55Qs@77/hr on 15M@1500Z. Ended the
first day/night with 662Qs in the log. That was 200 and change better
than 2020. Hmmm. Took a 2.5 hour break starting at 0745Z.
Four more attempts at running on the 2nd day with the best being 107Qs@91/hr
on 20M@1300Z and then 109Qs@109/hr on 15M@1430Z.
A funny moment included fat fingering the keyboard at some point while running
on 80M the second night. Then, using the 2nd VFO led to really confusing
audio in the headphones. I figured I changed some audio setting with my fat
fingering, so I spent some time looking at the config setups etc. Only to
realize
I had merely reversed the headphones on my head. Duh!
The scoreboard set me up for a good chase with fellow YCCC member, N1EN.
He jumped out to a large lead early in the test so that provided me
someone/something to chase. Got close, but Mike walked away with it.
Thanks, OM!
I capped 1000Qs at 1800Z Sunday afternoon, at which point I took a 2 hour
break to, wait for it...rake more leaves. I really obsess over these as you
can probably guess by now. Finished up the last 4 hours in S&P/DX mode
other
than a short run (14Qs) on 40M in the last hour.
In summary, a total blast, great conditions. More BIC time would have gone
a long way...
73,
Ken - WO1N
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