CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW - 2021
Call: KQ2M
Operator(s): KQ2M
Station: KQ2M
Class: SOAB HP
QTH: CT
Operating Time (hrs): 43.0
Radios: SO2R
Summary:
Band QSOs Zones Countries
------------------------------
160: 102 13 46
80: 569 18 69
40: 1156 26 88
20: 1202 33 96
15: 1292 29 103
10: 69 18 35
------------------------------
Total: 4390 137 437 Total Score = 7,303,089
Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club
Comments:
After the good CQWWSSB cndx with plentiful sunspots, I expected a pleasant
repeat 4 weeks later during CQWWCW. NOPE! Instead we got far fewer spots from
the small sunspot groups that appeared one day closer to CQWWCW than for CQWWSSB
ensuring that 10 would barely open to EU at all and 15 and 20 would have shorter
openings because of almost one hour less sunlight and a lower MUF.
The day before Thanksgiving (Wednesday) we had a nasty windstorm in the New
England and one element of my 80 meter 4-square broke. I went out to repair it
but in the process discovered that the pin of the SO239 connector had
disintegrated. Fixing it properly would require another SO239 and drilling and
enlarging each of the four holes and then disassembling and then reconnecting
all the 4-square twine supports before leaving for a family Thanksgiving dinner.
I didn’t have the two hours required, so I quickly soldered it and hoped for
the best. Normally I would have repaired the antenna on Friday but the wx
forecast was awful – it was supposed to get cold (about 40F and rain) and
become extremely windy with gusts in the 60 mph range. I feared that it might
break again during CQWWCW.
Cndx were marginal before the contest with 10 not opening to EU which meant the
low bands would be more important than expected. My station was ready, and I
was ready but dreading the inevitable.
40 did not sound very promising before the start so I decided to start S & P
rather than try to run. At 0000z I was able to generate 2 – 3 qso’s per
minute S & P on 40 and 80. I was finding some interesting mults that I
might not hear again (3B8M, SV5DKL, SX9V, UN3M, VU2XE, 3B8M on 40 and 3B8M,
ER0DX, ES9C, MD4K on 80) but 40 and 80 were very noisy (from the wind moving the
antennas + and rain static to the NE) and when I called stations on 160 they
were either taking 2 – 5 tries to get my call or they would just call CQ
again. I tried to run on 40 with poor results and at 0112z I qsy’ed to 80.
This worked much better until 0141z when all of a sudden the stations stopped
calling, the 4-square dumped power spiked and the 4-square pattern became
directionless. I knew what that meant; the 4-square had broken again. D**N! I
went back to 40 to try to run while I thought about what I could do. I was very
discouraged and thought about quitting and just relaxing for most of the weekend
(I needed more sleep, and could get some important professional work done) but
then my contest “training” kicked in and I thought of an idea to fix the
antenna.
At 0215z, I went out in the dark with a flashlight and my “go bag” of tools,
solder, wire, and hardware that I keep handy for repairing my wire antennas. I
had left several long 100’ power cables outside and connected them to the
house outside wall outlet. By now the temp had dropped below freezing and the
ledge was icing up. I carefully climbed the very slippery 45 degree angled
ledge to get to the 4-square element. The element had broken off again and I
needed to fix it. By this point there was almost nothing left of the connector
pin so simply re-soldering it was not going to work. I went into the house to
find a thick piece of wire and went back out into the violent wind and darkness,
re-climbed the ledge slipping on the way up, and then attempted to hold the
element wire in place with my teeth while I soldered the thick wire onto it
(needing three hands) while holding the flashlight pointed up at a useful angle
from between my legs. The 40+ mph wind gusts were moving the element and kept
pulling the wire off the element turning this into an enormously frustrating
project. Eventually, after many tries (I had to wait each time for the gusts to
subside) I got one side of the wire connected and then the other – soldering
it to the spot on the connector where the pin had been. Thankfully I had
previously roped the insulator to the coax with heavy twine and lots of Scotch
33 electrical tape or I would never have been able to find the broken 4-square
element. After 15 minutes I finally fixed it, the meter confirmed the
connections and then I carefully descended the ledge, and pulled up the 4-square
element.
At 0240z I was back inside and checked the dumped power and the pattern – it
seemed to be ok and I breathed a sigh of relief. Now, fully awake and partially
frozen, after a 25 minute break I was back on 80 and starting to run.
Naturally I had not thought of this simpler repair on Thursday. If I had I
would have made it then and not lost that valuable time on Friday during the
contest. The phrase “Necessity is the mother of invention” came to mind!
I would still have to repair this correctly by replacing the connector and twine
after the contest but for now it appeared that the wire might hold together. At
least I had a working 80 meter antenna again! I found a good spot high in the
band and ran on 80 for the next 3.5 hours while picking off q's and mults on 20,
40 and 160 with the 2nd radio. I still managed 73 and 62 qsos in the aborted 01
and 02z hours and then 102 and 105 qsos in the 03 and 04z hours but right about
05z the bands changed, the rain static worsened and the rate dropped sharply.
Around 0515z I started feeling more comfortable and tried some 2BSIQ for a
while, but there was too much QRM and QRN for me too copy well enough. I
focused my attention on my 40 meter run freq. and was rewarded with a REALLY
loud RW0A zone 18 double mult @ 0521z and then the rate died at the same time I
noticed a problem that my Radio 1 computer was no longer on the correct band.
The CAT connection was working but the freq. on the radio was not changing when
I changed bands on the keyboard! I had to go back and change the correct band
on more than 100 q's! I started to do this while I hunted Pacific mults on 20
picking up ZL4AS and ZM1M @ 0535z as well as CR3DX who was quite loud on 20, but
I did not hear any other EU stations. I qsy'd to 160 for another group of mults
including LU8DPM zone 13 double mult and then at 06z I was back to running on
40. I had spent very little time there so the run had good rates but not it did
not feel "solid" - I had to work hard to generate qso's and people
constantly cq'ed on top of me, acting like I wasn’t there. After finishing
correcting the band for all those earlier qso's I went back to S & P on the
2nd radio picking up mults on 80 and 160. I was disappointed at the lack of EU
on 160 and the fact that when I called them they mostly called cq again. Though
I had 118 and 112 hours at 06 and 07z, I felt like I was struggling and not
being heard well in EU. I continued to run on 40 in the 08z hour while I tuned
80 and 160 without much luck. BY 0815z EU was pretty much gone for my modest
wire beam but VL2B and ZM1A both called in for double mults. It became clear
that EU had mostly left the low bands and I had a hard decision to make - stay
on 40 and hope for a better run in the 09z hour and then attempt to pick up
Asian and Pacific mults on 40 and 80 or get some sleep before the morning EU
runs? After I worked some CA/SA and a loud JJ0VNR @ 0937z and HC2AO @ 0941z for
double mults, I opted for sleep at 0944z with a somewhat disappointing 788 qsos
and 223 mults.
I was up at 1100z, made my food, corrected the band on another 100+ qsos and
found a run freq. on 20 at 1116z. SX9V was a new mult @ 1117z and then the
band exploded with lots of Russian and Northern EU signals with a loud RM9A @
1153z for a zone 17 double mult. CNDX were good but not very good - I again did
not feel loud - I had to call stations repeatedly and many others cqed on top of
me and I had to waste time chasing them away. The last 10/100 rate did POP to
274.8/210.3 but it did not stay there for long. I was not being heard well and
this was worsened by most of the EU callers calling on the exact same freq. and
making it almost impossible to get a full callsign. On top of that, many
callers were not listening and kept calling over the station that I was trying
to work slowed things down even more so that in 44 minutes during 11z I had 130
qsos in what should have been a 200+ hour. At 1239z I qsy'ed to 15 which had
weak signals but better rates, and I ended the 12z hour with 196 qso's. After
13z signals quickly improved and the rate soared with the last 10 > 270/hr
several times and the last 100 staying above 200. I ended 13z with 215 qso's
and a max 60 min rate of 221. That felt better, especially after VU2XE called
in for a zone 22 double mult @ 1320z followed by ZP5KO double @ 1324z. Carsten
OY1CT called @ 1343z. In the 14z hour the adrenalin wore off and I got hammered
by microsleeps again - hundreds of them - the inevitable effect of some of the
medicines that I have to take in an attempt to manage my worst symptoms. Many
times I would wake up after a CQ and a clear freq. and not know how long I was
asleep and if someone called me or not. Other times a caller called me and I
got part of the call but was not sure about the rest of it and again would wake
up to a clear freq. without any awareness of whether they gave it again or not.
Sometimes they would give it and then I would forget to log it which was my
fault not theirs - I keep these qso's in my log so that they get points for
working me even though I lose points by keeping their busted calls in my log.
Microsleeps are very frustrating to deal with and really hurt my score in each
contest! I finished the 14z hour with 192 qsos and decided to stay on 15.
During the 14z hour I noticed that many of the very loud EU stations had a very
brief echo at the end – like the slightly delayed signal when musicians use a
reverb amp. The echo was maybe ¼ second at the most but it was persistent and
occurred with many stations. I also noticed my own echo after a lot of CQ’s
– this was very common near the peak of Cycle 24. I had noticed it very often
in CQWWSSB but forgot to mention it at that time.
I kept monitoring 10 for mults and to see if the band was going to open to EU.
Unfortunately 10 never really opened so I continued to run EU on 15 which
produced 161 and 147 qsos in the 15z and 16z hours with double mults 3B8M (very
loud!), EA8RM and TK0C on 10. TK0C was an honest 579 on 10 which was truly
surprising given that I was not hearing any other EU stations at the time!
During the 15 meter run double mult TZ1CE called in @ 1556z followed quickly by
new mults ZA1F and IS0ESG. 9G5FI followed @ 1619z and then some CA/SA while I
worked 10 meter CA/SA milts on the 2nd radio. The pileups were very intense on
10 meters and not productive to stay in. I continued to run EU on 15 but the
band was petering out. Double mult ZS1C called in @ 1715z and then 15 quickly
died forcing me down to 20 @ 1725z. Double mult VU2BGC was the first caller @
1725z with EA6ZS next. A VERY loud ES9C followed at 1740z and then C56XA at
1749z. I found double mults 3B8M, XQ1KZ and NP4Z on 15 and then TF3VS called
in for another double mult @ 1757z. I finished the 17z hour with 148 qsos of
which 97 were on 20. But 20 did not sound so good and I made only 92 qsos in
the 18z hour although I picked up double mults NH7T, ZM4T and TI7W on 15 while
also adding 5W1SA on 15 and double mult ZD7BG on 20.
I continued with the 20 meter run in the 19z hour with double mult ZS1C but it
was dying quickly and I tuned on 40 picking up 4O3A and double mult 4L8A and
then started a run while tuning on 20 and working mults EL2DT, FR8TZ and OH0V.
The 19z hour ended with 85 qsos the last of which was double mult TF3SG in zone
40. Signals were surprisingly loud with LY2FN 599 + 10 at 1925z! but the rate
was mediocre. Where was everyone?
The 20z hour started the next contest phase which was running on 40 while tuning
15 and working everything. 110 qsos was a happier result as I picked up double
mults KL7RA, OA4SS plus many CA/SA mults on 15. 21z was even better with 127
qsos and new 40 meter mults 4Z5PN, V3X, a remarkably loud ES9C and V26K - as the
rate soared to 229.3/127.3 15 provided several more CA/SA mults and then 20
produced double mults CB3R, VJ3A, KH6LC and LW1D along with additional CA/SA
mults.
In the 22z hour cndx briefly improved and then suddenly worsened but I thought
that maybe I could work some JA's so I tried 2BSIQ again with some modest
success. UA2CZ called in for a new mult on 40 while JA4ZCM and TI2OY were
double mults on 20 followed by 25 other JA's. Heavy aurora was present at the
end of the hour when the 20 meter run died so I tuned and found KL7RA for a
double mult and ended the hour with a paltry 45 qsos. A quick check of the
solar info showed that the proton density rocketed up to 25.2 with the Bz
(Earth's magnetic field) turning negative. No wonder!
My 40 meter run also died and I qsy'd to 80 @ with modest success while tuning
20 for Carib/SA mults working HC2AO double mult @ 2349z and also V31MA, HQ9X
and FY5KE.
At 2359z I had 2,532 qso's 116 zones and 342 countries for 3.326 Meg in 22.0
hours. That was ok for my station but less than expected. Of concern to me
was what might happen on Sunday if the CME reappeared like it did 4 weeks
before.
I prepared myself for a long slog with low rates which is what usually happens
on Sunday starting at 00z. I decided to run high in the band on 80 and tune for
mults on the 2nd ratio. This might have been a good time for me to try some
more 2BSIQ but the qrn levels were high and I was too tired.
During the 00z- 04z hours I had a steady but slow run on 80 with occasional new
mults calling in as I picked off CA/SA on 20 and 40 and EU, CA/SA on 160. On
160 I had to call RX3APM for almost 5 minutes before he got my call and worked
me for a double mult. The rates were disappointing with 44, 48, 50, 58 and 34
q's. There was brief burst of excitement late in the 03z hour with HQ9X, SX9V
and PJ7/G4JEC calling in for mults on 80 but no rate. I was too tired to tune
the 2nd radio actively and having to go back and manually correct the band shown
in the computer log for qsos made on the first radio used what little
concentration I had left. Finally ~ 0430z, 160 perked up and I had a brief run
of 18 q's in 17 minutes with 3 mults, and then the qrn and qsb swallowed it up
again. At 0456z I qsy'ed to 40 and Z35W called in for a new mult.
I stayed on 40 in the 05z hour and made 82 qso's with some very loud EU
stations. TA1UT, TA4/OH2KW and PZ5CO called in for new mult. 06z provided a
few mults S & P and 75 qso's followed by another 67 qsos in the 07z hour
including my friend Jim, KH7M (N6TJ) kindly qsying to 160 to give me the z31
double mult. 40 was open well and signals were good but I just wasn't being
heard. I tuned around 80 briefly to start the 08z hour and found TF3SG for a
zone 40 double mult and then went qrt @ 0810z.
Back on the radio at 11z and 20 was almost dead. I tuned 40 quickly and found
RD0A in zone 18 . I heard a few JA's and a BY but had no luck working them.
Although I needed most of Asia and Pacific on 40 and 80, I had no time to spend
there if I wanted to find a good 20 meter run freq. 20 started slow and sounded
poor @ 1112z but there was nowhere else to go.
ED8W was the lone new mult @ 1132z. The rate began to gradually pick up and I
started to hear more Russian stations; always a good sign. I ended the 11z hour
with 120 qsos and decided to stay on 20 longer today to get back some of the
qsos I had missed yesterday when I went to 15 early. At 1200z it started to
snow outside adding another layer of qrn to the usual qrm but counteracting that
was an increase in signal strength. The Top 20 was still best by itself
indicating low angle signals. At 1202z UN4Q called for a new mult followed
quickly by UN0L, UI8C, UB8A and MANY 3rd and 4th tier UA stations. Cndx had
improved overnight and by 1220z 20 was wide open to Russia and really opening to
Asiatic Russia with excellent signal strengths! UA9R, UA9AU, UA9D, RA9DZ, UD8F
and UP8L called in the next 5 minutes followed by R8CT, UA9AX and UA9CHL right
after that. I could tell by the flutter that there were other Asiatic stations
calling but they were getting drowned out by the other Russian and EU signals.
This was getting very exciting and the hour came to an end with back-to-back
mult callers P33W and ER3R finishing the hour with 180 qsos. 15 was opening but
I was very happy to stay with 20 and was greeted by VU2XE @ 1304z, RW9MC and
then JA0FVU, JA1AAA, UA9BA and R0BA in zone 18 - WOW! I finally qsy'ed to 15 @
1319z and immediately was called by many Russian and EU stations. I would have
been happy to stay on 15 but 10 opened @ 1350z and I HAD to go there
IMMEDIATELY! The pileup was IMMEDIATE and half the callers were new mults!
Z36W, LZ9W, IS0LYN, SV2BOH; only to completely disappear 10 minutes later. 29
qsos, 24 mults in 23 minutes and then it was over!
13z had produced 149 qsos with 12 mults and 14z added 112 qsos after the forced
early qsy to 15 @ 1422z with notable mults 4O3RB and GJ3YHU. The 15z hour
provided an excellent 164 qsos's with SV9COL and double mult TYF3VS calling in @
1544z, then 15 started an early decline although CM2RSV, EA9ACE, CR2X called in
for mults and I found 9G5FI for a double mult on 10. By 1648z EU was gone and
I was back on 20, picking up EL2DT and HH2JA on 15 on the 2nd radio. It looked
like I would be on 20 for the duration although there were many mults yet to
work - with new mults HO2Tand YS1MS calling @ 1650z and 1655z and then JH8GEU a
very early JA @ 1653z.
16z ended with 87 qsos and 17z provided another 111 qsos all on 20 with a few
more JA and TF stations, VU2ABU and VU3NXI and new mults PJ2T, double mult HZ7C,
GD5F, EA9AZ, 2I0WLZ, OY4M and VL2B longpath. The 18z hour produced 97 qsos and
20 meter new mults HB0A, Z36W, YM7KA and 4L2BM and double mult CB3R on 10 along
with some CA/SA. At 1850z, I hit 4,000 qso's 125 zones and 411 countries for
6,179,544 in 37.9 hours.
20 meter slowed down and EU disappeared in a 19z hour with 70 qsos - a few early
JA's called in but the real activity was on the 2nd radio on 15 with HI3Y,
CN8WW, and double mult VK1A. I also added double mults ZM4T and WH7T on 10 and
N6SS for zone 3 . It was fun to get the VK and ZL doubles on the first call
through a raging pileup of MidWest and West Coast stations!
In the 20z hour I continued to run on 20 and hunt mults on 40, 15 and 10. JW5E
called in @ 2011z and then a startlingly loud HS8JWH for zone 26 @ 2032z among
the few JA, VK and EU stations. Meanwhile on 15 I nabbed PZ5CO, HO2T, C6AGU,
KJ0D/KP2, HC2AO and double mult 5Z4VJ. At 2056 I qsy'd to 40 and completed the
hour with 55 qsos and 10 mults.
21z was much better hour with 100 qsos. GM7V was the only new mult on 40, but I
heard and worked doubles KL7RA on 10! NH2DX and JH7XGN on 15 and then FK8IK on
15 and VE2IM on 20. Once again I tried some 2BSIQ with running EU on 40 and
JA's on 20 and then S & P ing louder JA's on 15.
I continued running on 40 and S & P’ed another handful of JA's 15 and
mults DS4EOI and V26K on 20 ending the 22z hour with 69 more qso's.
The 23z hour is usually the toughest for me. Do you try to run on 40? 80? Is
160 open well enough to run EU? What about 20 - is it open to Asia? Can you
run JA's? 40 had sounded pretty good so I decided to run for as long as
possible and then hunt mults on 20. This worked well for me with another 83
qsos in the 23z hour - my best Sunday 23z qso total ever in CQWWCW. Better
still though was the BG2AUE double mult on 20 - it took me 7 minutes of calling
to get his attention! And then I found CX2BR for the last mult. My contest
ended with:
4,390 qsos x 137 zones + 437 countries = 7,303,089 in 43.0 hours.
I can’t wait for 10 to really open up in Cycle 25!
Congrats to N5DX, W1KM, K5ZD, N2IC, and N9RV on their great scores and
especially N6MJ on his amazing score and outrageous 11,000+ CW qsos from TI7W!
Simply mind-boggling!
A few final thoughts…. I have been having progressively more trouble with
my heart as I get older (I turned 60 last June). The physical/mental stresses
of operating high energy SO2R for 40+ hours are HUGE and age is not an ally
especially when combined with chronic sleep deprivation before the contest. The
meds that I take are only marginally effective, so in an act of desperation to
potentially reduce the pervasive heart arrhythmias that impact my operating, I
decided to try something different; NO Coffee. CQWWCW was the FIRST time that
I ever operated in a major DX contest without drinking any coffee. While the
arrhythmias were still a big problem I think that overall my body worked better.
I know as an ex-Scientist that one data point does not prove anything so I
will have to try this strategy again to see if really works.
Tnx for the qso’s and the mults and a special thanks to all the stations that
braved the pandemic to travel and give us another DX station to work!
Happy Holidays and HNY!
73 and stay safe!
Bob, KQ2M
kq2m@kq2m.com
BREAKDOWN QSO/mults KQ2M CQ WORLD WIDE DX CONTEST Single Operator
HOUR 160 80 40 20 15 10 HR TOT CUM TOT
0 8/13 33/24 46/43 ..... ..... ..... 87/80 87/80
1 8/5 62/27 1/1 2/4 . . 73/37 160/117
2 1/0 41/1 20/9 . . . 62/10 222/127
3 10/9 91/3 1/1 . . . 102/13 324/140
4 . 64/2 41/11 . . . 105/13 429/153
5 10/8 16/0 25/4 4/4 . . 55/16 484/169
6 12/5 7/4 99/4 . . . 118/13 602/182
7 . 11/8 101/7 . . . 112/15 714/197
8 1/1 11/4 45/8 ..... ..... ..... 57/13 771/210
9 2/1 2/3 12/7 1/2 . . 17/13 788/223
10 . . . . . . . 788/223
11 . . . 130/37 . . 130/37 918/260
12 . . . 133/10 63/31 . 196/41 1114/301
13 . . . . 215/25 . 215/25 1329/326
14 . . . . 192/9 . 192/9 1521/335
15 . . . . 157/6 4/8 161/14 1682/349
16 ..... ..... ..... ..... 134/2 13/17 147/19 1829/368
17 . . . 97/10 45/10 6/4 148/24 1977/392
18 . . . 77/6 15/11 . 92/17 2069/409
19 . . 63/5 22/6 . . 85/11 2154/420
20 . . 89/0 . 21/8 . 110/8 2264/428
21 . . 109/4 15/11 3/2 . 127/17 2391/445
22 . 1/0 55/1 35/6 . . 91/7 2482/452
23 . 45/1 . 4/5 . . 49/6 2531/458
0 6/1 37/1 ..... 1/2 ..... ..... 44/4 2575/462
1 8/3 36/1 4/2 . . . 48/6 2623/468
2 3/3 47/2 . . . . 50/5 2673/473
3 6/3 52/0 . . . . 58/3 2731/476
4 18/3 10/3 6/2 . . . 34/8 2765/484
5 1/0 . 82/2 . . . 83/2 2848/486
6 5/1 2/1 51/1 17/0 . . 75/3 2923/489
7 1/2 . 66/0 . . . 67/2 2990/491
8 ..... 1/2 2/0 ..... ..... ..... 3/2 2993/493
9 . . . . . . . 2993/493
10 . . . . . . . 2993/493
11 1/0 . 1/0 118/1 . . 120/1 3113/494
12 . . . 180/3 . . 180/3 3293/497
13 . . . 49/0 81/1 19/11 149/12 3442/509
14 . . . . 102/2 10/2 112/4 3554/513
15 . . . . 164/3 . 164/3 3718/516
16 ..... ..... ..... 30/2 56/5 1/2 87/9 3805/525
17 . . . 111/7 . . 111/7 3916/532
18 . . . 87/4 . 10/2 97/6 4013/538
19 . . . 54/0 13/5 3/5 70/10 4083/548
20 . . 10/0 24/3 19/7 2/0 55/10 4138/558
21 . . 95/1 2/1 2/4 1/2 100/8 4238/566
22 . . 54/0 5/2 10/1 . 69/3 4307/569
23 1/1 . 78/1 4/3 . . 83/5 4390/574
DAY1 52/42 384/77 707/105 520/101 845/104 23/29 ..... 2531/458
DAY2 50/17 185/10 449/9 682/28 447/28 46/24 . 1859/116
TOT 102/59 569/87 1156/114 1202/129 1292/132 69/53 . 4390/574
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
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