(This writeup was done by WM2C)
CQ WORLD WIDE PREFIX CONTEST -- 1996
Call: K3EST Country: California, USA
Mode: CW Category: Multi Multi
BAND QSO QSO PTS PTS/Q PREFIXES
160 9 20 2.2 1
80 242 1028 4.2 29
40 801 3498 4.4 179
20 1058 2023 1.9 469
15 254 435 1.7 67
10 20 22 1.1 6
--------------------------------------
Totals 2384 7026 2.9 751 = 5,276,526
Club: Northern California Contest Club
Operator List: K3EST, W6RGG, N4TQO, AE0M, WM2C
Equipment Description:
Equipment Description:
160: Inverted-V @ 120'
80: 4 ele wire inverted-V yagi to Japan on 160' boom @ 100'
2 ele wire inverted-V yagi to Carib @ 100'
2 ele quad fixed on EU/PAC @ 100'
40: 4 ele @ 130' 4 ele fixed on Carib @ 70'
20: 5/5 @ 130' (flashlight rotor indicator)
15: 6/6/5 @ 130' (Bottom fixed East)
10: 6/5/5 @ 130' (only used top ant - with only 4 ele working)
Stations: 5 Total; TS930, FT990, FT990, TS950, IC736 running
1000-1500 W
Continent Statistics
160 80 40 20 15 10 ALL percent
North America CW 9 81 251 432 128 14 915 37.9
South America CW 0 6 16 10 45 6 83 3.4
Europe CW 0 0 16 285 0 0 301 12.5
Asia CW 0 139 476 300 72 0 987 40.9
Africa CW 0 1 10 8 1 0 20 0.8
Oceania CW 0 18 41 36 12 0 107 4.4
Quote of the Contest: "It could be worse, we could have S9 line noise"
K3EST commenting on how bad conditions were.
Band summary:
160m: The few times we called CQ, we got some replies, and some of
them were worth points!
80m: Third highest scoring band. The band was quieter than expected.
Signals were strong, but activity was somewhat less than expected
into the USA. Nothing from Europe was heard. Japanese signals were
strong, and very readable.
40m: THE money band. The band was quieter than expected, and we even
got called by a few EU and Africa while Cqing, but mostly we had to
S&P into that part of the world. Asian signals were strong. Some
nice African long path at our sunrise netted some ZS stations, an FR,
and even a ZS8!
20: Highest QSO total, 2nd highest band score. Signals into EU were
much weaker than expected, especially during the morning run time.
The 0200-0600 over the pole runs into EU were the most productive, and
those openings were longer than expected. Some neat DX worked, with
around 85 countries in total.
15m: We expected a lot more from 15 - propagation just wasn't there.
We worked more JA's on 80m than on 15 - that says it all.
BUT! The most unexpected opening occurred on this band. I noticed a
spot for VK9GA at around 11:00 local - this isnt all that strange, but
condx were so flat I first ignored it thinking that the spot was from
Japan and I would never hear it. Then my curiosity got to me, and I
checked it out. Nothing heard, but for some reason, I decided to
listen to receiver hiss for a few minutes. Just when I was ready to
put the headphones down, VK9GA came out of the noise. One call, and
he was in the log. Hmm. Maybe I should check out the band. Nothing.
Maybe I should call CQ, why not - 20 and 40m were manned, and 80m was
flat. After a few CQs, a JA called! Then another, and another. You
get the point - I was running JAs (maybe not RUNNING, but working them
non the less). Then I worked some nice exotic Asian stuff. This was
neat. The opening into Asia and the Pacific lasted until 1:30 local.
The moral of the story: the band isnt dead until the contest is
over.
10m: We actually expected more from this band based on the WPX SSB
score (WM2C callsign was used). Sporadic-E had been observed on a
regular basis for the past few weeks. Propagation was often there,
but no one bothered to check out the band.
Just for laughs, I thought I would also attach part of our .TLK files.....
you can't make this stuff up folks. It all started in the wee hours of the
night when WM2C needed some of the sugar coated donuts to keep him awake,
and he spent 20 minutes looking all over the station, house, and car for
the donuts (only to find them right on the counter...) FYI: W6RGG's
energy weapon of choice was 6 quarts of chocolate milk...
Improper language was modifed
Station 1 is 40m w/ N4TQO op
Station 2 is 20m w/ W6RGG op
Station 4 is 15m w/ WM2C op
Station 5 is 80m w/ WM2C op
08:25 Stn 4: who stole the f@#!ing donuts??
08:26 Stn 1: no cursing on the network, pls..
08:27 Stn 4: why, there might be minors listening?
08:27 Stn 4: oh, i forgot this was a PG-13 network
08:33 Stn 1: but where ARE the f@#!ing donuts, anyway???
08:34 Stn 5: I guess they are being "holed" for ransom
08:35 Stn 1: and you're next...
08:35 Stn 2: If you guys were making contacts, there would be less yuks!
08:36 Stn 1: sitting here with these Vietnamese cab drivers on 40 LSB..
08:37 Stn 1: and I suppose you're full of the chocolate milk of human
kindness..
08:51 Stn 1: the taxi drivers are doing barbershop quartet now..nice..
08:56 Stn 2: If I tell you where the donuts are, what+s in it for me?
08:57 Stn 5: life itself
08:57 Stn 1: you get to keep all your body parts, Bob.
09:03 Stn 5: maybe the donuts made a hole in one, and we lost them all
09:04 Stn 1: where is Bafoofnik when we need him?
I guess it was funny at the time.
73, WM2C
ken.silverman@airtouch.com
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