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[3830] W4AN ARRL DX CW SOAB HP Unassisted

To: <3830@contesting.com>
Subject: [3830] W4AN ARRL DX CW SOAB HP Unassisted
From: bill@concen.com (Bill Fisher)
Date: Wed, 24 Feb 1999 12:18:19 -0500

     band      QSOs      points    mults
     -----------------------------------
     160         34         102      27
      80        208         624      55
      40        827        2481      77
      20        659        1977      82
      15        847        2541      87
      10        903        2709      80
     -----------------------------------
     TOTAL     3478       10434     408      SCORE: 4,257,072

I've been very QRL at work this month and hadn't much of a chance to get on 
a radio.  On Wednesday N5TJ called to tell me all the bands went in the 
toilet.  My first thought was that it might actually be good timing.  The 
bands normally come back from a solar event quickly and with good results. 
 Luckily I was right and the weekend turned out to be very good.

What I wasn't counting on was the thunderstorms that were to my northeast. 
 A tornado touched down just over the Georgia line in South Carolina on 
Friday night.  With cooler temperatures predicted for the weekend, I was 
hopeful that I would finally get to operate an ARRL DX with out a 
thunderstorm.  Unfortunately, it was not to happen.  Friday night was a 
total waste for me on the low bands.  Even 40 meters was being pounded by 
S9 static crashes.  15 minutes in to the contest, I left 40 meters to run 
JA's on 15 meters because of the static on 40.  Doing two radios is 
difficult.  Doing it with static crashes is almost impossible.  The 
concentration and energy required make it impossible to do for a long time 
in a 48 hour contest.  I did it Friday night and paid the price by over 
sleeping Saturday morning.

It seems I may have made some very serious mistakes in this contest.  I 
have seen many posts stating how good 40 meters was to Japan on Saturday 
morning.  I tried getting something going that direction a few times, but 
may have tried too early and too late.  Europe stayed in for me until 
0900Z.  Actually I think I could have worked them all night if I really 
wanted to do so.  It was amazing.

The other mistake was also made on Friday night by missing an opening to 
Europe at their sunrise on 20 meters.  There is a chance we might not have 
gotten the opening.  I'm hoping K4BAI will fill me in soon as he was the 
operator at NQ4I on 20 meters.  K1TO reported having a good run of 
Europeans from south Florida at this time.  When I listened to 20 at 0800Z, 
I noted a few of the big guns but mostly not very strong signals. 
 Generally, for this opening to work the signals have to be very loud 
because most of Europe doesn't expect the opening.  They are beaming 
somewhere else.

I almost quit when I woke up.  It was very disheartening to have missed the 
11Z hour because I was sleeping.  I went straight to 15 meters and started 
running.  Luckily I got a good frequency and instant rate.  Had anything 
gone wrong at that point, I probably would have packed it in.  I hate 
saying that, but Friday night was no fun at all and by February I'm 
thinking more about what new antennas to put up than what contest to 
operate.

One interesting note while operating Saturday and Sunday was that though I 
was running good rates on 10 and 15 meters, when I would S&P and call a 
European I was getting beat by just about any NE station.  Generally when 
this has happened in the past five years, I get trounced on the band in 
question.  This year my numbers are pretty much on par with the rest of the 
pack.

Normally the end of the contest is spent on 40 meters.  I just couldn't get 
anything going there.  I scanned 10 meters and noticed a JA that was 20DB 
over S9.  I immediately went down the band and began working 5w JA's. 
 Something I rarely get to do.  Conditions were fantastic.  Unfortunately 
there were very few to work.  I might have logged 60.

Thanks to the guys who actually managed to send QRL, DITDIT DIT, or ? 
before calling CQ.  No thanks to the guys who did not including W2AA, WX0B, 

Break Down

BREAKDOWN QSO/mults  W4AN  ARRL INTERNATIONAL DX CONTEST  Single Operator

HOUR      160      80       40       20       15       10    HR TOT  CUM 
TOT

   0    .....    .....    46/20     5/4     51/4     .....   102/28  102/28 
   1      .        .      81/12     9/7       .        .      90/19  192/47 
   2      .       6/5     44/5      9/5       .        .      59/15  251/62 
   3      .      33/14     7/1      1/1       .        .      41/16  292/78 
   4      .      21/6     22/10     2/1       .        .      45/17  337/95 
   5     7/5      3/0     65/2       .        .        .      75/7   412/102
   6      .      22/3     43/2       .        .        .      65/5   477/107
   7      .       8/7     60/2       .        .        .      68/9   545/116
   8     3/3      3/2     47/2     .....    .....    .....    53/7   598/123
   9      .       9/7     29/6       .        .        .      38/13  636/136
  10      .        .        .        .        .        .        .    636/136
  11      .        .        .        .        .        .        .    636/136
  12      .       1/0       .        .      72/26     8/8     81/34  717/170
  13      .        .        .        .      75/5     51/21   126/26  843/196
  14      .        .        .        .      10/1    126/10   136/11  979/207
  15      .        .        .        .       7/2    135/11   142/13 1121/220
  16    .....    .....    .....    .....    46/4     73/4    119/8  1240/228
  17      .        .        .        .     120/4     11/1    131/5  1371/233
  18      .        .        .      23/15    86/4       .     109/19 1480/252
  19      .        .        .      86/14    21/0      9/6    116/20 1596/272
  20      .        .        .      91/8      5/2      7/3    103/13 1699/285
  21      .        .        .      81/3     16/6       .      97/9  1796/294
  22      .        .      29/0     32/1      2/2     11/5     74/8  1870/302
  23      .      11/1     39/2       .      17/3      7/0     74/6  1944/308
   0    .....    16/2      2/0     19/5     19/1     .....    56/8  2000/316
   1     1/1     32/2     12/1       .      17/1       .      62/5  2062/321
   2     6/4      6/1      5/2      1/0     13/0       .      31/7  2093/328
   3     3/3      8/0       .      29/5       .        .      40/8  2133/336
   4     8/7     18/1       .       4/1       .        .      30/9  2163/345
   5     1/0       .      62/1       .        .        .      63/1  2226/346
   6      .        .      71/2      1/0       .        .      72/2  2298/348
   7     1/1      4/2     56/1       .        .        .      61/4  2359/352
   8    .....     2/1     63/0      1/0     .....    .....    66/1  2425/353
   9      .       4/1     22/3       .        .        .      26/4  2451/357
  10     2/1       .       6/0       .        .        .       8/1  2459/358
  11      .        .        .      19/0       .        .      19/0  2478/358
  12      .        .        .      63/2      7/0     10/0     80/2  2558/360
  13      .        .        .       6/1      3/2    103/2    112/5  2670/365
  14      .        .        .        .      18/1     77/2     95/3  2765/368
  15      .        .        .        .      55/2     45/1    100/3  2865/371
  16    .....    .....    .....    .....     5/2    112/0    117/2  2982/373
  17      .        .        .       1/1     90/4     19/0    110/5  3092/378
  18      .        .        .      32/1     40/0      9/2     81/3  3173/381
  19      .        .        .      65/2     19/4       .      84/6  3257/387
  20      .        .        .      48/1      4/2     11/3     63/6  3320/393
  21      .        .        .      27/3     27/3      3/1     57/7  3377/400
  22      .        .       2/1      4/1      1/1     48/0     55/3  3432/403
  23     2/2      1/0     14/1       .       1/1     28/0     46/4  3478/407
DAY1    10/8    117/45   512/64   339/59   528/63   438/69    ..... 1944/308
DAY2    24/19    91/10   315/12   320/23   319/24   465/11      .   1534/99 
TOT     34/27   208/55   827/76   659/82   847/87   903/80      .   3478/407

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