1996 CQ Worldwide CW
Call: WA7BNM
Category: Single Op, Low Power
Unassisted, All Band
Location: S.Calif
Operating Time: 24 hrs
Band Q Z C D
-----------------------------------------------------
160 1 1 1 0
80 36 18 22 0
40 184 27 55 4
20 321 29 66 8
15 182 26 47 4
10 16 9 8 0
-----------------------------------------------------
740 110 199 16
Score: 627,579
Antennas:
160m - None
80m - Rotatable dipole at 100 ft
40m - 3-el yagi at 90 ft
20/15/10m - Stacked tribanders at 105 and 72 ft
Comments:
First time ever in this contest -- lack of CW skills, but mainly
have always been in Chicago for an annual meeting that is always
the week after Thanksgiving. Tried to work on my CW in contests
earlier in the year to get ready for this. The sun spots should
be in full bloom by the next time I get another chance at this one.
40m CW is so much more enjoyable than 40m SSB. Going from a dipole
to 3-el on 40 was the best antenna investment I've ever made, even
if it is a "shorty."
Had a 90 hour on 20m late Saturday afternoon for my best run. 15m
didn't yield the Qs that it did in the 96 SSB CQWW.
Went to 10m Saturday afternoon and heard nothing. Decided to CQ for
a few minutes to see if I could at least get a local mult. N2RM
answered my first CQ for zone 5, followed by K5NA for zone 4, followed
by a local for zone 3 -- I was a happy camper! Other than a KH6 later,
that was it for 10m on Saturday. Returned on Sunday to actually work a
few DX stations, but everyone was dirt weak.
Highlight of the contest was working XZ1N on 80m 49 minutes after
my sunrise. While tuning 80m, I heard another West Coaster giving his
call. When I stopped to check out who he was calling, I heard the XZ
calling CQ, but not hearing the other guy. I think I dumped my call in
once or twice, but the XZ came back to some DX I couldn't hear. Seemed
to be someone the op knew, because the contact became a CW QSO about
how the XZ operation was going, etc. I was sitting there thinking about
losing propagation and fearing that he would be spotted on Packet at
any second, and the hungry hordes of contesters and DXers would descend
upon him. After what seemed like an eternity, the op ended the QSO and
called CQ contest again. Amazingly, there was still just the other guy
and me. I dumped in my call, and he heard me! Wow, XZ in the log. Made
for a nice Sunday.
73 de Bruce, WA7BNM (bhorn@netcom.com)
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