CQ WORLD WIDE DX CONTEST -- 1996
Call: W2UP Country: United States
Mode: CW Category: Single Unlimited
BAND QSO QSO PTS ZONES COUNTRIES
160 72 195 12 47 inv vee/600' Bev
80 300 847 22 80 3 el sloper
40 559 1600 33 124 402-CD 86 ft
20 1033 3025 38 131 |Stacked TH7s
15 574 1681 29 114 |40 and 76 ft
10 31 77 11 19
-----------------------------------------
Totals 2569 7425 145 515 => 4,900,500
Rig: FT-1000D/Alpha 77Dx
Op Time=37.2 hours
Comments:
Had a few Murphyisms before the contest that weren't very promising.
Three days before the contest my antenna switching relays gave up on
me. Had to break out the old coax switch for manual band changes. I
had to plead with the farmer the week before the contest to cut down
the
field of corn, so I could string my European Beverage. He said the
wet
summer delayed the harvest. Line noise started two weeks ago. Gave
me
S-7 noise on 80 and 160. Miraculously it went away Friday, and is
back
today, Monday. The XYL wanted to go out to dinner Friday and I said
"fine, as long as we're home by 6:30." This didn't go over well, so
we
ordered pizza to be delivered at 6 PM. It finally arrived 6:40! I was
pacing back and forth by the window like a baby was about to be born.
I replaced my Alpha 78 (broad-band tuning) with an Alpha 77Dx, as I
am
also a RTTY contester and wanted something more robust for those long
key-down times. Unfortunately, it is manually tuned. Between that
and
the manual antenna switching, I though jumping bands for packet spots
would be real tough - and it was. I think this was a blessing in
disguise. Mr. SOA, K3WW, has called the SOA category "single-op
distracted." He's right. After chasing a few packet spots, I
decided
it wasn't worth changing bands unless there were several new mults
waiting for me, because of the time it took me to tune up and switch
antennas. Also, I found out I should ignore W3LPL's 10 m spots as 90
%
were inaudible here. Either the beam at 200 ft or being a few
hundred
miles south made a big difference. So, I operated more like a
straight
single-op, concentrating on runs, rather than multiplier chasing.
I took two off periods for sleep. The first was from 0745-1115Z.
Came
right down to the shack and the going was so good, I never ate
anything
for breakfast. Finally took a 10 minute break at lunchtime for
something
quick. The XYL was of no help. She didn't like me isolating myself
in
the basement, so she was going to make the point. I asked her for a
cup
of coffee in the evening and got "make it yourself" in reply. The
second
night I was pretty beat, and decided being fresh for the 20 and,
hopefully, 15 meter runs was more important than working 10-20/hour
through the doldrums of the night. I went to bed at 0515Z, and awoke
to
the alarm at 1120Z. It took another 3-4 hours before I really felt
fully alive. It brought back memories of my nights on-call as an
intern
and resident. Between skipping breakfast, quick meals, and no
snacks,
I lost 2 pounds when I weighed myself Monday morning!
160: Don't like the band. Too slow with the endless calling. Spent as
little time as possible there.
80: Spent more time here than usual, with 40 being poor to Europe
Friday
and Saturday nights. Thought I was going to miss zone 3, but cuaght a
VE7 Sunday morning.
40: Europe was not very loud the first two nights. At one point I
was
CQing on 7000.3, and 9Y4H tried to go BELOW me. Guess too many folks
were afraid to answer him there and he moved.
20: Great European runs! From 1200-1730Z on Saturday, my hourly rate
never dropped below 113, and was as high as 160 (with some 15 m in
there
too). At about 1700Z, while running 140/hour, K4LTA decided he wanted
my
frequency. Took him 20 minutes of my continued 140/hour for him to
move on. I don't understand stuff like that. Patted myself on the
back
when I finally beat N2RM in a packet pileup. I spoke with the op on
the
FRC repeater this morning and he burst my bubble saying "Oh, it was
only
the mult station, not the BIG antennas." Still, big enough...
15: Also great condx, considering the sunspot doldrums. Just before
the
contest, someone announced the WWV report of SF=83. I thought he was
kidding, then it went up to 100 or so! Even worked 1 JA on 15. JW5NM
had an amazing signal in the late evening on Saturday.
10: Not much to say. Only Carribean with a consistently loud signal
was
J6DX. Most of the others were in the noise most of the time, except
for
the LUs, of course. Thanks to KS9K for answering my in-the-noise call
for the zone 4 mult.
Guess I'll put in a competitive effort in another 5 years or so, when
Thanksgiving weekend family plans don't interfere with the contest.
Sure
wish the CQ boys would keep it BEFORE our holiday every year.
73/Barry
--
Barry Kutner, W2UP Internet: w2up@voicenet.com
Newtown, PA FRC alternate: barry@w2up.wells.com
--
FAQ on WWW: http://www.contesting.com/3830faq.html
Submissions: 3830@contesting.com
Administrative requests: 3830-REQUEST@contesting.com
Problems: owner-3830@contesting.com
Sponsored by: Akorn Access, Inc & KM9P
|