VP2EEB Contest Experience - 11/96
by Bud Trench, AA3B
This is a very long summary of my experiences during the 1996 CQ WW CW
contest. The following is a summary of the station, and my results:
Call: VP2EEB (Op AA3B) Country: Anguilla
Mode: CW Category: Single Operator, Low Power
BAND QSO QSO PTS PTS/QSO ZONES COUNTRIES
160 138 295 2.14 7 24
80 444 995 2.24 15 60
40 1218 3063 2.51 23 78
20 1094 2814 2.57 20 85
15 1349 3509 2.60 23 79
10 184 400 2.17 14 27
---------------------------------------------------
Totals 4427 11076 2.50 102 353 => 5,039,580
Equipment Description:
TS940S, Super Keyer III, CT7
160M/80M/40M Inverted Dipoles @ 50'
Mosley Pro 67 @ 55'
80M 2 Element Wire Beam fixed NE @ 60'
Club Affiliation: FRANKFORD RADIO CLUB
I decided to begin warming up for the contest at about 2320Z on Friday
11/22. I picked a 40M frequency (about 7021 KHz) and got a good run
going, with rates peaking at about 240/hour. I was unsure of how my low
power, tribander / wires antennas would fare in CQ WW, but this run sure
helped my confidence. I held this frequency right up until 2356Z, when
I transitioned the computer from the DX Expedition file to the contest
file. Another Carribean Station grabbed my frequency, despite several
Europeans asking him to QSY!
I began the contest the contest on my 40M warm up frequency, attempting
to regain it, but with no luck. I QSY to about 7031 where I am able to
get a run going. The rates are not fantastic, varying between 80 and
150 / hour. I end up with 88 in the first which was very
disappointing. On the bright side, things appeared to pick up during
the last 15 minutes of the hour, so I decide to stay put.
The rates continue to increase during the next two hours (0100Z -
0300Z). I see the Last 10 QSO rates of 260+ / hour and Last 100 QSO
rates of 190+ / hour start to feel real confident, almost amazed. My
best hour of the contest occurs between 0200 and 0300Z!
My strategy for the first 24 hours was to run Europe whenever possible.
I start to see a large influx of USA calls during the 0300Z hour, and
decide to QSY to 80 at 0400Z (510 QSOs) to try and run Europe, using the
2 element wire beam. No luck with Europe, but I did have a nice run of
W?s. It was here that I first noticed the real impact of packet
clusters. I apparently was spotted on both the YCCC and FRC/PVRC
clusters shortly after my arrival on 80M; it was an amazing experience
hearing all of the big guns calling me at once. It was also extremely
productive; these packet cluster pile ups were for the most part well
behaved in that only the station I responded to answered. I would
typically experience Last 10 QSO rates of 350/hour immediately after
being spotted.
Europe started to roll in on 80M at about 0530Z (724 QSOs). I quickly
did a comparison between the Inverted Vee Dipole and 2 Element Wire
Beam, and discovered that signals appeared to be louder on the Inverted
Vee Dipole. I used it for the next hour with good success to Europe.
I went to 160M at about 0630Z (829 QSOs), not knowing what to expect. I
had made no QSO?s on 160M prior to the start of the contest, and
suspected that the antenna was much too low to do much. I was able to
work about 90 stations, mostly 2 pointers, with a few Europeans. I was
pleasantly surprised at the productivity on 160, but did not want to
stay there too long. I decided to go back to 80M at 0720Z (923 QSOs).
I continued for the next two hours to move between move between 80M, 40M
and 160M. Rates were generally around 110/hour during this period.
I decided to get some sleep from 0815Z (1021 QSOs) to 1045Z. In
retrospect, this was probably a mistake. I could not sleep - this was
probably due to the excitement of the contest and the fact that I was
well rested prior to the start of the contest.
I got back on the air at 1038Z; the sun was up and 20M sounded wide open
to Europe. I got a nice European pile up going. I was called by HC8N
at 1154Z (1185 QSOs) and we moved from 20 to 15 to 40. This would be
the first of many multiplier passes I would execute during the contest.
I was very impressed the speed at which many of these passes occurred,
and grateful to the many stations that moved with me.
I went to 15M at 1210Z. The band was also wide open and I started out
with great rates peaking at 250/hour, with sustained rates of 170/hour.
Murphy hit me at 1458Z (1614 QSO?s). I noticed that the SWR was jumping
around wildly. The SWR eventually shot up to infinity and stayed
there. In a flash of inspiration, I remembered being suspect of a coax
switch at the bottom of the tower supporting the tribander. I quickly
grabbed a double female barrel connector and bypassed the switch -
problem solved!
I went back to running at 1525Z and maintained rates between 100 and 130
for the next 7 hours on 15M and 20M. During this period, I began to
become concerned about my multiplier totals which seemed very low. I
couldn?t make up my mind as to whether it was better to run at about
130/hour or go after multipliers. I finally decided to do quick sweep
of the bands, in conjunction with food breaks and nature calls. The
first of these sweeps resulted in 26 multipliers in 45 minutes, and the
second sweep resulted in 11 multipliers in 25 minutes.
I went to 40M at 2228Z (2405 QSOs) and found the band to be wide open to
Europe and the US. I ran stations on 40M until 0310Z (2872 QSOs),
including a 19 minute intervals in which I found 13 multipliers. I
spent the next 50 minutes hunting multipliers on 160M, 80M and 40M,
located 15 more. I went to bed at 0356Z (2889 QSOs).
My pre-contest goal was 4000 QSOS and 4M+ points, which would have beat
the winning low power score in 1995. I thought I would have a pretty
good shot at it, assuming that the radio, conditions and operator held
up on Sunday!
I grabbed a quick shower and was back on the air at 0737Z. The first
contact was OY0JD on 160M. I thought this was a good omen. I stayed on
160M until 0754 (2912 QSOs) working a good number of Western European
and USA Stations. I next went to 80 and worked was called by ZL3GQ
during a USA run; later the same would happen with WH6R. Next to 40,
where I was able to get a good European run going. This was one of my
biggest surprises during the contest - that is that Europe was still
coming through so strong on 40M so late; I worked my last European on
40M at 0910Z (2991 QSOs). I also was able to pick up JA3ZOH and TF50IRA
on 40 just after 1000Z.
Twenty meters again opened up nicely after sunrise. The rates seemed to
be slightly down from Saturday, but still I saw Last 10 QSO rates / Last
100 QSO Rates of 200/hour and 150/hour respectively.
I went to 15M at 1142Z (3195 QSOs). This began one of the toughest
parts of the contest for me. The band was very good, and I got a huge
European pileup going. The pileup was so big, that I had trouble
pulling the calls through. I tried everything I could think of, but was
unable to get the Last 10 rate much above 170 / hour. I finally
increased my keyer speed from 34 to 38 WPM, and things began to thin
out. It seemed ironic that the only way I could increase the rate was
to scare some slower operators off.
Conditions were so good on 15M that I thought there was a good
possibility that 10M might open. I went to 10M at 1418Z (3546 QSOs) and
worked HC8N, TI1C, D44BC and 9J2BO all in row. Again, this was a good
omen! I also worked a number of W8?s, W9?s and W0?s.
I went back to 15M at 1447Z (3566 QSOs) and continued to run both
European and USA stations on 15M and then 20M. At 1540Z (3666) I ran
out of memory on my Lap Top! This was an event I never experienced
before. I quickly started up a new BIN file and continued. This was
something I had not counted on, and I was not prepared to deal with it.
I was uneasy because I knew there were still a lot of easy multipliers I
needed, and I had no easy way of differentiating between the ones I had
worked and the ones I needed. I decided to quickly go back to my first
BIN file and make a list of the easy multipliers I still needed by band,
particularly those from the Caribbean and South America.
Good runs continued on 20M, but I still kept thinking about 10M. I went
to 10M at 1654Z (3776 QSOs) and worked TM9C and G4BUO. I decided to
stay on 10M for a while, even if the rates were slow, in order to pick
up the Caribbean and South American multipliers I still needed, plus any
Europeans that could hear me. This strategy worked well as I worked 7
multipliers in the next 20 minutes, including several passes to other
bands.
I went back to 15M at 1734Z (3816 QSOs) and continued to run. I noticed
that Europe was starting to fade, as was I. I turned the beam towards
Africa and was surprised by a very large run from W1. It occurred to me
that I had spent so much time running Europe that I might have missed a
lot of USA stations. I turned the beam toward W6 and was pleasantly
surprised by a huge pile up of USA stations. The USA operators were
outstanding, and this pile up really helped me recover my energy
levels. I continued to run the USA until about 2000Z (4074 QSOs). I
then went multiplier hunting on 20, working 8 multipliers in 18 minutes.
I spent the next several hours moving between 20M, 15M and 10M working
primarily USA stations. A big thrill occurred at about 2130Z (4194
QSOs) when 10M opened up nicely to the east coast. The Last 10 QSO Rate
meter hit 316/hour with the Last 100 QSO Rate meter at 147/hour. This
was a real jolt to a tired operator! The pileup ended as quickly as it
started.
I reluctantly went to 40M at 2200Z (4263 QSOs); I figured that 40M might
be more of challenge then I could handle in my fatigued state. I stayed
on 40 until 2308Z (4392 QSOs) when I lost my run frequency. I decided
to spend the balance of the contest searching for multipliers. I had a
schedule to with OT6T at 2335Z on 160M which did not work because he
couldn?t hear me, but I did pick up several other mults on 160M. I then
went to 80M. I noticed that the signals were very loud, so I decided to
try one last run. I picked up 5 additional multipliers on 80M in the
last 20 minutes of the contest as a result of this run!
Post Contest Reflections
I am extremely grateful to my wife for giving me this trip. It was one
of the highlights of my life.
I also would like to thank Dorothea Evergates for all of her help with
arranging the trip, rental car, licenses, etc. Dorothea is an
outstanding Hostess!
I was very impressed with the overall caliber of the operators in this
Contest. Maybe I?m an optimist, but I really found only one operator
during the whole contest that I considered to be a lid.
I felt that I was called out much more often on the YCCC Packet Cluster
than on our FRC/PVRC Packet Cluster, which I thought was odd. This was
re-enforced by the post contest FRC/PVRC Packet Cluster stats which did
not show VP2EEB as one of the top 25 spots.
I sent my callsign after every QSO; maybe this is why I could not get my
Last 100 QSO rate above 170/hour. I still think I would continue this
practice if I had another chance to operate from the Carribean.
I hate the 2 point rule from Zone 8 to NA!
My choice of callsign was a disaster. In retrospect, it is probably
almost impossible to copy any callsign with two E?s in a row!
I'd go back to the Dorothea's QTH in a heartbeat!
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