North American QSO Party, CW
Call: N3BB
Operator(s): N3BB
Station: N3BB
Class: Single Op LP
QTH: Austin, TX
Operating Time (hrs): 10
Radios: SO2R
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
160: 95 35
80: 188 52
40: 276 50
20: 297 57
15: 203 47
10: 45 11
-------------------
Total: 1104 252 Total Score = 277,956
Club: Central Texas DX and Contest Club
Team: Austin Powers
Comments:
Honestly, the NAQP is the best contest other than the 4 hour Sprint! Especially
the Winter running. There are plenty of operators and there are many "new
calls" other than the super-core group. The six bands and the QSYing make this
a fantastic SO2R contest and QSY-skill contest. The CW capability is generally
excellent but the participants' CW ranges to pretty "choppy" and rather slow
speeds, and some of the QSOs take quite a bit of effort. There were plenty of
stations to be worked right up to the end.
I ended up with twenty fewer QSOs than the January 2004 NAQP, a four more mults
(even with the 10 meter cockpit problem) and 2K less score. Was hoping to do
better because I think my operating skills with TR are better, but it was not to
be.
For me, the local power company has cleared up the long standing problem that
produced S7-S9 to the NW, however my neighbor has something that has come on,
and it was producing S9 on 10 meters. I missed the entire first 75 minutes on
10 meters until I was able to brilliantly figure out that perhaps I could rotate
the stack there to minimize the line noise. DUH! After several minutes of
that, I got it to S2-S3 and was able to hear pretty well. By that time I had
missed entirely the propagation to the south and east and north. I didn't work
even one mult on 10 meters in W1-2-3-4-8-9-0 or any VEs except VE7. I'll put
this problem on the front burner and get it resolved as it's local and should
not be hard to find. I spent my time elsewhere so didn't miss much in the QSO
quantity area, but probably missed 10-15 mults as a result. In fact NN5J in MI
was so loud on 10 meters at the start of the contest he was overriding the S9
QRN! I didn't call him then because I was so frustrated at the start.
The conditions were good otherwise, and the rates on 40 meters were strong. 80
meters was very long and the entire country was booming in. I had my second
best mult total on 80 (after 20)!
Off times were a problem, never could figure when to take them. I took four 30
minute breaks this year, and seemed to have enough time on 80 and 160 for a
change. I operated the final 45 minutes on 80/160 and it was pretty active on
both bands all the way to the end.
Thanks to the locals for excellent participation. W5RQ, K5NA, K5DU, W5SL,
W5JAW, AB5EU, N5XU, W5GAI, KI5DR, W5KFT (K5OT), NZ5A, and K5TR (K5PI) all were
active. As K5PI (at K5TR) stated, we are 500 points apart, so let the log
checking begin! :-) With the terrible ice damage at N9RV and several big guns
like N2IC going M/2, perhaps we both have a shot at the Top Ten box. It appears
the big scores will be from the west coast with their longer and better band
conditions on 10 and 15, and the long and quiet conditions on 80 and 160.
Other than the CTDXCC gang here, I had 17 successful QSYs during the NAQP, and
most produced mults that would not would have occurred otherwise. The highlight
for me was when VE9DX called in on 40 meters after 20 meters was kaput, and we
went to 80! Andy runs 50 Watts max but is a good operator. The NE beverage
worked!
I ran 35 WPM most of the time, and slowed to 32 when things seemed a little
slow. I slowed to 26 WPM and 29 WPM a few times for stations sending slowly.
TR-Log 6.78 was used and the only issue is the "jittery" screen appearance for
the mults needed. Sometimes it hangs up and does not show the mult requirement
for the station being worked. That's a problem for sure and between that and my
own poor concentration, I missed asking several people to move as I did not or
could not see the bands needed for that location.
Thanks to Art, KZ5D, for being a part of the Austin Powers team from New Iberia,
LA.
Here are some "numbers":
Rate
HOUR 160 80 40 20 15 10 TOTAL ACCUM
---- ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ----- -----
18 0 1 1 21 94 0 117 117
19 2 2 2 53 13 31 103 220
20 1 1 1 21 73 10 107 327
21 2 2 2 61 14 2 83 410
22 1 1 1 53 7 1 64 474
23 0 0 20 83 0 0 103 577
0 0 0 129 3 1 0 133 710
1 0 9 41 0 0 1 51 761
2 1 23 77 1 1 0 103 864
3 15 70 0 0 0 0 85 949
4 36 58 2 0 0 0 96 1045
5 37 21 0 0 0 0 58 1103
TOTAL 95 188 276 296 203 45
NAQP N3BB Mults
160CW
Ar Ct Il Md Ms Nv Pa V3 Wy
Az Fl In Mi Mt Oh Sc Va ZF
Ca Ga Ky Mn Nc Ok Tn Wa vE3
Co Ia Ma Mo Nm Or Tx Wi
80CW
Al De Ky Mn Nh Ok Tn Wi vE2
Ar Fl La Mo Nj Or Tx Wv vE3
Az Ga Ma Ms Nm Pa V3 Wy vE5
Ca Ia Md Mt Nv Sc Va XE vE9
Co Il Me Nc Ny Sd Vt ZF
Ct In Mi Ne Oh TG Wa vE1
40CW
Al Ct Il Ma Mo Nj Ok Sd Vt vE1
Ar Fl In Md Ms Nm Or Tn Wa vE2
Az Ga Ks Me Nc Nv Pa Tx Wi vE3
Ca Ia Ky Mi Ne Ny Ri V3 Wv vE4
Co Id La Mn Nh Oh Sc Va XE vE9
20CW
Al De In Me Nc Oh Sd Va XE vE5
Ar Fl Ks Mi Nh Ok TG Vt ZF vE6
Az Ga Ky Mn Nj Or Tn Wa vE1 vE7
Ca Ia La Mo Nm Pa Tx Wi vE2
Co Id Ma Ms Nv Ri Ut Wv vE3
Ct Il Md Mt Ny Sc V3 Wy vE4
15CW
Az Fl La Mn Nj Or Tn Wa ZF vE6
Ca Ga Ma Ms Nv Pa Tx Wi vE1 vE7
Co Id Md Mt Ny Sc Ut Wv vE2
Ct Il Me Nc Oh Sd Va Wy vE3
De In Mi Nh Ok TG Vt XE vE5
10CW
Ar Ca Nv Or Wa vE7
Az Co Ok Tx ZF
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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