IARU HF World Championship
Call: N7WA
Operator(s): N7ZG, N7WA
Station: N7WA
Class: M/S HP
QTH:
Operating Time (hrs): 24
Summary:
Band CW Qs Ph Qs Zones HQ Mults
-------------------------------------
160: 0 0 0 -
80: 66 5 15 -
40: 285 60 49 -
20: 242 219 72 -
15: 146 133 21 -
10: 95 76 10 -
-------------------------------------
Total: 834 493 167 0 Total Score = 642,115
Club: Western Washington DX Club
Comments:
Rig : two K3's, MLA 2500
Antennas : C31XR @100', 3el 40M yagi @90',
TH6 @ 60', 80M Inv Vee, 75M vertical
This test is a traditional M/S with Guy N7ZG. We've been doing
it for years and we've gotten better. We had our best Q totals
and mult totals.
The biggest surprise was the reappearance of 10meters. It was
probably a tactical error to dismiss the strength of the 10M
opening as our local competition (N7BV) cleaned our clock
with 200 more 10M Q's then we had. (I guess when you've had
a non-existant band for several years you just don't expect
an overnight resurrection). A second tactical error was
changing the 160M antenna to 75M phone. 75M phone was not
a producer of mults and we could have used the additional
mults available on 160M.
We pushed hard on phone this year. Neither N7ZG or I are phone
ops but we are doing better. For a while, it looked like
some SSB totals would exceed the CW totals for the same band but
the world continued turning and things righted themselves in the
end.
Band breakdowns
10M - again a big surprise, especially when a JA called in. I
later found that same JA posted us on packet so it wasn't
our imagination. We saw N7BV making post after post all morning
long for 10M Q's. I honestly thought it was stuff they were just
hearing and not working because a lot of it was very weak when I
checked it here in Kent. It was only later we found that they
were weak BUT quite workable.
15M - this is what held our attention while 10M buzzed above us.
It was also stronger than it's been over a number of IARU's. When
zones 22, 29, 35, 37, and 39 popped up, we got grins on our faces
and it was all we could do not to perform a little dance for the
sun.
20M - always the workhorse band. I think I have a decent 20M
station here and there were no real surprises.
40M - after 20M, the next band of strength. This is the first
IARU with the 3el Yagi. I put a hairpin on it Thursday and
fixed a matching problem I've had since last Fall (forgot that
a 3el antenna was 20-30 ohms). Just lived with it untl now.
The hairpin and a bit of adjustment really helped make the
antenna more useful across CW and phone.
80M - what can you say. 80M in the summer sucks. Very noisy.
I will have to think about whether any 75M phone is worth
an antenna in the future. Would have rather had the 160M
mults. (We could have tried the tuner on the K3 into the 75M
antenna at 100 watts but had little confidence in doing so.)
Congrats to the N7BV team in Port Angeles. We went head to head
on Live Scores and they were the regional competition in our class.
(I really suggest giving Live Scores a try if you haven't already.)
They pulled it out in the end (something happened early in the
morning and they pulled ahead with 90Q's after we had evened out.
We always had a mult advantage but they found something in the
wee hours of the night that we didn't.
The IARU has always been one of my favorites (I got my first
contest wallpaper in the IARU way back when). My thanks to Guy
for coming over and making it a team effort - it's fun.
Finally, I am keeping my fingers crossed. For years, we have
been saying "Next year Sunspots PLEASE!". Maybe this weekend
was a harbinger of things to come.
73
dink, n7wa
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