CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW
Call: DL3YM
Operator(s): DL3YM
Station: DF2PY
Class: SOAB HP
QTH:
Operating Time (hrs): 47.3
Radios: SO2R
Summary:
Band QSOs Zones Countries
------------------------------
160: 373 12 55
80: 774 17 70
40: 1096 29 97
20: 857 25 74
15: 705 30 94
10: 80 16 45
------------------------------
Total: 3885 129 435 Total Score = 4,527,792
Club: Rhein Ruhr DX Association
Comments:
If we look at the fun that I believe everybody had in this yearâ??s CQWW I can
only wonder what kind of party it is going to be once sunspot activity will
return big time!
Although the basic setup for the contest was done early November, running a new
Laptop / microHam combination for the first time without thoroughly checking all
band combos of running and mult radio was asking for trouble I guess. In fact
Wolf, DF2PY and me discovered a whole list of issues when doing final preps on
Friday afternoon. So instead of catching up on sleep I found myself busy
resolving glitches, resulting in a pretty significant lack of alertness right
from the start.
The bands sounded pretty good overall. 160 opened to the US nicely, however no
zone 3 worked this year. Was able to catch many of the usual suspects from the
Caribbean through mostly very unruly pile ups.
Achieved a new personal best kick off with a 110 Q first hour, followed by
another 113 Qs in the second hour running on 40 with the second radio checking
80 or vice versa. My 80 meter log shows 23 zone 3 stations which is
significantly better than I have done any time before. However, no KH6 or other
zone 31, no zone 18 and 19 were worked, so the mult total on 80 is
disappointing.
On 40 meters the 29 zones and 97 DXCC worked are close to my personal best.
Rates were great any time I was running here, and it is simply amazing to work
double mults for zone 24 and 28 just 1 minute apart or have country mults for
8Q, 9L and 6W call in one right after the other. It was moments like this that
helped me through the second night. Still had a hard time keeping awake and had
several moments of micro sleep during early Sunday morning prior to sunrise,
virtually crashing my head onto the keyboard.
20 opened up much better than the year before, providing a seemingly endless
supply of DX. Nice to work into the US west coast until well after my sunset.
Having 15 in good shape helped a lot with the QSO total and straightened out
the available frequency spectrum. I do not know why my mult total on 20 is
beyond expectations, whereas I am happy with my 15 m performance. The rates
there reminded me of the good old glory days and mults from Central and South
America were lined up side by side.
As others have noted, 10 was very spotty. I could never get a run going here
and being unassisted I was always afraid of missing out on big action. Only
KC1XX worked from zone 05 who had a thunder signal. But calling CQ and hoping
for a US run on 10 was not to be this year for me. Though my alertness quickly
deteriorated after sunset on Sunday I fortunately remembered that it often pays
off to check ten again in the dark, and sure enough I worked two zone 11 and one
zone 13 here around 1900 UTC.
I tried to push it for 48 hours straight but had to give up 40 minutes before
the end, realizing that I could not remember the sequence of keys I had to
press on the keyboard, go figure!
Looks like I achieved a new personal best in Qs and points since I do this one
from DF2PY. So I am happy with the result overall though I feel I could have
done better, especially so if the preparation had been more favorable.
Thanks all for the Qs. Thanks Wolf, DF2PY and family for taking care of me.
Thanks to my XYL and my boys for letting me do this crazy yet most enjoyable
stuff.
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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