CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW
Call: NS3T
Operator(s): NS3T
Station: NS3T
Class: SOSB/40 LP
QTH: MDC
Operating Time (hrs): 21
Summary:
Band QSOs Zones Countries
------------------------------
160:
80:
40: 318 26 93
20:
15:
10:
------------------------------
Total: 318 26 93 Total Score = 107,933
Club: Potomac Valley Radio Club
Comments:
I violated pretty much every rule of getting ready for CQ WW CW. I worked too
much and slept too little during the week. I saved all my antenna work for the
last five hours before the contest started, and I couldn't clear the decks of
family activity during the weekend - so I missed a big chunk of contest time.
Oh well. There's always next year!
40 meters was in the best shape during the first two hours of the contest at my
QTH. It seemed more like 20 or 15, as stations were answering after one just
call. After that, things acted more like normal for the low power guys like me
where you need a bit of luck and good timing to catch the important double
mults.
I got home on Friday afternoon around 2 pm local time, giving me five hours to
put up some antennas. I decided to do a 40 meter single band entry, so I put a
sloper aimed at EU, a dipole that broadsided N/S and a dipole that faced NW/SE.
As always, it was fun to watch how the antennas played differently depending on
conditions. In the first four hours, the antenna that wasn't even aimed at
Europe was the best one for zones 14, 15 and 16. Good thing I checked.
Those first four hours I spent some in the chair operating, and some painting
the bedroom of one of my kids. Yeah it was bad timing by the XYL, but I knew
she wanted to get it done, so there was no reason to start a fight over that.
By 0345z, I was in the chair for the rest of the night.
While things started fast, the conditions seemed to slow down really fast
around 1200z. I didn't even make a contact that hour, even though I was in the
chair the whole time. I never did hear zones 17 or 18 pop out of the noise
during those first two hours of sunlight here in DC. From 0845 to 1200z, I
only made 20 QSO's, but they were worth 18 multipliers, including 3D2/r, VK, ZL
and the always interesting long distance contest contact between NH2T and NS3T
(you do the CW in your head on that one.)
On Saturday evening, I got in another 2 hours of operating time before the XYL
and I went out to a friend's 40th birthday party. We were back after midnight;
she went to bed and I sat down at the radio for four more hours. Once the radio
was off at 0845z on day two, I was done, as relatives were in town over at the
in-laws. It was painful to think that I was missing the last four hours of the
contest, but there's always next year.
Highlights included getting lucky and stumbling on double mults calling in the
clear like RA0FU, LT1F, JA5FDJ, CE1/K7CA and a few others. But once again this
year, I couldn't crack zone 29 - VK6LW was lonely calling, but he couldn't hear
me; the same with N8A. More time in the chair might have pushed me over the
top to DXCC. Still not bad for 100 watts and less than half a weekend.
Thanks to everyone for all the QSO's. Time to start planning for 2014.
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
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