ARRL DX Contest, CW
Call: N5FO
Operator(s): N5FO
Station: N5FO
Class: SOSB/80 HP
QTH: Silver City, NM
Operating Time (hrs): 20
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
160:
80: 328 58
40:
20:
15:
10:
-------------------
Total: 328 58 Total Score = 53,592
Club: Arizona Outlaws Contest Club
Comments:
Decisions, decisions, I had gotten on a few evenings & mornings last week,
but stations were scarce and signals from EU very weak. I thought about an all
band
effort, which would have been fun for sure, but felt it would have diluted a
strong effort on the new 80M antenna. I had just commissioned a new 80M
4-Square
W7DD style.
FIRST NIGHT:
0000: almost nothing heard across the band, I kept checking until at 0130, I
started hearing a few weak stations. To my surprise, the 4-Sq
was out-performing my beverages on receive. At 0143, a B1A?? called me I went
to answer and N1MM locked up and would send at all!
I ended up rebooting and loading everything again in order to get things going.
Although I had fixed a problem with a small amount of RF
getting into the SO2R Box last week, I suspected it was recurring. A mad
scramble thru the spares box produced a couple of extra doughnuts
- case closed! Back on the air by 0200.
But interesting, tonite, the 4sq continued to surpass the bev on receive, esp
on the weak EU signals! I also was starting to get some static crashes so
don’t know how long the performance will last. The directionality really
showed
up at around 0530Z on KL7RA & KH7XX. Rich called me, very weak while
pointed at EU then 4+ S-units stronger aimed at AK. The KH7 had a huge pileup,
which I busted as soon as I pointed his way and gave a single call!
Hung in there until 0815, but only had a total of about 80 Q's for all the
hard effort!
SAT MORNING:
OK, got a nap, back on for 1106Z and the JA’s stormed me for about 20
minutes, like they were laying in wait! Anyway, ended up with 100 JAs and
change (BA,R,RT,KH6) for the morning's effort, BUT, only 2 new Mults - not
good.so,
I tried for the LP for EU just prior to sunrise but- no joy! So, at 14:43 I
pull the plug for this morning with 192Qs and 41Mults. Oh, and this morning,
the Bev out received the 4-Sq, go figure!
SAT NIGHT:
Turned radio on at 0111 made one CQ and dam’d if OM2Y didn’t come back
immediately. Got all excited (for nothing) An hour later, at 0211
I hadn’t worked another soul except for XE2AU. So just using the linear
tonight to warm up the air towards the NE, Ha, ha!
Oh well, I got out the new itinerary for our Costa Rica trip to look over, and
some new flavors of coffee to try.
As Steve would say, good BIC practice (Butt-In-Chair). What is it we used to
say about flying - “hours upon hours of boredom, punctuated by moments of
shear terror” In this case maybe we’ll get some moments of celebration!
At 0407 I easily busted a big pileup and worked ON4UN, 1st call!
The night drug on with a few more EUs and mults, but never got the opening we
were all hoping for. Retired for another nap at 0745.
SUNDAY MORNING....
I started an hour earlier, thinking back on how quickly the action had been Sat
morning, I did pick up 28 JA's in that 1st early hour, but most pretty weak
and a struggle to copy. From 1100 to 1415 I had another fair run, but not as
strong as Sat. The surprise was when 9V1YC came booming in at 1359 for my last
Mult of the contest!
SUMMARY:
The new 4-Square seems to be effective, having a F/B of 8-12db and a little
better to the sides. I received several emails saying that my
signal held up pretty well in Europe, but my ability to hear was pretty poor
even on the 550ft EU pointing beverage. I beat my 2013 SOSB 80M
corrected score by 18%, that may be more like 12-15 after corrections, that was
using an InvV up at about 35ft on Ridge #1 here. And, if memory
serves me right, conditions for 80 were considerably better in 2013's contest.
Both nights, the EU signals were incredibly weak! I can't say how many I just
pulled "out of the fog". And I know I left a few of you out there
frustrated by just not being able to get your call. I've never worked so hard
for the few contacts in this contest, as in any other before.
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
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