ARRL DX Contest, SSB
Call: P49Y
Operator(s): AE6Y
Station: P49Y
Class: SOAB HP
QTH: DX
Operating Time (hrs): 42
Radios: SO2R
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
160: 218 46
80: 689 58
40: 1544 58
20: 2309 61
15: 2290 60
10: 912 46
-------------------
Total: 7962 328 Total Score = 7,834,608
Club: Mother Lode DX & Contest Club
Comments:
It's pretty clear that the Caribbean was the place to be in this contest. Even
for us, though, conditions were challenging, especially on 10. I had 36 mults
on 10 on Saturday, and kept hoping that it would open wide on Sunday, but it
never did. While it was fun to play DXer and chase mults, eventually I had to
accept the fact that a new mult on 10 was the equivalent of only 6-7 minute of
high rates on 15 or 20, so I couldn't wait around hoping to snag a WA or NV,
for example (which should have been possible, since I did work one OR and
handful of CAs).
OTOH, 40 was surprisingly workable. I generally dislike 40 phone, as there is
usually headache-inducing splatter from loud stations that drives me crazy, but
not this weekend. Saturday night, in particular, I camped out on 7210 for
several hours and it sounded like a run on 15. Low noise, no splatter, no one
trying to horn in on the frequency -- amazing! If this continues, I may have to
re-evaluate my opinion of 40 phone. And 80 was quite productive on Friday
night, as well.
Then there are always some delightful moments in a long contest to balance out
the low points (which for me are usually worst early Saturday morning, when I'm
tired, the rates are slow, and I contemplate other things that I might do with
the weekend than sitting at a radio for the equivalent of 5 to 6 workdays!)
For example, in the last hour of the contest, I was running fast on 14185, but
it was a typical, crowded 20m frequency. In the last hour, VE1MW in NB called
for a new mult. He agreed to move to 40, and we made that Q, though in the
process I lost the 20m frequency. Spinning the dial, I re-established on
14339, which turned out to be much quieter. I was desperately trying to get
above 8,000 raw contacts, and thought of stopping when I got there. Then
amazingly, with 7 minutes to go, VE8NSD called in from NT. First time I had
heard NT in the contest (and never did work YT or NU). That was fun!
There wss less activity than usual from the island, though Robert, W5AJ, did
his best to work around some power line noise at P40P. Socially, it was a
pleasure to break bread with him and his wife Wendy, and to see that Lisandro,
P43L (who did get on briefly in the contest and who has plans to add a second
tower and turn his house into a real contest station) and Lissette, plus JP,
P43A, and Cris, P43C, are all doing well.
Thanks to everyone for participating. And special thanks to the many US hams
on 10m during our limited hours of propagation who tried hard to make ESP
contacts. Also to a number of stations that moved for me (and also those where
the moves were unsuccessful, but I appreciate the effort). And, as usual,
thanks to John, W6LD, and Ed, W0YK, for keeping everything shipshape with the
station (and to Cris and JP for ditto with the house itself).
73, Andy, AE6Y, P49Y
Rig: K3x2, Alpha 91B, 86
Ant: 2 el 10, 5 el 15, 4 el 20, 2 el 40, 1 el 80, C31, beverages
Software: CQPWIN ver. 12.9
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
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