ARRL DX Contest, CW - 2020
Call: N8II
Operator(s): N8II
Station: N8II
Class: SOAB LP
QTH: WV
Operating Time (hrs): 27
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
160: 63 36
80: 240 58
40: 297 66
20: 1054 91
15: 146 62
10: 21 15
-------------------
Total: 1821 328 Total Score = 1,791,864
Club:
Comments:
The conditions for the PACC contest a week earlier were far from encouraging;
the low bands seemed very poor, no PA's on 40M 30 minutes before sunset. Despite
the solar indices being very similar, there was a world of difference on 160-40M
with superlative conditions to EU!
After spending just a few minutes chasing SA on 20, I found 40 to be excellent
and was able to S&P at a good rate for me until 01Z. Then I was able to run
for about 35-40 minutes at a good rate. 80M at 0150Z was full of loud EU signals
and stayed that way until 05Z. Many EU stations were over S9 and several
Russians were logged. I was able to run for about 50 minutes at a good pace. 160
was weak to EU until about 04Z when it became easy to work the big guns. I can't
figure out why KH6LC became KH6/N6DA for the weekend, but they were an easy 80M
Q at 0424z.
The next morning went well on 20; I was able to hold a run frequency at sunrise
for about 2 hours until I had to break away. I was hunkered down in between 2
loud EU runners. The clusterteers did their usual trick of not operating their
radio, just clicking on the spot and calling within a few Hz of each other
except a smart few who called up or down 100-200 Hz. My first short CQ was
answered and by the end of the QSO 12 seconds or so later there was already a
pile up of callers. After about 20 minutes of wrestling with no being heard well
through the EU callers things improved to much less stressful. Neither day did
15M shine, but I was surprised to work much of any EU stations. Almost all of
the Q's on Saturday were with Mediterranean or south central EU. Sunday improved
and I had a short run including the UK and slightly farther north, but nothing
was worked in NE EU except RL3A who was there before an opening began farther
south. My running EU on 20 ended around 1715Z, but SW EU and some northern EU
were still workable past 21Z, pretty amazing. 15 sounded poor at 1830Z, but
vastly improved to the south at 19Z with much shorter skip (ZF, HI, KP2) and
louder signals. I should have checked 40 sooner; even with my meager antenna
signals were booming in from EU at 22Z 45 minutes before sunset.
Conditions on day 2 were maybe slightly better than day 1, but many of the big
and little guns were already in the log on the low bands. I had a good half hour
EU run on 80 at 0030Z. Sunday morning was a lot more frustrating on 20 than
Saturday.
I had a clear peaceful frequency for about 20 minutes until very big guns from
NJ below me and MA above me showed up. Where were they when the band opened for
them? It must have been a good hour into their EU opening. 14069 seemed to be
the first open spot, not good for high rate. My receiver has some serious issues
under contest conditions, need to upgrade.
I found no stations loud enough to work on 10 day 1; the opening on day 2 was a
pleasant surprise. I saw several signs of sporadic E. At one point, I worked as
close as Cuba and VP5; ZF1A was in for a long stretch! Going back and forth to
10 yielded more new mults to the south, much appreciated.
Observations: 80 was the best to Europe I can ever remember in many years of
contesting. If I had stayed up more hours, I probably could have worked 350 Q's
on 80. Nothing was heard from Asia loud enough to copy well except Cyprus.
The ops in northern EU had many smiles on their faces! The whole weekend seemed
unexpectedly good to northern EU. Two SM's were booming in on 160 at 0330Z day
2.
Sunday was excellent to Scandinavia and the Baltic Republics on 20 well into my
afternoon = near midnight there. At 20Z, SM2's were fluttery and much weaker
than
vs. loud SM3's and farther south with no flutter. The same was true for OH8/9
vs. OH7.
I worked Cuba on all bands, maybe a first in a DX test. VP2MSS was an easy find
on all 6, surprised they were not M2.
As expected, there was not much exciting from East Asia on 20, JA's were much
weaker than with higher SFI. Working VR2 was a pleasant surprise; he was S7-9.
The level of interest in this contest from EU and NA is simply amazing! I guess
as activity mushrooms, more and more ops want to participate.
Thanks for all of the calls. If I could not copy you, rest assured you were very
weak. Quite a few EU stations were logged on 3-4 bands. We gotta have higher
flux
by next year!
73, Jeff N8II
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