ARRL 10-Meter Contest - 2020
Call: W6YX
Operator(s): N7MH
Station: W6YX
Class: SO Mixed HP
QTH: Stanford
Operating Time (hrs): 25
Radios: SO2R
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
CW: 787 75
SSB: 437 52
-------------------
Total: 1224 127 Total Score = 510,794
Club: Northern California Contest Club
Comments:
Friday evening was all locals, South and Central America, and Mexico until
around 0200 when the first TX was worked. The Es opening from our location
eventually spread to much of the continent but signals from the northern areas
were weak while AZ, TX, FL, etc. were much stronger. K1KI in CT was the only
1-area station worked and a pair of VE3s were all from Canada. Other than
several strong CO stations the only 0-area Qs were one each from SD and MO.
In the 0500 hour I beamed north and worked a few WA, BC and OR. The band was
still open to the southern US at 0600 but activity had dwindled so I headed home
for a late dinner.
Starting up again just after 1400, WJ9B was heard weakly with what may have been
occasional meteor scatter enhancements. He finally heard me calling for my first
ID. Most of the signals on the band were stations I'd worked on Friday but there
were a handful of new calls from CA, WA, CO, and eventually another new mult,
N9RV in MT.
Around 1445 some Caribbean basin stations began to be heard with KP2 and KP4
worked first, then a bunch of FL, mixed with FY, 9Y and YV. Shortly after 1600
the band opened to LU and PY. I moved one radio to SSB and S&Ped South
America and Mexico while also S&Ping on CW on the other radio. Propagation
to the US was either FL or states west of and including CO. One SC broke the FL
monotony.
I tried running but the S&P rate was more productive until finally at 1645 I
CQed on CW making 13 Qs in a half hour at which point the rate picked up with TN
calling, then VA, AL, several WY, MA. Mostly weak signals from the east with the
opening gradually moving northerly and westward to OH, PA, AR, IL, WI, IA, MI.
At 1815 signals were suddenly stronger and my CW rate was 3 to 4 per minute.
Since I had very few mults on SSB I decided to try running there to pick up some
of the mults I was working on CW.
Running on SSB was disappointing. In 22 minutes I worked 28 Qs and half of those
were with locals in CA. Signals on SSB were weaker and I only worked 3 new mults
with what seemed to be a narrow band of propagation spotlight between AR and
PA.
Returning to CW there was a run of MN, interspersed with the 4th call area, then
I heard some WA and VE7 stations and turned the Yagi north, working a bunch of 7
area stations along with a pair of AK that called. Then I alternated running on
CW and SSB and picked up more SSB mults but, as before, the run didn't last
long.
At 2120 Dave, AA6XV, arrived at the W6YX shack, hoping to work some of the 15
states he still needed on 10 for 5BWAS. I turned off one of my K3s and
reconnected the C31XR I'd been using with it to the club's FT1000MP for Dave to
use. We both S&Ped on CW for a while, Dave finding a few of the states he
needed. There seemed to be more phase noise hash than I'd experienced when
transmitting with the K3 so I didn't attempt to run to give Dave the opportunity
to hear weaker stations. After Dave had worked most of the S&P candidates he
CQed, and as fresh meat had a lot of callers, mostly from CA.
Most of the stations I'd not yet worked were weak so it was hard to work anyone
while Dave was running. I heard KH6ZM calling "CQ WES" so I knew the
band was open to HI, tuned around and worked KH6LC. Later I rotated the Yagi and
worked several KH6, FK, two VKs and a ZL. I tried CQing toward JA with no
results. While beaming VK I heard JE1CKA calling CQ. I expected JA might come in
on a skew path but his signal peaked at the direct path. After working him I
worked two other JAs, two DUs and heard a third, 4F3OM, but wasn't heard by
him.
I stayed a little past 0000Z but the JAs and DUs had disappeared by then and
with nothing new heard both Dave and I left for dinner. I returned at 0200,
hoping for an Es opening like on Friday. I made 10 Qs, 5 on CW and 5 on SSB, and
then wasn't getting any answers. I may have fallen asleep for a short time as I
suddenly realized I hadn't made any Qs for 20 minutes and left for home at 0300.
I assumed either there was no Es opening or everyone had turned off their radios
after deciding it wasn't happening. I missed the opportunity for some meteor
scatter Qs but I had worked all of the 7th area mults plus VE5, VE6 and VE7
which seemed most likely to be worked via meteors.
I got back to the shack about 1430 and K7RAT was booming in, but not much else
on the band. At 1445 I heard and soon worked K2NV in NY and not long after
VA3DF. I was able to work a few new stations but couldn't get much of a run
going and the SSB band was dead. Dave arrived around 1620 to continue his 5BWAS
pursuit so I again ceded one antenna to him.
The interference between the two stations seemed less than on Saturday. I had
rotated the antenna I was using so that it was beaming almost the same direction
as Dave's which may have aligned the pattern nulls better. We were both able to
CQ at the same time on CW with some hash noise but most stations were copiable.
I alternated SSB and CW until finally I got a nice run going on SSB. 260 Qs in
102 minutes. This increased the mult count on SSB but still much less than on
CW.
The rate dropped and I checked for any VK/ZL/KH6 or other Pacific stations but
none heard or answering my CQ. At 2330 I checked for JAs, heard JJ1LBJ whom I'd
worked on Saturday so tried CQing in that direction and worked 7 more. I went up
to SSB, hoping to get the JA mult there but no luck.
I missed DC and 3 states on CW: ME, VT and ND. Canadians worked were VE1, VE3,
VE5, VE6, VE7. On SSB I worked VT but missed several states in the 0, 1 and 7
areas as well as KH6. Only got VE3 in Canada on SSB. 6 Mexican mults on CW and 4
on SSB. Never heard EU. Only African heard was V51YJ with a nice signal on CW
but couldn't break the pileup.
I looked back at some earlier results and my score is very similar to 2016 with
a few more Qs this year but fewer mults as I worked more Caribbeans in 2016. In
2016 I had the high US score for SO Mixed HP but this year the southern part of
the US was the place to be.
Equipment:
K3/P3 + Alpha 9500
K3/P3 + Alpha 86
YCCC SO2R+ Box
Telrex 6 el Yagi @ 70' rotatable
Force12 C31XR @ 60' fixed toward southeast US
HyGain 105CA @ 26' fixed toward South America
Mosley Pro67A @ 45' rotatable but only used for Pacific
As always, thanks for the Qs.
73,
-Mike, N7MH
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
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