North American QSO Party, SSB - August
Call: WX3B
Operator(s): WX3B WA3AER N8IVN N3FZ W3MMM NY3A
Station: WX3B
Class: M/2 LP
QTH: Maryland
Operating Time (hrs): 12
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
160: 27 16
80: 295 42
40: 875 61
20: 353 37
15: 5 4
10: 6 2
-------------------
Total: 1561 162 Total Score = 252,882
Club: Potomac Valley Radio Club
Team:
Comments:
This was the first Multi-Operator contest at WX3B since the Pandemic started
almost 18 months ago!!
I was very pleased to welcome Bryan Chant N3FZ to the team. Somehow Bryan
magically dug out 295 QSOs (with some help from NY3A) from the noisy band!
Bryan also put together a nice YouTube summary of his first visit to WX3B that
can be found here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCuIlHY_0fo
It was great seeing Dennis N8IVN take his turn on 40 meters, and Jay W3MMM
relieved Dennis at about 6:00pm. Ted WA3AER took a turn on 20 meters this time
and enjoyed excellent results - even with the higher than usual noise floor.
Jay W3MMM took over 40 for Dennis and piloted that band to a stellar 875 QSOs -
an incredible result for the 40-meter team of N8IVN/W3MMM!!
10 & 15 meters were both missing in this event, fortunately we did not waste
much time on those bands. As the "extra" operator I kept checking
them all afternoon and early evening but nothing ever materialized. I worked
hard for those 160 QSOs, and to my amazement I could hear reasonably well
through the 20db/9 static crashes thanks to the QRN fighting features of the
Icom IC-7610 on 160 meters.
I enjoyed running into Rick K3OO and chatting with him on 160, and I had a great
time socializing with my good friend Steve NY3A who came by to rag chew (and got
drafted to operate 80m SSB and fix N3FZ's broken headset connector).
All in all, a great time had by all, with new and veteran team members. I sure
am looking forward to the next in person multi-operator event!
73,
Jim WX3B
Comments from the team:
N3FZ Bryan: This was my first multi-op. I had a great time . Slugged away on
80 meters. The rates were slow and noise was high. Looking forward to the
next one!
W3MMM Jay: It was really great to take the helm again on the good ship WX3B!
That was really, really enjoyable and I appreciate the opportunity, the
hospitality and the camaraderie.
40 was far from perfect but proved a steady producer. Before sunset the band
was shorter and it was clear that SMC was out in force. The best rates on 40
were at the grey line, prior to (and a little after) sunset with sustained
100/hr rates and peaks over 200/hr, despite the QRN. After sunset, the rate
settled down to around 75/hr while it lengthened and quieted. By the end of the
contest, west coast signals were loud and clear, but the hoards had dwindled.
For me, having a good time is measured in how quickly that time seems to pass,
and for this contest the time just flew by. It was great to see everyone again
(Steve, Ted, Jim, Dennis) and great to meet Bryan. I understand Bryan is making
a video and we’ll all be movie stars! (Side note: having the multi-op fun
taken from us in the pandemic highlights how special those times are, and I’m
glad Bryan and Jim took some time to take video.)
I also realized how different I had become as a contester. It wasn’t that
long ago that I would only experience the contest for what it was: callsigns
and points: Now I recognize many of the callsigns and “see” a different
contest: I see Rick N1RM leading a new M2 group, I see Steve in Alaska
struggling through to help us all with a mult, I see Craig in the Midwest
leading the SMC troops, I see Bruce and thank him for his contest calendar, I
see PVRC fingerprints all over everything. It’s the difference between seeing
a great piece of art for the first time with no background and just liking the
picture, then seeing it for the 100th time with all the background and having a
much deeper appreciation. I used to wonder how you guys could do this year
after year. I’m starting to understand.
Such a fun night called for (of course) stop at 7-11 on the way home for a
celebratory 2am microwave burrito and a Yoo-hoo. Slainte and Go PVRC!
73, Jay
W3MMM
WA3AER Ted It was great being able to operate WX3B again. The 20M slot and
accompanying FTDX101MP was my assignment once I had spent the requisite amounts
of time on 10 and 15M at the start. Between those 2 bands we garnered a whopping
11 contacts. WooHoo! If there was any activity after that I didn't see any spots
indicating either band was open. In fact, spots seemed to be largely AWOL. There
were a sparse few spots that showed up on 20M; and <RANT ON>why is it that
most folks ASSUME you know the spelling of their name, or, better yet, can even
hear it clear enough? What is the problem using phonetics, particularly when
there is more than one spelling for your name?? And why would you not use
standard phonetics for your call sign? In condx like we have been having, using
phonetics can save time.</RANT OFF> 20M condx left the Midwest largely
unheard (when you can't hear K9CT who was spotted, you know it's not good to the
Midwest) and Southern states were not particularly loud. I believe the most
heard States were CO, TX, and CA; next in line was AZ. All the remaining Western
States were heard, including the sometimes-rare Dakotas. It was challenging to
keep stations calling; and to do so I changed frequencies at least 4 times,
ranging from below 14200 to around 14270. I dared not go much higher, wanting to
stay well away from any hurricane emergency nets.
Toward our dinner time (22Z and later), 20M activity really waned. And by 01Z it
was time to call 20M a day and move on to the lower bands. My overall impression
was that activity was down; maybe ops were out on long-needed vacations.
73
---
Ted WA3AER
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