CQ Worldwide DX Contest, RTTY - 2021
Call: ZF1A
Operator(s): W9KKN
Station: ZF1A
Class: SOAB HP
QTH: Grand Cayman
Operating Time (hrs): 44
Radios: SO2R
Remote Operation
Summary:
Band QSOs State/Prov DX Zones
------------------------------------
80: 358 47 44 14
40: 1045 54 69 24
20: 1051 54 64 26
15: 1124 55 72 28
10: 17 3 11 8
------------------------------------
Total: 3595 213 260 100 Total Score = 5,066,466
Club: Northern California Contest Club
Comments:
First off, I'd like to thank a bunch of people for making this possible:
ZF1EJ - for putting up with Marty and I in trying to make remote a possibility
here, as well as looking after the station before and during the weekend
NN1C - For all of his brilliant effort that he put into this and the support and
encouragement all weekend
N6MJ and N6WIN - For all of the encouragement and operating advice throughout
this process, as well as the opportunity to be part of the ZF1A team
K7ZO - For stepping up to be our new QSL manager @ ZF1A, filling the shoes of
K6AM (who I should mention has contributed so much to this station over the
years)
So once again, due to COVID and such there wasn't any way I could do this in
person as much as I wanted to be able to. The Cayman border is still not open
unless you want to undergo a quarantine procedure, and sadly, it looks like that
may not change for a while. There are at least a few things (mostly rotators and
such) that we haven't been able to work on for a while and ZF1EJ (Andrew) has
been doing what he can to help us keep the station working remotely (thank
you.)
Hoping to improve from last year, I did a few things differently this time.
First, I moved from one computer to two computers, and second I also did a lot
more planning as far as where I was going to be and when -- having one of these
under my belt. I also tried my best to rearrange my work week such that I might
be able to get a little more sleep before the contest and wake up at start
time.
How did it go? All things considered, I'd say it went well! 15 meters was hot,
and looking at the Solar Indices along with P49X results (hi Ed) from 2010
(exactly 11 years ago), I had a feeling that this might be the case. I couldn't
get much to happen on 10m, but 15m was just fantastic. Let's keep going in this
direction, and here's to hoping that WW SSB and CW have this much fun in store!
Before you read further, I just want to say that I had a great time and thanks
for all of the Q's, but as it goes, but I'm disappointed in myself for one
reason:
I didn't last the full 48 hours; I only made it 44. The first 44 were contiguous
without breaks unlike the last attempt, which is an improvement, but at some
point, one of my amplifiers stopped working and I couldn't get it to come back
on (and it mysteriously resolved itself when I went to check later, so probably
an overheat) and I was hallucinating so hard that I couldn't troubleshoot it. I
was also not getting a lot of callers anymore by that time so I started second
guessing everything and eventually gave up.
I'd really like to remain coherent for 48 hours. I know that medically this
isn't necessarily a goal to strive for, but I think that with just a little more
work on my own health I can do this.
The online scoreboard had something to do with this, I was watching it for most
of the contest. I had somehow checked the box that combines all of the single
operator scores into one section (without realizing it) so I didn't realize that
I was still doing well in the SOHP unassisted category, but at the end, down an
amp, thinking I was behind, and not getting any callers, and feeling generally
miserable -- I stopped and got swallowed by my bed.
So just so I hold myself accountable, next time (and these are more notes for me
than anyone else):
1) I will post to the online scoreboard but I'm not going to watch it.
2) Will push through the whole contest. All 48. The training
3) Will take several days off of work if needed so that I can flip my sleep
schedule over.
4) Will have enough backup options for all equipment like
radios/computers/amplifiers such that I won't have to troubleshoot anything if
it goes wrong. You just can't do it in that state. It's that simple.
5) I'll try to get this 3830 done earlier :)
I'll close with some humor: Some of these "hallucinations" were pretty
intense. At some point I was unable to reason about what I was actually doing
(what is contesting?, why are these people calling me? Is this like a
simulation? How do you win?) yet somehow was able to still do it without
consciously understanding it. I also had the "amplifier is smoking"
smell hallucination from several 1000 miles away.
Anyway, thanks for all of the Q's everyone! I'll see you in the next one!
--Bill/W9KKN/ZF2WF @ ZF1A
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