CQWW WPX Contest, CW
Call: AA4LR
Operator(s): AA4LR
Station: AA4LR
Class: SO(TS)AB LP
QTH: GA
Operating Time (hrs): 10.5
Summary:
Band QSOs
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160: 0
80: 10
40: 121
20: 176
15: 167
10: 26
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Total: 500 Prefixes = 297 Total Score = 321,651
Club: South East Contest Club
Comments:
Antennas:
A3S/A743 at 15m (40, 20, 15, 10m)
Shunt-fed 15m tower (160, 80m)
Equipment:
K2/100 w/ KAT100 running 100 watts
N1MM software on ancient Toshiba laptop
Comments:
A personal best in WPX CW! I worked a little over twice what I did
last year,
but my score is more than five times last year. (I'm surprised I
scored better
in the CW portion than in the SSB portion, too)
Part-time operation: a few hours Friday evening, an hour Saturday
morning, a
few more hours that evening, and several hours Sunday afternoon.
This contest highlights a change in my CW skills over the last few
years. Nine
years ago, I could make only 10 q/hr in this contest, and ran at CW
speeds of
about 20-22 wpm. This time, I averaged nearly 50 q/hr, and was very
comfortable
with CW at 30 wpm. Only heard a couple of stations who were going too
fast for
me.
The most interesting moment of the contest was hearing KH6ND/KH5 on 40m
Saturday morning. He was sending quite fast, and it took me a moment
to piece
is callsign together. When I figured it out, I listened a couple of
more times
in disbelief. KH5? Palmyra? Last I knew, this island is uninhabited
-- why
isn't there an enormous pileup on this guy? Finally, I called and
worked him
easily for a new one.
Had some good runs on 15m late Sunday afternoon. Rate meter topped
nearly 150
q/hr. This was tremendous fun! Although many of the callers were
stateside, a
few DX stations called in, too. I probably could have scored more
points by S &
Ping all the DX, but I was having too much fun running.
Ugliest moment occurred in the first hour of the contest. I was
calling CQ on
20m, and had been there for a few Qs for a couple of minutes. Then a
station
zero beats me and starts jamming for a couple of minutes - sending
long dahs.
This seriously affects my rate, but I ignore him and manage to work
another
station. Then, he acts like he calls me, but actually calls CQ! I ask
him to
PSE QSY, QRL QSY over and over, but he ignores me and just calls CQ
on top of
me whenever I send anything. I finally had to QSY. The callsign of
this LID is
YZ0Z, and he ought to be DQed for intentional interference. Behavior
like that
has no place contesting.
Had a similar, but lighter moment on 15m Sunday night. I'm calling CQ
and
someone comes on who is obviously tuning up a tube-type rig or amp.
Signal
levels rapidly go up and down. This continues for about 2 minutes, when
finally, he calls me. I work him and he moves on. Why do people do
this? The
tube finals will be just has happy a kHz up or down from the station
you're
trying to work.
All in all, a good contest. I'm looking forward to FD and more CW
operation.
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/
3830score/
Bill Coleman, AA4LR, PP-ASEL Mail: aa4lr at arrl.net
Quote: "Not within a thousand years will man ever fly!"
-- Wilbur Wright, 1901
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