2006 CQ WW CW Contest K5ZD

                    CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW 

Call: K5ZD
Class: SOAB HP
Operating Time (hrs): 45
Radios: SO2R 

Summary: 
 Band  QSOs  Zones  Countries
------------------------------ 
  160:  220    18       68 
   80:  590    28       94 
   40: 1086    33      111 
   20: 1391    34      121 
   15:  780    27       98 
   10:   66    19       45 
------------------------------ 
Total: 4133   159      537     Total Score = 8,233,680 

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club 

Comments:

Wow, what a weekend!

This was the type of contest for what I like — periods of high rate and then periods of multiplier chasing. I love looking for mults!

First two hours of the contest were all search and pounce. When 40 isn’t runnable, I have learned that it is worth more to tune around and work all the mults on 40 that you can and they are all there!). Then you don’t have to worry about them later when band improves and you can be running.

Incredible rates on Sat morning. Had a 4 hour stretch with over 170 per hour! Never did that before. If I wasn’t so old fashioned and sent my call after every QSO, probably could have increased that a bit. This included a period where I went against convention and moved down from 15 before it was closed. The center of gravity for this contest is now in Eastern Europe (zone 15 and 16) so you need to be where they are. Was also hoping 15 would still be good the second day (and it was).

Wandered into some pileups that were huge and got lucky fast. Amazing what calling slightly off frequency can do for standing out from the crowd.

Made myself take a 30 minute sleep break the first night. Then slept 3 hours the second. Mult totals were so high the first night that I knew I could afford to sleep (and it was clear that high band rate was going to be the key to a big score). Felt good all the way to the end. Was only out of the chair 7 times all weekend.

Low bands were amazing. Had 56 countries on 160m the first night (and 81 on 80m!). Bands were so quiet here. No static, so 80/160 sounded just like a good night on 40m. Even had a 160m run of Eu stations Fri night. Activity on 80 and 40 was spread over 100 KHz. Hard to run and still find time to cover everything. Missed some easy mults on 80 as a result.

Line score at the half way point was 2348/133/419 for 3.6M. I would have been very happy to end the contest then. Always difficult to look at another 24 hours in the chair. Set my goal at breaking 8M (and never expected to make it). Took a 10 minute break to celebrate and refill my water glass.

Caught the very end of the 10m opening Sat morning when I found CT1AOZ with a big signal. Listened earlier on Sunday and was suprised to find the band open to more of Europe. All signals were weak, but they could hear me. Had a wild hour running at 150+ rate on 15m and chasing mults on 10m. Adds a little stress and excitement to the process. 10 wasn’t good enough that I wanted to give up the rate on 15m. Missed a few mults as a result. Heard a weak 5A7A work someone, but never heard them CQing.

Asia was the lost continent this weekend. Only worked a few JA on 40 and 20. Had to call almost all of them. Not even that many UA9s. Band was open great, but only so far and only so long.

No equipment failures. WriteLog crashed two times for unknown reason. Logged on paper while doing the restart.

Recorded the audio that was streamed on the Internet. Will put the recording files up on my web site as soon as I can. Some parts of the contest will be pretty boring listening.

The quality of operating was generally good. The European ops just keep getting better and better (and more of them). Only a few crazy pileups where everyone kept calling and calling. Only one real frequency fight.

I spent a good part of the contest asking myself why I do this. Amazing how much fun it seems to have been when I look back on the weekend… I am sure the more time passes, the more fun it will have seemed to have been! 🙂

Numbers:

QSOs by Continent and Band

          160M    80M    40M    20M    15M    10M   Total      % 

    EU     145    467    888   1151    668     12    3331    80.6 
    NA      59     77     95     92     45     15     383     9.3 
    AF       6     18     26     24     15      9      98     2.4 
    SA       8     11     28     42     42     29     160     3.9 
    AS       0      8     33     72      3      0     116     2.8 
    OC       2      9     15      9      7      1      43     1.0 

QSO/ZN+DX by Hour and Band

Hour   160M     80M     40M     20M     15M     10M    Total     Cumm    Off (Mins) 
0000Z  --+--   --+--   77/66   --+--   --+--   --+--   77/66     77/66  
0100Z  20/25   51/45     -       -       -       -     71/70    148/136 
0200Z    -     85/16   18/8      -       -       -    103/24    251/160 
0300Z  11/7    78/5     7/3      -       -       -     96/15    347/175 
0400Z  25/13   27/8      -       -       -       -     52/21    399/196 
0500Z  76/5    17/6      -       -       -       -     93/11    492/207 
0600Z  36/9    24/3      -       -       -       -     60/12    552/219 
0700Z   8/5    71/2     6/4      -       -       -     85/11    637/230 
0800Z   5/6    24/8    15/13   --+--   --+--   --+--   44/27    681/257 
0900Z   2/0    16/11    4/2     4/8      -       -     26/21    707/278 
1000Z    -      5/2     9/1      -       -       -     14/3     721/281 
1100Z   2/0     3/1     5/4    67/30     -       -     77/35    798/316   36
1200Z    -       -      9/5   114/14    4/8      -    127/27    925/343 
1300Z    -       -       -     75/7   101/27     -    176/34   1101/377 
1400Z    -       -       -     19/9   161/12     -    180/21   1281/398 
1500Z    -       -       -    126/8    45/15     -    171/23   1452/421 
1600Z  --+--   --+--   --+--  163/5     9/8    --+--  172/13   1624/434 
1700Z    -       -       -    139/5      -     14/20  153/25   1777/459 
1800Z    -       -       -     84/7    30/17    5/6   119/30   1896/489 
1900Z    -       -       -     45/14   23/13    2/1    70/28   1966/517 
2000Z    -       -     87/5     6/3      -      2/1    95/9    2061/526 
2100Z    -       -    119/6      -      9/3      -    128/9    2189/535 
2200Z    -       -     77/6    11/4      -       -     88/10   2277/545 
2300Z    -     18/0    27/3    26/4      -       -     71/7    2348/552 
0000Z   4/4    49/1    --+--    2/0    --+--   --+--   55/5    2403/557   10
0100Z   2/1    40/4    12/0     1/0      -       -     55/5    2458/562 
0200Z  17/5      -      1/0     7/5      -       -     25/10   2483/572   20
0300Z   6/1    11/5    38/1      -       -       -     55/7    2538/579 
0400Z   2/0    21/1    26/2      -       -       -     49/3    2587/582 
0500Z   2/4     2/1    76/3      -       -       -     80/8    2667/590 
0600Z    -      6/1    90/3      -       -       -     96/4    2763/594 
0700Z    -      3/0   109/2      -       -       -    112/2    2875/596 
0800Z   1/0     6/1    72/3    --+--   --+--   --+--   79/4    2954/600    6
0900Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    2954/600   60
1000Z    -      2/0      -       -       -       -      2/0    2956/600   50
1100Z    -      1/0    10/1    87/5      -       -     98/6    3054/606 
1200Z    -       -      1/0   126/1     7/1      -    134/2    3188/608 
1300Z    -       -       -     33/0   121/5     8/9   162/14   3350/622 
1400Z    -       -       -       -    139/4    15/15  154/19   3504/641 
1500Z    -       -       -       -    102/5    13/7   115/12   3619/653 
1600Z  --+--   --+--   --+--  105/4     8/0    --+--  113/4    3732/657 
1700Z    -       -       -     71/6     5/1     2/2    78/9    3810/666 
1800Z    -       -       -     30/6     6/2     1/1    37/9    3847/675 
1900Z    -       -     43/2     1/1     6/1     4/2    54/6    3901/681 
2000Z    -       -     58/0     6/0     4/3      -     68/3    3969/684 
2100Z    -       -     58/1     8/4      -       -     66/5    4035/689 
2200Z    -       -     29/0    27/5      -       -     56/5    4091/694 
2300Z   1/1    30/1     3/0     8/0      -       -     42/2    4133/696 

Tot:  220/86  590/122 1086/   1391/   780/125  66/64                     182 
                         /144    /155 

Most worked countries (>100 QSOs):

          160M    80M    40M    20M    15M    10M   Total 

    DL      33     80    113    244    164            634 
    EA       3     13     30     35     20      2     103 
     F       6     22     58     51     46            183 
     G      11     36     53     84     33            217 
    HA       2     18     26     30     30            106 
     I       3     15     42     54     43      1     158 
    OK      17     42     73     79     68            279 
    SP       5     14     37     57     39            152 
    UA       3     32     73     92     12            212 
    UR       3     21     60     59     27            170 
    VE      27     34     38     34     15            148 

Unique callsigns worked = 2820

The best 60 minute rate was 193/hour from 1337 to 1436 The best 30 minute rate was 196/hour from 1417 to 1446 The best 10 minute rate was 222/hour from 1343 to 1352

There were 720 bandchanges and 346 probable 2nd radio QSO’s.

The following 11 stations were worked on 6 bands:

ZF1A 8P5A CT9L V47NT PS2T TI5N
HC8N P49Y KP3Z 9Y4AA V26K

Worked 26 other stations on 5 bands.

Station:

Radio 1 FT1000D + Alpha 76Ca
Radio 2 FT1000D + Ameritron AL-1200
WriteLog software with W5XD keyer (this is the ideal SO2R setup)

Tower 1
40-2CD @ 110′
205CA stack at 100’/50′
155CA stack at 66’/33′
160m Ground Plane hanging from tower

Tower 2
6-el 10m @ 90′
80m 4 square wires hanging from tower
Shunt fed for 160m

Tower 3
TH7DXX @ 40′ (always pointing South)

500′ Beverage to NE