2018 ARRL DX Contest SSB K5ZD
ARRL DX Contest, SSB Call: K5ZD Operator(s): K5ZD Station: K5ZD Class: SO Unlimited HP QTH: W1 Operating Time (hrs): 17 Summary: Band QSOs Mults ------------------- 160: 17 14 80: 79 45 40: 234 65 20: 900 99 15: 358 91 10: 34 17 ------------------- Total: 1622 331 Total Score = 1,610,646 Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club
Comments
Did not really engage with the contest Friday evening. Wind was howling and conditions were not the best. Gave up when the rain static made hearing difficult. (Power did stay on all weekend – probably because we now have a generator.)
This was an SO1R effort. Didn’t want to deal with 2 amps running all weekend so just used one rig. Figured I was mostly going to chase spots anyway. Only a few times I wished I had the second rig to grab a mult without giving up the run frequency.
Up early Sat morning and had a great run going on 20 meters. At least I did until my wife came in and informed me she had backed the car into the partially open garage door.
This was a contest of haves and have nots. If you had a run frequency, you made rate. If not, you tuned or clicked on spots.
A lot of my operation on Sunday was to come in, click on spots, then leave. So actual operating time was less than reported by the software. Called it quits with about two hours to go. Was nice to watch the golf tournament and see people in warm weather and short sleeves.
Conditions on 80 seemed good, but couldn’t get any answers to CQs. Was lucky to find a 40m CQ frequency early on Sat evening that provided a burst of QSOs and mults. 20m was a zoo.
15m was marginal on Sat morning, but actually opened on Sunday morning for a few hours. Worked a few UA3’s which was a surprise. PA3AAV reported he was only hearing W1 stations. One Euro told me I was loudest signal on the band (always nice to hear even if not true). Even so, it didn’t seem like there were many people on the band. But, it sure was nice to have a run frequency without splatter from both sides.
10m was frustrating. Stuff would be spotted and couldn’t be heard. E.g., PJ4G was loud while P40L was inaudible.
I got to listen to the FRC club roster for almost every spot on 10m and 20m on Sunday afternoon. Those guys know how to use the cluster.
There are nuggets of fun and goodness in every contest. But, SSB surely tests that. I kept “quitting” the contest and then would come back again for more. Will be back for WPX SSB in a few weeks.
Station:
Elecraft K3 + Alpha 76CA
Logging software WriteLog by W5XD
HamPlus AS-82 for antenna selection
Tower 1 100’ Rohn 45G
Cushcraft 40-2CD at 110’
Hygain 205CA at 100’/50’ in upper/lower/both stack
Hygain 155CA at 66’/33’ in upper/lower/both stack 160m elevated GP
Tower 2 90’ Rohn 25G
10m 5/5/5 @ 90’/60’/30’ (only used the top antenna)
80m wire 4 square hanging from ropes off tower
Tower shunt fed on 160m.
Tower 3 38’ Rohn 25G
Hygain TH7DXX at 40’ rotary
Rates
QSO/DX by hour and band
Hour 160M 80M 40M 20M 15M 10M Total Cumm Off 0000Z 3/2 --+-- 17/11 4/3 --+-- --+-- 24/16 24/16 30 0100Z - 24/23 26/14 - - - 50/37 74/53 9 0200Z - - - - - - 0/0 74/53 60 0300Z - - - - - - 0/0 74/53 60 0400Z - - - - - - 0/0 74/53 60 0500Z - - - - - - 0/0 74/53 60 0600Z - - - - - - 0/0 74/53 60 0700Z - - - - - - 0/0 74/53 60 0800Z --+-- --+-- --+-- --+-- --+-- --+-- 0/0 74/53 60 0900Z - - - - - - 0/0 74/53 60 1000Z - - - - - - 0/0 74/53 60 1100Z - - - - - - 0/0 74/53 60 1200Z - 1/1 9/7 139/30 - - 149/38 223/91 16 1300Z - - - 162/21 10/8 - 172/29 395/120 1400Z - - - 25/5 25/21 - 50/26 445/146 1500Z - - - 15/4 15/5 - 30/9 475/155 30 1600Z --+-- --+-- --+-- 29/4 22/13 --+-- 51/17 526/172 6 1700Z - - - - - - 0/0 526/172 60 1800Z - - - 56/1 20/5 8/8 84/14 610/186 7 1900Z - - - 1/1 3/3 1/1 5/5 615/191 60 2000Z - - - - - - 0/0 615/191 60 2100Z - - 71/12 29/10 1/0 - 101/22 716/213 2200Z - 11/3 45/5 15/3 - - 71/11 787/224 2300Z - - - - - - 0/0 787/224 60 0000Z --+-- --+-- --+-- --+-- --+-- --+-- 0/0 787/224 60 0100Z - - - - - - 0/0 787/224 60 0200Z - - - - - - 0/0 787/224 60 0300Z 2/2 14/8 4/4 - - - 20/14 807/238 39 0400Z 8/6 19/8 14/3 - - - 41/17 848/255 0500Z 1/1 2/1 - - - - 3/2 851/257 60 0600Z 3/3 7/0 10/3 - - - 20/6 871/263 33 0700Z - 1/1 - - - - 1/1 872/264 59 0800Z --+-- --+-- --+-- --+-- --+-- --+-- 0/0 872/264 60 0900Z - - - - - - 0/0 872/264 60 1000Z - - - - - - 0/0 872/264 60 1100Z - - 6/4 28/0 - - 34/4 906/268 42 1200Z - - - 129/2 - - 129/2 1035/270 1300Z - - - 118/3 34/8 - 152/11 1187/281 1400Z - - - 1/1 151/15 - 152/16 1339/297 1500Z - - - 19/0 47/4 - 66/4 1405/301 8 1600Z --+-- --+-- --+-- --+-- --+-- --+-- 0/0 1405/301 60 1700Z - - - 7/1 6/3 - 13/4 1418/305 50 1800Z - - - 14/0 - - 14/0 1432/305 52 1900Z - - - 53/3 12/1 24/8 89/12 1521/317 2000Z - - - 30/3 4/4 1/0 35/7 1556/324 25 2100Z - - 30/2 16/2 8/1 - 54/5 1610/329 2200Z - - 2/0 10/2 - - 12/2 1622/331 40 2300Z - - - - - - 0/0 1622/331 60 Total: 17/14 79/45 234/65 900/99 358/91 34/17
Best 60 minutes: 216 on Sat morning on 20m
Six banders:
8P5A P40L PJ4G
Five banders:
C6ANM EA2RY EA6FO H72DX PZ5K TO3Z V26K ZF2MJ ZF9CW
(most of the misses were on 10m)
Most worked countries:
160M 80M 40M 20M 15M 10M Total
I 8 27 84 48 167
DL 1 1 20 105 30 157
G 4 11 51 36 102
F 4 16 47 27 94
EA 1 5 16 41 20 83
UA 2 4 62 3 71