Author: K5ZD

2020 WAE DX Contest RTTY K5ZD

writeup 
WAE DX Contest, RTTY - 2020
Call: K5ZD
Operator(s): K5ZD

Class: Single Op HP
QTH: W1
Operating Time (hrs): 21

Summary:
Band    QSOs   QTCs  Mults
80:      212   184    184
40:      412   589    231
20:      302   555    166
15:      265   515    130
10:        5     0      6
Total:  1196  1709    717   Total Score = 2,082,885

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club

Comments:

This was a very entertaining contest!  I forgot the contest started Friday evening so missed the first few hours.  Was just going to play around, but found the low bands to be very good.  Then 15m was very good Sat morning.  Started watching the scoreboard and found myself returning to the radio to work more stations and receive more QTCs!

I thought 15m was not open very well on Sunday. I even saw several spots and could not hear them. Then realized the 15m beam was still pointing west. Argh! It was great to see 10m open on Sunday afternoon. Would have missed that completely if not for the cluster.

I tried to receive QTCs as much as possible since I only have the opportunity to send them for CW and SSB. Some QTCs come through perfectly and others get messed up for one QTC and seem to take several more before clear copy resumes. The low bands were so good I was able to exchange QTC with Europe on 40 and 80.

Only used one radio.  Didn’t feel like warming up the room with the second amp. And with QTC activity, plus use of the cluster, didn’t feel like I needed it that much.

JH4UYB was very loud on 40m Sunday morning at sunrise. He was the only JA I heard on 40. VK3JA had a great signal on 40m LP on Sunday evening.

Excellent activity from Germany and other Western EU.  Worked very few UA/UA9 stations.

Not sure the scoring is correct.  Writelog seemed to count 11 QTC for every 10 received. Otherwise, it worked perfectly.

Thanks to everyone who made the weekend so much fun.

Station

Elecraft K3 + Ameritron AL-1200

80M: 4 square, dipole
40M: 40-2CD @ 110′
20M: 205CA @ 100’/50′
15M: 155CA @ 66’/33′
10M: 6-el @ 90′
10-20m South: TH7DXX @40′

Rates

QSO/DXCC by hour and band
 Hour      80M     40M     20M     15M     10M    Total     Cumm    OffTime

D1-0000Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0       0/0      60
D1-0100Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0       0/0      60
D1-0200Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0       0/0      60
D1-0300Z  65/92     -       -       -       -     65/92     65/92     13
D1-0400Z  21/12   36/60     -       -       -     57/72    122/164 
D1-0500Z    -     60/33     -       -       -     60/33    182/197 
D1-0600Z  22/20   24/21     -       -       -     46/41    228/238 
D1-0700Z   4/8    38/15     -       -       -     42/23    270/261     4
D1-0800Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0     270/261    60
D1-0900Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     270/261    60
D1-1000Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     270/261    60
D1-1100Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     270/261    60
D1-1200Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     270/261    60
D1-1300Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     270/261    60
D1-1400Z    -       -       -     44/28     -     44/28    314/289    16
D1-1500Z    -       -       -     37/18     -     37/18    351/307 
D1-1600Z  --+--   --+--   55/36   21/4    --+--   76/40    427/347 
D1-1700Z    -       -     51/38     -       -     51/38    478/385 
D1-1800Z    -       -     24/8      -       -     24/8     502/393    16
D1-1900Z    -       -     23/12    4/8      -     27/20    529/413    60
D1-2000Z    -     45/18    4/4    11/12     -     60/34    589/447 
D1-2100Z    -      6/0      -       -       -      6/0     595/447    48
D1-2200Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     595/447    60
D1-2300Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     595/447    60
D2-0000Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0     595/447    60
D2-0100Z    -     14/15     -       -       -     14/15    609/462    42
D2-0200Z  24/20    4/9      -       -       -     28/29    637/491    24
D2-0300Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     637/491    60
D2-0400Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     637/491    60
D2-0500Z    -      1/0      -       -       -      1/0     638/491    56
D2-0600Z  23/12   34/21     -       -       -     57/33    695/524 
D2-0700Z  16/8    30/6      -       -       -     46/14    741/538 
D2-0800Z   1/0    14/3    --+--   --+--   --+--   15/3     756/541    37
D2-0900Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     756/541    60
D2-1000Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     756/541    60
D2-1100Z    -      3/3     8/6      -       -     11/9     767/550    48
D2-1200Z    -       -     46/24    8/6      -     54/30    821/580 
D2-1300Z    -       -     18/2    38/22     -     56/24    877/604 
D2-1400Z    -       -     18/6    36/14     -     54/20    931/624 
D2-1500Z    -       -     23/6    45/8      -     68/14    999/638 
D2-1600Z  --+--   --+--    1/2    14/2    --+--   15/4    1014/642    40
D2-1700Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1014/642    60
D2-1800Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1014/642    60
D2-1900Z    -     13/9     2/4     6/6     1/2    22/21   1036/663    25
D2-2000Z    -     22/6     9/4     1/2     4/4    36/16   1072/679     2
D2-2100Z   1/0    13/0    14/12     -       -     28/12   1100/691    60
D2-2200Z   9/0    34/9     6/2      -       -     49/11   1149/702 
D2-2300Z  26/12   21/3      -       -       -     47/15   1196/717 

Total:   212/184 412/231 302/166 265/130   5/6

Best 60 mins: 80 @ 14-Nov-2020 03:14  

Worked on 4 bands (28):

9A7T DA0BCC DC6O DF4XG DG0OKW DJ8VH DK2OY DK7HA DL3ABL DL7VOG DL7YS DQ9Y DR6K F8CRS GW0A HG1G IK2TDM IQ8XF IV3HAX KO7SS MM9I OK1KSL OK4GP OM5M ON6NL UY5VA V31MA WT9U

Most worked countries:

           80M    40M    20M    15M    10M   Total
    DL      75     99     67     98            339
     K      61     81     52     13            207
     I       5     30     29     30             94
    PA       1     20     15     11             47
    SP       2     17      8      7             34
    VE      11     10      7      4             32
    UR       5     14      4      4             27
     F       6      8      4      8             26
    EA       2      8      9      6             25

2020 ARRL Sweepstakes CW K5ZD

writeup 
                    ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, CW - 2020

Call: K5ZD
Operator(s): K5ZD
Station: K5ZD

Class: SO Unlimited HP
QTH: MA
Operating Time (hrs): 24
Radios: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
  160:    0
   80:  522
   40:  424
   20:  363
   15:   44
   10:    0
------------
Total: 1353  Sections = 84  Total Score = 227,304

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club

Comments:

First 20 hours were fun.  The rest was work.

40m went really long early on Sat evening so went to 80 very early.  Ended with with a 6 hour run on one frequency! 

Worked multiple stations in every section except PEI (thanks VY2ZM) and YT. I had given up on finding a VE8 when VY1KX called in late on 20m.  Always nice to get the sweep.

Seemed to be relatively easy to find a frequency.  There was lots of activity, but maybe not as many CQing?

Thanks to everyone for helping me achieve the 1000 QSO mark for the 44th consecutive year.

Station

K3 + AL-1200
K3 + AL-1500

80m: 4 square, dipole
40m: 40-2CD @110′
20m: 205CA @100′
15m: 155ca @66′

WriteLog software, MK2R+ SO2R box

QSO/Sec by hour and band

 Hour      80      40      20      15     Total     Cumm    OffTime
D1-2100Z    -       -     79/34   35/21  114/55    114/55  
D1-2200Z    -     13/1    70/6     5/1    88/8     202/63  
D1-2300Z  30/4    46/4     3/0      -     79/8     281/71  
D2-0000Z  75/0    12/1     2/0    --+--   89/1     370/72  
D2-0100Z  79/3    12/1      -       -     91/4     461/76  
D2-0200Z  78/1    15/0      -       -     93/1     554/77  
D2-0300Z  72/1    13/0      -       -     85/1     639/78  
D2-0400Z  47/0    34/1      -       -     81/1     720/79  
D2-0500Z  20/0    43/0      -       -     63/0     783/79  
D2-0600Z  16/1    19/0      -       -     35/1     818/80  
D2-0700Z  16/0    13/0      -       -     29/0     847/80      7
D2-0800Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0     847/80     60
D2-0900Z    -       -       -       -      0/0     847/80     60
D2-1000Z    -       -       -       -      0/0     847/80     60
D2-1100Z  21/0     1/1      -       -     22/1     869/81     35
D2-1200Z  16/1    23/0      -       -     39/1     908/82  
D2-1300Z  15/0    20/0     5/0      -     40/0     948/82  
D2-1400Z    -     15/0    18/0      -     33/0     981/82  
D2-1500Z    -     27/0    13/0      -     40/0    1021/82  
D2-1600Z  --+--   27/0     6/0    --+--   33/0    1054/82  
D2-1700Z    -      3/0    34/0     1/0    38/0    1092/82  
D2-1800Z    -      2/0    41/0      -     43/0    1135/82  
D2-1900Z    -      5/0    39/0     3/0    47/0    1182/82  
D2-2000Z    -      6/0     9/1      -     15/1    1197/83     35
D2-2100Z    -     15/0    28/0      -     43/0    1240/83  
D2-2200Z    -      3/0    12/1      -     15/1    1255/84     33
D2-2300Z    -     14/0     4/0      -     18/0    1273/84     25
D3-0000Z  16/0    19/0    --+--   --+--   35/0    1308/84  
D3-0100Z   5/0     3/0      -       -      8/0    1316/84     47
D3-0200Z  16/0    21/0      -       -     37/0    1353/84  

Total:   522/11  424/9   363/42   44/22

Fixing my Intermittent 40-2CD

blog

I put the Cushcraft 40-2CD 2-element 40 meter beam at the top of my tower in 1993. There are so many trees around the tower that we had to assemble the elements to the boom at the top of the tower. Actually it is at the top of the mast 10′ above the top of the tower! It lasted a long time before it started to be intermittent on receive.

John W2GD came up around 2016 and was able to climb the mast, get the beam in his hands, and rotate it so I could replace the feedline and feedpoint. It was less than a month later and the antenna started being intermittent on receive again. It mostly happened when the wind was blowing.

Just about the time John got the antenna reattached to the mast, I had noticed one of the loading coils looked mangled. It had a strange look like a bunch of birds had been pecking at the plastic. Since we had the antenna reinstalled, we didn’t pursue it.

The antenna kept getting worse and I would complain about it after every contest. In June 2020, Mark K1RX suggested that he had a fix that would solve the feedpoint problem and he was willing to help do the work. Mark does a lot of tower work for local hams and he is very good.

The feedpoint fix was to bypass the small through hole screws that Cushcraft used and replace it with some aluminum strap that went from the feedpoint, past the insulator, and out to the element. Mark came up with all the pieces from his junkbox. See photo below.

40-2CD Feedpoint “repair kit”

Mark climbed the mast and maneuvered the antenna so I could reach the feedpoint. I added the straps, reattached the coax, and then weatherproofed everything.

Fixing the 40m antenna feed point. (K1IR photo)

That mangled loading coil had also been bothering me for a few years. All attempts to get a photograph or better visual to diagnose were unhelpful. Since we had the antenna off the mast, Mark was able to get the coil to where I could reach it. Wow! Lighting damage. The coil had been vaporized on one end and the wire had unspooled. I had effectively been using a dipole in contests for 3+ years!

Lightning damage to 40-2CD loading coil.

I have collected a few 40-2CD elements over the years just in case something like this happened. We were able to find a good one in the junk pile and replace the fried one. I was excited to have that mystery solved.

A recent wind storm had caused the truss wire on the Hygain 205-CA 5-element 20 meter beam to fail. Since we were up there, we took on the job to replace the truss on both sides with new stainless cable. A 205-CA is a big antenna and the truss wires go out near the end of the boom. Mark had to remove one of the elements to get the antenna to lean over far enough so I could reach it. It took all of Mark’s strength to wrangle the antenna.

Mark K1RX removing the element.

The end result has both good news and bad news. The 40 meter beam now feels and sounds like a beam again. I.e., it has front-to-back and I have had a bit more success on 40 in the past few contests. The SWR curve is back to looking like it did when I first put it up.

The bad news is that the antenna is still intermittent at times on receive. Signals will fall about 20-30db when the antenna is not working. Sometimes transmitting with 100W is not enough to clear it. But, so far, a quick blast with the amplifier on always brings the SWR back in line and the signals up.

I climbed the tower one evening with a long pole hoping I could bang on things and find where the intermittent might be. With the antenna analyzer connected, I could see the high SWR. Banging and prodding did no good. I could not quite reach the loading coils. Only when I violently pumped the antenna up and down would the SWR intermittently come down.

This 40-2CD has the W6NL mods so it has been extremely durable at resisting wind and weather. Given the lightning damage on the reflector trap, there is no telling where the failure point is on the driven element. As long as transmitting will clear it, I will live with it. But, sometime next summer it will be time to make another try at finding the problem or replacing the element.

Thanks to Jim K1IR for serving as ground crew during the climb.

(l-r) Randy K5ZD, Mark K1RX, Jim K1IR (K1IR photo)

2020 CQ WW SSB K5ZD

writeup 

                 CQ Worldwide DX Contest, SSB - 2020
Call: K5ZD
Operator(s): K5ZD
Station: K5ZD
Class: SOAB HP

Operating Time (hrs): 34

Summary:
Band    QSOs Zones Countries
160:     54    9     24
80:     318   13     57
40:     355   21     71
20:    1671   29    104
15:    1409   25     98
10:     172   11     36
Total: 3979  108    390     Total Score = 5,609,472

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club

Comments:

Conditions were so bad 28 days earlier for CQ WW RTTY, I did not have high expectations for this one.  Wow, was I wrong.  Conditions exceeded my wildest hopes.

Operated in Classic mode for the whole contest.  One radio.  No cluster.

Since I was focused on a Classic entry I took 2 hours off to watch a movie Friday night. When the rates exploded on Sunday morning, I went from #50 on the scoreboard to closing in on the top ten.  That changed my attitude and I shifted from managing off times to trying to make the best score.

The contest was obviously different with fewer multi-ops and no expeditions. It was a bit easier to find a frequency on 20 and 40.  (Just a little, those bands were still crowded!)  But, it really hurt the multiplier.  Decided I would just focus on QSOs. Was still fun to have to make operating decisions about when to run and when to tune for mults – the way contesting was before the cluster connected everyone to everything.  Missed some mults as a result, but figured if I could keep close the assisted guys on the scoreboard I would be ok.

The rates on Sat morning were amazing.  It matched what I did from the Caribbean last year. Thanks to all the Italians, Germans, and Netherlanders that filled the log.  Not many Russians or JAs as the band just didn’t open that deep.

Was running so much I didn’t even check 10m on Sat morning.  I did happen to go there on Sun morning and was amazed to find some Eu signals. VO1CH was pinning the s-meter so it must have been sporadic E.  It sure sounded like a VHF contest for awhile with lots of QSB and spotlight openings.  Sure helped the score and was fun to run without splatter.

Managed to get a frequency around 7132 during the last 30 minutes of the contest. It produced a bunch of new multipliers. Why does no one listen split on 40m any more?

CQ WW is always amazing and fun.  Thanks to everyone who helped fill the bands with excitement.

Station

Elecraft K3 + Ameritron AL-1200

80M: 4 square, dipole
40M: 40-2CD @ 110′
20M: 205CA @ 100’/50′
15M: 155CA @ 66’/33′
10M: 6-el @ 90′
10-20m South: TH7DXX @40′

QSO/ZN+DX by hour and band

Hour   160M     80M     40M     20M     15M     10M    Total     Cumm     Off

0000Z   1/2    25/20   40/32    9/13   --+--   --+--   75/67     75/67  
0100Z   6/6    27/9     8/1    19/5      -       -     60/21    135/88  
0200Z    -      5/2      -       -       -       -      5/2     140/90     55
0300Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     140/90     60
0400Z  11/8     4/2    77/20     -       -       -     92/30    232/120     1
0500Z  15/9    35/12   25/5      -       -       -     75/26    307/146 
0600Z   8/3    61/5      -       -       -       -     69/8     376/154 
0700Z    -      7/2    27/12   40/25     -       -     74/39    450/193 
0800Z   1/1     2/0    54/6    17/6    --+--   --+--   74/13    524/206    13
0900Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     524/206    60
1000Z   2/1     1/2     3/0     1/0      -       -      7/3     531/209    49
1100Z    -       -      5/0   159/17    5/7      -    169/24    700/233 
1200Z    -       -       -    155/5    38/15     -    193/20    893/253 
1300Z    -       -       -       -    225/19     -    225/19   1118/272 
1400Z    -       -       -       -    212/11     -    212/11   1330/283 
1500Z    -       -       -       -    224/11     -    224/11   1554/294 
1600Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   85/20   12/8    97/28   1651/322 
1700Z    -       -       -    104/5    32/1     6/0   142/6    1793/328 
1800Z    -       -       -    186/4      -       -    186/4    1979/332 
1900Z    -       -       -     86/11   30/5     3/0   119/16   2098/348 
2000Z    -       -       -    133/9      -       -    133/9    2231/357 
2100Z    -       -       -    145/4     5/3      -    150/7    2381/364 
2200Z    -       -     13/0    16/4     4/5      -     33/9    2414/373    21
2300Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    2414/373    60
0000Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0    2414/373    60
0100Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    2414/373    60
0200Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    2414/373    60
0300Z   5/2    20/5    14/4      -       -       -     39/11   2453/384     3
0400Z    -       -      6/1      -       -       -      6/1    2459/385     1
0500Z   2/1    81/5      -       -       -       -     83/6    2542/391    60
0600Z    -     47/5    10/2      -       -       -     57/7    2599/398 
0700Z    -      1/0      -       -       -       -      1/0    2600/398    58
0800Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0    2600/398    60
0900Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    2600/398    60
1000Z   3/0     2/1      -       -       -       -      5/1    2605/399    52
1100Z    -       -      2/0   130/6      -       -    132/6    2737/405 
1200Z    -       -       -     36/0    97/8      -    133/8    2870/413 
1300Z    -       -       -       -    177/9      -    177/9    3047/422 
1400Z    -       -       -       -     14/1    99/24  113/25   3160/447 
1500Z    -       -       -       -    131/2     4/1   135/3    3295/450 
1600Z  --+--   --+--   --+--  104/4     1/0     8/2   113/6    3408/456 
1700Z    -       -       -     21/1    56/1     7/6    84/8    3492/464 
1800Z    -       -       -       -     13/1    25/4    38/5    3530/469   25
1900Z    -       -       -     12/0    39/4     5/2    56/6    3586/475    
2000Z    -       -       -    134/2      -       -    134/2    3720/477 
2100Z    -       -       -     94/3    10/0     3/0   107/3    3827/480 
2200Z    -       -       -     59/7     7/0      -     66/7    3893/487 
2300Z    -       -     71/9    11/2     4/0      -     86/11   3979/498 

Total: 54/33  318/70  355/92 1671/133 1409/123 172/47

Best 60 mins: 230 QSOs (24-Oct-2020 13:20 to 24-Oct-2020 14:19)

Worked on 6 bands: TM3R

Worked on 5 bands: CR6K DF0HQ DL0CS DM1A DP7D E7DX EA2W EC2DX EW5A F6KOP G0BNR G6XX GM6NX HG5A HG7T II2S IQ4FA P40W PA9M PI4COM PJ4DX TM5A TM6M VE5MX VO1GRC ZF1A

Most worked countries:

          160M    80M    40M    20M    15M    10M   Total
    DL       4     36     27    235    237     22     561
    EA       3     27     24    104    101     10     269
     F       1     28     32     64     82     23     230
     G       2     17     20    151    147      8     345
     I             25     28    147    169      8     377
     K       9     16     33     75     20      3     156
    ON       2     11      3     50     40      6     112
    PA       1     14      3     69     53      7     147
    SP       1      9      9     42     45      1     107
    VE      14     26     28     29     19      1     117

2020 CQ WW RTTY Contest K5ZD

writeup 
                    CQ Worldwide DX Contest, RTTY - 2020

Call: K5ZD
Operator(s): K5ZD
Station: K5ZD

Class: SOAB HP
QTH: W1
Operating Time (hrs): 18.6
Radios: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  State/Prov  DX   Zones
------------------------------------
   80:  226       39      31    10
   40:  403       45      47    16
   20:  847       47      68    24
   15:   74       10      21    13
   10:    6        2       4     4
------------------------------------
Total: 1556      143     171    67  Total Score = 1,317,879

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club

Comments:

Always a fun contest and a great test of the station in advance of the Fall contest season.

I spent the first two hours of the contest working on the log submission page at cqwwrtty.com. Should have done it weeks earlier, but didn’t get to it.

Thought the bands were ok the first night. Band was very slow to open in the morning. The VK signals on 40M after sunrise were amazingly good.

20m was a bit slow, but once opened it produced a nice rate. Didn’t have many opportunities this weekend to run on two bands since 15m never really opened.
Just a few states via some e-skip and then a few Eu when the band opened Sat afternoon.

Have some back pain that keeps me from doing long stints in the chair. Would operate a bit and then go out to enjoy a beautiful Fall day. Didn’t operate much at all on Saturday evening.

Good run on 20m again Sunday morning, but not much else. Packed it in to watch Formula One and then some football.

WriteLog worked great as always. Used 2Tone for decoding. I was having trouble printing some signals when I remembered I could set up a second clone decoder.
Used the Writelog built in decoder and it often copied things 2Tone could not (and vice versa). Having a second decoder is a great tool.

The live scoreboard at https://contestonlinescore.com/ keeps things interesting. Fun to watch AA3B just crush the multipliers. And to race against other stations with scores around mine.

We now know what CQ WW will look like in Covid days. There will be lots of QSOs, but no expeditions so a low multiplier. I missed several states including VT, ND, and MT. Even though there were two big operations from ME, I didn’t find them until Sunday afternoon. A consequence of all of us calling CQ all the time on 20m.

Even though the bands seemed OK because of the activity, I did not work a JA and only a few Russians. Most QSOs were from southern Eu and USA.

See everyone in the next one!

Rates

QSO/Zn+Dx+St by hour and band

Hour    80M     40M     20M     15M     10M    Total     Cumm    OffTime

0000Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0       0/0      60
0100Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0       0/0      60
0200Z   1/2      -     15/20     -       -     16/22     16/22  
0300Z  69/40   10/18     -       -       -     79/58     95/80  
0400Z  53/18   75/32     -       -       -    128/50    223/130 
0500Z  29/6    33/7      -       -       -     62/13    285/143    26
0600Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     285/143    60
0700Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     285/143    60
0800Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0     285/143    60
0900Z  18/5     4/4      -       -       -     22/9     307/152    38
1000Z  31/8    21/8      -       -       -     52/16    359/168 
1100Z    -     48/9    19/16     -       -     67/25    426/193 
1200Z    -     11/0    79/22     -       -     90/22    516/215     6
1300Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     516/215    60
1400Z    -      1/0    82/17   18/22     -    101/39    617/254     5
1500Z    -       -     64/12   19/11    1/3    84/26    701/280 
1600Z  --+--   --+--   76/8    11/7    --+--   87/15    788/295 
1700Z    -       -      3/0      -       -      3/0     791/295    58
1800Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     791/295    60
1900Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     791/295    60
2000Z    -       -      8/0      -       -      8/0     799/295    53
2100Z    -     37/10   29/5      -       -     66/15    865/310 
2200Z  13/1    58/6    10/3      -       -     81/10    946/320     4
2300Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     946/320    60
0000Z   3/0    15/3    23/5    --+--   --+--   41/8     987/328    27
0100Z    -     35/6    42/4      -       -     77/10   1064/338     2
0200Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1064/338    60
0300Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1064/338    60
0400Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1064/338    60
0500Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1064/338    60
0600Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1064/338    60
0700Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1064/338    60
0800Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0    1064/338    60
0900Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1064/338    60
1000Z    -      8/0     5/1      -       -     13/1    1077/339    44
1100Z   9/0    27/2    31/1      -       -     67/3    1144/342 
1200Z    -     13/3    92/2      -       -    105/5    1249/347 
1300Z    -       -     89/4     4/1      -     93/5    1342/352 
1400Z    -       -     79/4     3/1      -     82/5    1424/357 
1500Z    -       -      7/0      -       -      7/0    1431/357    55
1600Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0    1431/357    60
1700Z    -       -      3/0     3/0     1/1     7/1    1438/358    50
1800Z    -       -     72/9     4/1     4/6    80/16   1518/374 
1900Z    -      7/0    19/6    12/1      -     38/7    1556/381 
2000Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1556/381    60
2100Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1556/381    60
2200Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1556/381    60
2300Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1556/381    60

Total: 226/80 403/108 847/139  74/44    6/10

HamExpo presentation on contesting

article

I was proud to make a presentation about contesting for the virtual HamExpo arranged by 4Z1UG in August 2020.  The presentation is now public on YouTube.

Tips for Being A Better Single Op Contester – Randy Thompson, K5ZD

https://youtu.be/zKl0Mi1N3e0?t=1

This was the last presentation of the Expo on Sunday afternoon and yet there were over 125 people who joined the Q&A afterwards. My sense from the Q&A (unfortunately not part of the YouTube recording) is that there is a wide ranging thirst for information about operating among hams today.

Hope you find the presentation interesting and educational.  Please share it with your club and hams interested in contesting.

2020 WW Digi DX Contest K5ZD

writeup 
World Wide Digi DX Contest - 2020
Call: K5ZD
Operator(s): K5ZD
Station: K5ZD

Class: SOAB HP
QTH: W1
Operating Time (hrs): 16.2
Radios: SO2R

Summary:
Band    QSOs    Mults
160:     43       13
80:     136       28
40:     251       39
20:     386       56
15:      41       14
10:       0        0
Total:  857      150    Total Score = 262,350

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club

Comments:

An interesting learning experience.  I now know that the most important trait of a successful digi contester is patience!  Whether it is waiting for 3 retries to complete a QSO or wishing you could change the protocol to work all 5 callers that were copied at one time — there is simply no way to make things go faster…

20m was almost too good.  So much QRM it was hard to make QSOs at times and very hard to work the deep Asia paths.  The Digi contest does a great thing by suggesting use of different channels to spread activity out.  Might be better with 3 Khz rather than 2 Khz so you know which channel a station is actually using.

Band conditions on 15m were poor.  Only South America and few (very few) e-skip QSOs.  Never even listened on 10m.

40 was open to Europe even at 2pm here in Boston, but could not make a QSO until almost 4pm.

80m was busy, but not many Eu in the log.  Same for 160.  Got tired and slept 4 hours.

Best hours were early when running FT4 on 2 bands.  In the end, FT8 was the more reliable and productive mode.  Slower, but seemed to have less failures to complete contacts.

I decided to run power because I wanted to chase DX QSOs. It definitely helped make more contacts on the low bands and on 20m when it was crowded.

The combination of WriteLog and DigiRite was fantastic.  Did the first 8.5 hours of the contest at full tilt.  Was transmitting almost 100% of the time by alternating odd/even cycles on two bands. Good test of the two amplifiers.

Was fun chasing AA3B and LZ8E on the scoreboard.

Thanks to everyone for creating so much activity in just the second year of this contest.  Some of the DX contacts were amazing.  It was fun!

Station:

Station:
K3 + AL-1200
K3 + AL-1500
Writelog/DigiRite + MK2R+
160: Shunt fed tower, elevated 1/4-wave GP
80: 4 square, dipole @ 80'
40: 40-2CD @ 110'
20: 205CA @ 100'/50'
15: 155CA @ 66'/33'
10: 6-ele @ 90'
South: TH7DXX @ 40'

Rates:

QSO/Mul by hour and band

Hour   160M     80M     40M     20M     15M     10M    Total     Cumm    Off

1200Z    -       -     39/9    39/11     -       -     78/20     78/20  
1300Z    -       -     37/0    48/7      -       -     85/7     163/27  
1400Z    -       -     13/1    33/7     1/1      -     47/9     210/36  
1500Z    -       -       -     35/11   17/5      -     52/16    262/52  
1600Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   31/6     1/0    --+--   32/6     294/58  
1700Z    -       -       -     32/1    10/3      -     42/4     336/62  
1800Z    -       -       -     39/1     5/2      -     44/3     380/65  
1900Z    -       -     22/4    34/2      -       -     56/6     436/71  
2000Z    -       -      6/2    17/1     4/1      -     27/4     463/75     28
2100Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     463/75     60
2200Z    -       -     25/7    28/1     3/2      -     56/10    519/85      5
2300Z    -       -     28/1    30/4      -       -     58/5     577/90      3
0000Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0     577/90     60
0100Z    -     21/5    15/0      -       -       -     36/5     613/95     34
0200Z  23/10   33/13    2/0      -       -       -     58/23    671/118 
0300Z  15/3    19/4      -      4/1      -       -     38/8     709/126 
0400Z    -     30/4    26/7      -       -       -     56/11    765/137 
0500Z   5/0    23/1    13/2      -       -       -     41/3     806/140 
0600Z    -      2/0     9/3      -       -       -     11/3     817/143    41
0700Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     817/143    60
0800Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0     817/143    60
0900Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     817/143    60
1000Z    -       -      1/1      -       -       -      1/1     818/144    59
1100Z    -      8/1    15/2    16/3      -       -     39/6     857/150 

Total: 43/13  136/28  251/39  386/56   41/14    0/0

2020 WAE DX Contest CW K5ZD

writeup 
Call: K5ZD
Operator(s): K5ZD
Station: K5ZD

Class: Single Op HP
QTH: W1
Operating Time (hrs): 17
Radios: SO2R

Summary:  
Band QSOs QTCs Mults
80: 130 0 144
40: 316 410 114
20: 599 745 94
15: 218 110 80
10: 8 0 16
Total: 1271 1265 448 Total Score 1,135,680

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club

I think this is my best WAE score ever.

15m had a good opening early on Sat morning. Then 10m opened early on Sunday morning. That helped the multiplier total.

Low bands were very good Friday night. Must have been noisier in Eu on Sat night (their Sun morning) as they didn’t seem to hear as well. I decided to give up and sleep.

Thanks for all the QSOs and QTCs!

QSO/DXCC by hour and band

 Hour      80M     40M     20M     15M     10M    Total     Cumm    OffTime

D1-0000Z  --+--   91/66   14/20   --+--   --+--  105/86    105/86  
D1-0100Z  42/84    4/6     6/8      -       -     52/98    157/184 
D1-0200Z  44/36   33/24     -       -       -     77/60    234/244 
D1-0300Z   8/8    58/6      -       -       -     66/14    300/258 
D1-0400Z  15/0    31/6    11/10     -       -     57/16    357/274     5
D1-0500Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     357/274    60
D1-0600Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     357/274    60
D1-0700Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     357/274    60
D1-0800Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0     357/274    60
D1-0900Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     357/274    60
D1-1000Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     357/274    60
D1-1100Z    -       -    116/34     -       -    116/34    473/308    14
D1-1200Z    -       -     51/8    44/36     -     95/44    568/352 
D1-1300Z    -       -     15/0    20/6      -     35/6     603/358    40
D1-1400Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     603/358    60
D1-1500Z    -       -      4/0      -       -      4/0     607/358    17
D1-1600Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0     607/358    60
D1-1700Z    -       -     19/0     4/4      -     23/4     630/362    40
D1-1800Z    -       -      7/2     4/2      -     11/4     641/366    43
D1-1900Z    -       -     19/0      -       -     19/0     660/366    60
D1-2000Z    -       -     90/6      -       -     90/6     750/372 
D1-2100Z    -       -     27/0      -       -     27/0     777/372    30
D1-2200Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     777/372    60
D1-2300Z   2/8    41/3    17/0      -       -     60/11    837/383     9
D2-0000Z   8/4     4/0    --+--   --+--   --+--   12/4     849/387    33
D2-0100Z   5/4     3/0      -       -       -      8/4     857/391    60
D2-0200Z   5/0     6/0      -       -       -     11/0     868/391    43
D2-0300Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     868/391    60
D2-0400Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     868/391    60
D2-0500Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     868/391    60
D2-0600Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     868/391    60
D2-0700Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     868/391    60
D2-0800Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0     868/391    60
D2-0900Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     868/391    60
D2-1000Z    -       -     27/0      -       -     27/0     895/391    40
D2-1100Z    -       -     64/0      -       -     64/0     959/391 
D2-1200Z    -       -      6/0    83/24    7/14   96/38   1055/429 
D2-1300Z    -       -      8/2    52/6     1/2    61/10   1116/439 
D2-1400Z    -       -     22/2    10/2      -     32/4    1148/443    21
D2-1500Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1148/443    60
D2-1600Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0    1148/443    60
D2-1700Z    -       -      4/0      -       -      4/0    1152/443    57
D2-1800Z    -       -     41/2     1/0      -     42/2    1194/445 
D2-1900Z    -       -     12/0      -       -     12/0    1206/445    43
D2-2000Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1206/445    60
D2-2100Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1206/445    60
D2-2200Z    -     32/3    19/0      -       -     51/3    1257/448     6
D2-2300Z   1/0    13/0      -       -       -     14/0    1271/448 

Total:   130/144 316/114 599/94  218/80    8/16

Best 60 minutes: 144 QSOs

Stations worked on 5 bands: 9A3XV, DP6A, EI7M, ES5RR, LX7I, IR6T, J42L

Most worked countries:

           80M    40M    20M    15M    10M   Total

    DL      53     94    189     89      1     426
    UA       5     22     41      6             74
    UR       4     23     29      7             63
    SP       8     15     32      2             57
     I       4     13     21     15      1      54
    PA       1      7     27      7             42
    OK       1     14     23      3             41

2020 IARU HF World Championship K5ZD

writeup 
       IARU HF World Championship - 2020
Call: K5ZD
Operator(s): K5ZD
Station: K5ZD

Class: SOABMixed HP
QTH: W1
Operating Time (hrs): 22.5
Radios: SO2R

Summary:
Band   CW Qs  Ph Qs Zones HQ Mults
160:      62     1    9     9
80:      200    31   17    25
40:      624    47   24    30
20:      914   543   32    38
15:      457    98   18    25
10:      139    19    9    18
Total:  2396   739  109   145 Total Score = 2,713,990

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club

Interesting. Fun to see 10m open to Europe. Amazing rates for all the daylight hours.

Nothing broke except the op.  Got too slow at 3am so took an hour nap.

Congrats to WA1Z at KC1XX.  He just had too much station horsepower and skills for me to keep up!

Rates:

-------------- Q S O   R a t e   S u m m a r y ---------------------
Hour     160     80     40     20     15     10    Rate Total    Pct
--------------------------------------------------------------------
1200       0      0     60     69      0      0    129    129    4.1
1300       0      0      0      5     91     72    168    297    9.5
1400       0      0      0      2    139     19    160    457   14.6
1500       0      0      0     75     68      0    143    600   19.1
1600       0      0      0     29     85     27    141    741   23.6
1700       0      0      0     89     48      4    141    882   28.1
1800       0      0      0    104     50      0    154   1036   33.0
1900       0      0      0    142      3      0    145   1181   37.7
2000       0      0      0    189      4      0    193   1374   43.8
2100       1      1      1     59     29     35    126   1500   47.8
2200       0      0      0    152     29      1    182   1682   53.7
2300       0      0     92     57      1      0    150   1832   58.4
0000       0     40    119      9      0      0    168   2000   63.8
0100      12     13     21     78      0      0    124   2124   67.8
0200      10     91     11     14      0      0    126   2250   71.8
0300      16     19     31     28      0      0     94   2344   74.8
0400       4      9    115      2      0      0    130   2474   78.9
0500       2      2    106      7      0      0    117   2591   82.6
0600       0     46     43      0      0      0     89   2680   85.5
0700       6      0     43      4      0      0     53   2733   87.2
0800       0      0      0      0      0      0      0   2733   87.2
0900      12     10     21     70      0      0    113   2846   90.8
1000       0      0      8    154      0      0    162   3008   95.9
1100       0      0      0    119      8      0    127   3135  100.0
------------------------------------------------------
Total     63    231    671   1457    555    158   3135

The best 60 minute rate was 194/hour from 1959 to 2058

The following stations were worked on 6 bands: DA0HQ K1ZZ OP0HQ GR2HQ TM0HQ

2020 CQ WPX CW Contest AK1W (K5ZD)

writeup 

Call: AK1W
Operator(s): K5ZD
Station: K5ZD
Class: SOAB HP
Class Overlay: Classic
QTH: W1
Operating Time (hrs): 31.7
Summary:
Band    QSOs
160:     24
80:     484
40:     876
20:    2423
15:     164
10:       5
Total: 3976 Prefixes = 1247 Total Score = 12,412,638

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club

Comments:

This event put the word test in contest!

Decided to do single op serious to chase some WRTC qualifying points and because there was nothing else to do.  The qualifying points motivation went away when I saw my #1 competitor was WA1Z at KC1XX.

Also wanted to do actual 2BSIQ in a contest for real for the first time. It was interesting.  I was a lid at times (most times).  It also got harder as the serial numbers got longer and there were more requests for repeats.  But, I learned a lot.

Everything was working in the station.  Fixed all my rotator issues over the spring.  40m beam is still intermittent and really needs a new feedpoint.  It is such a difficult antenna to get to that I keep procrastinating. Will need some help to get it fixed.  Don’t think I can put it off any longer.

When I came into the shack at 2355z to do the contest, I found 15m was open to Europe. That sounded like fun so I started there.  Worked 60 guys while also chasing some stations on 20.  Didn’t get to 40m until 30 minutes in. I did dual CQ on 40 and 20 for a few hours and it was pretty cool.  I am sure my accuracy rate will suffer…

This was the first contest where the online scoreboard added a challenge. After 6 hours I had made 835 QSOs and was already a million points behind KC1XX and AA3B. K1ZZ was also well ahead of me.  With the way WPX scoring is exponential (mults just keep going up with QSOs), I knew there was no way I was going to catch those guys.

After feeling bad for awhile, I turned it around and decided to see if I could chase them down. Conditions on Sat morning were not the best. I went out for a walk late in the morning because there was nothing to do but work USA.  No way to catch up at 1 point per QSO.  Things got a lot better after 1900z and we were off to the races until I just couldn’t stay awake any more about 0530z.

There was a very cool 10 meter e-skip opening on Sat afternoon.  I worked as far away as Arizona and as close as Delaware. Even a few Caribbean called in.  Not great for points, but good for fun.

Pushed hard on the low bands the second night and made up some ground.  80 was as quiet and good as I have ever heard it in WPX CW.  Even so, the low bands were tough to do much dual CQing.

On again at sunrise on Sunday morning and 20 was a little better, but still difficult to get much rate. There was a nice JA opening that didn’t produce many QSOs, but sure helped my prefix count.  15m did open, but not for long.  Only heard a few signals on 10.  So it was mostly 20m all day until the last 90 minutes when 40 opened.

I did catch K1ZZ for score Sunday morning.  We had the same score and multiplier, but I had 500 more QSOs than he did.  Those missed low band contacts the first few hours created a hole I could not fill.  Dave then proceeded to work 100 mults that I could not match and it was over.  Fun chasing him though.

Made a bonehead decision on Sunday afternoon when contemplating off time.  I came back on only to realize I still had 25 minutes of off time remaining.  That meant I would have to end a little early.  Not normally a problem, but as that time approached, I was running 6 pointers on 40 meters.  Gave up a few points because I couldn’t do basic clock management.

This contest alternated between a domestic contest and a DX contest. I have always loved chasing and working prefixes.  Great to have so much activity to keep things hopping.

Congrats to WA1Z at KC1XX and to N5DX for breaking the existing USA record. And to AA3B and K1ZZ for also whipping up on me.  Next year!

By continent:

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

    EU       0    100    447    953    197      0    1697    44.4
    NA       9    186    592    672    375    108    1942    50.8
    AS       0      0      4     97      1      0     102     2.7
    SA       0      5     15      5      9      1      35     0.9
    OC       0      1     18      8      5      0      32     0.8
    AF       0      1      3      6      1      0      11     0.3

Rates:

QSO/Pref by hour and band

Hour  160M    80M     40M     20M     15M     10M    Total     Cumm    Off

0000Z --+--  --+--   52/48   13/13   60/51   --+--  125/112   125/112 
0100Z   -      -     87/65   67/46    1/0      -    155/111   280/223 
0200Z   -      -     92/45   87/53     -       -    179/98    459/321 
0300Z   -      -     79/31   91/46     -       -    170/77    629/398 
0400Z  4/2   58/29   39/29    5/2      -       -    106/62    735/460 
0500Z   -      -     75/30   25/13     -       -    100/43    835/503 
0600Z   -    34/10   46/14     -       -       -     80/24    915/527   23
0700Z   -      -       -       -       -       -      0/0     915/527   60
0800Z --+--  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0     915/527   60
0900Z   -    13/7    14/9      -       -       -     27/16    942/543   41
1000Z   -     1/1    22/7    84/35    2/0      -    109/43   1051/586 
1100Z   -      -     57/13   70/20     -       -    127/33   1178/619 
1200Z   -      -      2/1    87/29    3/2    11/3   103/35   1281/654 
1300Z   -      -       -     83/24   23/1     8/3   114/28   1395/682 
1400Z   -      -       -     48/8    76/7      -    124/15   1519/697    9
1500Z   -      -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1519/697   60
1600Z --+--  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0    1519/697   60
1700Z   -      -       -     26/6    69/11     -     95/17   1614/714   10
1800Z   -      -       -     73/13   48/8      -    121/21   1735/735 
1900Z   -      -       -     91/28   36/8      -    127/36   1862/771 
2000Z   -      -       -     59/16   53/8    33/5   145/29   2007/800 
2100Z   -      -       -     61/14    1/1    45/5   107/20   2114/820 
2200Z   -      -       -    116/33   14/3      -    130/36   2244/856 
2300Z   -      -     32/6    75/18   13/5      -    120/29   2364/885 
0000Z --+--  --+--  112/23    5/4    --+--   --+--  117/27   2481/912 
0100Z   -     6/2    77/12   10/4      -       -     93/18   2574/930 
0200Z   -    97/12   21/4      -       -       -    118/16   2692/946 
0300Z   -    45/6    38/5      -       -       -     83/11   2775/957 
0400Z  3/1    4/0    86/13    1/0      -       -     94/14   2869/971 
0500Z  2/0   15/0    35/7      -       -       -     52/7    2921/978   27
0600Z   -      -       -       -       -       -      0/0    2921/978   60
0700Z   -      -       -       -       -       -      0/0    2921/978   60
0800Z --+--  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0    2921/978   60
0900Z   -    15/1     4/1      -       -       -     19/2    2940/980   42
1000Z   -     5/0    13/2    63/21     -       -     81/23   3021/1003
1100Z   -      -      4/0    65/37    1/1      -     70/38   3091/1041
1200Z   -      -       -     40/11   46/6      -     86/17   3177/1058
1300Z   -      -       -      2/1    81/5    11/1    94/7    3271/1065
1400Z   -      -       -       -      9/0     1/0    10/0    3281/1065  48
1500Z   -      -       -     38/2    24/1      -     62/3    3343/1068  15
1600Z --+--  --+--   --+--   20/4    11/3    --+--   31/7    3374/1075
1700Z   -      -       -     24/3     8/1      -     32/4    3406/1079  60
1800Z   -      -       -     54/4     6/2      -     60/6    3466/1085
1900Z   -      -       -     62/8     3/1      -     65/9    3531/1094
2000Z   -      -      5/0    65/8      -       -     70/8    3601/1102
2100Z   -      -     17/2    50/8      -       -     67/10   3668/1112
2200Z   -      -     10/0    79/11     -       -     89/11   3757/1123
2300Z   -      -     62/9     3/0      -       -     65/9    3822/1132

Total: 9/3  293/68 1081/376 1742/543 588/125 109/17

Most worked countries:

          160M    80M    40M    20M    15M    10M   Total
     K       5    163    530    615    351    104    1768
    DL             26     79    164     35            304
    UA              1     25    118     12            156
    VE       4     20     46     44     16      2     132
    UR              1     39     59     14            113

46% of QSOs were with USA!

Best 60 minutes:

182 at 30-May-2020 02:16 (dual CQ on 20/40)

Worked on 5 bands:

K9NW KC7V KE1J KM9P W9AV WO1N WW1X

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