Author: K5ZD

K5ZD, Single Operator All Bands

                    CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW

Call: K5ZD
Operator(s): K5ZD

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

Summary:

Band   QSOs  Zones  Countries
------------------------------
160:     49    12       29
80:     504    21       80
40:    1305    33      107
20:    1145    33      112
15:     964    34      118
10:    1014    27      104
------------------------------
Total: 4981   160      550  Total Score = 10,242,460

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club

Comments:

This contest revealed that the station and the operator are starting to show some signs of aging. Multiple hardware issues and an inability to set the alarm clock were all part of the game.

Given the great conditions expected I decided at the last minute not to use the DX Cluster, but do it on my own. There was stiff competition, but perhaps a new record to be set.

Discovered Friday night that both of my 160m antennas were intermittent. Was having trouble working anyone and the other bands were so good that I didn’t try to spend much time there.

Felt good the first night and decided to skip taking a nap.  It was a good move because 20m was open early at 0900z.

Fantastic rates on Sat morning. Had 3 consecutive hours over 190!  Don’t think I have had more than 1 ever before.  SH5 says the best 60 minutes was 204. Wow!  And I sent my call after EVERY QSO.

Noticed that the signal levels were dropping on 10m.  I assume a bad connection somewhere in the feedline or StackMatch.  Something to work on.

Was on record pace at the 24 hour mark. 2908/147/453 at 5.03M.  Potential to make 11 Meg!  USA record was 10.2M.

Was running Sat evening around 0100z on 40m when the noise level suddenly went to 20 over 9. Looked outside and it was a very light snow flurry!  Took a break for some food and a shower.  When I got back 20 minutes later the noise was gone.  Lucky!  Added bonus – the 160 antennas seemed to be working.

Was feeling good on Sat evening so had thoughts of going the full 48 hours. Knew that might be the only way to beat the tough competition. Started getting loopy (i.e., falling asleep during QSOs) around 0800z.  Decided to take a short nap at 0845z.

I set the alarm on my iPhone, but didn’t notice the phone was set to silent mode.  Amazingly, I woke up on my own at 1100z.  Surprised I didn’t sleep for more given how long I had been awake.  Of course, 20m was already wide open so I probably gave up a big chunk of QSOs.

Conditions on Sunday were OK, but didn’t feel quite as good as Saturday. Rates collapsed around 1800z and I lost focus.  Went into DXer mode and chased multipliers.  Had given up on any chance for the record when I arrived on 40m at 2030z.  Found a clear spot at 7004.7 and was rewarded with a steady stream of callers for the next 3 hours. Chased mults as I could on the second radio.

Another hardware problem appeared.  Sometimes the Array Solutions SixPak would not switch the antennas.  I had to get up, run into the other room, and give it a rap with my knuckles to unstick the relay.  Time to install my spare.

Broke the record, but it will not survive the log checking.  Sure wish I had just stayed awake or set the alarm correctly.  All part of the game and why setting big records is not easy…  Even more ironic since the reason I don’t hold the existing record is because I made myself go to sleep instead of operating on through.

One final comment (rant?).  It has become almost a waste of time for an unassisted single op to tune across a band looking for mults.  No one sends their call sign any more.  If you aren’t in a rare zone, I have no way to know that I should stop.  And if you don’t send your call I can’t tell how long it will be until you do.  I worked VP2MMM once and had to wait more than 4 minutes before he sent his call to see who I had worked.

There was many other times on Sunday when a guy would sent dit-dit or TU and there were no callers.  We would both wait for awhile and then he would call CQ.  If he had just sent his call, he would have had a QSO with me in less than half of that time!  It pays to advertise your call!!

Great to see CW so alive and well.  Also to see the increase in activity from China and India.

As always, it is amazing to see the score reports and realize how many active multipliers I never heard.  With activity spread out across hundreds of Khz across 3-4 bands at at time, it is impossible to find them all.

Thanks to everyone who found their way into my log. And congratulations to everyone who took advantage of the conditions to set a new score record.

Station Description:

• Radio 1   Elecraft K3 + Alpha 76CA
• Radio 2   Yeasu FT-1000D + Ameritron AL-1200

Tower 1   100′ Rohn 45G

• 40-2CD @ 110′
• 2x 205CA @ 100′ / 50′
• 2x 105CA @70′ / 35′
• 160m 1/4-wave GP with 4 elevated radials

Tower 2   90′ Rohn 25G

• 6-el 10 @90′ with 4/4 @ 60’/30′
• 80m wire 4 square hanging from tower with 16 radials per vertical
• 160m shunt feed tower with 32 radials

Tower 3   40′ Rohn 25G

• TH7DXX at 40′

WriteLog v11.17B + W5XD keyer for SO2R

Continental Breakdown

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

EU      18    398   1115    930    778    890    4129    82.9
SA       5     16     23     31     29     51     155     3.1
NA      19     70    105     52     49     40     335     6.7
AS       2      8     31     98     83      7     229     4.6
AF       4      6     21     20     13     14      78     1.6
OC       1      6      9     14     12     11      53     1.1

 

Rate

QSO/ZN+DX by hour and band

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

0000Z  --+--   --+--  124/61   15/26   --+--   --+--  139/87    139/87
0100Z   2/4      -     80/10   22/19     -       -    104/33    243/120
0200Z   4/6    54/41   37/5      -       -       -     95/52    338/172
0300Z    -     31/10   73/8      -       -       -    104/18    442/190
0400Z  13/12   15/8    34/1      -       -       -     62/21    504/211
0500Z    -     60/6    22/8      -       -       -     82/14    586/225
0600Z  10/7    46/5    33/3      -       -       -     89/15    675/240
0700Z    -      8/4   146/7      -       -       -    154/11    829/251
0800Z   1/1    12/5    77/7     4/5    --+--   --+--   94/18    923/269
0900Z   1/2     8/8    14/8    50/20     -       -     73/38    996/307
1000Z    -       -     11/6    69/12     -       -     80/18   1076/325
1100Z    -       -      4/2    69/16   10/9      -     83/27   1159/352
1200Z    -       -       -       -    187/35    3/4   190/39   1349/391
1300Z    -       -       -       -     85/10  112/37  197/47   1546/438
1400Z    -       -       -       -      9/4   186/11  195/15   1741/453
1500Z    -       -       -       -     15/5   158/6   173/11   1914/464
1600Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   46/13   95/8   141/21   2055/485
1700Z    -       -       -       -    116/2    35/16  151/18   2206/503
1800Z    -       -       -     87/2    42/5     7/3   136/10   2342/513
1900Z    -       -       -    147/9     9/7      -    156/16   2498/529
2000Z    -       -       -     96/3    20/16    2/3   118/22   2616/551
2100Z    -       -       -     82/3    10/7    20/15  112/25   2728/576
2200Z    -       -       -     73/8    34/2      -    107/10   2835/586
2300Z    -       -     46/0     3/2    23/12     -     72/14   2907/600
0000Z  --+--   --+--   97/0     6/1    --+--   --+--  103/1    3010/601
0100Z    -     35/3    15/1     2/0      -       -     52/4    3062/605    20
0200Z    -     49/5    14/2      -       -       -     63/7    3125/612
0300Z   7/4    22/2     8/1      -       -       -     37/7    3162/619
0400Z   9/5     2/1    44/1     1/0      -       -     56/7    3218/626
0500Z   2/0    50/0      -       -       -       -     52/0    3270/626
0600Z    -     75/0     2/0      -       -       -     77/0    3347/626
0700Z    -     15/1    74/4      -       -       -     89/5    3436/631
0800Z  --+--    4/0    29/0     5/1    --+--   --+--   38/1    3474/632    15
0900Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    3474/632    60
1000Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    3474/632    60
1100Z    -      1/2      -     98/1    15/4      -    114/7    3588/639     7
1200Z    -       -       -     30/2   136/2     7/3   173/7    3761/646
1300Z    -       -       -       -    132/3    16/5   148/8    3909/654
1400Z    -       -       -       -     21/3   134/7   155/10   4064/664
1500Z    -       -       -       -     11/1   113/0   124/1    4188/665
1600Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   12/0    13/1    79/1   104/2    4292/667
1700Z    -       -       -    165/3      -      6/1   171/4    4463/671
1800Z    -       -       -     68/2    11/4    17/5    96/11   4559/682
1900Z    -       -       -     16/2     4/1    22/3    42/6    4601/688
2000Z    -       -     42/0     4/1    14/5      -     60/6    4661/694
2100Z    -       -    121/1      -      1/1     1/1   123/3    4784/697
2200Z    -       -     93/3     6/3      -      1/2   100/8    4884/705
2300Z    -     17/0    65/1    15/4      -       -     97/5    4981/710

Total: 49/41  504/101 1305/140 1145/145 964/152 1014/131

 

Most worked countries:

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

DL       4     77    214    175    131    162     763
EA             14     43     37     27     25     146
F        2     18     42     41     27     45     175
G        1     23     67     53     36     60     240
HA       1     12     30     24     20     24     111
I              13     61     54     37     52     217
OK       2     23     68     56     49     40     238
S5       1      9     35     22     17     23     107
SM             14     27     21     26     27     115
SP       1     28     60     44     51     41     225
UA             17     97     79     91     68     352
UR             28     68     38     37     47     218
VE      13     37     29     15     16      7     117

Best rate:
60 mins     204   23-Nov-2013 12:26 – 23-Nov-2013 13:26

6 Banders:
8P5A 9A1P CN2AA CR3L D4C DM5TI DR1A HK1NA LZ9W OL4A P3N P40L PJ2T PJ4Q

5 Banders: 74

                    ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, CW

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

Class: Single Op HP
QTH: W1
Operating Time (hrs): 21
Radios: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
  160:    0
   80:  244
   40:  367
   20:  439
   15:  149
   10:   43
------------
Total: 1242  Sections = 83  Total Score = 206,172

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club

Comments

My 37th consecutive year with more than 1000 QSOs in SS CW. I do love this contest!

Bands were interesting Saturday evening. Skip was very short even on 20 and 15 so it was possible to work most of the country right out of the gate. Didn’t make my first contact on 40 meters until 0226z!

Had a sweep at 0328 when K2NNY called in. Next to last section was KP2M in VI. I think I eventually worked 2 or more of everything. Its a great feeling to have the sweep in hand and then only have to concentrate on making QSOs.

Felt like I had a good start, but the rate died around 0700z. Sunday morning everyone seemed to go right to 20m. Did well CQing on 40m and picking off new stations on 20m.

After about noon it got too sloooowwwwwww. I would CQ for 10 minutes without an answer. Took a break to walk the dog. Took another break to eat dinner. When I made my first QSO on returning, I realized it was only 26 minutes and therefore not an offtime. Ouch.

From that point on I would come and go as I had time. Rate never picked back up so threw in the towel with 1 hour to go. With the 1000 QSO goal achieved, I was happy with the result. And I had enough SO2R practice to be ready for WW CW.

Thanks to everyone who was on. There really is something special about passing SS traffic all weekend.

Ratesheet

QSO/Sec by hour and band

Hour    80      40      20      15      10     Total     Cumm    Off

2100Z    -       -     74/41     -     18/10   92/51     92/51  
2200Z    -       -     58/6    25/5     2/2    85/13    177/64  
2300Z    -       -     33/5    50/1      -     83/6     260/70  
0000Z   5/0    --+--   70/4    16/1    --+--   91/5     351/75  
0100Z  69/5      -     18/0      -       -     87/5     438/80  
0200Z  17/0    45/0    15/1      -       -     77/1     515/81  
0300Z   9/0    37/0    22/2      -       -     68/2     583/83  
0400Z  66/0    13/0      -       -       -     79/0     662/83  
0500Z  16/0    58/0      -       -       -     74/0     736/83  
0600Z  19/0    30/0      -       -       -     49/0     785/83  
0700Z   5/0     2/0      -       -       -      7/0     792/83     51
0800Z   9/0    12/0    --+--   --+--   --+--   21/0     813/83     28
0900Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     813/83     60
1000Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     813/83     60
1100Z   1/0     7/0      -       -       -      8/0     821/83     53
1200Z   7/0    46/0     2/0      -       -     55/0     876/83  
1300Z    -     40/0    10/0      -       -     50/0     926/83  
1400Z    -     34/0     7/0      -       -     41/0     967/83  
1500Z    -     25/0     4/0    11/0      -     40/0    1007/83  
1600Z  --+--   --+--   35/0     9/0     2/0    46/0    1053/83  
1700Z    -       -     36/0     5/0     6/0    47/0    1100/83      5
1800Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1100/83     60
1900Z    -      4/0    17/0     8/0     2/0    31/0    1131/83      8
2000Z    -       -     18/0     4/0    13/0    35/0    1166/83  
2100Z    -       -      4/0     8/0      -     12/0    1178/83  
2200Z    -       -     11/0    13/0      -     24/0    1202/83     41
2300Z   8/0     2/0     5/0      -       -     15/0    1217/83     29
0000Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0    1217/83     60
0100Z  11/0    10/0      -       -       -     21/0    1238/83     28
0200Z   2/0     2/0      -       -       -      4/0    1242/83  

Tot:  244/5   367/0   439/59  149/7    43/12

K5ZD, Single Operator All Bands, Classic Overlay

CQ Worldwide DX Contest, SSB

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

Class: SOAB Classic HP
QTH: W1
Operating Time (hrs): 24

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Zones  Countries
------------------------------
  160:   44    12       24
   80:  143    17       55
   40:  185    24       67
   20:  511    31       97
   15:  757    32      101
   10: 1249    31       97
------------------------------
Total: 2889   147      441  Total Score = 4,932,144

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club

Comments:

This is my Classic score.  I operated for another 3.5 hours to end up with a traditional single op score of 3144/151/464 = 5,603,265.

What great conditions!  I have never seen all bands to be so great at the same time and for the full weekend.

I have some vacation days to use so took one on Friday to do some work on my 160m antenna. After listening to 10m in the morning, decided to work on the 10m stack instead. SWR was funky so took the analyzer up the tower and did some changes to the gamma match tuning on each antenna.  Came back to shack after 2 hours of tower work and the SWR seemed worse than when I started.  Argh!

During the day I kept debating on whether to do a semi serious Assisted effort or try Classic.  With business travel coming and my wife out most of both days, decided I would go for the Classic.

I have been doing SO2R in contests since 1977. I often just use one rig in smaller contests, but it has been a long time since I operated one of the “majors” this way.  30 minutes before the contest started I made a rough plan on the back of an envelope.  Operate 2 hours, take a break, operate 2 more, then sleep until sunrise. Operate during the morning and then play it by ear.

Decided I would operate in true classic fashion – completely unplugged.  No cluster, no online scoreboards, no propagation, no nothing. Just a boy and his radio.

Contest started great. It was a blast chasing DX on all bands. Without the second radio I was constantly pushing to run or scan. With conditions so good, I never had to get into a mode where I was just pushing F1 waiting for something to happen.

After about 3 hours, I was feeling burned out. The triple combination of a new job at work, managing the CQWW, and working on WRTC2014 was almost too much. I took an hour long nap at 0300z and woke up feeling much better. I chased DX on the low bands for 2 hours and had to make myself stop since the rate was not that high.

Woke up around 1000z (6am local) and worked my way up the bands chasing mults. Hard to find a hole on 20m. Ended up CQing on 15m at 1115z. When the frequency cratered, I did S&P up the band and then jumped to 10m. Wow!  Wide open. One thing you miss with not having the second rig is knowing what is going on and being able to quickly jump between bands.

Found a hole at 28378 at 1200z and it was off to the races. SH5 shows the best 60 minutes was 236 QSOs!  A personal best from the USA.  That certainly got my contest juices flowing and there were no more motivation problems all weekend.

Had a contractor come by to look at a project.  That took 20 minutes, but decided not to get back on until I had taken a full hour break. Operated 30 minutes and then had to run some errands.

The surprise of the weekend was to come back on at 1700z (1pm local) and find 10 meters still wide open. One CQ and the rate was incredible. Very quiet frequency on 10 meters and all Western European stations. Jumped down to 15m and did it all again.

By 2230z I realized that I had operated over 16 hours.  This didn’t leave much time for the second day.  Took a break for a nap and dinner. Got back on around 0130z for some low band multiplier chasing. Once again, had to make myself stop at 0300z.  Got to watch the end of the World Series game.  During breaks I was answering emails about CQWW rules questions.

With such great conditions, the low bands really took the hit from less operating time.

Slept until 1030z. Sunrise is at 1110z. Chased some DX on the low bands and then had some very nice runs on 15m and 10m. Rates were lower, but conditions were great. Best DX was having Champ, XW0YJY, call in on 15m, then 10m, then later on 20m! I have never worked so many HS stations in one weekend.

Took 2 hours off at 1530z to relax. Then back on for my final hour of operation.

Conditions were so good that I just kept going.  Mostly multiplier chasing and DXing. Figured out that I had put the 10m coaxes back on the box incorrectly so the low antenna was really the high antenna.  Luckily I did most of my running on all 3 antennas!

Never was able to get any kind of run going on 40 meters all weekend.  Signals were loud, but the mosh pit between 7125 and 7200 is only for the hard core. Worked a few mults on 75m right at the end.

A few comments.

– Operating with only one radio was more fun than I expected. It was more focused.  Also more engaging because I was always thinking about whether to stay or move.  When I did tune, there was pressure to go fast and dig for mults.  Lots of decisions.

– Operating with only one radio is less tiring. Listening to two audio streams of splatter is work.  I just felt better and had more fun all weekend.  The downside is that I missed a lot of mults. Operating with one radio is like viewing a football game through a straw. Difficult to fully take it in.

– Never heard zone 34.  Where were the zone 19 and zone 32 stations? Only one zone 19 and that was on 40 meters!!  Only worked two zone 32 and both were on 10 meters.

– The 24 hour limit did take me off the air. This was a concern with creating a limited time category and it will be interesting to see how it impacts activity (if at all).  With the great conditions, it may be difficult to draw any real conclusions.  Once I had passed the 24 hour mark, it was fun to be able to keep going.

– The super power stations from Europe are hurting the contest. They are loud and wide and aggressive. Power is asymmetrical.  It helps the user and hurts the others on the band.  If none of the little guys can find a place, will they keep operating contests?

– I told a number of stations they were splattering. Many of them were able to reduce the splatter significantly just by turning down their drive. This indicates that some stations are using splatter as an offensive weapon.  Once again, they are causing long term damage to the game that we all love.

Thanks to everyone that goes on the road to make CQWW the best contest of the year.  And thanks to all of those that get on the air and fill our logs with contacts.

See you on CW!

Station

Elecraft K3 + Alpha 76CA

• 160m: 1/4-wave GP, shunt fed tower
• 80m: 4 square 40m: 2-el Yagi @ 110′
• 20m: 5-el/5-el @ 100’/50′
• 15m: 4-el/4-el @ 66’/33′
• 10m: 6-el/4-el/4-el @90’/60’/30′
• South: TH7DXX @40′

All numbers below are for the full 27.5 hours of operation.   Continents

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

    AF       3     10      6     14     19     13      65     2.1
    EU      21    105    135    431    660   1100    2452    78.0
    NA      18     32     35     41     59     51     236     7.5
    SA       2      4      8     42     39     76     171     5.4
    AS       0      1     12     51     94     36     194     6.2
    OC       0      1      4      3      9      8      25     0.8

Rates

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

00Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   95/70   --+--   --+--   95/70     95/70  
01Z    -       -     68/37    6/4      -       -     74/41    169/111 
02Z   7/11   31/24   13/5     5/2      -       -     56/42    225/153 
03Z    -       -     14/7    23/14     -       -     37/21    262/174    25
04Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     262/174    60
05Z   7/7    50/23     -       -       -       -     57/30    319/204      
06Z  13/7    19/8    25/17     -       -       -     57/32    376/236 
07Z   3/3    10/7    21/8    57/15     -       -     91/33    467/269      
08Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0     467/269    60
09Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     467/269    60
10Z   1/0     4/2     8/6    58/5      -       -     71/13    538/282      
11Z    -       -       -      4/1   111/46   21/19  136/66    674/348 
12Z    -       -       -       -       -    231/32  231/32    905/380 
13Z    -       -       -       -       -    194/11  194/11   1099/391 
14Z    -       -       -       -       -     38/0    38/0    1137/391      
15Z    -       -       -       -       -     63/7    63/7    1200/398    13
16Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0    1200/398    60
17Z    -       -       -       -       -    169/18  169/18   1369/416      
18Z    -       -       -       -    127/18   10/8   137/26   1506/442 
19Z    -       -       -       -    185/19     -    185/19   1691/461 
20Z    -       -       -       -     32/23   50/10   82/33   1773/494 
21Z    -       -       -       -     73/13   15/5    88/18   1861/512 
22Z    -       -       -     33/3      -     17/2    50/5    1911/517    29
23Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1911/517    60
00Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0    1911/517    60
01Z   8/7    14/3      -      2/1      -       -     24/11   1935/528    26
02Z   1/0    14/3    21/3    33/7      -       -     69/13   2004/541 
03Z   4/1      -       -       -       -       -      4/1    2008/542    53
04Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    2008/542    60
05Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    2008/542    60
06Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    2008/542    60
07Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    2008/542    60
08Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0    2008/542    60
09Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    2008/542    60
10Z    -      1/2    15/8     8/0      -       -     24/10   2032/552    39
11Z    -       -       -     27/0   148/8      -    175/8    2207/560 
12Z    -       -       -       -     64/5    83/3   147/8    2354/568 
13Z    -       -       -       -       -    154/6   154/6    2508/574 
14Z    -       -       -       -       -    172/5   172/5    2680/579 
15Z    -       -       -      2/0    17/1    32/2    51/3    2731/582    30
16Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0    2731/582    60
17Z    -       -       -    140/6      -       -    140/6    2871/588    20
18Z    -       -       -     25/0    23/0    30/6    78/6    2949/594 
19Z    -       -       -       -     52/3     6/1    58/4    3007/598    20
20Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    3007/598    60
21Z    -       -       -       -      9/2      -      9/2    3016/600    55
22Z    -       -       -     58/7    39/1      -     97/8    3113/608 
23Z    -     10/2    15/5     6/0      -       -     31/7    3144/615 

Tot: 44/36  153/74  200/96  582/135 880/139 1285/135

Worked on 6 bands: CN2AA D4C DF0HQ DR1A ES9C GM0B HK1NA PJ2T TI5W TM6M

Worked on 5 bands: 8P5A CN3A CR2X CR6K DL0CS ED1R EI7M G6PZ HA30S HG6N HG7T IG9Y II9P KP3Z LY7A M4A OK7O OZ7X PI4M RU1A SK3W UA4M

Most worked countries:

          160M    80M    40M    20M    15M    10M   Total
    DL       3     16     15     53    127    166     380
    EA              7     10     35     42     46     140
     F       2      4     10     13     31     58     118
     G       2      8      3     16     41     80     150
     I              3      9     41     39     68     160
    PA              7      3     14     32     67     123
    SP       1      6      7     14     41     54     123
    UA              5     14     37     47    135     238
    UR       1      3      5     29     18     58     114

 

K5ZD, Single Operator Assisted All Bands

 
                    CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW

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

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

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Zones  Countries
------------------------------
  160:  133    13       59
   80:  609    23       95
   40: 1066    32      118
   20:  945    36      123
   15: 1116    34      126
   10:  790    29      110
------------------------------
Total: 4659   167      631  Total Score = 10,745,868

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club

Comments:

I didn’t feel like I had the motivation to do a serious SOAB entry. I have never done Assisted before and it seemed like that would be a fun way to chase DX. On Friday I figured out how to connect to a cluster and set filters to only get Skimmer spots. I would learn on the job.

I now know that even being assisted doesn’t always help with the people who won’t send their calls. People – it only takes 3 seconds to send your call!

Conditions were clearly down on Saturday, but that just meant all the action was on 15m instead of 10m. Sunday things were better and 10 meters returned.

160m and 80m were good all weekend. Very quiet here in W1. 40m was wiped out at the start of the contest, but got better through the weekend.

Bands didn’t seem to be as crowded. Maybe it was just having room for everyone to spread out across multiple bands. Sure nice having some space to hear the weak ones.

Rates were fantastic. Best 60 minutes was 220 QSOs – a personal best on CW! And part of the reason I couldn’t stop operating once I started. What was planned to be a casual effort became a full on push for maximum score. Two hours off the first night and 4 hours the second. Probably could slept less, but wanted to be fresh for the big runs in the daytime.

The Assisted category was fascinating. Always fun to learn new things. Like how to chase spots without losing a run frequency. And how to decide when to keep running and when to chase. Found some of my best multipliers when I was tuning, so can’t rely just on skimmer to find everything.

Hope everyone had as much fun as I did.

Randy, K5ZD

Station Description

Radio 1 – Elecraft K3 + Alpha 76CA Radio 2 – Yeasu FT-1000D + Ameritron AL-1200 (~1200w)

Tower 1 – 100′ Rohn 45G

• 40-2CD @ 110′
• 205CA @ 100′ / 50′
• 5-el 15 @70′ / 35′
• 160m 1/4-wave GP with 4 elevated radials

Tower 2 – 90′ Rohn 25G

• 6-el 10 @90′ with 4/4 @ 60’/30′
• 80m wire 4 square hanging from tower with 16 radials per vertical
• 160m shunt feed tower with 32 radials

Tower 3 – 40′ Rohn 25G

• TH7DXX at 40′ pointed South

Continent Breakdown

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

AF       5      9     17     17     21     23      92     2.0
NA      31     61    102     72     56     45     367     7.9
OC       1      3      9     16     14      9      52     1.1
SA       5     12     28     35     32     40     152     3.3
EU      88    512    884    753    931    669    3837    82.4
AS       3     12     26     52     62      4     159     3.4

Rates

QSO/ZN+DX by hour and band

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

00Z   --+--   --+--   57/41   13/19   --+--   --+--   70/60     70/60  
01Z     -     49/25   21/16    9/10     -       -     79/51    149/111 
02Z     -     84/27    2/1      -       -       -     86/28    235/139 
03Z   26/26   37/13     -       -       -       -     63/39    298/178 
04Z   28/9      -     41/23     -       -       -     69/32    367/210 
05Z   41/13   34/7      -       -       -       -     75/20    442/230 
06Z    9/5    86/16    8/2      -       -       -    103/23    545/253 
07Z    5/4    11/7    37/18     -       -       -     53/29    598/282 
08Z    2/2     7/2   100/5     3/4    --+--   --+--  112/13    710/295 
09Z    2/2     2/2    36/5    36/21     -       -     76/30    786/325 
10Z     -       -     11/5     4/5      -       -     15/10    801/335    43
11Z     -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     801/335    60
12Z     -       -      3/0   138/15     -      1/2   142/17    943/352     2
13Z     -       -       -     32/16  148/32    8/12  188/60   1131/412 
14Z     -       -       -       -    185/24   20/16  205/40   1336/452 
15Z     -       -       -       -    147/9    35/16  182/25   1518/477 
16Z   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--  154/6    17/14  171/20   1689/497 
17Z     -       -       -     91/7    49/9     6/5   146/21   1835/518 
18Z     -       -       -    149/5    22/25     -    171/30   2006/548 
19Z     -       -       -     94/5    16/9    17/10  127/24   2133/572 
20Z     -       -      8/1    38/16     -      4/5    50/22   2183/594 
21Z     -       -    135/4      -     12/8     2/0   149/12   2332/606 
22Z     -       -    108/2      -     10/6     5/5   123/13   2455/619 
23Z     -       -     91/0    12/9    11/3      -    114/12   2569/631 
00Z   --+--   13/4    57/6     6/7    --+--   --+--   76/17   2645/648 
01Z     -     61/4    23/6    12/3      -       -     96/13   2741/661 
02Z    3/1    16/3     4/4     7/0      -       -     30/8    2771/669 
03Z    6/4    12/0    30/1      -       -       -     48/5    2819/674 
04Z    1/0    37/3     1/1     4/3      -       -     43/7    2862/681 
05Z    7/3    77/1     4/1      -       -       -     88/5    2950/686 
06Z    2/2    52/0    21/2     1/1      -       -     76/5    3026/691 
07Z    1/1     4/2    28/1     1/1      -       -     34/5    3060/696    31
08Z   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0    3060/696    60
09Z     -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    3060/696    60
10Z     -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    3060/696    60
11Z     -      4/2      -      3/1    25/6      -     32/9    3092/705    40
12Z     -       -       -       -    156/7    24/14  180/21   3272/726 
13Z     -       -       -      3/1     5/3   188/13  196/17   3468/743 
14Z     -       -       -      1/1     8/2   171/8   180/11   3648/754 
15Z     -       -       -     10/4      -    142/5   152/9    3800/763 
16Z   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   37/0    96/7   133/7    3933/770 
17Z     -       -       -       -     77/3    36/3   113/6    4046/776 
18Z     -       -       -    146/0     5/2     4/1   155/3    4201/779 
19Z     -       -       -     87/1    11/2     2/1   100/4    4301/783 
20Z     -       -     22/0    25/1     9/2      -     56/3    4357/786 
21Z     -       -    110/2      -      4/0    12/2   126/4    4483/790 
22Z     -       -     76/2    10/1    13/1      -     99/4    4582/794 
23Z     -     23/0    32/1    10/2    12/1      -     77/4    4659/798 

Tot: 133/72 609/118 1066/150 945/159 1116/160 790/139

Six bands: 8P5A 9A1A C5A CR2X CR6K D4C DF0HQ DH0GHU DL4MCF DL8ZAW DP9A DR1A EA2EA EI7M EL2A F6KOP G5O HK1NA II1A IO5O LY2W LZ9W NP4Z OM8A OQ5M P33W PI4CC PJ2T PJ4A PZ5T S50XX SP1NY TM4Q UW3U VP2MMM VP2V/AA7V VE2EKA VP5CW YT2W Z38N

Five bands: 84 !

Thanks to everyone who make this contest so much fun!

                    CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW

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

Class: SOAB HP
QTH: W1
Operating Time (hrs): 45
Radios: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Zones  Countries
------------------------------
  160:   74    15       41
   80:  564    22       79
   40: 1186    33      107
   20:  942    37      114
   15: 1080    32      111
   10: 1093    29      109
------------------------------
Total: 4939   168      561  Total Score = 10,434,906

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club

Comments

I wrote this to someone before the contest.  “Habit says prepare like I am going to do it all. Heart says give it a good shot, but only 30 hours. Mind says to spend time with family and blow it off.”

Steak dinner before the contest.  Sat down to some amazing conditions and got sucked into the contesting vortex.  I was out of the chair for 3 times of <3 minutes each during the first 24 hours. 

My line score at the halfway point was 3007/143/454 (5.2 Meg).  Never worked 3000 QSOs in 24 hours before – ever!  NN1N had made a statement before the contest that he wanted to make 5000 QSOs because no one had ever done it before (single-op from the USA). I started to have visions of such…

Took 25 minutes off at that point to join my family for the Thanksgiving turkey we had missed preparing on Thursday.  Made me a little sleepy during the 02z and 03z hours.  I think I could have powered through the night, but decided that 3 hours of sleep would make me better prepared for the high rates during the day. Looking at the other scores, a decision I may regret…

I sat down again at 1035z on Sunday morning and only got up for 2 more periods of <3 mins until the end.  Best part of all this, did not think about work for the full 48 hours! I needed that.

Unbelievable rates. Although the rate sheet this year looks very similar to 2000 when I made 4500 QSOs from this same station.  There must be something to that 11 year sunspot thing!

Very hard to do the second radio when running as fast as possible. I really tried to work the second radio hard on Sunday.  Realized I was missing PJ2T on 10m for a mult.  Spent an hour covering the full 150 Khz of activity – twice! Still couldn’t find them (did find a lot of other mults though).  Heard them on 20m so I called and asked for their 10m frequency.  They op replied that they had shut down on 10m.  Huh?  Oh well, I tried.

Biggest challenge all weekend was people not sending their calls.  I get the temptation to just send TU when you have multiple people waiting, but there are always people waiting.  Better just to get in a groove and send your call.  Some of the worst offenders had some of the shortest calls!  (D4C, you know who you are.)  I can only think of a few times all weekend when I did the TU thing so high rates are possible while still IDing.  It was so nice to tune across someone like 8P5A and instantly know who it was.

Thanks to everyone for sharing the best weekend of fun that is possible on the radio!

Station

Radio 1 – Elecraft K3 + Alpha 76CA
Radio 2 – Yaesu FT1000D + Ameritron AL-1200

Antennas:

160m – 1/4-wave GP, shunt fed tower
80m – 4 square
40m – 40-2CD @ 110′
20m – 205CA stack at 100’/50′
15m – 155CA stack at 66’/33′
10m – 7/4/4 at 90’/60’/30′
Mults – TH7DXX @ 40′ pointed south

By Continent

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

    NA      37     75     92     53     44     46     347     7.0
    EU      28    457   1007    779    952    969    4192    84.9
    SA       5     12     19     32     29     37     134     2.7
    AS       1      6     42     46     32     14     141     2.9
    AF       3     10     15     21     17     16      82     1.7
    OC       0      4     11     11      6     11      43     0.9

Rates

QSO/ZN+DX by hour and band

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

0000Z  --+--   --+--  118/45    9/11    1/2    --+--  128/58    128/58  
0100Z    -       -     81/22   32/34     -       -    113/56    241/114 
0200Z   5/9      -     79/19    4/4      -       -     88/32    329/146 
0300Z  26/21   48/27    4/1     2/2      -       -     80/51    409/197 
0400Z    -    141/14     -      7/4      -       -    148/18    557/215 
0500Z  10/5    74/14     -      1/2      -       -     85/21    642/236 
0600Z   8/6    20/2    49/4     3/4      -       -     80/16    722/252 
0700Z    -      7/2   128/4      -       -       -    135/6     857/258 
0800Z   3/3    18/15   99/7    --+--   --+--   --+--  120/25    977/283 
0900Z    -      4/0    55/12    3/2      -       -     62/14   1039/297 
1000Z   5/2    10/10   13/5     3/2      -       -     31/19   1070/316 
1100Z    -       -      1/0    47/19   91/43     -    139/62   1209/378 
1200Z    -       -       -      7/5   132/10   38/23  177/38   1386/416 
1300Z    -       -       -       -     14/9   181/23  195/32   1581/448 
1400Z    -       -       -       -     10/6   178/5   188/11   1769/459 
1500Z    -       -       -       -    128/2    37/8   165/10   1934/469 
1600Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--  158/6    15/4   173/10   2107/479 
1700Z    -       -       -     91/7    71/0    14/9   176/16   2283/495 
1800Z    -       -       -    162/13     -     11/8   173/21   2456/516 
1900Z    -       -       -    131/4      -     21/16  152/20   2608/536 
2000Z    -       -      3/0    81/8    26/29     -    110/37   2718/573 
2100Z    -       -     77/4      -     10/6     1/2    88/12   2806/585 
2200Z    -       -    109/1     4/1      -      5/0   118/2    2924/587 
2300Z    -       -     67/1     8/5     8/4      -     83/10   3007/597 
0000Z  --+--   15/3     2/0     9/2    --+--   --+--   26/5    3033/602  25
0100Z    -     27/2    16/0     8/5      -       -     51/7    3084/609 
0200Z   6/2     2/3    27/5      -       -       -     35/10   3119/619 
0300Z   4/3    62/1      -       -       -       -     66/4    3185/623 
0400Z   2/3    57/0      -       -       -       -     59/3    3244/626 
0500Z    -     30/1    38/0     1/0      -       -     69/1    3313/627 
0600Z    -     15/1    57/0      -       -       -     72/1    3385/628 
0700Z   4/2     6/0     7/1     4/0      -       -     21/3    3406/631  23
0800Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0    3406/631  60
0900Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    3406/631  60
1000Z   1/0     5/5     1/0     7/0      -       -     14/5    3420/636  35
1100Z    -       -      2/3    87/2    10/1      -     99/6    3519/642 
1200Z    -       -       -     32/0     8/1   128/7   168/8    3687/650 
1300Z    -       -       -       -      5/2   170/4   175/6    3862/656 
1400Z    -       -       -      1/0     7/0   163/1   171/1    4033/657 
1500Z    -       -       -      4/0    55/2    66/2   125/4    4158/661 
1600Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--  140/3    15/7   155/10   4313/671 
1700Z    -       -       -       -    118/1    14/7   132/8    4445/679 
1800Z    -       -       -     41/0    62/5    10/4   113/9    4558/688 
1900Z    -       -       -     96/3     8/4     6/3   110/10   4668/698 
2000Z    -       -       -     42/4      -     20/5    62/9    4730/707 
2100Z    -       -     37/0    11/5     5/2      -     53/7    4783/714 
2200Z    -       -     71/2      -     13/5      -     84/7    4867/721 
2300Z    -     23/1    45/4     4/3      -       -     72/8    4939/729 

Total: 74/56 564/101 1186/140 942/151 1080/143 1093/138

Best 60 minutes was 201 QSOs.  Personal best!

Second radio QSOs – 336

6 bands: 8P5A     9A1A     C5A      C6AAW    DF0HQ    DR1A     OZ4UN    PI4DX 

 PJ4A     VP2MWG   VP5CW

5 bands: 75 stations!