Author: K5ZD

2007 CQ WW CW Contest K5ZD

writeup 
                    CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW

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

Class: SOAB HP
QTH: W1
Operating Time (hrs): 43
Radios: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Zones  Countries
------------------------------
  160:  225    18       69
   80:  642    25      101
   40:  775    30      115
   20: 1301    31      118
   15:  506    24      100
   10:   29    11       20
------------------------------
Total: 3478   139      523  Total Score = 6,574,984

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club

Comments

Whew, that was harder than I expected.  We are at the bottom of the cycle, but the Phone contest was so much fun that I expected even better conditions for CW!  Great competition for SOAB HP USA this year.  Definitely provided the motivation to keep pushing through the poor conditions.

The bands were either open with lots of activity or totally dead.  At one point I tuned across 20m and found stations all the way up to 14140!  And who would have expected 40m to be a daylight band?!  The 10m openings we short and spotty.  Definitely a good weekend for doing SO2R in order to run and chase mults.

Worked two JAs all weekend.  First one was on 80m. Second was on 20m on Sunday afternoon.  Nice to see so many African stations and multipliers.

Wish people would send their calls.  I understand the tactical use of not sending the call to run faster, but I would hear guys who had no one calling send TU then wait.  I spent a lot of time waiting for people to ID.  Not all of us are using packet (and the guys who are should want to hear your call too!).

Most annoying to have the guy finally send his call and it gets wiped out by someone calling.

Thanks to everyone who participated in making this the best contest of the year!

QSOs by Continent

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

    EU     149    510    615   1121    387      0    2782    80.0
    NA      60     82     72     85     49     14     362    10.4
    AS       1     10     20     27      3      0      61     1.8
    AF       9     16     26     34     27      2     114     3.3
    SA       4     15     27     29     32     12     119     3.4
    OC       2      9     15      5      8      1      40     1.2

Only out of the chair for 3 times.  Slept both nights so I would be ready for the high rates during the day.

Rate Sheet

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

D1-00Z  --+--   24/24   63/47   --+--   --+--   --+--   87/71     87/71  
D1-01Z   1/2    33/19   29/25     -       -       -     63/46    150/117 
D1-02Z  23/19   33/5      -       -       -       -     56/24    206/141 
D1-03Z  14/15   20/5      -      6/7      -       -     40/27    246/168 
D1-04Z    -     34/14   16/9      -       -       -     50/23    296/191 
D1-05Z  47/16   21/2     2/2      -       -       -     70/20    366/211 
D1-06Z  64/10   26/5      -       -       -       -     90/15    456/226 
D1-07Z  11/7    69/6      -      2/2      -       -     82/15    538/241 
D1-08Z   1/0    44/5    12/8    --+--   --+--   --+--   57/13    595/254 
D1-09Z    -     17/9     8/3      -       -       -     25/12    620/266    16
D1-10Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     620/266    60
D1-11Z   1/0     3/2     8/5    12/13     -       -     24/20    644/286    28
D1-12Z    -       -      3/3   135/33     -       -    138/36    782/322 
D1-13Z    -       -       -    139/10   23/33     -    162/43    944/365 
D1-14Z    -       -       -     42/5    98/26     -    140/31   1084/396 
D1-15Z    -       -       -     67/10   89/8      -    156/18   1240/414 
D1-16Z  --+--   --+--   --+--  171/6    12/10   --+--  183/16   1423/430 
D1-17Z    -       -       -    110/3    15/9      -    125/12   1548/442 
D1-18Z    -       -       -     55/7    15/12    1/2    71/21   1619/463 
D1-19Z    -       -     28/6    35/21    2/1      -     65/28   1684/491 
D1-20Z    -       -    141/6      -      4/1     5/10  150/17   1834/508 
D1-21Z    -       -    117/4     1/2      -      4/5   122/11   1956/519 
D1-22Z    -       -     90/4     6/4      -       -     96/8    2052/527 
D1-23Z    -     31/3    32/2     2/2      -       -     65/7    2117/534 
D2-00Z  --+--   45/4    13/2    --+--   --+--   --+--   58/6    2175/540 
D2-01Z   7/5    16/3     1/0      -       -       -     24/8    2199/548    24
D2-02Z  10/3    29/3    15/5      -       -       -     54/11   2253/559 
D2-03Z  10/4    32/2     1/0     1/0      -       -     44/6    2297/565 
D2-04Z   8/2    34/3      -       -       -       -     42/5    2339/570 
D2-05Z   4/0    13/1    20/1      -       -       -     37/2    2376/572 
D2-06Z   3/1    59/0     2/0      -       -       -     64/1    2440/573 
D2-07Z  16/2    14/6     1/0      -       -       -     31/8    2471/581 
D2-08Z  --+--    5/1     1/0    --+--   --+--   --+--    6/1    2477/582    48
D2-09Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    2477/582    60
D2-10Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    2477/582    60
D2-11Z    -      4/3     8/5     1/0      -       -     13/8    2490/590    24
D2-12Z    -       -       -    125/4     3/2      -    128/6    2618/596 
D2-13Z    -       -       -    122/0    35/5      -    157/5    2775/601 
D2-14Z    -       -       -     11/3   118/6     4/5   133/14   2908/615 
D2-15Z    -       -       -      3/0    61/4     8/6    72/10   2980/625 
D2-16Z  --+--   --+--   --+--  114/3    13/1     4/3   131/7    3111/632 
D2-17Z    -       -       -     78/0     5/2     3/0    86/2    3197/634 
D2-18Z    -       -       -     39/6     6/1      -     45/7    3242/641 
D2-19Z    -       -     43/2     1/0     3/0      -     47/2    3289/643 
D2-20Z    -       -     28/6    11/3     4/3      -     43/12   3332/655 
D2-21Z    -       -     40/0     6/1      -       -     46/1    3378/656 
D2-22Z    -       -     52/0     5/4      -       -     57/4    3435/660 
D2-23Z   5/1    36/1     1/0     1/0      -       -     43/2    3478/662 

Total: 225/87  642/126 775/145 1301/149 506/124 29/31

Best 30 minutes: 104 QSOs

Best 60 minutes: 187 QSOs

Worked 10 stations on 6 bands (a real accomplishment with 10m so poor):

3X5A  HC8N   HI3A   J3A   KP2M   PJ2T   PJ4A   VC3J   VP5W   ZF1A

CQ WW SSB 2007

audio

Audio Archive – K5ZD CQ WW SSB 2007 (K5ZD op)

Call: K5ZD
Operator(s): K5ZD

Class: SOAB HP
Operating Time (hrs): 40
Radios: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Zones  Countries
------------------------------
  160:   73    11       39
   80:  265    29       84
   40:  324    22       80
   20: 1599    38      124
   15: 1282    26      111
   10:  106    13       38
------------------------------
Total: 3649   130      476  Total Score = 6,328,458

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club 

Equipment: FT-1000D + Alpha 76CA, FT-1000D + AL-1200

Antennas: 10m - 6-el @ 90', 15m - 5/5 @ 66'/33', 20m - 5/5 @ 100'/50'
40m - 2-el @ 110', 80m - 4 square, 160m - GP, shunt fed tower

Links to Audio Files

Click on the Audio link to listen to individual 60-minute segments.  Click on the Log link to view the corresponding section of the log.  View rate sheet to find the best hours.

Note: When you click on Listen, your browser will download the entire audio file before it begins to play. This could take some time depending on your Internet connection speed. (Typical 60 minute mpeg file is 10.5Mb.)

I recommend that you listen to the audio clips using headphones. Listening from a speaker makes it difficult to hear the calls through the QRM and to hear the SO2R headphone switching.

Time Segment Audio Log QSOs Comments
Day 1 – 0000Z Listen Log 67 Start off tuning 20m, then 40m
Day 1 – 0100Z Listen Log 60 20m, 160m, 75m, then 40m
Day 1 – 0200Z Listen Log 68 40m, then finally a run on 75m
Day 1 – 0300Z Listen Log 49 75m, 160m, 20m, 40m, 160m
Day 1 – 0400Z Listen Log 67 Mostly 75m
Day 1 – 0500Z Listen Log 39 75m, 160m, 40m, 160m
Day 1 – 0600Z Listen Log 31 Mostly 75m, 20 mins off
Day 1 – 0700Z Listen Log 102 75m, then a good run on 40m
Day 1 – 0800Z Listen Log 35 Continue 40m, tune around, sleep
Day 1 – 0900Z — — 0 Sleep
Day 1 – 1000Z Listen Log 11 Back at 1045z, tune all bands
Day 1 – 1100Z Listen Log 152 Find a frequency on 20m and start running!
Day 1 – 1200Z Listen Log 193 20 minutes on 20m, then find run frequency on 15m
Day 1 – 1300Z Listen Log 168 Great run of Europe on 15m (lots of QRM!)
Day 1 – 1400Z Listen Log 97 Run for 25 minutes, then start tuning for mults
Day 1 – 1500Z Listen Log 155 Find frequency on 20m and start running
Day 1 – 1600Z Listen Log 136 Continue running Europe on 20m
Day 1 – 1700Z Listen Log 85 15 minute break, then tuning and CQing on 15m
Day 1 – 1800Z Listen Log 120 Find frequency on 20m, run and do second radio
Day 1 – 1900Z Listen Log 113 Run on 20m, second radio on 15m
Day 1 – 2000Z Listen Log 108 Run on 20m, fast search and pounce on 10m
Day 1 – 2100Z Listen Log 126 Run on 20m, second radio on 15m
Day 1 – 2200Z Listen Log 63 Tune 20m, then get a nice run of JAs/Asia
Day 1 – 2300Z Listen Log 69 Continue with Japan/Asia on 20m, 4L4WW on 75m
Day 2 – 0000Z Listen Log 27 Slow – grinding for QSOs on the low bands
Day 2 – 0100Z Listen Log 20 Even slower – still grinding
Day 2 – 0200Z Listen Log 35 Tuning on 160m and 75m
Day 2 – 0300Z Listen Log 29 Tuning 160m, 40m, 75m
Day 2 – 0400Z Listen Log 8 15 minutes tuning all bands
Day 2 – 0500Z — — 0 decide sleep would be more useful
Day 2 – 0600Z — — 0
Day 2 – 0700Z — — 0
Day 2 – 0800Z — — 0
Day 2 – 0900Z Listen Log 9 Back on at 0924z, work 3 LU on 75m, then tune
Day 2 – 1000Z Listen Log 18 Chasing mults on all bands, still very slow
Day 2 – 1100Z Listen Log 101 20m opens and start running Europe
Day 2 – 1200Z Listen Log 163 Switch to 15m and start nice run
Day 2 – 1300Z Listen Log 176 Continue run on 15m, GW4BLE tells me 10m is open!
Day 2 – 1400Z Listen Log 188 Run on 15m, second radio on 10m working Europe
Day 2 – 1500Z Listen Log 133 Run on 15m, some second radio on 20m
Day 2 – 1600Z Listen Log 104 Run on 15m, move to 20m at 1653z
Day 2 – 1700Z Listen Log 80 Run on 20m, then back to 15m
Day 2 – 1800Z Listen Log 80 Mostly running on 20m, some second radio work
Day 2 – 1900Z Listen Log 71 Run on 20m, chase mults on 15m, then S&P on 10m
Day 2 – 2000Z Listen Log 100 Nice run on 20m
Day 2 – 2100Z Listen Log 88 Run on 20m, lots of second radio on 15m
Day 2 – 2200Z Listen Log 54 Mostly run on 20m, second radio on 15 and 40
Day 2 – 2300Z Listen Log 51 Run on 40m for 30 minutes, then scan all bands

 

2007 ARRL DX Contest CW K5ZD

writeup 
                    ARRL DX Contest, CW

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

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

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
  160:  114    51
   80:  334    63
   40:  435    82
   20:  965    99
   15:  295    65
   10:    8     4
-------------------
Total: 2151   364  Total Score = 2,348,892

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club

Comments

Just playing around.  The rest of life was getting in the way of contesting this weekend.  Plans to visit my inlaws on Sunday canceled out enabling me to get more time in than had originally planned.

Best call worked: DA0UBOOT

Most fun: Getting 50 countries on 160 the first night.

Best rate: 177 QSOs between 1203-1302Z on Sunday (20 meters). This was done with the keyer set to 34WPM and I sent my call after every QSO.  If only more guys would send their calls while running…

Best DX: A tie between VK9DNX on 80m Sun morning or getting called by UN4L on 80m with 10 mins to go.

Worst band: 10m.  Worked all 4 guys that I heard!

Worked 1511 different stations.

Only one 6 bander: V31TP

Lots of 5 banders(28): 4O1A  9A7A  CN2WW  CT9L  DJ9MH  DL7UMK  EA3KU  EF8M F5OGL  FS5KA  HP1XX  I2WIJ  IR4X  J7OJ  LN3Z  LU4DX  OL3Z  OM0M  OM7M  P40W P49Y  PJ4A  UU7J  V49A  VP5/WJ2O  WP3C  YR7M  ZF2AM

(Not sure how I missed HP1XX on 40m!)

I think it is time to really retire from single-op DX contesting.  Had several times with big rates and walked away because I just couldn’t stay with it.

Hard to stay motivated in the part-time operating category as there is nothing to compete for.  Need more guys putting their score in the online scoreboard (www.getscores.org).

Some numbers just for fun.

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

    AF       4      7     13     23     11      0      58     2.7
    EU      87    298    366    846    224      0    1821    84.7
    AS       2      2     11     36      3      0      54     2.5
    NA      15     17     24     30     20      2     108     5.0
    SA       5      7     14     23     28      6      83     3.9
    OC       1      3      7      7      9      0      27     1.3

QSO/DX by hour and band

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

0000Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     607/169    60
0100Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     607/169    60
0200Z  19/16     -     59/28     -       -       -     78/44     78/44  
0300Z  14/8    57/25    5/5     3/3      -       -     79/41    157/85  
0400Z  14/7    57/13   12/3      -       -       -     83/23    240/108 
0500Z  58/15   10/1     3/3      -       -       -     71/19    311/127 
0600Z    -    104/6     5/2      -       -       -    109/8     420/135 
0700Z   5/3    16/3    64/14     -       -       -     85/20    505/155 
0800Z   2/2    11/7    89/5    --+--   --+--   --+--  102/14    607/169    11
0900Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     607/169    60
1000Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     607/169    60
1100Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     607/169    60
1200Z    -       -      4/2     9/9     8/8      -     21/19    628/188    47
1300Z    -       -       -    147/31   11/9      -    158/40    786/228 
1400Z    -       -       -     19/1    14/9      -     33/10    819/238    36
1500Z    -       -       -      4/2    76/15     -     80/17    899/255    38
1600Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   58/4     8/0     1/1    67/5     966/260 
1700Z    -       -       -     34/2     1/0      -     35/2    1001/262    47
1800Z    -       -       -     42/2     6/3      -     48/5    1049/267    40
1900Z    -       -       -     71/15   15/5      -     86/20   1135/287 
2000Z    -       -      7/1      -      2/0      -      9/1    1144/288    49
2100Z    -       -      4/2    29/12    6/3     1/1    40/18   1184/306    22
2200Z    -       -      7/1     3/0      -       -     10/1    1194/307    53
2300Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1194/307    60
0000Z  --+--    2/0    69/5     6/1    --+--   --+--   77/6    1271/313    13
0100Z    -       -     28/1      -       -       -     28/1    1299/314    46
0200Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1299/314    60
0300Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1299/314    60
0400Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1299/314    60
0500Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1299/314    60
0600Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1299/314    60
0700Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1299/314    60
0800Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0    1299/314    60
0900Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1299/314    60
1000Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1299/314    60
1100Z   1/0     5/5    17/5      -       -       -     23/10   1322/324    24
1200Z    -       -       -    166/4     2/0      -    168/4    1490/328 
1300Z    -       -       -    166/4     1/0      -    167/4    1657/332 
1400Z    -       -       -     38/1   101/4      -    139/5    1796/337 
1500Z    -       -       -     64/2     3/2      -     67/4    1863/341    30
1600Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0    1863/341    60
1700Z    -       -       -     22/0    21/0      -     43/0    1906/341    30
1800Z    -       -       -     57/1    11/4      -     68/5    1974/346 
1900Z    -       -     18/0     8/0     5/1     6/2    37/3    2011/349    32
2000Z    -       -      4/0     7/3      -       -     11/3    2022/352    44
2100Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    2022/352    60
2200Z    -      1/0    30/4    12/2     4/2      -     47/8    2069/360    23
2300Z   1/0    71/3    10/1      -       -       -     82/4    2151/364 

Tot:  114/51  334/63  435/82  965/99  295/65    8/4

CQ WW CW 2006

audio

Audio Archive – K5ZD CQ WW CW 2006 (K5ZD op)

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

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

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club
Equipment: FT-1000D + Alpha 76CA, FT-1000D + AL-1200
Antennas: 10m - 6-el @ 90', 15m - 5/5 @ 66'/33', 20m - 5/5 @ 100'/50'
40m - 2-el @ 110', 80m - 4 square, 160m - GP, shunt fed tower

Links to Audio Files

Click on the Audio link to listen to individual 60-minute segments.  Click on the Log link to view the corresponding section of the log.  View rate sheet to find the best hours.

Note: When you click on Listen, your browser will download the entire audio file before it begins to play. This could take some time depending on your Internet connection speed. (Typical 60 minute mpeg file is 7.1Mb.)

I recommend that you listen to the audio clips using headphones.  Listening from a speaker makes it difficult to hear the calls through the QRM and to hear the SO2R headphone switching.

Time Segment Audio Log QSOs Comments
Day 1 – 0000Z Listen Log 77 S&P across 40m
Day 1 – 0100Z Listen Log 71 S&P across 160m and 80m
Day 1 – 0200Z Listen Log 103 Running on 80m with second radio on 40m
Day 1 – 0300Z Listen Log 96 Running on 80m with second radio on 40 and 160
Day 1 – 0400Z Listen Log 52 S&P across 160 twice, then across 80
Day 1 – 0500Z Listen Log 93 Eu run on 160, second radio on 80
Day 1 – 0600Z Listen Log 60 Continue Eu run on 160, then tune 160, then run Eu on 80
Day 1 – 0700Z Listen Log 85 Run Eu on 80
Day 1 – 0800Z Listen Log 44 End run on 80, tune 80, 160, then 40
Day 1 – 0900Z Listen Log 26 Grinding for mults. 9M6NA on 20 LP!
Day 1 – 1000Z Listen Log 14 Mult chasing on 40 and 80, then sleep 30 mins
Day 1 – 1100Z Listen Log 77 Check low bands, then start running on 20
Day 1 – 1200Z Listen Log 127 Running on 20, second radio on 40 and 15
Day 1 – 1300Z Listen Log 176 Run on 20, them jump to run on 15
Day 1 – 1400Z Listen Log 180 Run on 15, second radio on 20
Day 1 – 1500Z Listen Log 171 Run on 15, then 20
Day 1 – 1600Z Listen Log 172 Run on 20, second radio on 15
Day 1 – 1700Z Listen Log 153 Run on 20, second radio on 10
Day 1 – 1800Z Listen Log 119 Run on 20. Lots of SO2r in last half of the hour.
Day 1 – 1900Z Listen Log 70 Lots of SO2R between 20 and 15.
Day 1 – 2000Z Listen Log 95 Find frequency and start running on 40.
Day 1 – 2100Z Listen Log 128 Run on 40, second radio on 15.
Day 1 – 2200Z Listen Log 88 Run on 40, second radio on 20.
Day 1 – 2300Z Listen Log 71 End run on 40, tune 20, 80, 20
Day 2 – 0000Z Listen Log 55 Run on 80
Day 2 – 0100Z Listen Log 55 Run on 80, tune other bands
Day 2 – 0200Z Listen Log 25 Tune 160 and 20, take 20 min break
Day 2 – 0300Z Listen Log 55 Slow run on 40, second radio on other bands
Day 2 – 0400Z Listen Log 49 Run on 80 then 40
Day 2 – 0500Z Listen Log 80 Nice Eu run on 40
Day 2 – 0600Z Listen Log 96 Nice Eu run on 40, few second radio on 80
Day 2 – 0700Z Listen Log 112 Nice Eu run on 40, few second radio on 80
Day 2 – 0800Z Listen Log 79 Run on 40, second radio on 80
Day 2 – 0900Z — — 0 Sleep
Day 2 – 1000Z Listen Log 2 ZL6QH on 80m
Day 2 – 1100Z Listen Log 98 Pass across 40 (few JAs), start run on 20m
Day 2 – 1200Z Listen Log 134 Running on 20, few second radio QSOs on 15
Day 2 – 1300Z Listen Log 162 Run on 20 then 15, discover 10m open to Eu
Day 2 – 1400Z Listen Log 154 Run on 15 while trying to catch mults on 10m. Good example of SO2R!
Day 2 – 1500Z Listen Log 115 Continuing to do the two band shuffle for rate and mults!
Day 2 – 1600Z Listen Log 113 Running on 20, few second radio QSOs on 15
Day 2 – 1700Z Listen Log 78 Running on 20 with second radio on 15 and 10
Day 2 – 1800Z Listen Log 37 Multiplier hunting!
Day 2 – 1900Z Listen Log 54 Early to 40m, mult hunting on second radio. 8Q7DV on 40!
Day 2 – 2000Z Listen Log 68 Run on 40, second radio on 15 and 20
Day 2 – 2100Z Listen Log 66 Run on 40, second radio on 20
Day 2 – 2200Z Listen Log 56 End of the run on 40, 20 open to JA and zone 27
Day 2 – 2300Z Listen Log 42 Anything and any band for a QSO!

2006 CQ WW CW Contest K5ZD

writeup 
                    CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW 

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

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

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club

Comments:

Wow, what a weekend!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Numbers:

QSOs by Continent and Band

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

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

QSO/ZN+DX by Hour and Band

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

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

Most worked countries (>100 QSOs):

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

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

Unique callsigns worked = 2820

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

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

The following 11 stations were worked on 6 bands:

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

Worked 26 other stations on 5 bands.

Station:

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

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

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

Tower 3
TH7DXX @ 40′ (always pointing South)

500′ Beverage to NE

Real Time Scoreboards

blog

I have now had the opportunity to use real-time contest scoreboards in two contests and have some observations to share. For CQWW Phone 2006 and SS CW 2006, I was submitting my scores and watching the scores through the on-line scoreboard set up by Gerry, W1VE.

http://www.w1ve.com/livescores/default.aspx [note: this link no longer works. See http://cqcontest.net/ for a current score reporting site.]

The good

I am a competitive person.  Unfortunately, it is difficult to really compare scores unless you and your competition do a full out effort and even then, you only find out how you did after the contest is over.  If you are just playing around, it is hard to find a source of competitive motivation (other than just enjoying the fun – which reduces the “competition” aspect to busting pileups and holding a frequency).

In the CQWW Phone contest, I was not planning a full effort.  It was very inspiring for me to have the scoreboard up on the screen during the contest so I could measure how I was doing against other participants in real time.

I could see their score, then operate for a few hours and see if I was gaining or losing ground. In other occasions like this, I would bring up the previous year’s results and compete against those, which helped but was always subject to my own ‘adjustment’ of the year to year difference in conditions.

The scoreboard really made the contest much more fun for me.  By seeing my score compared to others, it actually motivated me to operate more than I had originally planned.  I would think this is good for the contest overall.

During the contest, I noticed my son kept coming into the shack to see how I was doing.  (He is 16 and recently got his Tech license.) He has never shown this kind of interest during a contest before. Turns out, he was coming in to see how I was doing on the scoreboard.  So live scoreboarding may provide a vehicle to demonstrate the ebb and flow and fun and competition of contesting to others.

In SS CW, Andy N2NT reported after the contest that he and his son were watching my progress on the scoreboard while guest op John N2NC was in the other room operating.  John wasn’t getting info from them, but it was making the whole experience more interesting for Andy.

The not so good

Information is everything.  One of the real challenges of single op has always been dealing with the isolation.  You work only with your own observations and experience. Your motivation is tested by fatigue.

Unfortunately, many operators now use the Internet for propagation info (and other things such as Instant Messenger) during the contest, so we have a widing definition for what single op really means (and a lot less isolation providing much more information).  If we are going to allow any Internet use, then a scoreboard becomes just another tool.

As opposed to a propagation or weather report, the scoreboard lets you know if you are winning or losing against others in the contest right now!  This may be motivational, or this may cause some to quit the contest (just like guys quit contests with serial numbers once they feel they can no longer “win”).

But there is a much bigger danger from real-time information. In the CQWW Phone contest, I knew conditions were predicted to be better on Saturday than on Sunday.  When I had good runs on 15m in the morning, I made an assumption that I had better work it for all I could.  I never even thought to check if 10m was open.  It was and this mistake easily cost me 20+ multipliers.  IF I had been watching the band breakdowns that are part of the scoreboard, I would have started to see the movement on 10m from others.

This small clue would have caused me to go check the band and catch the opening.

Should on-line scoreboards have a built in delay of 15 or 30 minutes (kind of like stocks on the Internet financial sites)?  Would that be enough?

Summary

On-line scoreboards are here.  They can serve a valuable service that makes the contest more fun for more people (participants and non-participants alike).

On-line scoreboards can also shift the order of finish in contests for single ops (or other categories) just by providing additional information about the conditions being experienced by other scoreboard participants.

Just as with runners in a Marathon, some are motivated by the chase and some are broken by the pass.

It is unreasonable to expect that any contest committee could legislate how technology is implemented by independent sites.  You can only define what participants are allowed to do.

The committee has to make a choice — is Internet use permitted for single ops in any form or not?  My preference would be for a total ban.

If Internet use is permitted, then the committee needs to specify the boundaries of what is acceptable use.  As part of this, I would suggest that scoreboards be allowed for single ops, but the committee specify that only total score, total QSOs, and total multipliers be permitted information that can be viewed during the contest.  I.e., no band breakdowns.  Don’t know how practical this is, but it is how I intend to use scoreboards going forward.

Whatever your decision, I will always view contesting as a sport that is best enjoyed solely by what can be done on and through the radio.

Randy Thompson, K5ZD

(This was originally posted to the cq-contest mailing list, November 18, 2006)

2006 ARRL Sweepstakes CW K5ZD

writeup 
                    ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, CW

Call: K5ZD

Class: Single Op HP
QTH: WMA
Operating Time (hrs): 24
Radios: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
  160:    7
   80:  204
   40:  699
   20:  314
   15:  126
   10:    0
------------
Total: 1350  Sections = 80  Total Score = 216,000

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club

Comments

I think I worked two of every section. VE4VV provided number 80 on Sunday morning.

Excellent conditions all weekend. Nice to see 40m with relatively short conditions all night. Absolutely no noise here in New England so working 80 and 40 was a pleasure.

Tried something different for off times this year. Operated the first 12 hours without getting out of the chair. Then 3 hours off for sleep. Then back on for 9 hours with no breaks. So operated 21 of the first 24 hours. It always seems like the hours from 23z to 02z are always terrible from here, so decided I would stay on as long as the rate was over 30 per hour. Ended up burning 3 hours of off time in the last 5 hours of the contest, which seemed to work out OK.

We have less and less of the old timer traffic handlers every year. Kudos to those who organize their clubs to make a big effort. Also thanks to all of the QRP stations who join in.

The quality of operating from everyone was superb. Only a few people didn’t know what PR or PREC meant! 🙂

This is my 30th consecutive year with over 1000 QSOs. I think it is time to hang up the streak. But you never know, the lure of SS CW is strong.

Rates

QSO/Sec by hour and band

Hour    160     80      40      20      15     Total     Cumm    OffTime
2100Z    -       -       -     25/14   64/23   89/37     89/37  
2200Z    -       -       -     56/15   30/6    86/21    175/58  
2300Z    -       -     32/4    46/6      -     78/10    253/68  
0000Z  --+--   --+--   80/4    12/0    --+--   92/4     345/72  
0100Z    -      6/1    73/1     3/0      -     82/2     427/74  
0200Z    -     11/1    73/2      -       -     84/3     511/77  
0300Z    -      7/1    84/0      -       -     91/1     602/78  
0400Z    -     18/0    59/1      -       -     77/1     679/79  
0500Z    -     24/0    36/0      -       -     60/0     739/79  
0600Z    -     21/0    23/0      -       -     44/0     783/79  
0700Z    -     38/0    13/0      -       -     51/0     834/79  
0800Z  --+--   11/0    23/0    --+--   --+--   34/0     868/79     6
0900Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     868/79    60
1000Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     868/79    60
1100Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     868/79    60
1200Z    -     31/0    18/0      -       -     49/0     917/79     2
1300Z    -      7/0    30/0    11/1      -     48/1     965/80  
1400Z    -       -     23/0    26/0      -     49/0    1014/80  
1500Z    -       -     32/0     5/0      -     37/0    1051/80  
1600Z  --+--   --+--   27/0     5/0     5/0    37/0    1088/80  
1700Z    -       -     21/0     9/0     4/0    34/0    1122/80  
1800Z    -       -      3/0    32/0      -     35/0    1157/80  
1900Z    -       -       -     33/0     5/0    38/0    1195/80  
2000Z    -       -      3/0    29/0     3/0    35/0    1230/80  
2100Z    -       -       -      9/0    12/0    21/0    1251/80    32
2200Z    -       -      7/0     7/0     3/0    17/0    1268/80    38
2300Z    -      8/0     9/0     3/0      -     20/0    1288/80    16
0000Z  --+--    1/0     3/0     3/0    --+--    7/0    1295/80    43
0100Z   4/0    21/0    16/0      -       -     41/0    1336/80     3
0200Z   3/0      -     11/0      -       -     14/0    1350/80    40

Tot:    7/0   204/3   699/12  314/36  126/29

ARRL DX CW 2006 (Ops N5KO, K5ZD)

audio 
Call: K5ZD
Class: Multi-Single
Operators: N5KO, K5ZD
QTH: MA
Operating Time (hrs): 48

Summary:
Band   QSOs   Mults
-------------------
160:     96     54
80:     639     85
40:    1120    103
20:    1331    103
15:     750    103
10:      36     22
-------------------
Total: 3972    470      Total Score = 5,600,520

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club

Equipment: FT-1000D + Alpha 76CA, FT-1000D + AL-1200

Antennas: 10m - 6-el @ 90', 15m - 5/5 @ 66'/33', 20m - 5/5 @ 100'/50'
40m - 2-el @ 110', 80m - 4 square, Inv vee, 160m - GP, shunt fed tower

Links to Audio Files

Click on the Audio link to listen to individual 30-minute segments.  Click on the Log link to view the corresponding section of the log.  View the rate sheet to find the best hours.

Note: When you click on Listen, your browser will download the entire audio file before it begins to play. This could take some time depending on your Internet connection speed. (Typical 30 minute mpeg file is 3 to 4 Mb.)

I recommend that you listen to the audio clips using headphones.  Listening from a speaker makes it difficult to hear the calls through the QRM and to hear the SO2R headphone switching.

Highlights

Time Audio Log QSOs Comments
Day 1 – 1105 to 1204z Listen Log 194 Best 60 mins

By Half Hour Segment

Time Segment Audio Log QSOs Comments
Day 1 – 0000Z Listen Log 76 running on 40m, no audio for first 10 mins
Day 1 – 0030Z  Listen Log 59 running on 40m, QSY to 80 at 0054z
Day 1 – 0100Z  Listen Log 29 running on 80m
Day 1 – 0130Z  Listen Log 45 running on 40m
Day 1 – 0200Z  Listen Log 38 running on 40m, 80m
Day 1 – 0230Z  Listen Log 57 running on 80m
Day 1 – 0300Z  Listen Log 40 running on 80m
Day 1 – 0330Z  Listen Log 34 80m, 160m
Day 1 – 0400Z  Listen Log 33 mostly 160m
Day 1 – 0430Z  Listen Log 28 160m, 20m, 40m
Day 1 – 0500Z  Listen Log 61 running on 40m
Day 1 – 0530Z  Listen Log 34 running on 40m, then 160m, 80m
Day 1 – 0600Z  Listen Log 36 160m, running on 80m
Day 1 – 0630Z  Listen Log 36 80m, 160m, 40m
Day 1 – 0700Z  Listen Log 64 running on 40m
Day 1 – 0730Z  Listen Log 46 running on 40m
Day 1 – 0800Z  Listen Log 44 running on 40m
Day 1 – 0830Z  Listen Log 23 160m – 40m
Day 1 – 0900Z  Listen Log 48 running on 40m
Day 1 – 0930Z  Listen Log 49 running on 40m, start run on 20m at 0944z
Day 1 – 1000Z  Listen Log 73 running on 20m
Day 1 – 1030Z  Listen Log 86 running on 20m
Day 1 – 1100Z  Listen Log 91 running on 20m
Day 1 – 1130Z  Listen Log 101 running on 20m
Day 1 – 1200Z  Listen Log 85 running on 20m, jump to 15m at 1213z
Day 1 – 1230Z  Listen Log 93 running on 15m
Day 1 – 1300Z  Listen Log 93 running on 15m
Day 1 – 1330Z  Listen Log 72 running on 15m
Day 1 – 1400Z  Listen Log 63 running on 15m
Day 1 – 1430Z  Listen Log 57 running on 15m
Day 1 – 1500Z  Listen Log 35 running on 15m
Day 1 – 1530Z  Listen Log 49 sweep 15m, then run on 20m
Day 1 – 1600Z  Listen Log 72 running on 20m
Day 1 – 1630Z  Listen Log 63 running on 20m
Day 1 – 1700Z  Listen Log 45 running on 20m
Day 1 – 1730Z  Listen Log 45 running on 20m
Day 1 – 1800Z  Listen Log 38 running on 20m
Day 1 – 1830Z  Listen Log 25 running on 20m, first 10m QSO
Day 1 – 1900Z  Listen Log 24 tuning 20m, 15m
Day 1 – 1930Z  Listen Log 45 tuning 15m, start 40m run at 1939z
Day 1 – 2000Z  Listen Log 32 running on 40m
Day 1 – 2030Z  Listen Log 32 running on 40m
Day 1 – 2100Z  Listen Log 46 running on 40m
Day 1 – 2130Z  Listen Log 45 running on 40m
Day 1 – 2200Z  Listen Log 46 running on 40m
Day 1 – 2230Z  Listen Log 34 running on 40m
Day 1 – 2300Z  Listen Log 31 running on 40m
Day 1 – 2330Z  Listen Log 66 running on 80m
Day 2 – 0000Z  Listen Log 43 running on 40m
Day 2 – 0030Z  Listen Log 25 running on 80m, tuning on 40m
Day 2 – 0100Z  Listen Log 27 running on 80m, tuning on 160m
Day 2 – 0130Z  Listen Log 17 running on 80m, tuning on 40m
Day 2 – 0200Z  Listen Log 26 80m, mostly tuning 40m
Day 2 – 0230Z  Listen Log 20 mostly tuning 160m
Day 2 – 0300Z  Listen Log 16 running on 80m
Day 2 – 0330Z  Listen Log 22 running on 80m, then sweep 80m
Day 2 – 0400Z  Listen Log 23 tuning on 80m, 160m
Day 2 – 0430Z  Listen Log 22 160m, tuning 40m
Day 2 – 0500Z  Listen Log 18 running on 40m, tuning 160m, 80m
Day 2 – 0530Z  Listen Log 55 running on 80m
Day 2 – 0600Z  Listen Log 40 running on 80m
Day 2 – 0630Z  Listen Log 28 running on 80m
Day 2 – 0700Z  Listen Log 40 running on 80m, then running on 40m
Day 2 – 0730Z  Listen Log 46 running on 40m
Day 2 – 0800Z  Listen Log 30 running on 40m
Day 2 – 0830Z  Listen Log 32 running on 40m
Day 2 – 0900Z  Listen Log 29 running on 40m
Day 2 – 0930Z  Listen Log 30 running on 40m
Day 2 – 1000Z  Listen Log 12 chasing mults 40-160, JA on 80m
Day 2 – 1030Z  Listen Log 15 “running” on 40m (HS0ZDJ called in)
Day 2 – 1100Z  Listen Log 43 running on 20m starting at 1111z
Day 2 – 1130Z  Listen Log 73 running on 20m
Day 2 – 1200Z  Listen Log 61 running on 20m (deep Asia), ZK1 on 80m
Day 2 – 1230Z  Listen Log 71 running on 20m
Day 2 – 1300Z  Listen Log 69 running on 20m, jump to 15m at 1313z
Day 2 – 1330Z  Listen Log 59 running on 15m
Day 2 – 1400Z  Listen Log 48 running on 15m
Day 2 – 1430Z  Listen Log 47 running on 15m
Day 2 – 1500Z  Listen Log 33 run on 15m, jump to 20m @1528z, 6V6U on 10m
Day 2 – 1530Z  Listen Log 46 running on 20m (audio for first 5 mins)
Day 2 – 1600Z    — Log 53 running on 20m (no audio available)
Day 2 – 1630Z  Listen Log 39 running on 20m, 10m starts to open (audio for last 14 mins)
Day 2 – 1700Z  Listen Log 38 running on 20m, some 10m
Day 2 – 1730Z  Listen Log 37 running on 20m, then tune 10m and 15m
Day 2 – 1800Z  Listen Log 20 small run on 20m, more tuning on 10m
Day 2 – 1830Z  Listen Log 34 few 10m, running on 20m
Day 2 – 1900Z  Listen Log 33 few more 10m, running on 20m
Day 2 – 1930Z  Listen Log 28 all bands chasing packet spots
Day 2 – 2000Z  Listen Log 23 40m, running on 20m
Day 2 – 2030Z  Listen Log 26 running on 20m
Day 2 – 2100Z  Listen Log 20 sweep 15m, run on 40m
Day 2 – 2130Z  Listen Log 18 more packet spot chasing
Day 2 – 2200Z  Listen Log 23 15m, run on 40m, run on 20m
Day 2 – 2230Z  Listen Log 26 running on 20m, sweep 15m
Day 2 – 2300Z  Listen Log 24 running on 80m
Day 2 – 2330Z  Listen Log 37 running on 80m

Download audio archive for the entire contest  (This is a very large zip file.)

2006 ARRL DX CW Contest (N5KO, K5ZD)

writeup 
                    ARRL DX Contest, CW

Call: K5ZD
Operator(s): K5ZD, N5KO

Class: M/S HP
Operating Time (hrs): 48

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
  160:   96    54
   80:  639    85
   40: 1120   103
   20: 1331   103
   15:  750   103
   10:   36    22
-------------------
Total: 3972   470  Total Score = 5,600,520

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club

Comments

  1. The great thing about radio contests is that no two are ever the same!
  2. Famous YCCC quote, “There’s no meters like 10 meters.”  But, what happens if there’s no 10 meters?!

Trey, N5KO, was in Boston on business and accepted the invitation to do a multi-single effort.  Trey did most of the operating and we had a great time doing a “tag-team” effort.  I.e., one guy operated until he was tired and then tag, the other op was “it”!

Conditions were excellent here in ‘New Europe’.  We spent most of our time running or CQing because the 6 band change per hour restriction limited the ability to chase QSOs or multipliers on the less active bands.  There were many hours we would save our band changes and then do all 6 in the last 10 minutes.

Note to ARRL CAC: Please change rule to allow 10 band changes per hour!

160 – Conditions were very good.  HA5JI was consistently the loudest European. Didn’t seem to be much activity as we got very few answers to CQs.

80 – Good both nights, although we probably didn’t spend enough time there on Friday night.  Made up for it on Sat night. Happy to work JA2ZJW on Sunday morning. Very nice signals from Europe during the last hour.  Heard HS0ZDJ on LP very strong during that time, but he wasn’t hearing anyone.

40 – Open all the time it seemed.  Amazing how far past European sunrise we could still get answers to CQs.  At one point on Sunday morning I was working Europe and had a very loud HS0ZDJ call on LP (from the southwest)!

20 – Opened right on schedule both days with excellent European signals. Usually the band with the highest multiplier, 20 was lagging 40 and 15 until the last hour of the contest!

15 – Went to 15 early on Sat morning because couldn’t believe the band was so open, or that it would be so good the second day.  It ended up being better than expected both days.  Even had several VU and HS0 call in on Sunday afternoon. No JA on Fri or Sat, but the big JA stations had good signals on Sun right to the end of the contest.

80m antenna had broken from the wind and fallen across the top 15m beam so most of our big rate on Sat morning was with a single 5-ele at 33 feet! Fixed the problem about 15z (man it was cold outside!).

10 – Ugh.  2 QSOs on Sat (CU2A and LR2F).  Band opened better on Sunday, but the Caribbean and Central America never got very loud so it took time to work through each pileup.  Causing some difficult band change decisions since 20 was still runnable to Europe at the time.

We had one equipment failure.  The 40m beam became intermittent on receive Sunday morning. Seemed to be OK on transmit, but there is a loose connection or broken coax connector shield out there somewhere. Way tooooo cold to figure it out now!

With 4 hours to go, we were hoping to break 4000 QSOs.  Unfortunately, the mental wheels came off (or we ran out of people to work) and we limped home with some pretty slow hours.  The 40m beam problem caused us not to stay committed to 40m as much as we probably should have, but it’s hard to keep calling CQ when you aren’t getting any answers!

Not as many bad signals this year as in the past, but still too many. Especially from some very large (and loud) Eastern European stations.  Only a few lid frequency fights.

I don’t normally get to use Packet so it was interesting to see how it helped and hurt the score.  Since we could only get one operator at the radio at a time (this is an SO2R station – not multi-op), we relied on packet a lot to be the “second op”.  With all the busted calls, sometimes it was dangerous as the station we found was not the call that was spotted. Amazing to see how fast one spot could instantly bring hundreds of frenzied contesters to one frequency!

Even so, we almost always could find more QSOs (and even new mults) by tuning around ourselves.  The worst case was on Sunday when several spots blew our call sign (KH7D and K5ZB).  The KH7D resulted in lots of W/VE calling us (many of them were stations that should have been able to copy our CW and known better…) and K5ZB bringing a round of European dupes.

Thanks to all the DX stations that spend time to give us so much fun!

Special thanks to P40W, 8P9PA, and the other DX stations who signed their call on a regular basis…

Recorded the entire contest and will have it available on my website as soon as I can edit the files into manageable sizes.

The Numbers

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

D1-0000Z  --+--   10/9   122/34   --+--   --+--   --+--  132/43    132/43  
D1-0100Z    -     29/11   44/6      -       -       -     73/17    205/60  
D1-0200Z    -     68/12   22/2      -       -       -     90/14    295/74  
D1-0300Z   2/2    72/22     -       -       -       -     74/24    369/98  
D1-0400Z  36/28    5/0    17/3     3/3      -       -     61/34    430/132 
D1-0500Z  13/8     2/1    80/3      -       -       -     95/12    525/144 
D1-0600Z   8/3    41/4    22/10     -       -       -     71/17    596/161 
D1-0700Z    -      1/1   104/4      -       -       -    105/5     701/166 
D1-0800Z   1/1     2/2    62/4    --+--   --+--   --+--   65/7     766/173 
D1-0900Z    -      1/1    59/3    35/14     -       -     95/18    861/191 
D1-1000Z    -       -       -    155/18     -       -    155/18   1016/209 
D1-1100Z    -       -      3/3   189/17     -       -    192/20   1208/229 
D1-1200Z    -       -       -     37/1   141/36     -    178/37   1386/266 
D1-1300Z    -       -       -       -    164/11     -    164/11   1550/277 
D1-1400Z    -       -       -       -    115/5     1/1   116/6    1666/283 
D1-1500Z    -       -       -     26/2    54/18     -     80/20   1746/303 
D1-1600Z  --+--   --+--   --+--  128/1     3/3    --+--  131/4    1877/307 
D1-1700Z    -       -       -     81/8     3/3      -     84/11   1961/318 
D1-1800Z    -       -       -     60/8     1/1     1/1    62/10   2023/328 
D1-1900Z    -       -     30/1    19/10   17/6      -     66/17   2089/345 
D1-2000Z    -       -     59/1     3/2      -       -     62/3    2151/348 
D1-2100Z    -       -     86/1     2/2     1/1      -     89/4    2240/352 
D1-2200Z    -      1/1    74/3     2/2      -       -     77/6    2317/358 
D1-2300Z    -     61/0    30/2     2/2      -       -     93/4    2410/362 
D2-0000Z   1/1    57/6     9/9    --+--   --+--   --+--   67/16   2477/378 
D2-0100Z   5/1    33/3     3/2      -       -       -     41/6    2518/384 
D2-0200Z  15/1     6/0    25/0      -       -       -     46/1    2564/385 
D2-0300Z    -     37/1      -      1/1      -       -     38/2    2602/387 
D2-0400Z   9/3    20/1    15/2      -       -       -     44/6    2646/393 
D2-0500Z   2/2    58/4    13/0      -       -       -     73/6    2719/399 
D2-0600Z   2/2    64/1     1/1      -       -       -     67/4    2786/403 
D2-0700Z    -     12/0    69/1      -       -       -     81/1    2867/404 
D2-0800Z  --+--    1/1    56/0    --+--   --+--   --+--   57/1    2924/405 
D2-0900Z   1/1      -     57/2      -       -       -     58/3    2982/408 
D2-1000Z   1/1     4/2    21/3      -       -       -     26/6    3008/414 
D2-1100Z    -       -      4/1   103/1      -       -    107/2    3115/416 
D2-1200Z    -      1/1     1/1   124/4     1/1      -    127/7    3242/423 
D2-1300Z    -       -       -     21/0   101/2      -    122/2    3364/425 
D2-1400Z    -       -       -       -     87/6      -     87/6    3451/431 
D2-1500Z    -       -       -     45/1    29/3     1/1    75/5    3526/436 
D2-1600Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   86/1    --+--    1/0    87/1    3613/437 
D2-1700Z    -       -       -     54/1     3/3    14/9    71/13   3684/450 
D2-1800Z    -       -       -     35/0     3/0    14/8    52/8    3736/458 
D2-1900Z    -       -      5/0    48/1     2/2     3/2    58/5    3794/463 
D2-2000Z    -       -      4/0    35/1     1/0     1/0    41/1    3835/464 
D2-2100Z    -       -     12/1    11/0    13/2      -     36/3    3871/467 
D2-2200Z    -       -     11/0    25/1    11/0      -     47/1    3918/468 
D2-2300Z    -     53/1      -      1/1      -       -     54/2    3972/470 

Total:    96/54  639/85 1120/103 1331/103 750/103 36/22

The best 60-minute rate was 194/hour from 1104 to 1203

The best 30-minute rate was 202/hour from 1127 to 1156

The best 10-minute rate was 216/hour from 1127 to 1136

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

    EU      65    584   1033   1195    650      1    3528    88.8
    AF       1      6     13     15     18      1      54     1.4
    AS       1      8     25     76     25      0     135     3.4
    NA      23     26     26     25     29     16     145     3.7
    SA       6     12     15     14     19     18      84     2.1
    OC       0      3      8      6      9      0      26     0.7

“Only” 88% Europe…  most worked countries were

          160M    80M    40M    20M    15M    10M   Total
    DL      14     82    163    202    102            563
    OK       2     59     75     79     55            270
     G       4     49     89     91     21            254
    UA       1     44     68     96     44            253
     I       3     21     69     72     66            231

Multi-band QSO’s

—————-

1 bands    1486

2 bands     422

3 bands     269

4 bands     152

5 bands      25

6 bands      17

(During the contest I would have thought we had many more multi-band QSOs as it seemed many stations were on 3 or 4 bands, but guess not!)

The following stations were worked on 6 bands:

V31PP CU2A J7OJ VP2MVX TI5N TO9A WP2Z  8P9PA  P49Y   VP9/W6PH   PJ4R   P40W  PJ2T HI3TEJ HQ9H FG/N0YY V26G

CQ WW CW 2005

audio

Audio Archive – CQ WW CW 2005 (K5ZD op)

Call: K5ZD
Class: SOAB HP
QTH: MA
Operating Time (hrs): 45.5
Radios: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Zones  Countries
------------------------------
  160:  112    17       56
   80:  792    22       92
   40:  821    30      108
   20: 1458    36      125
   15:  548    25      104
   10:   40    12       23
------------------------------
Total: 3771   142      508  Total Score = 7,063,550

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club

Equipment: FT-1000D + Alpha 76CA, FT-1000D + AL-1200

Antennas: 10m - 6-el @ 90', 15m - 5/5 @ 66'/33', 20m - 5/5 @ 100'/50'
40m - 2-el @ 110', 80m - 4 square, Inv vee, 160m - GP, shunt fed tower

Links to Audio Files

Click on the Audio link to listen to individual 30-minute segments.  Click on the Log link to view the corresponding section of the log.  View rate sheet to find the best hours.

Note: When you click on Listen, your browser will download the entire audio file before it begins to play. This could take some time depending on your Internet connection speed. (Typical 30 minute mpeg file is 4.4 to 5.5Mb.)

I recommend that you listen to the audio clips using headphones.  Listening from a speaker makes it difficult to hear the calls through the QRM and to hear the SO2R headphone switching.

Time Segment Audio Log QSOs Comments
Day 1 – 0000Z Listen Log 50 Slow start then all search and pounce (S&P)
Day 1 – 0030Z  Listen Log 34 Continue S&P
Day 1 – 0100Z  Listen Log 42 S&P across 160m and 80m
Day 1 – 0130Z  Listen Log 45 More S&P up 80m
Day 1 – 0200Z  Listen Log 36 Some running on 80m with second radio
Day 1 – 0230Z  Listen Log 26 S&P on 160m and 20m
Day 1 – 0300Z  Listen Log 34 Short run on 40m and then more tuning
Day 1 – 0330Z  Listen Log 36 S&P across 80m
Day 1 – 0400Z  Listen Log 41 S&P on 80m, then SO2R between 40/80
Day 1 – 0430Z  Listen Log 34 tune 160, then run on 80
Day 1 – 0500Z  Listen Log 37 running on 80, second radio on 40/160
Day 1 – 0530Z  Listen Log 15 slow going on 80 and 160
Day 1 – 0600Z  Listen Log 29 S&P on 80, then run with some 40m
Day 1 – 0630Z  Listen Log 30 Run on 80, some Eu on 160
Day 1 – 0700Z  Listen Log 19 Almost all on 160m
Day 1 – 0730Z  Listen Log 46 Nice run on 80m with second radio on 40
Day 1 – 0800Z  Listen Log 22 Continue 80m run, then tune around
Day 1 – 0830Z  Listen Log 14 Tuning and calling on 40, 80, and 160
Day 1 – 0900Z  Listen Log 39 Good Eu run on 40m
Day 1 – 0930Z  Listen Log 46 Continue Eu run on 40m
Day 1 – 1000Z  Listen Log 35 Run on 40m, then run on 20m
Day 1 – 1030Z  Listen Log 28 Run on 20m, off at 1050z
Day 1 – 1100Z  Listen — 0 Sleep
Day 1 – 1130Z  Listen Log 38 On at 1135z, sweep low bands, run on 20m
Day 1 – 1200Z  Listen Log 61 Run on 20m, some 40m LP to Asia
Day 1 – 1230Z  Listen Log 77 Run on 20m, some second radio on 15m
Day 1 – 1300Z  Listen Log 78 Run on 20m, some second radio on 15m
Day 1 – 1330Z  Listen Log 74 Run on 20m, some second radio on 15m
Day 1 – 1400Z  Listen Log 69 Run on 20m, then run on 15m
Day 1 – 1430Z  Listen Log 75 Run on 15m with second radio on 20m
Day 1 – 1500Z  Listen Log 64 Run on 15m with second radio on 20, 10
Day 1 – 1530Z  Listen Log 57 Run on 15m with second radio on 20, 10
Day 1 – 1600Z  Listen Log 45 Run on 15m, then mult sweep on 15m
Day 1 – 1630Z  Listen Log 45 Mult sweep on 15/10m, then run on 20m
Day 1 – 1700Z  Listen Log 61 Run on 20m, some second radio on 15m
Day 1 – 1730Z  Listen Log 50 Run on 20m, some second radio on 15m
Day 1 – 1800Z  Listen Log 45 Run on 20m, some second radio on 15m
Day 1 – 1830Z  Listen Log 37 Run on 20m, some second radio on 10m
Day 1 – 1900Z  Listen Log 28 Run on 20m, some second radio on 15, 10
Day 1 – 1930Z  Listen Log 36 Run on 20m, then sweep 20
Day 1 – 2000Z  Listen Log 25 Sweep 20 and 15, then run on 40
Day 1 – 2030Z  Listen Log 70 Great Eu run on 40m
Day 1 – 2100Z  Listen Log 51 Continue Eu run on 40m, some second radio
Day 1 – 2130Z  Listen Log 56 Continue Eu run on 40m, some second radio
Day 1 – 2200Z  Listen Log 45 Run on 40m, second radio on 20m
Day 1 – 2230Z  Listen Log 51 Run on 40m, second radio on 20m
Day 1 – 2300Z  Listen Log 42 Run on 40m, second radio on 20m
Day 1 – 2330Z  Listen Log 33 Run on 40m, second radio on 80m
Day 2 – 0000Z  Listen Log 26 Run on 40m, second radio on 80m, then break
Day 2 – 0030Z  Listen Log 6 Off first 15 mins, then tune around
Day 2 – 0100Z  Listen Log 30 Run on 80m, second radio on 40m
Day 2 – 0130Z  Listen Log 14 Looking for QSOs on 40 and 80
Day 2 – 0200Z  Listen Log 11 More grinding on 40 and 80
Day 2 – 0230Z  Listen Log 15 Chasing Eu on 160m
Day 2 – 0300Z  Listen Log 10 More 160m
Day 2 – 0330Z  Listen Log 38 Nice Eu run on 80m
Day 2 – 0400Z  Listen Log 43 Continue Eu run on 80m
Day 2 – 0430Z  Listen Log 33 Continue Eu run on 80m
Day 2 – 0500Z  Listen Log 30 Continue run on 80m, second radio on 40, 160
Day 2 – 0530Z  Listen Log 41 Continue Eu run on 80m
Day 2 – 0600Z  Listen Log 52 Continue Eu run on 80m
Day 2 – 0630Z  Listen Log 51 Continue Eu run on 80m
Day 2 – 0700Z  Listen Log 45 Continue Eu run on 80m
Day 2 – 0730Z  Listen Log 46 Continue Eu run on 80m, second radio on 40
Day 2 – 0800Z  Listen Log 8 Tuning on 40, 80, 160, then off at 0815z
Day 2 – 0830Z  Listen — 0 Sleep
Day 2 – 0900Z  Listen — 0 Sleep
Day 2 – 0930Z  Listen Log 3 Back on at 0955z
Day 2 – 1000Z  Listen Log 9 Grinding for QSOs, bands were awful
Day 2 – 1030Z  Listen Log 11 More grinding, good Asia mults on 40m
Day 2 – 1100Z  Listen Log 9 More grinding, 20 finally opens
Day 2 – 1130Z  Listen Log 36 Some 40m, then run on 20m
Day 2 – 1200Z  Listen Log 87 Good run on 20m
Day 2 – 1230Z  Listen Log 75 Continue run on 20m
Day 2 – 1300Z  Listen Log 81 Continue run on 20m
Day 2 – 1330Z  Listen Log 70 Continue run on 20m
Day 2 – 1400Z  Listen Log 70 Continue run on 20m, then run on 15m
Day 2 – 1430Z  Listen Log 90 Continue run on 15m
Day 2 – 1500Z  Listen Log 74 Continue run on 15m, second radio on 10m
Day 2 – 1530Z  Listen Log 53 Run on 15m, then switch to 20m
Day 2 – 1600Z  Listen Log 57 Run on 20m, second radio sweep on 15m
Day 2 – 1630Z  Listen Log 58 Run on 20m, second radio sweep on 15m
Day 2 – 1700Z  Listen Log 39 Run, find new frequency, continue run on 20m
Day 2 – 1730Z  Listen Log 43 Run on 20m, second radio sweep on 15m
Day 2 – 1800Z  Listen Log 50 Run on 20m, second radio sweep on 15m
Day 2 – 1830Z  Listen Log 40 Run on 20m, second radio on 15, 10m
Day 2 – 1900Z  Listen Log 38 Run on 20m, second radio on 15
Day 2 – 1930Z  Listen Log 23 Tuning around 20 and 15m
Day 2 – 2000Z  Listen Log 19 Move to 40m and find run frequency
Day 2 – 2030Z  Listen Log 59 Run on 40m
Day 2 – 2100Z  Listen Log 48 Continue run on 40m
Day 2 – 2130Z  Listen Log 53 Continue run on 40m, second radio on 20m
Day 2 – 2200Z  Listen Log 26 Run on 40, then switch to run JA on 20m
Day 2 – 2230Z  Listen Log 34 Run JA on 20m, second radio on 40m
Day 2 – 2300Z  Listen Log 21 Sweep up 20m, then go to 80m
Day 2 – 2330Z  Listen Log 16 Sweep 80m and then finish on 160

Download audio archive for the entire contest  (This is a very large zip file.)

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