2005 CQ WW CW Contest K5ZD

          CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW

Call: K5ZD
Operator(s): K5ZD
Station: 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

Comments:

Wow.  When the contest started I thought 5 million would be a big score, but conditions (and activity) were amazing. Glad I have this contest recorded because there are parts of it I will want to listen to so I can make sure I wasn’t hallucinating!

As always, the contest is so big there are stations that I just can’t find. Never heard a KL7 until last 30 mins of the contest, then worked two of them. Only heard 9Y4AA the 3 times when I worked him on 20,15, and 10.  Never anywhere else.  When I work all the other Carribbean guys on 4 or 5 bands, weird that one like that gets away.  Missed V31TM on 10 and 15.  How does that happen?! Never heard UA9AYA on 40m, then see he made a huge score there.  Worked 8Q7DV on 80 and 20, but never heard them anywhere else.  That is what makes this contest so cool – and why the scores keep getting bigger.

The audio recording will be on-line within the next week or so.  There are some excellent low band runs with once in a lifetime clear frequency, low low noise, and high rate.  Also lots of SO2R examples where I was messing up 2 QSOs at the same time.

For the packet guys, stations that identify with “TU” may be OK.  But for a single op, I would have to wait until they decided to send their call.  In some cases this took some badgering.  Packet enables these guys to run and run without having to identify because there is always a string of callers. Frustrating at times.  Otherwise, I thought the overall calliber of operating was pretty good.

Slept 45 mins the first night because my back was killing me.  Felt much better after that.  Slept 90 minutes the second night – not because I was sleepy then but because I wanted to be fully alert when the high band rates were happening.

My motivation to get through this contest was that it would be my last full out 48 hour single op effort.  Although I will probably forget that pledge when next November rolls around…

The numbers:

Hour      160M     80M     40M     20M     15M     10M    Total     Cumm   Off
 
D1-0000Z   1/2    --+--   75/55    8/12   --+--   --+--   84/69     84/69
D1-0100Z  15/14   68/38    4/2      -       -       -     87/54    171/123
D1-0200Z  13/8    21/5    11/3    17/12     -       -     62/28    233/151
D1-0300Z   5/2    38/17   27/6      -       -       -     70/25    303/176
D1-0400Z  11/4    58/6     6/2      -       -       -     75/12    378/188
D1-0500Z   9/4    39/7     4/3      -       -       -     52/14    430/202
D1-0600Z   5/3    44/6     8/0      -       -       -     57/9     487/211
D1-0700Z  18/14   42/3     4/2     1/1      -       -     65/20    552/231
D1-0800Z   3/4    25/8     8/6    --+--   --+--   --+--   36/18    588/249
D1-0900Z   2/2     4/4    77/11     -       -       -     83/17    671/266
D1-1000Z    -       -     12/3    51/23     -       -     63/26    734/292
D1-1100Z    -      3/2     3/0    32/14     -       -     38/16    772/308  48
D1-1200Z    -       -      4/4   130/16    4/8      -    138/28    910/336
D1-1300Z    -       -       -    134/12   16/20     -    150/32   1060/368
D1-1400Z    -       -       -     64/7    79/24     -    143/31   1203/399
D1-1500Z    -       -       -      9/5   101/8     8/13  118/26   1321/425
D1-1600Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   47/5    36/23    7/6    90/34   1411/459
D1-1700Z    -       -       -     97/2    13/4      -    110/6    1521/465
D1-1800Z    -       -       -     56/4    10/7    13/8    79/19   1600/484
D1-1900Z    -       -       -     53/10    8/6     2/1    63/17   1663/501
D1-2000Z    -       -     85/7     7/4     3/1      -     95/12   1758/513
D1-2100Z    -       -    100/2     4/0     1/0      -    105/2    1863/515
D1-2200Z    -       -     87/5     8/4      -       -     95/9    1958/524
D1-2300Z   1/0    10/0    58/1     5/4      -       -     74/5    2032/529
D2-0000Z  --+--    8/0    19/0     4/1    --+--   --+--   31/1    2063/530
D2-0100Z    -     30/4    13/6      -       -       -     43/10   2106/540
D2-0200Z  14/8     8/2     3/0      -       -       -     25/10   2131/550
D2-0300Z   8/4    37/1     1/1     2/0      -       -     48/6    2179/556
D2-0400Z    -     70/2     3/2      -       -       -     73/4    2252/560
D2-0500Z   2/0    68/0     1/1      -       -       -     71/1    2323/561
D2-0600Z   1/0   102/2      -       -       -       -    103/2    2426/563
D2-0700Z    -     84/0     4/0      -       -       -     88/0    2514/563
D2-0800Z   1/2     6/1     1/0    --+--   --+--   --+--    8/3    2522/566  47
D2-0900Z    -      2/0     1/0      -       -       -      3/0    2525/566  55
D2-1000Z   1/0     6/1    13/7      -       -       -     20/8    2545/574
D2-1100Z    -      2/0    10/0    33/3      -       -     45/3    2590/577
D2-1200Z    -       -       -    156/3     1/0      -    157/3    2747/580
D2-1300Z    -       -       -    141/1     8/1      -    149/2    2896/582
D2-1400Z    -       -       -     27/0   129/9      -    156/9    3052/591
D2-1500Z    -       -       -     13/2   108/6     3/4   124/12   3176/603
D2-1600Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   98/1    11/2     2/2   111/5    3287/608
D2-1700Z    -       -       -     69/1     8/5      -     77/6    3364/614
D2-1800Z    -       -       -     74/0     3/2     5/1    82/3    3446/617
D2-1900Z    -       -       -     53/5     7/1      -     60/6    3506/623
D2-2000Z    -       -     74/6     1/1     1/2      -     76/9    3582/632
D2-2100Z    -       -     90/3     4/1     1/0      -     95/4    3677/636
D2-2200Z    -       -     15/0    42/2      -       -     57/2    3734/638
D2-2300Z   2/2    17/5      -     18/5      -       -     37/12   3771/650
 
Total:   112/73  792/114 821/1381458/161 548/129  40/35

The best 60 minute rate was 165/hour from 1418 to 1517 The best 30 minute rate was 180/hour from 1448 to 1517 The best 10 minute rate was 222/hour from 1449 to 1458

By continent

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

 EU      54    681    664   1216    427      0    3042    80.7 
 NA      44     76     82     83     42     10     337     8.9 
 SA       8     15     22     38     39     25     147     3.9 
 AS       2      6     22     88      8      0     126     3.3 
 AF       4     12     20     21     26      5      88     2.3 
 OC       0      1     11     11      5      0      28     0.7 

The following stations were worked on 6 bands:

VP9I        PZ5C        P40L        HC8N        WP2Z        PJ2T VE3EJ       8P5A        5J1W

Live audio streaming in CQWW

When Dave, KM3T, was over getting familiar with the station prior to a single op effort in CQ WW Phone, we got to talking about his air traffic control audio streaming site and how cool it would be to do something similar for ham radio.  We couldn’t think of anyone else who had streamed a contest live on the Internet.

Dave sent me some software and within 30 mins or so, I had the headphone audio playing out through the servers he uses for www.liveatc.net.

An announcement here on the contest reflector resulted in the following note that appeared in the ARRL Letter (thanks to N1RL):

* K5ZD to provide chance to eavesdrop firsthand on contest operation:

In what appears to be a contesting first, streaming audio <http://www.k5zd.com/live> from the Western Massachusetts contest station of Randy Thompson, K5ZD, will be available on the Internet during the CQ World Wide Phone Contest. Dave Pascoe, KM3T, a contest veteran, will be at the helm of K5ZD for a serious single-operator, all-band effort. “This will be a full blown SO2R [single-operator, two radio] effort, and the stream will be in stereo, so you hear exactly what he is hearing,” Thompson said. He advises listeners to look for audio streaming to start a few hours before the contest. E-mail comments to K5ZD <k5zd@contesting.com>.

Dave and I were interested to see what kind of interest there would be in such a thing.  The results exceeded our expectations.  I received a number of complimentary emails during the contest from people who were listening. One guy said he was using it to help mentor some beginning contesters, another said he was stuck at work and it let him enjoy the contest, and another said he was listening while eating breakfast.

In all there were about 40 emails with comments.  A number of emails after the contest asked if we made a file and if it was going to be available (see below).

On a personal note, the audio streaming gave me a wonderful opportunity to share ham radio contesting with my 15 year old son.

He has listened to me yelling into the microphone his whole life, but we have never had the chance to share what is going on inside the headphones.  Was fun to listen, tell him what country each callsign represented, and then do play-by-play as various things happened.

For example, at one point I could see Dave was going to get squeezed off a frequency.  Was fun to point out to Andrew the signals above and below, who they were, and how they were both moving in (and how the rate was impacted).

Looking at the web logs after the contest, it appears there were between 20 and 40 people listening most of the hours of the contest.

The high water mark was 59. There were nearly 2000 visitors to the site on Saturday of the contest!

Yes, we did archive the audio from the contest.  You can listen to the contest in 30 minute increments and view the log for each segment at http://www.k5zd.com/live/wwph05/audio_wwph05.html. There is also a link where you can download the entire contest as one file.  Dave has been listening to the contest through his Apple iPod!  You may want to find your QSO in the recording and see how you sounded here in New England.

One local contester has already used some of the audio files as part of the contest presentation to his local club.

If you hear an interesting segment, let me know the times (in GMT) and I will try to pull it out into a “Greatest Hits” list so that it will be easier to find examples of particular operating events.

CQ WW CW

We plan to do it again for CQ WW CW!  I will be operating single op all band with SO2R in a reasonably serious effort. Visit www.k5zd.com/live during the contest and click on the “Listen to Live Audio Now” link to share the experience.

Note: During the phone contest several people complained of slow start up or connection problems when using Microsoft Windows Media Player.

RealPlayer works great and starts very fast.

Look forward to your comments.  And see you in CQ WW CW.

Randy, K5ZD

Dave, KM3T

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2005 ARRL Sweepstakes CW K5ZD

                    ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, CW

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

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

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
  160:    0
   80:  162
   40:  789
   20:  240
   15:   60
   10:    6
------------
Total: 1257  Sections = 80  Total Score = 201,120

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club

Comments

*** My 29th consecutive year of SS CW with over 1000 QSOs! ***

Wasn’t mentally or physically ready for this one. Have had back problems for past 6 weeks and didn’t think I could make it through the whole contest. Wanted to see if I could last long enough to get over the 1K QSO mark.

Conditions seemed OK at the start, but activity was off. I had no problem finding and holding frequencies on 40m all Sat night. That’s not normal at all. When I compared to last year’s rate sheet, I was over 150 QSOs behind when I went to bed.

Again on Sunday, conditions were OK, but activity was not. I managed to catch up with some of the jack rabbits out West, but not enough. At one point N2NT was 100 ahead of me. Finally made it to 1000 QSOs at 1800z (about 3 hours later than expected).

Have never wanted to quit a contest so bad. My back was hurting on and off.
Decided that I would regret it if I quit and found later I could have won the Division or something. Also, once you are 18+ hours into the masochism that is SS CW on Sunday, might as well stick it out.

I thought the caliber of operating was better than ever this year. Almost everyone would provide the correct fills and seemed to know what PR? meant. The QRP crowd is awesome. They don’t send the fastest, but they do a great job of making QSOs.

My last QSO may have been past the 24 hour mark, but didn’t want to leave N0AX feeling ignored. 🙂

This was a great training run for CQ WW CW. See everyone then (and will have the live audio streaming going for that one).

Rates

 Hour      80      40      20      15      10     Total    Cumm    Off

D1-2100Z    -     59/27     -     16/8     3/2    78/37    78/37  
D1-2200Z    -     69/6     3/2    12/2      -     84/10   162/47  
D1-2300Z    -     42/5    25/8      -       -     67/13   229/60  
D2-0000Z  --+--   40/3    26/6    --+--   --+--   66/9    295/69  
D2-0100Z  13/1    53/1     3/0      -       -     69/2    364/71  
D2-0200Z  13/0    58/1      -       -       -     71/1    435/72  
D2-0300Z  16/0    41/0      -       -       -     57/0    492/72  
D2-0400Z  22/1    38/0      -       -       -     60/1    552/73  
D2-0500Z  18/0    35/0      -       -       -     53/0    605/73  
D2-0600Z  21/0    31/0      -       -       -     52/0    657/73  
D2-0700Z  13/0    26/2      -       -       -     39/2    696/75  
D2-0800Z   6/0     3/0    --+--   --+--   --+--    9/0    705/75   41
D2-0900Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    705/75   60
D2-1000Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    705/75   60
D2-1100Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    705/75   60
D2-1200Z  13/0    26/1      -       -       -     39/1    744/76   18
D2-1300Z  14/0    35/0     3/0      -       -     52/0    796/76  
D2-1400Z    -     21/0    31/2      -       -     52/2    848/78  
D2-1500Z    -     31/0    19/1      -       -     50/1    898/79  
D2-1600Z  --+--   16/0    30/0    --+--   --+--   46/0    944/79  
D2-1700Z    -     34/0    18/0      -       -     52/0    996/79  
D2-1800Z    -     32/0     2/0     8/0      -     42/0   1038/79  
D2-1900Z    -      7/0     8/0     6/0      -     21/0   1059/79   30
D2-2000Z    -      6/0    16/0     8/1     1/0    31/1   1090/80 
D2-2100Z    -     14/0     6/0     5/0     2/0    27/0   1117/80  
D2-2200Z    -     10/0     9/0     5/0      -     24/0   1141/80   31
D2-2300Z   4/0     8/0    28/0      -       -     40/0   1181/80  
D3-0000Z  --+--    9/0     8/0    --+--   --+--   17/0   1198/80   30
D3-0100Z   4/0    29/0     5/0      -       -     38/0   1236/80  
D3-0200Z   5/0    16/0      -       -       -     21/0   1257/80   30 

Total:   162/2   789/46  240/19   60/11    6/2

Audio – 2005 CQ WW SSB (KM3T op)

2005 CQ WW SSB K5ZD (KM3T op)

CQ Worldwide DX Contest, SSB

Call: K5ZD
Operator(s): KM3T
Station: K5ZD

Class: SOAB HP
QTH: MA
Operating Time (hrs): 46.5
Radios: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Zones  Countries
------------------------------
  160:   61    10       33
   80:  331    19       67
   40:  478    27       92
   20: 1267    35      132
   15: 1236    30      105
   10:   86    13       44
------------------------------
Total: 3459   134      473  Total Score = 6,006,265

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club

3830 Posting (includes rate sheet)

Links to Audio Files

Download audio archive for the entire contest (Note: Requires BitTorrent or BT-compatible client software.)

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 Comments
0000Z Day One Listen Log 28 QSOs on 20m/40m
0030Z Day One Listen Log
0100Z Day One Listen Log
0130Z Day One Listen Log
0200Z Day One Listen Log
0230Z Day One Listen Log
0300Z Day One Listen Log 75m/160m
0330Z Day One Listen Log 40m/75m/160m
0400Z Day One Listen Log 160m/75m
0430Z Day One Listen Log 18 QSOs
0500Z Day One Listen Log
0530Z Day One Listen Log 75m
0600Z Day One Listen Log 75m
0630Z Day One Listen Log
0700Z Day One Listen Log
0730Z Day One Listen Log
0800Z Day One Listen Log
0830Z Day One Listen Log
0900Z Day One Listen Log
0930Z Day One Listen Log 40m split to Eu
1000Z Day One Listen Log
1030Z Day One Listen Log 20m opening begins!
1100Z Day One Listen Log 223 hour
1130Z Day One Listen Log
1200Z Day One Listen Log 251 hour
1230Z Day One Listen Log
1300Z Day One Listen Log 112 hour
1330Z Day One Listen Log some 10m
1400Z Day One Listen Log 141 hour
1430Z Day One Listen Log
1500Z Day One Listen Log 152 hour
1530Z Day One Listen Log
1600Z Day One Listen Log 104 hour
1630Z Day One Listen Log Move from 15m to 20m
1700Z Day One Listen Log 112 hour
1730Z Day One Listen Log
1800Z Day One Listen Log 123 hour
1830Z Day One Listen Log
1900Z Day One Listen Log
1930Z Day One Listen Log
2000Z Day One Listen Log
2030Z Day One Listen Log
2100Z Day One Listen Log
2130Z Day One Listen Log
2200Z Day One Listen Log
2230Z Day One Listen Log
2300Z Day One Listen Log
2330Z Day One Listen Log
0000Z Day Two Listen Log
0030Z Day Two Listen Log
0100Z Day Two Listen Log 4 QSOs, short off time
0130Z Day Two Listen Log
0200Z Day Two Listen Log
0230Z Day Two Listen Log
0300Z Day Two Listen Log
0330Z Day Two Listen off 0315Z – 0448Z
0400Z Day Two Listen
0430Z Day Two Listen Log
0500Z Day Two Listen Log 160m, 75m
0530Z Day Two Listen Log
0600Z Day Two Listen Log
0630Z Day Two Listen Log
0700Z Day Two Listen Log 40m Europe run
0730Z Day Two Listen Log More 40m Europe
0800Z Day Two Listen Log
0830Z Day Two Listen Log
0900Z Day Two Listen Log
0930Z Day Two Listen Log
1000Z Day Two Listen Log
1030Z Day Two Listen Log Beginning of 20m run
1100Z Day Two Listen Log
1130Z Day Two Listen Log
1200Z Day Two Listen Log
1230Z Day Two Listen Log
1300Z Day Two Listen Log
1330Z Day Two Listen Log
1400Z Day Two Listen Log
1430Z Day Two Listen Log
1500Z Day Two Listen Log
1530Z Day Two Listen Log
1600Z Day Two Listen Log
1630Z Day Two Listen Log
1700Z Day Two Listen Log
1730Z Day Two Listen Log
1800Z Day Two Listen Log
1830Z Day Two Listen Log
1900Z Day Two Listen Log
1930Z Day Two Listen Log
2000Z Day Two Listen Log
2030Z Day Two Listen Log
2100Z Day Two Listen Log
2130Z Day Two Listen Log
2200Z Day Two Listen Log
2230Z Day Two Listen Log
2300Z Day Two Listen Log
2330Z Day Two Listen Log

2004 CQ WW CW Contest K5ZD

K5ZD, Single Op All Band, High Power

By Randall A. Thompson, K5ZD
k5zd@contesting.com

Summary Sheet

              CQ WORLD WIDE DX CONTEST -- 2004

  Call: K5ZD                     Country:  United States
  Mode: CW                       Category: Single Operator
                                           High Power

      BAND     QSO   QSO PTS  PTS/QSO   ZONES COUNTRIES

      160       62      141     2.27     13      34
       80      418     1157     2.77     21      83
       40      615     1680     2.73     29     106
       20     1174     3313     2.82     37     124
       15      803     2330     2.90     31     108
       10      131      334     2.55     23      68
     ---------------------------------------------------
     Totals   3203     8955     2.80    154     523  =>  6,062,535

   (Above is after log checking.)

Station Description

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

Tower 1 – 100′ Rohn 45G

  • 40-2CD @ 110′
  • 205CA @ 100′ / 50′
  • 5-el 15 @70′ / 35′
  • 80m Inv Vee with top at 95′
  • 160m 1/4-wave GP with 4 elevated radials

Tower 2 – 90′ Rohn 25G

  • 6-el 10 @90′ with 4/4 @ 60’/30′
  • 40m 1/2-wave sloper to west
  • 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′

Comments

This contest suffered from two unusual failures: operator and antennas.

I wanted to do the contest. I prepared for the contest. But, when it started, I just didn’t seem to have the necessary motivation. Decided to sleep 90 minutes the first night in an effort to reduce the pain of the poor conditions. Have never slept during the first night a serious effort before.

Discovered the first antenna problem when I tried to turn the side mounted 15m beam to Europe Sat morning. It would get stuck at due North. Decided to push on using just the antenna fixed on Europe at 30′ and would try to determine the problem later in the day.

Nothing fixes motivation like some high rates. Managed a best 60 minutes of 195 QSOs on Sat morning. Maybe I should just use the low antenna all the time!

Ran out to the tower later and found one leg of the 80m inverted Vee had fallen into the 15m beam. Pulled it back out and was fully rotatable again.

Second antenna problem occurred around 02Z. Turned the 40/20m beam due south to work CP6CW on 40m. Then couldn’t get the Tailtwister to rotate back again. We had a full moon and good weather, but didn’t want to take a chance climbing the tower. Kept trying to play with it but no wind, so it wasn’t moving. This leaves my only 40m antenna fixed south.

Told my wife that this effectively ended the contest for me. Decided to play DXer on the low bands and try to make what score I could. 80m was great Sat night at Eu sunrise. Gave up the normal 40m opening (maybe 100 QSOs) and went to bed.

Sunday morning, got up and decided to do what I could with the fixed 20m beam to Europe at 50′. Conditions on 20m were great. Band was wide open across Europe and into zone 16. Worked lots of UA3 stations with great signals. Again, maybe I need to do all my 20m running with the low antenna only!

15m and 10m never did much on Sunday. 20m was always more productive.

Was windy on Sunday and I could play with the rotator where I could see it through the shack window. Finally got it off the stop and rotary again. Kept me in the contest and was worth a lot of multipliers in the last several hours.

Definitely a contest for SO2R (and to be in W1). No 10m, yet managed to work lots of countries. One advantage of calling CQ on 20m all day is that lots of strange and interesting things call in. Thus the big mult. Never heard zone 23 or 24 on any band.

Learned that sleep makes DX contests more fun. Also that sleep sure helps your mental ability to handle high rates. As conditions go down, we are going to find the activity is super concentrated into specific openings. May be worth sleeping more to maximize rate production.

Another lesson is that motivation is often a matter of managing expectations. When conditions were bad the first night, it was hard to imagine continuing all weekend. Best not to try competing with past rate sheets and just deal with what is happening now.

Lots of great operators out there. Just wish they would sign their calls more often. Not all of us are using packet.

Continent Statistics

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

    SA       4     10     23     37     36     32     142     4.4
    NA      32     57     82     88     60     42     361    11.2
    EU      26    339    482    930    639     37    2453    76.1
    AS       0      4     16     75     40      0     135     4.2
    AF       1      9     14     30     21     14      89     2.8
    OC       0      3      5     21      8      5      42     1.3

Rate Sheet

QSO/ZN+DX by hour and band - K5ZD CQ WW CW 2004

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

0000Z  --+--   --+--   56/51   25/33   --+--   --+--   81/84     81/84  
0100Z    -     31/21   44/14    7/3      -       -     82/38    163/122 
0200Z    -      9/7    62/19     -       -       -     71/26    234/148 
0300Z   9/13   48/20   13/3      -       -       -     70/36    304/184 
0400Z  11/6    59/15     -       -       -       -     70/21    374/205 
0500Z  10/7    53/3      -       -       -       -     63/10    437/215 
0600Z   9/7    26/8    10/6     1/1      -       -     46/22    483/237 
0700Z    -     30/11   13/2      -       -       -     43/13    526/250 
0800Z   2/1     7/5    35/3    --+--   --+--   --+--   44/9     570/259 
0900Z    -      5/1     8/6     4/5      -       -     17/12    587/271    25
1000Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     587/271    60
1100Z   4/0     1/2     8/3    66/37    5/7      -     84/49    671/320     9
1200Z    -       -       -     73/8    86/41     -    159/49    830/369 
1300Z    -       -       -       -    180/13    9/14  189/27   1019/396 
1400Z    -       -       -       -    145/6    25/25  170/31   1189/427 
1500Z    -       -       -       -    105/3    21/15  126/18   1315/445 
1600Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   40/17   18/11   58/28   1373/473<-ant work 
1700Z    -       -       -     86/4    16/9    15/5   117/18   1490/491 
1800Z    -       -       -     59/6    20/10    2/2    81/18   1571/509 
1900Z    -       -       -     42/13    8/3     8/3    58/19   1629/528 
2000Z    -       -      2/0    36/6    15/5     3/4    56/15   1685/543 
2100Z    -       -     81/5      -       -      8/4    89/9    1774/552 
2200Z    -       -     96/6      -     16/6      -    112/12   1886/564 
2300Z    -       -     55/4     8/2     2/0      -     65/6    1951/570 
0000Z  --+--    1/0    23/0     2/2    --+--   --+--   26/2    1977/572    36
0100Z   3/2    19/3    10/2      -       -       -     32/7    2009/579 
0200Z   1/1      -     14/6      -       -       -     15/7    2024/586<-rotator 25
0300Z    -       -      2/2      -       -       -      2/2    2026/588    60
0400Z   1/2    37/5      -       -       -       -     38/7    2064/595 
0500Z   6/5    24/3      -       -       -       -     30/8    2094/603 
0600Z   5/3    72/0      -       -       -       -     77/3    2171/606     2
0700Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    2171/606    60
0800Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0    2171/606    60
0900Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    2171/606    60
1000Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    2171/606    60
1100Z   2/0      -      1/0    51/6     2/2      -     56/8    2227/614    16
1200Z    -       -       -    110/1    16/4      -    126/5    2353/619 
1300Z    -       -       -     96/0    24/1      -    120/1    2473/620 
1400Z    -       -       -    112/2    12/2      -    124/4    2597/624 
1500Z    -       -       -     34/2    55/0     5/3    94/5    2691/629 
1600Z  --+--   --+--   --+--  136/7     4/0     1/0   141/7    2832/636 
1700Z    -       -       -    125/4     6/2      -    131/6    2963/642 
1800Z    -       -       -     31/5     4/2     7/3    42/10   3005/652 
1900Z    -       -       -     21/1    12/1     9/2    42/4    3047/656 
2000Z    -       -       -     21/6    10/3      -     31/9    3078/665 
2100Z    -       -     27/1     5/2     2/0      -     34/3    3112/668 
2200Z    -       -     17/0    30/4      -       -     47/4    3159/672 
2300Z    -       -     45/4     1/1    19/2      -     65/7    3224/679 

Total: 63/47 422/104 622/137 1182/161 804/139 131/91 

Unique callsigns worked = 2243

The best 60 minute rate was 195/hour from 1233 to 1332
The best 30 minute rate was 212/hour from 1256 to 1325
The best 10 minute rate was 234/hour from 1256 to 1305

The best 1 minute rates were:
 5 QSOs/minute    5 times.
 4 QSOs/minute   91 times.
 3 QSOs/minute  274 times.
 2 QSOs/minute  571 times.
 1 QSOs/minute  871 times.

There were 616 band changes and 268 probable 2nd radio QSOs.

Multi-band QSOs
----------------
1 bands    1651
2 bands     360
3 bands     132
4 bands      58
5 bands      27
6 bands      15

The following stations were worked on 6 bands:

J7OJ        WP2Z        VP2MZM      LZ9W        RU1A        PJ2T        
VP9I        HC8N        VE3YAA      DF0HQ       V31RM       S52ZW       
VE3DZ       8P5A        VE3JM       

----- S i n g l e   B a n d   Q S O ' s  -----
Band    160     80     40     20     15     10
----------------------------------------------
QSOs     25    198    287    699    401     41

Breakdown by Zone

Zone     160     80     40     20     15     10  Total    Pct
-------------------------------------------------------------
14        10    130    200    439    281     16   1076   32.9
15        11    174    225    315    268     17   1010   30.9
16         3     27     39    140     63      3    275    8.4
4         11     19     30     35     15     14    124    3.8
20         2      9     18     34     31      1     95    2.9
8          7     16     21     17     17     16     94    2.9
5         10     13     23     19      9      5     79    2.4
25         0      1      6     19     30      0     56    1.7
9          3      7     10     11      9      8     48    1.5
33         1      6      8     17     11      5     48    1.5
13         0      2      4     12     12     15     45    1.4
17         0      1      2     38      2      0     43    1.3
11         0      0      6      9     12      5     32    1.0
3          2      6      2      5      7      3     25    0.8
7          1      1      4      7      5      4     22    0.7
35         0      3      4      4      5      3     19    0.6
32         0      2      2      7      3      4     18    0.6
40         0      1      3      7      2      0     13    0.4
10         1      1      2      2      3      3     12    0.4
38         0      0      2      4      2      2     10    0.3
30         0      0      1      7      1      0      9    0.3
6          0      1      1      1      4      1      8    0.2
31         0      1      1      2      2      1      7    0.2
21         0      0      2      3      1      0      6    0.2
2          1      1      1      2      1      0      6    0.2
39         0      0      0      3      1      1      5    0.2
18         0      0      1      4      0      0      5    0.2
36         0      0      0      2      1      2      5    0.2
26         0      0      0      4      0      0      4    0.1
22         0      0      1      1      2      0      4    0.1
28         0      0      1      3      0      0      4    0.1
12         0      0      0      2      0      1      3    0.1
1          0      0      0      2      1      0      3    0.1
27         0      0      0      1      2      0      3    0.1
29         0      0      0      2      0      0      2    0.1
19         0      0      1      1      0      0      2    0.1
37         0      0      0      1      0      1      2    0.1
34         0      0      1      0      1      0      2    0.1
------------------------------------------------------
Total     63    422    622   1182    804    131   3224

Breakdown by Country

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

   3D2              1      1      1      1      1       5
    3V              1      2      1      1              5
    4L                            1                     1
  4U1I                     1                            1
  4U1U       1      1                                   2
  4U1V              1                    1              2
    4X              1      1      1      2              5
    5B              1      1      1      1              4
    5H                            1             1       2
    5R                            1                     1
    5U              1      1      1      1      1       5
    6W              1      1      1      1      1       5
    6Y                     1                            1
    7X                                          1       1
    8P       1      1      1      1      1      1       6
    8Q                     1             1              2
    8R                                   1              1
    9A              6      5     10     13      3      37
    9G                            1                     1
   9M2                            1                     1
   9M6                            1                     1
    9Y              1      1      1      1      1       5
    A4                     1             1              2
    A6                     1      1                     2
    C3                     1                            1
    C5                     1             1              2
    C6              1      1      2      1              5
    CE                            2             1       3
   CE9                     1      2             1       4
    CM       1      1      3             1              6
    CN              1             1                     2
    CP                     1      1      1      1       4
    CT              2      1      5      4      2      14
   CT3              2      3      4      3      2      14
    CU                     2                            2
    CX                     1      3      2      2       8
    D4              1      1      1      1      1       5
    DL       3     53     69    145     91      1     362
    DU                            1                     1
    EA              7     27     43     25      6     108
   EA6              1      1      2      1      1       6
   EA8       1      2      3     10      6      2      24
   EA9                            1                     1
    EI       1      2      4      3      5             15
    ER                     1      1                     2
    ES              2      2      1      3              8
    EU       1      3      1      7      4             16
    EY                            1                     1
     F       2     20     18     47     39      2     128
    FM              1      1      1      1      2       6
    FR                            1      1      1       3
     G             12     22     65     38            137
    GD                            1      1              2
    GI              1      2                            3
    GJ       1      1      1      1      2              6
    GM              5      6      7      8      1      27
    GU                     1      3      1              5
    GW              2      2      5      3      1      13
    HA       5     17     26     24     16      2      90
    HB              3      9     20      8             40
    HC                                          1       1
   HC8       1      1      1      1      1      1       6
    HI              1      2      1      1      1       6
    HK                            2                     2
    HP                            1                     1
    HR                            1                     1
    HS                            3                     3
     I             13     34     42     36      3     128
   IG9                                   1              1
    IS                     1      1      4              6
   IT9                     1             1              2
    J7       1      2      2      2      2      2      11
    JA              1      6     19     30             56
    JW                            2                     2
     K       4      8     16     23      5      7      63
   KH2                                   2              2
   KH6              1      1      2      2      1       7
    KL                            2      1              3
   KP2       2      1      1      1      1      1       7
   KP4              2      4      2      3      2      13
    LA              1      5     11      7      1      25
    LU              2      1      6      8     11      28
    LX              1      2      3      2              8
    LY              6      4     18      6             34
    LZ       1      3      6     11     10      1      32
    OA                                   1              1
    OD                            1      1              2
    OE              5      5      7      6             23
    OH             10      6     36     21      1      74
   OH0              2      1             1      1       5
    OK       1     45     42     60     56      1     205
    OM       1     10     14     12     12      1      50
    ON       1      7      8     16      6             38
    OX                            1      1              2
    OY                     2      1                     3
    OZ       1      4      3     11      7             26
    P4       1      3      5      4      5      4      22
    PA              3      4     19     15             41
   PJ2       1      1      1      2      2      1       8
   PJ7                     1                            1
    PY                     6      9     12      5      32
    S5       1     14     22     25     28      2      92
    S9                            2      1      2       5
    SM       1      5      9     31     18      1      65
    SP       1     23     29     41     38            132
    SU                     1             1              2
    SV                     3      6      2             11
   SV9              1                                   1
    T9              1      9      2      3             15
    TA                     1                            1
    TF              1      3      4      1              9
    TI                     2      2      2      1       7
    TK                     1      1                     2
    TU                                   1              1
    UA       2     13     18     91     30      2     156
   UA2       1      1      1      4                     7
   UA9              1      3     38      2             44
    UN                     1      4                     5
    UR             11     19     41     29      1     101
    V2              1      1      1      1      1       5
    V3       1      1      2      1      2      1       8
    V4       1                    1      1      1       4
    V5                     1      2      1      1       5
    VE      18     29     39     37     26     14     163
    VK                     1      8      1             10
  VK0M                            1                     1
  VK9N                            1                     1
  VP2E              1             1      1      1       4
  VP2M       1      1      1      2      1      2       8
  VP2V              1                                   1
   VP5              1      1      1      1      1       5
   VP8                     1      1      1      1       4
 VP8/h                     1      1      1              3
   VP9       1      1      1      1      1      1       6
    VU                            1      1              2
    XE              1      1      1      4      1       8
    XU                            1                     1
    YB                     1      1                     2
    YI                            1                     1
    YL              4      1      7      6             18
    YN                            1      1      1       3
    YO       1      3      6     12     14             36
    YU       1     13     18     21     16      3      72
    YV       1      2      3      2             2      10
    Z3              1      2      4      1              8
    ZA                     1                            1
   ZC4                            1      1              2
    ZF              1      1      1      1      1       5
 ZK1/s              1                           1       2
    ZL                     1      5      2      2      10
    ZS                            2      1      1       4

2004 CQ WW RTTY Contest K5ZD

K5ZD, Single Op All Band, High Power

By Randall A. Thompson, K5ZD
k5zd@contesting.com

Summary Sheet

              CQ WORLD WIDE DX CONTEST -- 2004

  Call: K5ZD                     Country:  United States
  Mode: RTTY                     Category: Single Operator
                                           High Power

Band         QSOs   Pts  State/Prov  DX   Zones
      ------------------------------------------
      80:    181    391      32      37     10
      40:    295    645      40      52     19
      20:    578   1512      37      75     29
      15:    545   1513      23      78     24
      10:     21     52       5       8      8
      ------------------------------------------
      Total: 1620  4113     137     250     90 Total Score = 1,961,901

(Above is claimed score.)

Station Description

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

Tower 1 – 100′ Rohn 45G

  • 40-2CD @ 110′
  • 205CA @ 100′ / 50′
  • 5-el 15 @70′ / 35′
  • 80m Inv Vee with top at 95′

Tower 2 – 90′ Rohn 25G

  • 6-el 10 @90′ with 4/4 @ 60’/30′
  • 80m 1/4-wave elevated GP with 16 radials

Tower 3 – 40′ Rohn 25G

  • TH7DXX at 40′

Comments

Wow. What a fun contest!

Was just going to play around and make sure the station was ready for contest season. Had a goal of making 800 QSOs or so. Was having so much fun I couldn’t stop operating! Ended up with 20 hours, but lots of breaks.

Almost never break 100 QSOs/hour on RTTY and did it 3 hours in a row. All thanks to the extra QSOs from the second radio. RTTY contests are ideal for practicing and improving SO2R technique. You get to do all the practice of operating and switching, while the computer does the job of copying.

The RTTY ops just keep getting better and better. Only a few guys would call by sending their call 6 to 9 times. And if you are calling someone, why add “PSE” at the end???

Great to see so many of the new European calls. The future of contesting looks bright. We need more activity from the USA. Many easy multipliers were missed.

WriteLog is unbelievable. I just used the stock product and it seemed to be able to copy anything. And the SO2R support is superb.

Ratesheet

Hour       80M     40M     20M     15M     10M    Total      Cumm   Off
D1-0100Z    -       -      7/12     -       -      7/12      7/12  
D1-0200Z  38/32     -      3/2      -       -     41/34     48/46  
D1-0300Z  40/17   12/16     -       -       -     52/33    100/79  
D1-0400Z  36/14   28/23     -       -       -     64/37    164/116 
D1-0500Z  18/6    38/16    1/2      -       -     57/24    221/140    1
D1-0600Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     221/140   60
D1-0700Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     221/140   60
D1-0800Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0     221/140   60
D1-0900Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     221/140   60
D1-1000Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     221/140   60
D1-1100Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     221/140   60
D1-1200Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     221/140   60
D1-1300Z    -       -       -      1/2      -      1/2     222/142   60
D1-1400Z    -       -     26/27   91/28     -    117/55    339/197 
D1-1500Z    -       -     30/18   89/31     -    119/49    458/246 
D1-1600Z  --+--   --+--   26/10   80/13    3/4   109/27    567/273 
D1-1700Z    -       -     25/5    63/14     -     88/19    655/292    1
D1-1800Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     655/292   60
D1-1900Z    -       -     24/1     7/8      -     31/9     686/301   43
D1-2000Z    -       -     71/4    22/8     1/0    94/12    780/313 
D1-2100Z    -       -     33/9     2/0      -     35/9     815/322   34
D1-2200Z    -      1/1     1/0      -       -      2/1     817/323   59
D1-2300Z    -     18/10    8/7      -       -     26/17    843/340   40
D2-0000Z  --+--   15/3    25/6    --+--   --+--   40/9     883/349   33
D2-0100Z  14/1    20/4    25/2      -       -     59/7     942/356 
D2-0200Z   9/1    46/12   11/4      -       -     66/17   1008/373 
D2-0300Z  18/6    47/8      -       -       -     65/14   1073/387 
D2-0400Z   1/0    14/1     1/0      -       -     16/1    1089/388   42
D2-0500Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1089/388   60
D2-0600Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1089/388   60
D2-0700Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1089/388   60
D2-0800Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0    1089/388   60
D2-0900Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1089/388   60
D2-1000Z   7/2    17/9     1/0      -       -     25/11   1114/399   36
D2-1100Z    -      5/3    55/8     8/1      -     68/12   1182/411   14
D2-1200Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1182/411   60
D2-1300Z    -       -     19/0    53/3      -     72/3    1254/414   16
D2-1400Z    -       -     31/6    62/6     2/0    95/12   1349/426 
D2-1500Z    -       -     62/3    37/4      -     99/7    1448/433 
D2-1600Z  --+--   --+--   36/2    17/4     1/3    54/9    1502/442   15
D2-1700Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1502/442   60
D2-1800Z    -       -       -      9/1      -      9/1    1511/443   13
D2-1900Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1511/443   60
D2-2000Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1511/443   60
D2-2100Z    -       -     17/3     3/2     8/10   28/15   1539/458    1
D2-2200Z    -       -       -       -      1/0     1/0    1540/458   60
D2-2300Z    -     34/5    40/10    1/0     5/4    80/19   1620/477 

Total:   181/79  295/111 578/141 545/125  21/21

 

2004 ARRL DX CW Contest (W4PA opr)

K5ZD (W4PA opr.), Single Op All Band, High Power

                     ARRL DX Contest, CW
 
 Call: K5ZD
 Operator(s): W4PA
 Station: K5ZD
 
 Class: SOAB HP
 QTH: MA
 Operating Time (hrs): 48
 Radios: SO2R
 
 Summary:
  Band  QSOs  Mults
 -------------------
   160:   98    58
    80:  515    83
    40: 1127    98
    20: 1081   105
    15: 1073    97
    10:  407    79
 -------------------
 Total: 4301   520  Total Score = 6,706,440
 
 Club: Tennessee Contest Group

Comments

 New W/VE single op, high power record.   The question is, am I the only one? Haven’t seen too many SOABHP scores yet on the 3830 ‘net.  

Let me be the first (or third, or 20th) to say what a class thing it was for the guys in Dominica to use J7OJ as the callsign this weekend. I thought that was really cool, a great way to pay tribute to Jim.

Contest:  Well…after getting the high claimed score for CQ WW CW this year, and having been disappointed in how I did in ARRL DX CW in 2003 I decided I was going ALL OUT for this one.  Randy helped the cause immensely by getting a 4 square up on 80 meters and a second 160m transmit antenna that is definitely improving the K5ZD signal to the Caribbean.  K5ZD has gone from calling…and calling…Carib mults on 160 to pounding the pileup first or second call almost every time. 

I decided to be extra aggressive in gathering multipliers and made a couple of changes in mult technique that really paid off this weekend.

I started the contest CQing on 40m and was able to pull off working 11 mults on 160 in the first hour in between running on 40.  I had 40 multipliers on 160 when the sun came up Saturday morning.

My plans were simple, operate all 48 hours without a break, maximize band openings, aggressively hunt down/move multipliers and manage the radios the way I wanted…meaning the Orion was the run radio 99% of the time and Randy’s FT1000D was the mult radio.  The only exception to this was using the Orion to hunt multipliers on 160, and I would just use the 1000D on 40 or 80 to CQ while doing.  Except for 160, hunting mults is generally not a weak signal affair – so having the radio that was going to allow me to best copy weak signals complete callsign the first time, every time as the run radio was most important to maximizing the score totals.  With the BW set at 400 Hz or so the whole weekend, I never heard anyone or anything else in my passband but callers on my run frequency the entire 48 hours.  Man, did I ever work a lot of 5 watters on 80 and 40 meters this weekend!

I went the first 33 hours without getting out of the chair except to run (literally) to the bathroom in the next room.  I pre-planned a break for when I usually get to be losing it a little bit from sleep deprivation, around 4 a.m. local Sunday.  0908Z Sunday I got up for a 15 minute break, ate some food, made coffee, changed my clothes, and then was at the radio non-stop to the end.

So that’s the story.  I regret 10 meters didn’t pull a strong opening to EU on Sunday or I think 7,000,000 would have been realistic this weekend.  Thanks for all the Q’s – I am again doing the writeup for QST magazine to appear in the fall for this contest.  Your anecdotes and pics always welcome.

73

Scott W4PA

Rate Sheet

QSO/DX by hour and band

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

D1-0000Z  11/11    5/5   106/34   --+--   --+--   --+--  122/50    122/50  
D1-0100Z   4/3     7/7    86/6    10/10     -       -    107/26    229/76  
D1-0200Z   4/4    46/15   31/4     6/2      -       -     87/25    316/101 
D1-0300Z   5/4    91/12   14/9      -       -       -    110/25    426/126 
D1-0400Z   1/1    18/5    38/7      -       -       -     57/13    483/139 
D1-0500Z  10/8     8/5    84/3      -       -       -    102/16    585/155 
D1-0600Z   1/1    32/3    33/5      -       -       -     66/9     651/164 
D1-0700Z   7/6     7/6    88/3      -       -       -    102/15    753/179 
D1-0800Z   2/2     5/3    83/2    --+--   --+--   --+--   90/7     843/186 
D1-0900Z    -      4/4    48/10     -       -       -     52/14    895/200 
D1-1000Z   2/0     5/3     8/2      -       -       -     15/5     910/205 
D1-1100Z    -       -       -    127/34   34/18     -    161/52   1071/257 
D1-1200Z    -       -       -       -    154/20    7/7   161/27   1232/284 
D1-1300Z    -       -       -       -     73/9    68/19  141/28   1373/312 
D1-1400Z    -       -       -       -     38/6    73/9   111/15   1484/327 
D1-1500Z    -       -       -       -     16/6   127/9   143/15   1627/342 
D1-1600Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   57/2    67/5   124/7    1751/349 
D1-1700Z    -       -       -       -    111/1    24/13  135/14   1886/363 
D1-1800Z    -       -       -    110/4    16/7     4/2   130/13   2016/376 
D1-1900Z    -       -       -    138/7     4/4     2/2   144/13   2160/389 
D1-2000Z    -       -       -     81/6     8/3     2/1    91/10   2251/399 
D1-2100Z    -       -      2/2    66/7     8/5     5/5    81/19   2332/418 
D1-2200Z  20/5      -      7/0    29/5      -      1/1    57/11   2389/429 
D1-2300Z   1/1   103/1      -      5/3     3/0      -    112/5    2501/434 
D2-0000Z  --+--   42/1    36/1     4/1    --+--   --+--   82/3    2583/437 
D2-0100Z   8/3     5/1    19/2     7/4      -       -     39/10   2622/447 
D2-0200Z   1/0    22/1    20/0     1/0      -       -     44/1    2666/448 
D2-0300Z   3/2    57/1     8/2      -       -       -     68/5    2734/453 
D2-0400Z   4/1    12/2    39/1      -       -       -     55/4    2789/457 
D2-0500Z   5/1     3/0    49/0      -       -       -     57/1    2846/458 
D2-0600Z   4/1     2/1    52/2      -       -       -     58/4    2904/462 
D2-0700Z   2/1     8/2    54/0      -       -       -     64/3    2968/465 
D2-0800Z   1/1     1/1    68/1    --+--   --+--   --+--   70/3    3038/468 
D2-0900Z    -       -      6/0    13/0      -       -     19/0    3057/468 
D2-1000Z   1/1      -       -     92/1      -       -     93/2    3150/470 
D2-1100Z    -       -       -    111/2     3/0      -    114/2    3264/472 
D2-1200Z    -       -       -     98/7    31/1      -    129/8    3393/480 
D2-1300Z    -       -       -       -    118/5     2/1   120/6    3513/486 
D2-1400Z    -       -       -      3/2   115/1     1/1   119/4    3632/490 
D2-1500Z    -       -       -      1/0    94/1     6/1   101/2    3733/492 
D2-1600Z  --+--   --+--   --+--    5/2    78/4     7/1    90/7    3823/499 
D2-1700Z    -       -       -      6/0    77/2     9/2    92/4    3915/503 
D2-1800Z    -       -       -     52/0    22/1     2/0    76/1    3991/504 
D2-1900Z    -       -       -     60/1     7/1      -     67/2    4058/506 
D2-2000Z    -       -       -     43/1     4/0      -     47/1    4105/507 
D2-2100Z    -       -     84/1     4/0      -       -     88/1    4193/508 
D2-2200Z    -       -     54/1     5/3     2/0      -     61/4    4254/512 
D2-2300Z   1/1    32/4     9/0     4/3      -       -     46/8    4300/520 

Total:    98/58  515/83 1126/98 1081/1051073/97  407/79 

2003 CQ WW CW Contest K5ZD

K5ZD, Single Op All Band, High Power

By Randall A. Thompson, K5ZD
k5zd@contesting.com

Summary Sheet

              CQ WORLD WIDE DX CONTEST -- 2003

  Call: K5ZD                     Country:  United States
  Mode: CW                       Category: Single Operator
                                           High Power

      BAND     QSO   QSO PTS  PTS/QSO   ZONES COUNTRIES

      160       22       54     2.45      8      18
       80      289      820     2.84     16      70
       40      726     2100     2.89     30      93
       20      753     2182     2.90     34     109
       15      756     2217     2.93     29     101
       10      628     1847     2.94     29      96
     ---------------------------------------------------

     Totals   3174     9220     2.90    146     487  =>  5,836,160

   (Above is before log checking.)

Station Description

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

Tower 1 – 100′ Rohn 45G

  • 40-2CD @ 110′
  • 205CA @ 100′ / 50′
  • 5-el 15 @70′ / 35′
  • 80m Inv Vee with top at 95′
  • 160m 1/4-wave GP with 4 elevated radials

Tower 2 – 90′ Rohn 25G

  • 6-el 10 @90′ with 4/4 @ 60’/30′
  • 40m 1/2-wave sloper to west
  • 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′

Comments…

A truly fun weekend!

With a heavy work travel schedule and trying to take two MBA classes, I let my wife talk me into not doing the contest seriously. Operated the first 3 hours and then went to bed. Woke up early, did some DXing on the low bands and then CQed for awhile. Took the dog for a walk and ran some errands. Worked more guys. Then went off to meet a classmate to work on a school project. Came back and had dinner. Now almost 23 hours into the contest and I had already taken 12 hours off.

Decided to see how the bands were. Still good! Decided I would stay up late and see what I had missed by sleeping the first night. Set goal of working 300 countries. Finally made myself quit at 3AM and went to bed. By now, the contest bug is starting to bite. Woke up 3 hours later and decided to crank up the QSO machine and see what I could do to get the QSO totals respectable on all bands. At the 24 hour mark of operating time I had 4Meg. Almost quit then, but still having too much fun.

Still 8 hours of the contest to go. Can’t stop because YCCC president N1XS has exhorted everyone to keep their butt in the chair. Got this crazy idea that maybe I could sneak into the Top Ten box. Kept CQing and doing the SO2R thing. Score kept going up. Ended with an exhilarating run on 7000.6.

Almost wish I had done the whole thing, but probably wouldn’t have had as much fun. Winning CQ WW is hard. You have to keep pushing all the time and make sure you get good frequencies on the hot band. There is no time to rest or relax. By sleeping the first night, I had no pressure and was able to go DXing when I got tired of CQing. It actually helped me be more on the right band than if I had been trying. Not to mention how much more fun (and accurate) it is to operate with enough sleep.

Only ran into a few packet pileups. Most of the time I would just keep tuning. Did work TO4WW on 40. Had no idea where it was other than zone 39. Turns out to be an ALL TIME new one for me! (He was listening up 1-2 KHz and it was exactly the right thing to do. Who says you can’t work split in a contest?)

7S2E was still loud on 40m at 1130Z. Wow. On Sunday morning, 40m was the best I have ever heard over the pole to Japan. 40 was wall to wall all the way up to 7100. My best runs Sat night were on 7085 and 7076.

Managed to work 2 JA stations on 80 Saturday morning.

160 was funny. Heard lots of stuff Friday night but it couldn’t hear me. Saturday managed to work a few Eu, but it wasn’t worth it. Didn’t matter because 80 and 40 were so good.

Overall operating was excellent. No real frequency fights. Less than the usual number of dupes. Most people got my call right. Didn’t seem like I got spotted as KH7D this year.

As always, amazing how many stations made big QSO totals that I never even heard. Was really searching for N5TJ at KP3Z and only worked him on 1 band! He had over 6000 QSOs! Worked VP9I, A45XR, and JY8YB on only one band. ZD8Z on 2 bands. Heard A61AJ on 160, but only worked him on 2 bands. That’s part of what makes this contest great. But also why packet is such an advantage of the multi-ops. It is just too easy for the good stuff to get lost in the noise.

Breakdown below. I assume rates were better than normal on day 2 because I hadn’t worked everyone on day 1.

Continent Statistics

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

    EU       8    230    601    572    613    536    2560    80.7
    NA      10     39     57     54     43     29     232     7.3
    AF       1      7     14     23     18     11      74     2.3
    AS       0      4     31     69     50     13     167     5.3
    SA       3      8     12     25     28     32     108     3.4
    OC       0      1      9      9      4      7      30     0.9

Rate Sheet

QSO/ZN+DX by hour and band

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

0000Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   71/58   11/6    --+--   82/64     82/64  
0100Z    -       -     85/56   24/12    2/2      -    111/70    193/134 
0200Z   3/6    50/36    4/1    16/14     -       -     73/57    266/191 
0300Z   1/2    50/10   11/7     4/4      -       -     66/23    332/214    10
0400Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     332/214    60
0500Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     332/214    60
0600Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     332/214    60
0700Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     332/214    60
0800Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0     332/214    60
0900Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     332/214    60
1000Z   1/1    13/11   14/13     -       -       -     28/25    360/239    22
1100Z   3/5     3/3    10/5    28/5    58/23     -    102/41    462/280 
1200Z    -       -       -      9/5   164/20    4/6   177/31    639/311 
1300Z    -       -       -       -     21/5   127/38  148/43    787/354 
1400Z    -       -       -       -     79/9    51/7   130/16    917/370     5
1500Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     917/370    60
1600Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0     917/370    60
1700Z    -       -       -     63/9     5/2    32/24  100/35   1017/405     6
1800Z    -       -       -     91/4    39/23    1/2   131/29   1148/434 
1900Z    -       -       -       -       -      6/5     6/5    1154/439    55
2000Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1154/439    60
2100Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1154/439    60
2200Z    -       -       -       -      1/2     9/8    10/10   1164/449    47
2300Z    -       -     35/8    20/3    13/4     4/0    72/15   1236/464 
0000Z  --+--   --+--   81/18    7/5    --+--   --+--   88/23   1324/487 
0100Z   7/7    33/4    20/0     2/0      -       -     62/11   1386/498 
0200Z    -     35/6    28/4      -       -       -     63/10   1449/508 
0300Z   6/4    43/6     6/0     1/1      -       -     56/11   1505/519 
0400Z    -     17/3    67/4     4/2      -       -     88/9    1593/528 
0500Z    -     22/4    91/3      -       -       -    113/7    1706/535 
0600Z    -     10/2    62/0     2/1      -       -     74/3    1780/538 
0700Z    -      6/1    81/2     3/1      -       -     90/4    1870/542 
0800Z   1/1     5/0     8/0    --+--   --+--   --+--   14/1    1884/543    43
0900Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1884/543    60
1000Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1884/543    60
1100Z    -      2/0     9/2     2/0      -       -     13/2    1897/545    38
1200Z    -       -       -    101/9    30/8      -    131/17   2028/562 
1300Z    -       -       -       -     16/1   140/9   156/10   2184/572 
1400Z    -       -       -       -     14/2   132/5   146/7    2330/579 
1500Z    -       -       -       -     67/3    78/3   145/6    2475/585 
1600Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--  130/2     8/3   138/5    2613/590 
1700Z    -       -       -     48/0    56/2     8/1   112/3    2725/593 
1800Z    -       -       -    109/2    18/7     1/0   128/9    2853/602 
1900Z    -       -       -     52/3     6/0    15/4    73/7    2926/609    10
2000Z    -       -       -     26/0     8/7     5/4    39/11   2965/620    20
2100Z    -       -     11/0    36/3     4/0     3/2    54/5    3019/625 
2200Z    -       -     35/0    10/1    14/2     4/4    63/7    3082/632 
2300Z    -       -     68/0    24/1      -       -     92/1    3174/633 

Total: 22/26  289/86  726/123 753/143 756/130 628/125

Unique callsigns worked = 2174

The best 60 minute rate was 180/hour from 1203 to 1302
The best 30 minute rate was 192/hour from 1256 to 1325
The best 10 minute rate was 222/hour from 1316 to 1325

The best 1 minute rates were:
 5 QSOs/minute    8 times.
 4 QSOs/minute  100 times.
 3 QSOs/minute  350 times.
 2 QSOs/minute  543 times.
 1 QSOs/minute  598 times.

There were 553 band changes and 260 probable 2nd radio QSOs.

Multi-band QSOs
----------------
1 bands    1591
2 bands     331
3 bands     132
4 bands      81
5 bands      33
6 bands       6

The following stations were worked on 6 bands:

9A1A        HC8N        P40E        PJ2T        VP5X        VE3EJ       

----- S i n g l e   B a n d   Q S O ' s  -----
Band    160     80     40     20     15     10

QSOs     10    129    379    381    391    301

Breakdown by Zone

Mult     160     80     40     20     15     10  Total    Pct
-------------------------------------------------------------
14         5     81    222    271    259    274   1112   34.7
15         3    107    250    219    240    211   1030   32.1
16         0     34    105     59     90     30    318    9.9
20         0     10     31     24     27     20    112    3.5
4          4     13     25     15     11      8     76    2.4
8          4     12     13     16     15     10     70    2.2
17         0      0      9     28     23      2     62    1.9
25         0      2      7     16     15      9     49    1.5
5          2     10     10     15      4      3     44    1.4
33         1      5      9     12     11      5     43    1.3
9          2      5      5      8     10      7     37    1.2
13         0      0      0      9     10     15     34    1.1
11         0      2      6      7      7      7     29    0.9
3          0      2      5      2      6      2     17    0.5
35         0      2      2      6      3      2     15    0.5
7          0      2      1      2      4      3     12    0.4
18         0      0      4      7      0      0     11    0.3
30         0      0      4      4      0      1      9    0.3
38         0      0      2      4      1      2      9    0.3
32         0      0      2      2      2      3      9    0.3
31         0      1      2      2      2      2      9    0.3
10         1      1      1      2      1      2      8    0.2
40         0      0      1      3      2      2      8    0.2
21         0      0      2      1      5      0      8    0.2
6          0      0      2      3      1      2      8    0.2
19         0      0      0      3      2      1      6    0.2
36         0      0      0      2      1      1      4    0.1
28         0      0      0      3      0      0      3    0.1
24         0      0      1      2      0      0      3    0.1
1          0      0      1      0      1      1      3    0.1
2          0      0      1      1      1      0      3    0.1
26         0      0      0      2      0      0      2    0.1
27         0      0      0      1      0      1      2    0.1
37         0      0      1      0      1      0      2    0.1
34         0      0      0      0      1      1      2    0.1
29         0      0      1      0      0      0      1    0.0
39         0      0      1      0      0      0      1    0.0
23         0      0      0      1      0      0      1    0.0
12         0      0      0      0      0      1      1    0.0
22         0      0      0      1      0      0      1    0.0
------------------------------------------------------
Total     22    289    726    753    756    628   3174

Breakdown by Country

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

    3V              1      2      1      2              6
    4J                                   1              1
    4L                            1                     1
  4U1I                     1                            1
    4X                     1      1      2              4
    5B              2      3      3      2      1      11
    5N                            1                     1
    5U              1      1      1      1      1       5
    5W                                          1       1
    5X                     1             1              2
    6Y       1      2      1      1      1      1       7
    7X              1                                   1
    8P              1      1      1      1      1       5
    9A       1      5      5      6     10      7      34
    9G                            1                     1
    9H                     1                    2       3
    9K                     1                            1
   9M2                            3                     3
    9Y              1      2      1      1      1       6
    A4                                   1              1
    A6                     1             1              2
    CE                                          1       1
   CE9                            1                     1
    CM              2      3      1      1      1       8
    CN                            1      1              2
    CT                     2      5      3      4      14
   CT3              1      3      4      3      2      13
    CU                            1                     1
    CX                            1      4      2       7
    D4              1             1      1      1       4
    DL       1     24     92     94    103     86     400
    DU                            1                     1
    EA              4      8     26     14     15      67
   EA6                     1             2      1       4
   EA8       1      2      4      6      5      3      21
    EI       1             1                    2       4
    EK                                   1              1
    EL                     1      1                     2
    ER              1                           1       2
    ES              1      1      3      3      6      14
    EU              3      6      2      7      4      22
    EX                                   2              2
    EY                            1                     1
     F              8     25     34     27     29     123
    FJ                                   1              1
    FM       1             1                            2
    FY                            1             1       2
     G             13     28     32     36     44     153
    GD                                          1       1
    GI                            1             1       2
    GJ              1             1      1      1       4
    GM       1      4      3      5      6      6      25
  GM/s              1      1      1      1              4
    GU       1      1      2             1      1       6
    GW              3      5      7      3      5      23
    HA              7     19     16     18     21      81
    HB              1      7      9      6      4      27
   HC8       1      1      1      1      1      1       6
    HI              1             1      1      1       4
    HK                            1      1      1       3
    HP                                   1              1
    HS                            2                     2
    HZ                                   1              1
     I              7     18     21     18     19      83
    IS              1      2      1                     4
   IT9                     2      1      2      2       7
    J3                            1      2      1       4
    J8              1      1      1      1              4
    JA              2      7     16     15      9      49
    JT                            1                     1
    JY                     1                            1
     K       1      4     10     10      4      4      33
   KH2                                          1       1
   KH6                     1      2      1      1       5
    KL                     1             1      1       3
   KP2              1      1      1      2              5
   KP4       1                    3      1      1       6
    LA       1      3      5      5      4     11      29
    LU                            5      6     13      24
    LX              1      2      1      2      1       7
    LY              7      9     11      7      6      40
    LZ              4     12     11     11     11      49
    OA                                          1       1
    OE              3      2      7      4      7      23
    OH              4     19     27     20     13      83
   OH0              1      1      1      1      1       5
    OK             20     59     47     60     54     240
    OM             11     16     13     18     12      70
    ON              3      5     11      8     10      37
    OY                            1                     1
    OZ              5      5      6      5     13      34
    P4       1      1      2      2      3      1      10
    PA              3     11     15     18     16      63
   PJ2       1      2      1      2      2      2      10
   PJ7                            1      1              2
    PY              2      5      7      7      7      28
  PY0F                     1                            1
    S5       1     10     17      9     16     11      64
    S9                            1             1       2
    SM              6     18     17     19     23      83
    SP       1     16     42     26     33     27     145
    SU                                   1      1       2
    SV                     2      1      5      4      12
   SV5                     1                            1
   SV9                                          1       1
   T32              1      1             1      1       4
    T7                                          1       1
    T9                     7      3      2      2      14
    TA                     3      1      1              5
    TF                     1      3      2      2       8
    TG              1                    1              2
    TI              1      1      1      1      1       5
    TK              1      1      1             1       4
    TU                            1      1              2
    UA             14     52     44     44     17     171
   UA2              1      1      1      2      1       6
   UA9                     8     33     15      3      59
    UK                            1      1              2
    UN                     5      3      7             15
    UR             16     47     13     39      8     123
    V2              1      1      2             1       5
    V3                                          1       1
    V4              1      1      1      1      1       5
    V5                            1                     1
    VE       5     21     30     23     18      9     106
    VK                     5      4             1      10
   VP5       1      1      1      1      1      1       6
   VP8                            1                     1
 VP8/h                            1                     1
   VP9                     1                            1
    VR                     1      2                     3
    VU                            1                     1
    XE                     2      3      1      2       8
    YL              4      3      5      2      3      17
    YN                            1      1      1       3
    YO              4      8      7      6      3      28
    YU              6     21     19     18     12      76
    YV              1             1      3      1       6
    Z3              1      2             5      2      10
    ZA              1      2      1      1      1       6
   ZD8                            1      1              2
    ZF              1      1      1      1      1       5
    ZL                     2      2      2      2       8
    ZS                     2      2      1      2       7

2003 ARRL Sweepstakes CW AK1W

                   ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, CW

Call: AK1W
Operator(s): K5ZD
Station: K5ZD

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

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
  160:    0
   80:  119
   40:  474
   20:  516
   15:  123
   10:   83
------------
Total: 1315  Sections = 79  Total Score = 207,770

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club

Comments

Used the new club call just for fun. Wanted to see if there would be less requests for section repeats if I used a call in the proper call area. It was better‚ but still a lot of them. Too many ‘West’ sections (WMA‚ WPA‚ WTX‚ WWA)!

Missed NT – never heard one. Worked two or more of everything else except PR and PAC!

Contest started out even slower than normal. Just kept plugging and ended the first night just a little behind the usual total. Sunday wasn’t great‚ but consistent. Took an hour off when the flare hit. Figured things would improve toward the end of the contest‚ and they did.

Now 27 years in a row with more than 1K QSOs in SS CW. I love this contest!
Especially enjoy working those guys with old checks and the swinging bug fists.
Less of them every year…

Operating note for the day. If you are really weak‚ don’t send leading zeroes on your serial number.

The story in numbers below.

Rates

 Hour      80      40      20      15      10     Total     Cumm    OffTime

D1-2100Z    -       -     54/25   20/15    3/2    77/42     77/42  
D1-2200Z    -       -     54/7    12/5    13/2    79/14    156/56  
D1-2300Z    -       -     52/3    20/3      -     72/6     228/62  
D2-0000Z  --+--    1/0    46/7    28/2    --+--   75/9     303/71  
D2-0100Z    -     60/4    28/0      -       -     88/4     391/75  
D2-0200Z  12/0    54/0    10/0      -       -     76/0     467/75  
D2-0300Z  31/3    32/1      -       -       -     63/4     530/79  
D2-0400Z   8/0    66/0      -       -       -     74/0     604/79  
D2-0500Z  15/0    47/0      -       -       -     62/0     666/79  
D2-0600Z  17/0    34/0      -       -       -     51/0     717/79  
D2-0700Z   6/0    44/0      -       -       -     50/0     767/79  
D2-0800Z   8/0     4/0    --+--   --+--   --+--   12/0     779/79     40
D2-0900Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     779/79     60
D2-1000Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     779/79     60
D2-1100Z   5/0     9/0      -       -       -     14/0     793/79     48
D2-1200Z   4/0    35/0    15/0      -       -     54/0     847/79  
D2-1300Z    -     12/0    35/0      -       -     47/0     894/79  
D2-1400Z    -     11/0    29/0      -       -     40/0     934/79  
D2-1500Z    -      2/0    37/0     8/0      -     47/0     981/79  
D2-1600Z  --+--    1/0    28/0     3/0     3/0    35/0    1016/79  
D2-1700Z    -       -     12/0      -       -     12/0    1028/79     39
D2-1800Z    -       -      6/0      -     23/0    29/0    1057/79     27
D2-1900Z    -      1/0    21/0     2/0    17/0    41/0    1098/79  
D2-2000Z    -      7/0     7/0     2/0     4/0    20/0    1118/79     31
D2-2100Z    -      4/0      -     13/0    20/0    37/0    1155/79  
D2-2200Z    -       -     35/0     9/0      -     44/0    1199/79  
D2-2300Z    -      6/0    27/0     4/0      -     37/0    1236/79  
D3-0000Z  --+--    9/0     9/0     2/0    --+--   20/0    1256/79  
D3-0100Z   6/0    27/0     3/0      -       -     36/0    1292/79     32
D3-0200Z   7/0     8/0     8/0      -       -     23/0    1315/79     23

Total:   119/3   474/5   516/42  123/25   83/4

2001 CQ WW CW Contest K5ZD

K5ZD, Single Op All Band, High Power

By Randall A. Thompson, K5ZD
k5zd@contesting.com

This article was published in the November/December 2002 issue of the National Contest Journal.

Summary Sheet

              CQ WORLD WIDE DX CONTEST -- 2001

  Call: K5ZD                     Country:  United States
  Mode: CW                       Category: Single Operator
                                           High Power

      BAND     QSO   QSO PTS  PTS/QSO   ZONES COUNTRIES

      160       27       67     2.48      9      18
       80      181      472     2.61     15      59
       40      928     2499     2.69     32     106
       20     1074     3005     2.80     37     120
       15      860     2446     2.84     32     104
       10      720     2079     2.89     32     103
     ---------------------------------------------------

     Totals   3790    10568     2.79    154     510  =>  7,048,856

   (Above is after log checking.)

Station Description

  • Radio 1 – Yeasu FT-1000D + Alpha 76CA
  • Radio 2 – Icom IC-765 + Ameritron AL-1200

Tower 1 – 100′ Rohn 45G

  • 40-2CD @ 110′
  • 205CA @ 100′ / 50′
  • 5-el 15 @70′ / 35′
  • 80m Inv Vee with top at 95′
  • 160m 1/4-wave GP with 4 elevated radials

Tower 2 – 90′ Rohn 25G

  • 6-el 10 @90′ with 4/4 @ 60’/30′
  • 40m 1/2-wave sloper to west
  • 80m 1/4-wave elevated GP with 4 radials
  • 160m Inv Vee with top at 88′

Tower 3 – 40′ Rohn 25G

  • TH7DXX at 40′

Get Ready…

For me, major contests always begin well before 00Z. Despite winning CQ WW CW in 2000 and setting a new USA record, I knew I had been lucky. I beat K1AR in the log checking process and John made it clear he was ready for a rematch. N2NT, KQ2M, W1KM, and other serious single op competition were all prepared for another run at the record during the peak of the sunspot cycle.

I try to make a major station upgrade each year. When I had the opportunity to purchase two 4-element 10m Cushcraft Yagis and some tower sections from K1SD in March, the target was identified. 10m was an aspect of my station I knew needed improvement.

I erected the tower sections to make a new 30′ tower right at the peak of my hill. A TH7DXX that had been at 90′ was moved to the new tower for primary use as a go-to antenna for the South. The 6-element LTA 10m beam was moved from being fixed on Europe at 20′ to being fully rotary at 90′ where the TH7 had been. The two new 4-element beams were stacked at 30′ and 60′ on the same tower. Now I had a 3 high stack for 10m with some real horsepower at the top.

Another project was to get the 40m beam on its own coax into the shack instead of sharing with 15m. This improved the antenna selection flexibility by allowing 40 and 15 to be used at the same time.

Another station improvement was the addition of a W5XD MK-1100 keyer. This is a wonderful external hardware accessory for WriteLog logging software that does all of the CW keying and audio switching needed for SO2R. Through the use of WriteLog’s excellent two radio support and some keyboard macros, I could do all of the switching without ever having my hands leave the keyboard. A serious effort in SS CW provided all the practice needed to develop my technique. After 20+ years of doing SO2R, this was the most automated system I had ever experienced, and I felt it had definitely improved my SS score.

Get Set…

Over the years I have developed a series of actions that help me prepare for the rigors of a 48-hour single op effort. They include having the station completely set up the weekend before, getting as much sleep as possible during the 6 days leading up to the contest, and trying to relax from the pressures of work.

The station was ready on time but I still had one concern. There was a new source of line noise that had appeared a few weeks before. Rain usually makes it go away, but the month had been particularly dry and no rain was expected before the contest. On Wednesday, the noise was worse than ever with a solid S7 buzz across every band when beaming anywhere from North to West. I called K1AR’s voice mail and left him a recording of the buzzing along with the message that I was out of it if the noise didn’t go away.

The Thanksgiving holiday is both a help and hindrance for contest preparation. My in-laws live about 3 hours away in Woodstock, NY. We drove over to visit them on Wednesday evening. Of course, this meant lots of turkey and football on Thursday, but also a few extra hours of sleep and a late afternoon nap. Friday morning I was able to sleep in a bit more and we drove home Friday afternoon. Since I was asking my wife to return home early so I could do the contest, we stopped at a restaurant and had a large late lunch on Friday. It took forever to get in and out of the mall with all of the shoppers! We finally arrived home about 5PM with the contest just 2 hours away.

I immediately turned on all the equipment and connected the antennas. The bands sounded fair and amazingly the line noise was completely silent. I took this as a good omen and headed off to bed for a short nap of about an hour. Not as much as the 3 hours I would have liked, but that was one of the things lost when we decided to eat out. Took a shower and was sitting at the radio ready to go at 2330Z. Much earlier than normal!

The bands were funny. Not great, but not bad either. Ten was punk, 15 was open a bit, 20 had signals. I decided that 40m was the place to start for the highest rate and found a frequency around 7022. I worked a few people to get warmed up and things were ready.

Go… – Not!

As the clock rolled over, a large Eastern European multi-op station that had been down 1 KHz decided that they wanted to be on the same frequency I was. We engaged in dueling CQs to start the contest – each working just enough guys to stay but neither doing very well. I worked more QSOs on 15m on the second radio than I did calling CQ. After 10 minutes of this, I decided to find another spot and began moving up the band. Another 10 minutes of S&P (search and pounce) go by and still can’t find a hole to call CQ.

This is a moment of panic for a single op. The adrenalin is pumping. You have spent months preparing for the contest and spent the last week totally focused on getting off to a big start. Now things start to slip away.

I switched to 15m to chase multipliers and get my head clear. Then down to 20m for more tuning and calling. Amazingly, I had managed to make 47 QSOs and a bunch of multipliers in the first 30 minutes. 20m had some very loud signals from Europe and Asia so I decided to find a frequency and see if I could get something going. I landed on 14020 and started a nice steady run. The frequency was quiet enough that I could use the second radio on 40m to chase multipliers. It was a pleasant surprise when K4ZW/JT called in with a very good signal on 20m at 0051Z. The second radio shows QSOs logged all the way up to 7070! No wonder I couldn’t find a clear frequency on that band.

I ended the first hour with 109 QSOs and 106 multipliers. I had my rate sheet from 2000 printed out and saw that I was doing OK, even with all the moving around. The next 2 hours continued with CQing on 20m and second radio S&P on 40. At 0245Z I was able to start a run on 40m.

You often hear about sports teams that arrive at a big event saying all the right things, yet just seem to be flat. I now know what this feels like. Despite being fully prepared, I was surprisingly devoid of emotion and passion when the contest began. I assumed that I would get into it once things got started, but instead my attitude was getting worse. I kept going more on habit than desire. This is very disconcerting when you know there is still a long way to go.

At 03Z I decided to jump from 40m to 160m. I had noticed in the weeks before the contest that 160 was opening earlier rather than at European sunrise. The decision was a good one as I worked 5 zones and 10 countries (many from Europe) during the next 15 minutes. Happy with this, I jumped back to CQing on 20m for more rate. When 5H1X (K1XM op) called in at 0340Z, I already had 26 zones and 60 countries on the band! The next 30 minutes was a careful search up 80m working multipliers. I finally found a frequency to call CQ up at 3545, which became my home for the next 45 minutes (70 QSOs)! A few second radio QSOs on 40m helped fill in some more multipliers.

The 05Z hour was a mix between 40 and 80m. I would run on one and listen on the other, then switch. By 06Z, I had 19 zones and 64 countries on 40m. The 06Z hour was mostly running on 7045. At this point I was keeping up with the rate from the previous year, but I knew it was being done through aggressive S&P and band agility. Conditions were clearly not as good as the previous year, and they seemed to be getting worse rather than better.

During the 07Z hour, I noticed that the main tuning knob on the FT1000 was getting harder and harder to turn. It finally just froze up and would not turn at all, even under great force. I kept CQing and working guys with the IC765 while I tried to figure out what was wrong. I managed to find the necessary Allen wrench to get the tuning knob off, but couldn’t see anything. Finally decided that I couldn’t fix it or waste any more time.

I recalled that WriteLog had a feature to tune the radio using the mouse wheel. I read the help file and found how to make it work. This allowed me to tune the frequency of the FT1000 but the tuning rate was too fast. Back to the help file revealed the INI file command to change the tuning rate and I slowed it down to 100Hz steps. It wasn’t great, but at least I could tune stations in and work them.

At this point, my attitude was really at a low point. The rate was slowing down and the radio problems were distracting. I had only made 25 QSOs during the 07Z hour and figured that I had to be falling behind.

I made no QSOs from 0801Z until 0813Z. This was probably a mental health break with a bathroom and food run. 20m was starting to open so I established a slow steady run on 14015 for the rest of the hour. There were a few second radio QSOs on 40m, which pushed the multiplier totals to 24 zones and 82 countries on that band.

The 09Z hour continued the run on 14015 while also tuning the other bands. Worked 8P9Z, P40Q, and ZV8O on 160m. Got FG/N4CD and XQ1ZW on 80m.

At 10Z, the wheels came off. Just 17 search and pounce QSOs in the next 40 minutes. There were some good multipliers, but the bands were broken. I was still bothered by the radio tuning knob problems, the lack of signals on 20m, and a general disappointment in how things were going. With the sun coming up outside, and what should have been one of the highest rate hours, I made the decision to quit the contest.

With my last QSO logged at 1037Z, I lay down on the floor of the radio room and went to sleep.

Restart

Something woke me up about 1125Z. I remember thinking that I had arranged my family’s life to do this contest, so I should get up and keep going. Even if I wasn’t going to win, I could at least enjoy the contest and see what I could wring out of the bands.

I came back on the air at 1129Z and worked a C6A, ZL, and a JA on 40m. Then found YZ1AU on 15m but he was the only signal. Conditions stunk, so I just did a systematic S&P across all bands for the next 40 minutes. After the contest, I would learn that I had given up no QSOs to K1AR during this period. It was pure luck that I went to sleep during the absolute worst period of conditions!

The break and decision to quit had removed the pressure and expectations of being competitive from my mind. I was now free to just enjoy the fun of contesting. There is probably a lesson in this.

The 12Z hour began to see conditions return. I was able to establish a run on 14022 and use the second radio to work some loud stations on 15m. 15 was still not really open and it took several calls to get each station.

At 1310Z I went to 10m and started working loud Caribbean and South American stations. I did two complete S&P passes across the entire width of 10m and managed to also work some Europeans. 15m must not have been too good at the time either since at 1345Z I returned CQing on 14008.

It is kind of hard to imagine just how disturbed conditions were at this point. The band seemed to randomly open to small pockets of the world and then close again just as fast. I spent the entire 14Z hour calling CQ on 20m, but actually working more stations S&P using the second radio on 10 and 15m. It wasn’t until 1530Z that I stopped CQing on 14008 and decided to S&P full time on 10m.

With conditions so poor, and no guarantee they would be better the next day, I was keeping a keen eye on the higher bands and trying to make sure I got as many multipliers as possible. As I tuned around on 10m, I started hearing German stations coming in on the direct path with reasonable signals. I decided to call CQ and was rewarded with a nice run. It was perfect band for SO2R. The 10m frequency was perfectly clear with a steady rate, while leaving plenty of time and concentration available for calling stations on 15m. In the 16Z hour, I had 101 QSOs on 10m and 34 more on 15! The bands were returning to normal!

This burst of rate fully reengaged me into the contest. I really enjoy contesting and find it rather addictive once I get started. I was now thinking like a serious competitor and operating like one.

With the FT1000 tuning knob problem, each CQing band change was a dance. First I would find and establish a frequency using the IC765. Then I would bring the FT1000 to that frequency using computer command. Finally, I would switch radios. It wasn’t a big problem, but required a little bit of extra effort each time.

The 17Z hour was mostly on 10m with the jump to CQing on 15m occurring at 1744Z. I was fresh meat on a hot band and the rate took off. One hour later, at 1855Z, I made the jump to 20m and the roll continued. 19Z had 93 QSOs on 20m with 11 second-radio QSOs on 15 including VQ9X and 5R8HD. 20Z was more of the same with 77 contacts on 20 and 13 more on 15.

At 2138Z I jumped down to 40m to see if I could find any long path multipliers. Worked a very loud JA3YBK and JI2KVW, but that was it. Turned the beam to Europe and set up shop on 7035 at 2153Z. This would begin an amazing run that may have been the deciding point in the contest.

After the first 24 hours I had 1797/122/406 for about 2.7 Million points. My best hope was to get to 6 Million. No new record this year.

I stayed on 7035 calling CQ until 0433Z. During this period I worked over 330 stations on 40m while also working nearly 100 QSOs on the second radio – many of them multipliers. Some of the goodies that called in on 40 during this period include 3B8/LA7MFA, T95O, 4X/OK1EE/P, ZS6DX, ZF2LA, KL7FH, and 5H1X. It was 3V8BB firing up just a few cycles away that ended the run so I worked him for 40m country 98.

The first half of the 05Z hour was spent CQing on 3546 while chasing multipliers on 160m. It was back to 7031 at 0539Z – my new home for the next 4+ hours until 0953Z! Wow, another 260+ QSOs on 40 plus a few more multipliers on the other bands with the second radio. This late 40m opening did not happen the first night so conditions were obviously returning to normal. I was also starting to think that I might be making a competitive score.

I took a short 10-minute break during the 10Z hour. At 1042Z I established a 20-minute run of Europeans on 14032. A little search and pounce across 20m to start the 11Z hour and I was back to CQing on 14009 at 1111Z.

When I finally listened to 15m at 1150Z, I discovered that the band was wide open! I immediately moved to 21004 and the rate exploded with 130 QSOs in the next 60 minutes. I repeated the discovery on 10m at 1245Z. The band was packed with signals. My main thought at this point was to run as fast as possible and try not to fall too far behind K1AR and KQ2M. There have been too many contests where I could keep up during the slow times, but lost due to a few high rate hours on the high bands.

Conditions were great, but up and down. At 1400Z, I moved back to 15m and established a run on 21002. This was a great frequency for the next 3 hours (312 QSOs) and let me do some second radio work on 10m (57 more QSOs). When 5H1X called in on 15m, I moved him to 28213 for a double multiplier. At 17Z it was back to running on 10m. Something I have never done before, this movement back and forth between 10 and 15 may have helped me work more stations than if I had stayed on one band for the entire time.

The rate was slowing down during the 18Z hour and I was making a lot of band changes. The SO2R functionality of WriteLog was being handled completely by my subconscious. It is a good thing the software records the frequency of the QSO, because I was changing bands so much that I sometimes couldn’t remember which band I was on. (Sleep deprivation may have had something to do with that…) By now the FT1000 tuning knob was beginning to turn although not freely, but at least I could do some tuning with it.

The 19Z hour was spent mostly CQing on 15m with second radio action on 10 and 20. At 2030Z I moved the run radio to 14016. Signals from Europe were very loud and the band was crowded. I went looking for a quieter spot and ended all the way up at 14089. The rate was pretty good although there was occasional competition from various digital mode stations. Finally one of them ran me off and I was on the move again. The FT1000 main tuning knob was about 70% free by this time so it was possible to tune down the band. I was looking in vain for an OH0 but found VP9/W6PH and 4U1ITU instead. Ended up CQing on 14036.

Sleep deprivation starts to introduce some interesting thoughts around this time. I recall thinking each station that called was revealing some aspect of their personality in how they called. It made for some very bizarre conversations with myself…

At 2126Z I had one of the more memorable QSOs of the contest. There were several stations calling and one of them had that hollow sound that only comes from being far away. I heard “ER” and asked for a repeat. SP3HC was calling at the same time and he responded as well as the “ER”. It took some maneuvering but I finally had the “ER” station calling in the clear and it was 3W2ER! Cool multiplier (country 116) and a surprisingly good signal. 3W2ER later sent me a recording of his side of the QSO and he was not hearing any of the European callers, just me. So I end up sounding like a lid since it took 3 tries to get his call.

Twenty minutes later HB0/DL1RWB calls in for country 117. I stay on 14036 all the way to the end of the contest (the last 2 hours 45 minutes on that one frequency!). During the same time, 10m opens to Japan as well as I have ever heard it. Gives me lots of easy second radio QSOs to chase. On 20, I am called by JY5HX, and then have back-to-back QSOs a few minutes later with 9V1YC and FR5FD to get to 120 countries (a new personal record for one band in a single op effort).

Final score on the computer shows 3832/158/512 for 7,378,710 points.

After the contest I go up to 3830 to see how the competition has done. I am amazed when K1AR and KQ2M check in with numbers that are below mine. For a contest that I had assumed was lost, there was new hope.

Notes

It really was a tale of two contests. The first 14 hours were really frustrating and well below the excellent conditions we had become used to from the two previous years. Things started to recover and by Sunday at 12Z, we were experiencing the full joy that is CQ WW.

I believe the key component to my success in the contest was aggressive and continuous use of two radios. WriteLog and the W5XD keyer represent the state of the art in SO2R technology available today. By my count, I had 374 second radio QSOs in the first 24 hours and another 261 in the second 24 hours (I define second radio QSO as one that is made away from the band that I am actively CQing on). That is a total of 635 “extra” QSOs. Sure, some of them I would have worked later anyway, but the margin of difference over K1AR is the difference in the number of second radio QSOs we each made. You can see the number of second radio QSOs in the rate sheet below.

The FT1000 tuning knob problem was gone when I tried to use the radio a few days later. I can only assume that a bearing was broken and had jammed when it heated up during use early in the contest. As it cooled down, it returned to a position where it was not jamming the shaft mechanism. The problem has not reoccurred since.

It amazes me every year how big this contest has become. Reading 3830 score reports after the contest always reveals a number of calls with big QSO totals that were never heard all weekend! A look at the breakdown by country shows a lot of holes in the multiplier chasing that could be easily filled. Always room for improvement next year!

WriteLog showed a total operating time of 47:07. No wonder I slept for more than 12 hours after the contest!

Continent Statistics

                160M    80M    40M    20M    15M    10M   Total      %
          EU      11    134    790    871    733    611    3150    82.2
          OC       0      0      8     10      2      7      27     0.7
          SA       4      9     14     33     26     25     111     2.9
          AF       0      2     15     22     17     15      71     1.9
          NA      12     38     96     72     46     38     302     7.9
          AS       0      1     20     74     46     29     170     4.4

Rate Sheet

 Hour     160M     80M     40M     20M     15M     10M    Total     Cumm    radio2
D1-0000Z  -----   -----   50/40   44/40   15/26   -----  109/106   109/106    28
D1-0100Z    -       -     37/12   68/13     -       -    105/25    214/131    37
D1-0200Z    -       -     44/10   60/24     -       -    104/34    318/165    21
D1-0300Z  15/15   17/19    8/4    27/9     4/6      -     71/53    389/218     8
D1-0400Z    -     74/22   16/9      -       -       -     90/31    479/249    16
D1-0500Z    -     30/7    57/7      -       -       -     87/14    566/263    17
D1-0600Z    -     16/6    61/6      -       -       -     77/12    643/275    16
D1-0700Z    -      4/3    19/11    2/1      -       -     25/15    668/290     3
D1-0800Z   1/0    -----    7/7    53/2    -----   -----   61/9     729/299     5
D1-0900Z   3/6     5/4     2/1    50/4      -       -     60/15    789/314    10
D1-1000Z   1/1     4/5     4/2     8/1      -       -     17/9     806/323     3
D1-1100Z    -      2/1     3/2    12/3     3/4      -     20/10    826/333     3
D1-1200Z    -       -       -     46/2    17/14     -     63/16    889/349    17
D1-1300Z    -       -       -     21/1      -     37/37   58/38    947/387     3
D1-1400Z    -       -       -     26/0    25/11   13/9    64/20   1011/407    38
D1-1500Z    -       -       -     18/0     8/3    42/18   68/21   1079/428    16
D1-1600Z  -----   -----   -----   -----   34/6   101/5   135/11   1214/439    34
D1-1700Z    -       -       -       -     51/10   59/6   110/16   1324/455    22
D1-1800Z    -       -       -     10/2    47/5    20/10   77/17   1401/472    20
D1-1900Z    -       -       -     93/6    11/6      -    104/12   1505/484    11
D1-2000Z    -       -       -     77/4    13/8      -     90/12   1595/496    13
D1-2100Z    -       -     10/0    37/2     3/3     4/5    54/10   1649/506     6
D1-2200Z    -       -     51/4      -      3/3    10/8    64/15   1713/521    13
D1-2300Z    -       -     70/1     9/5     5/1      -     84/7    1797/528    14  374
D2-0000Z  -----   -----   36/0    20/7     2/0    -----   58/7    1855/535    22
D2-0100Z    -       -     48/1     2/1      -       -     50/2    1905/537     2
D2-0200Z   3/1      -     52/5    18/7      -       -     73/13   1978/550    21
D2-0300Z    -      4/3    46/3     6/3     1/1      -     57/10   2035/560    11
D2-0400Z   1/1     4/1    33/3     2/1      -       -     40/6    2075/566     3
D2-0500Z   1/1    19/2    18/1     5/1      -       -     43/5    2118/571     6
D2-0600Z    -      1/1    77/3     1/0      -       -     79/4    2197/575     2
D2-0700Z   1/1     2/1    93/0      -       -       -     96/2    2293/577     3
D2-0800Z  -----    1/0    59/0     2/0    -----   -----   62/0    2355/577     3
D2-0900Z   1/1      -     28/4     5/2      -       -     34/7    2389/584     6
D2-1000Z    -      1/1    11/3    16/0      -       -     28/4    2417/588     5
D2-1100Z    -       -      3/0    45/1    16/1      -     64/2    2481/590     3
D2-1200Z    -       -       -       -    114/4    44/9   158/13   2639/603     3
D2-1300Z    -       -       -       -      5/1   141/6   146/7    2785/610     5
D2-1400Z    -       -       -       -    110/5    27/2   137/7    2922/617    23
D2-1500Z    -       -       -       -    116/3    12/1   128/4    3050/621    12
D2-1600Z  -----   -----   -----   -----   96/4    25/4   121/8    3171/629    22
D2-1700Z    -       -       -       -     11/0   108/1   119/1    3290/630    11
D2-1800Z    -       -       -       -     27/4    49/2    76/6    3366/636    20
D2-1900Z    -       -       -     11/5    76/4     7/5    94/14   3460/650    18
D2-2000Z    -       -       -     58/2    32/2      -     90/4    3550/654     9
D2-2100Z    -       -       -     84/4     5/0     1/2    90/6    3640/660     6
D2-2200Z    -       -       -     73/0    18/2     9/2   100/4    3740/664    27
D2-2300Z    -       -       -     74/3     2/0    16/3    92/6    3832/670    18  261
Total:    27/27  184/76  943/139 1083/156 870/137 725/135                     635

Breakdown by Country

          160M    80M    40M    20M    15M    10M   Total
   3B8                     1      1      1      1       4
   3D2                     1                            1
    3V                     1      1      1              3
    3W                            1                     1
    4J                                          1       1
    4L                            2                     2
  4U1I                     1      1      1              3
  4U1V                     1      1                     2
    4X                     1      6      1      1       9
    5A                                   1              1
    5B              1      3      2      4      1      11
    5H                     1      1      1      1       4
    5N                            1                     1
    5R                                   1              1
    5X                            1                     1
    6Y              1      1      1      1      1       5
    8P       1      2      1      1      1      2       8
    9A              2     13     14      6     12      47
    9G                                          1       1
    9H              1      2      1      1      1       6
    9K                            1                     1
   9M6                            2                     2
    9V                            1                     1
    A4                     2                            2
    A6                     1      1                     2
    BY                            1                     1
    C6       1      2      2      1      3      1      10
    CE              1      1      1      1      2       6
   CE9                            1      1              2
    CM              1      5      2      1      2      11
    CN              1      2      2      2      1       8
    CT              1      3      6      3      5      18
   CT3                     1      3      1      2       7
    CU                     1      1      2      1       5
    CX                            1      2      1       4
    DL       2     21    125    132    118    109     507
    EA              3     14     33     22     20      92
   EA6                     1      2      2      2       7
   EA8              1      3      4      4      4      16
   EA9                     1      1      1              3
    EI              1      1      2      5      2      11
    EK                                   1              1
    ER                     2      2      1      1       6
    ES              1      2      4      4      2      13
    EU              3      3      6      5      5      22
    EX                            1                     1
    EZ                                   1              1
     F       1      5     39     41     34     26     146
    FG              1      1      1      1              4
    FM                            1             1       2
    FR                            1             1       2
    FY                            1                     1
     G       2      5     51     48     43     30     179
    GI                     4      2      2      1       9
    GJ                            1      1      1       3
    GM              1      6      5      4      3      19
  GM/s                     1      1             1       3
    GU                     2      2      2      3       9
    GW       1      3      6      4      4      6      24
    HA       1      6     26     25     22     24     104
    HB              1     11     12      9      8      41
   HB0                            1                     1
    HC                            1      1              2
   HC8       1      1      1      1      1      1       6
    HI                     1             3      1       5
    HK              1             1                     2
 HK0/a                     1      1      1      1       4
    HL                            1                     1
    HP                                          2       2
    HS                            1      1              2
    HZ                                          1       1
     I              5     28     34     33     33     133
    IS                     2      2      1      1       6
   IT9                     1      2                     3
    J3              1      1      1      1      1       5
    J8              1      1      1                     3
    JA                     7     18     15     20      60
    JT                            1                     1
    JY                     1      1             1       3
     K       1      5     39     32      7      5      89
   KH2                                          2       2
   KH6                     2             2      3       7
    KL                     1             1      1       3
   KP2              1      1      1      1      2       6
   KP4              1      4      2      3      3      13
    LA              1     13      4      9     10      37
    LU                     1      9      6      8      24
    LX                     2      2      3      3      10
    LY              4     15     19     16     10      64
    LZ              1      8      9      8     13      39
    OA                     1      2      2      1       6
    OE       1      1      8      8      6      8      32
    OH              5     11     35     24     16      91
   OH0                     2             2      2       6
    OK       1     19     83     68     61     58     290
    OM              2     29     22     16     14      83
    ON       1      4      9     11     12      4      41
    OY                                   1      1       2
    OZ              1      9     11      5      6      32
    P4       1      2      1      2      2      2      10
    PA              1      8     11     13      6      39
   PJ2       1      1      2      2             2       8
    PY       1             5      9      8      6      29
  PY0F              1      1      1      1      1       5
    S5       1      9     33     22     20     21     106
    SM              3     17     35     17     11      83
    SP              9     49     46     44     26     174
    SU                     1                            1
    SV                     1      5      3      1      10
   SV5                                   1              1
    T9                     4      4      4      2      14
    TA                                   1              1
    TF                     1      1      2      1       5
    TG                                          1       1
    TI              2      2      2      2      1       9
    TK                     1      1                     2
    UA              2     41     83     55     35     216
   UA2              1      4      3      1      3      12
   UA9                     3     28     16      2      49
    UN                     1      4      3      2      10
    UR              5     49     35     42     18     149
    V2              1      1                    1       3
    V4              1      1      1      1      1       5
    VE       8     14     26     19     14      8      89
    VK                     1      4             1       6
   VP5              1      2      2      2      1       8
   VP9       1      1      1      1                     4
   VQ9                            1      1      1       3
    VU                            4      1              5
    XE                     3      2      2      1       8
    XT                     1      1      1      1       4
    YB                            1                     1
    YL              2     14      9     11     10      46
    YO                    10     10      7     10      37
    YU              4     22     29     24     22     101
    YV              2      1      1      1      1       6
    Z3              1      1      3      1      3       9
   ZC4                     1             2              3
   ZD8                     1      1      1      1       4
   ZD9                            1                     1
    ZF              2      1             1      1       5
   ZK2                     1                            1
    ZL                     3      3             1       7
    ZS                     2      2      1      1       6
1 15 16 17 18 19