CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW
Call: K5ZD
Class: SOAB HP
Operating Time (hrs): 45
Radios: SO2R
Summary:
Band QSOs Zones Countries
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160: 220 18 68
80: 590 28 94
40: 1086 33 111
20: 1391 34 121
15: 780 27 98
10: 66 19 45
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Total: 4133 159 537 Total Score = 8,233,680
Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club
Comments:
Wow, what a weekend!
This was the type of contest for what I like — periods of high rate and then periods of multiplier chasing. I love looking for mults!
First two hours of the contest were all search and pounce. When 40 isn’t runnable, I have learned that it is worth more to tune around and work all the mults on 40 that you can and they are all there!). Then you don’t have to worry about them later when band improves and you can be running.
Incredible rates on Sat morning. Had a 4 hour stretch with over 170 per hour! Never did that before. If I wasn’t so old fashioned and sent my call after every QSO, probably could have increased that a bit. This included a period where I went against convention and moved down from 15 before it was closed. The center of gravity for this contest is now in Eastern Europe (zone 15 and 16) so you need to be where they are. Was also hoping 15 would still be good the second day (and it was).
Wandered into some pileups that were huge and got lucky fast. Amazing what calling slightly off frequency can do for standing out from the crowd.
Made myself take a 30 minute sleep break the first night. Then slept 3 hours the second. Mult totals were so high the first night that I knew I could afford to sleep (and it was clear that high band rate was going to be the key to a big score). Felt good all the way to the end. Was only out of the chair 7 times all weekend.
Low bands were amazing. Had 56 countries on 160m the first night (and 81 on 80m!). Bands were so quiet here. No static, so 80/160 sounded just like a good night on 40m. Even had a 160m run of Eu stations Fri night. Activity on 80 and 40 was spread over 100 KHz. Hard to run and still find time to cover everything. Missed some easy mults on 80 as a result.
Line score at the half way point was 2348/133/419 for 3.6M. I would have been very happy to end the contest then. Always difficult to look at another 24 hours in the chair. Set my goal at breaking 8M (and never expected to make it). Took a 10 minute break to celebrate and refill my water glass.
Caught the very end of the 10m opening Sat morning when I found CT1AOZ with a big signal. Listened earlier on Sunday and was suprised to find the band open to more of Europe. All signals were weak, but they could hear me. Had a wild hour running at 150+ rate on 15m and chasing mults on 10m. Adds a little stress and excitement to the process. 10 wasn’t good enough that I wanted to give up the rate on 15m. Missed a few mults as a result. Heard a weak 5A7A work someone, but never heard them CQing.
Asia was the lost continent this weekend. Only worked a few JA on 40 and 20. Had to call almost all of them. Not even that many UA9s. Band was open great, but only so far and only so long.
No equipment failures. WriteLog crashed two times for unknown reason. Logged on paper while doing the restart.
Recorded the audio that was streamed on the Internet. Will put the recording files up on my web site as soon as I can. Some parts of the contest will be pretty boring listening.
The quality of operating was generally good. The European ops just keep getting better and better (and more of them). Only a few crazy pileups where everyone kept calling and calling. Only one real frequency fight.
I spent a good part of the contest asking myself why I do this. Amazing how much fun it seems to have been when I look back on the weekend… I am sure the more time passes, the more fun it will have seemed to have been! 🙂
Numbers:
QSOs by Continent and Band
160M 80M 40M 20M 15M 10M Total %
EU 145 467 888 1151 668 12 3331 80.6
NA 59 77 95 92 45 15 383 9.3
AF 6 18 26 24 15 9 98 2.4
SA 8 11 28 42 42 29 160 3.9
AS 0 8 33 72 3 0 116 2.8
OC 2 9 15 9 7 1 43 1.0
QSO/ZN+DX by Hour and Band
Hour 160M 80M 40M 20M 15M 10M Total Cumm Off (Mins)
0000Z --+-- --+-- 77/66 --+-- --+-- --+-- 77/66 77/66
0100Z 20/25 51/45 - - - - 71/70 148/136
0200Z - 85/16 18/8 - - - 103/24 251/160
0300Z 11/7 78/5 7/3 - - - 96/15 347/175
0400Z 25/13 27/8 - - - - 52/21 399/196
0500Z 76/5 17/6 - - - - 93/11 492/207
0600Z 36/9 24/3 - - - - 60/12 552/219
0700Z 8/5 71/2 6/4 - - - 85/11 637/230
0800Z 5/6 24/8 15/13 --+-- --+-- --+-- 44/27 681/257
0900Z 2/0 16/11 4/2 4/8 - - 26/21 707/278
1000Z - 5/2 9/1 - - - 14/3 721/281
1100Z 2/0 3/1 5/4 67/30 - - 77/35 798/316 36
1200Z - - 9/5 114/14 4/8 - 127/27 925/343
1300Z - - - 75/7 101/27 - 176/34 1101/377
1400Z - - - 19/9 161/12 - 180/21 1281/398
1500Z - - - 126/8 45/15 - 171/23 1452/421
1600Z --+-- --+-- --+-- 163/5 9/8 --+-- 172/13 1624/434
1700Z - - - 139/5 - 14/20 153/25 1777/459
1800Z - - - 84/7 30/17 5/6 119/30 1896/489
1900Z - - - 45/14 23/13 2/1 70/28 1966/517
2000Z - - 87/5 6/3 - 2/1 95/9 2061/526
2100Z - - 119/6 - 9/3 - 128/9 2189/535
2200Z - - 77/6 11/4 - - 88/10 2277/545
2300Z - 18/0 27/3 26/4 - - 71/7 2348/552
0000Z 4/4 49/1 --+-- 2/0 --+-- --+-- 55/5 2403/557 10
0100Z 2/1 40/4 12/0 1/0 - - 55/5 2458/562
0200Z 17/5 - 1/0 7/5 - - 25/10 2483/572 20
0300Z 6/1 11/5 38/1 - - - 55/7 2538/579
0400Z 2/0 21/1 26/2 - - - 49/3 2587/582
0500Z 2/4 2/1 76/3 - - - 80/8 2667/590
0600Z - 6/1 90/3 - - - 96/4 2763/594
0700Z - 3/0 109/2 - - - 112/2 2875/596
0800Z 1/0 6/1 72/3 --+-- --+-- --+-- 79/4 2954/600 6
0900Z - - - - - - 0/0 2954/600 60
1000Z - 2/0 - - - - 2/0 2956/600 50
1100Z - 1/0 10/1 87/5 - - 98/6 3054/606
1200Z - - 1/0 126/1 7/1 - 134/2 3188/608
1300Z - - - 33/0 121/5 8/9 162/14 3350/622
1400Z - - - - 139/4 15/15 154/19 3504/641
1500Z - - - - 102/5 13/7 115/12 3619/653
1600Z --+-- --+-- --+-- 105/4 8/0 --+-- 113/4 3732/657
1700Z - - - 71/6 5/1 2/2 78/9 3810/666
1800Z - - - 30/6 6/2 1/1 37/9 3847/675
1900Z - - 43/2 1/1 6/1 4/2 54/6 3901/681
2000Z - - 58/0 6/0 4/3 - 68/3 3969/684
2100Z - - 58/1 8/4 - - 66/5 4035/689
2200Z - - 29/0 27/5 - - 56/5 4091/694
2300Z 1/1 30/1 3/0 8/0 - - 42/2 4133/696
Tot: 220/86 590/122 1086/ 1391/ 780/125 66/64 182
/144 /155
Most worked countries (>100 QSOs):
160M 80M 40M 20M 15M 10M Total
DL 33 80 113 244 164 634
EA 3 13 30 35 20 2 103
F 6 22 58 51 46 183
G 11 36 53 84 33 217
HA 2 18 26 30 30 106
I 3 15 42 54 43 1 158
OK 17 42 73 79 68 279
SP 5 14 37 57 39 152
UA 3 32 73 92 12 212
UR 3 21 60 59 27 170
VE 27 34 38 34 15 148
Unique callsigns worked = 2820
The best 60 minute rate was 193/hour from 1337 to 1436 The best 30 minute rate was 196/hour from 1417 to 1446 The best 10 minute rate was 222/hour from 1343 to 1352
There were 720 bandchanges and 346 probable 2nd radio QSO’s.
The following 11 stations were worked on 6 bands:
ZF1A 8P5A CT9L V47NT PS2T TI5N
HC8N P49Y KP3Z 9Y4AA V26K
Worked 26 other stations on 5 bands.
Station:
Radio 1 FT1000D + Alpha 76Ca
Radio 2 FT1000D + Ameritron AL-1200
WriteLog software with W5XD keyer (this is the ideal SO2R setup)
Tower 1
40-2CD @ 110′
205CA stack at 100’/50′
155CA stack at 66’/33′
160m Ground Plane hanging from tower
Tower 2
6-el 10m @ 90′
80m 4 square wires hanging from tower
Shunt fed for 160m
Tower 3
TH7DXX @ 40′ (always pointing South)
500′ Beverage to NE
