Author: K5ZD

                   CQ WPX RTTY Contest - 2024

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

Class: SOAB LP
QTH: W1
Operating Time (hrs): 24.1
OpMode: 2BSIQ

Summary:
Band  QSOs
------------
   80:  200
   40:  398
   20:  389
   15:  602
   10:  486
------------
Total: 2075  Prefixes = 826  Total Score = 5,029,514

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club

Comments

I was not planning to make a real effort in this contest.  I wanted to save my BIC time for next weekend in ARRL CW (a WRTC qualifying event).  Since I blew up an amp in CQ WW RTTY last fall, I thought it might be good just to do low power. That would also keep me from operating too much.

Started the contest 15 minutes late.  Was CQing on 40 while trying to work the other bands.  It did not start out great but was having fun.  Hard not to have fun when you combine contesting, DX, and some great sunspot numbers. 40 was great all evening.  Even 80 had louEUEu signals.  But, I couldn’t stay awake and decided sleep was more valuable.

Woke up before the alarm on Saturday morning so got on the air.  I was messing around on 20m and when I went to 15m (well before sunrise) it was already hopping.  Great rates doing 2 bands on Saturday morning.

The weather on Saturday was great outside.  Hated to spend it on the radio.  Ran some errands, then got back on.  Ran some new hardline out to the tower, then got back on.  Went for my daily walk, then got back on. Watched a movie, then got back on.

Sunday conditions seemed slightly less good and the rates were down.  While activity was good, it wasn’t infinite. I took some more breaks to do stuff.  Then ended early to set up for Super Bowl watching. 

Never imagined the score could get over 5 million.  Amazing how points start to accelerate as the mult total grows.

Low power was way more fun than I expected. Didn’t seem to have much trouble being heard (except for polar paths to Japan and UA9/0).

Did an experiment by turning off the AGC on the K3.  Tough on the ears at times, but it sure improved the copying of stations.  The combination of Writelog along with 2 Tone and MMTTY was a winner.  Almost always one of the two decoders would be clean copy. 

The level of operating proficiency was the best ever. Calling stations sent their call the right amount of times. The exchanges were snappy. People seemed to be copying the numbers well. Really added to the fun! Running on 2 bands is like a fast paced video game as you switch focus back and forth.

Thanks to everyone who handed out QSOs. Gotta enjoy these high sunspot years!

Station:

2 x Elecraft K3

80: 4-square, dipole
40: 2/2 @110’/70′
20: 5/5 @100’/50′
15: 5/5 @66’/33′
10: 6/4/4 @ 100’/60’/30′
South: C31XR @40′

By Continent

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

    NA     133    207    123    150     70     683    32.9
    EU      66    179    252    419    375    1291    62.2
    SA       0      2      6     20     25      53     2.6
    AS       0      3      3      8      6      20     1.0
    AF       1      3      2      5      7      18     0.9
    OC       0      4      3      0      3      10     0.5

Hourly Rates

QSO/Pref by hour and band

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

D1-0000Z  --+--   34/33    1/1    13/12    7/7    55/53     55/53     15
D1-0100Z    -     63/49   46/33     -       -    109/82    164/135 
D1-0200Z  35/18   36/24    5/5     3/3      -     79/50    243/185 
D1-0300Z  30/15   47/31    3/3      -       -     80/49    323/234 
D1-0400Z   5/3    26/15    8/5      -       -     39/23    362/257    32
D1-0500Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     362/257    60
D1-0600Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     362/257    60
D1-0700Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     362/257    60
D1-0800Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0     362/257    60
D1-0900Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     362/257    60
D1-1000Z   3/2     4/1     1/1      -       -      8/4     370/261    52
D1-1100Z    -      1/0    41/23   62/44     -    104/67    474/328 
D1-1200Z    -       -       -     55/33   86/48  141/81    615/409 
D1-1300Z    -       -       -     39/15   56/20   95/35    710/444 
D1-1400Z    -       -       -     39/9    49/17   88/26    798/470 
D1-1500Z    -       -       -     29/9    29/9    58/18    856/488    25
D1-1600Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0     856/488    60
D1-1700Z    -       -       -      3/0     1/1     4/1     860/489    55
D1-1800Z    -       -     29/6    40/15   29/10   98/31    958/520 
D1-1900Z    -       -     51/13   28/11     -     79/24   1037/544     6
D1-2000Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1037/544    60
D1-2100Z    -       -     30/9    31/12     -     61/21   1098/565    14
D1-2200Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1098/565    60
D1-2300Z    -      7/2    10/4    26/9     5/3    48/18   1146/583    12
D2-0000Z   1/1    33/10   --+--    8/4    --+--   42/15   1188/598    36
D2-0100Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1188/598    60
D2-0200Z  12/3     6/0      -       -       -     18/3    1206/601    45
D2-0300Z  45/10   23/4     6/2      -       -     74/16   1280/617 
D2-0400Z  33/8    46/11     -       -       -     79/19   1359/636 
D2-0500Z  24/7    45/11     -       -       -     69/18   1428/654 
D2-0600Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1428/654    60
D2-0700Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1428/654    60
D2-0800Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0    1428/654    60
D2-0900Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1428/654    60
D2-1000Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1428/654    60
D2-1100Z  12/3    21/4    21/7    16/4      -     70/18   1498/672     5
D2-1200Z    -       -     40/16   44/15   15/3    99/34   1597/706 
D2-1300Z    -       -       -     42/11   61/12  103/23   1700/729 
D2-1400Z    -       -       -     29/10   52/14   81/24   1781/753 
D2-1500Z    -       -       -     26/8    27/8    53/16   1834/769    16
D2-1600Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0    1834/769    60
D2-1700Z    -       -      3/1    27/6    27/14   57/21   1891/790    19
D2-1800Z    -       -     53/4    15/1    19/4    87/9    1978/799 
D2-1900Z    -       -     26/2    12/3    10/1    48/6    2026/805    20
D2-2000Z    -       -       -      2/2     1/0     3/2    2029/807    60
D2-2100Z    -      6/4    15/3    13/4    12/8    46/19   2075/826 

Total:   200/70  398/199 389/138 602/240 486/179

Best 60 minutes: 144 starting at 10-Feb-2024 11:55

Worked on 5 bands:

9A1A 9A5Y CR3DX CR6K DB100FK DP6A DP7D OH5Z WQ5OO

Most worked entities:

           80M    40M    20M    15M    10M   Total
     K     123    187    111    124     52     597
    DL      20     35     26     82     66     229
     I       7     22     34     38     40     141
     G       1      8     17     27     22      75
    SP       4      8     16     16     23      67
    UR       2     10     10     28     13      63
    EA       1      5     22     18     11      57
     F       3      8     10     17     18      56
    UA              6      4     20     25      55

                    CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW - 2023

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

Class: SOAB HP
QTH: MA
Operating Time (hrs): 44
OpMode: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Zones  Countries
------------------------------
  160:  156    15       60
   80:  526    24       99
   40: 1148    31      120
   20: 1089    38      130
   15: 1099    37      133
   10: 1053    34      129
------------------------------
Total: 5071   179      671  Total Score = 12,473,750

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club

Comments

Nothing like a high solar flux to bring out the fun.  The best part was that it didn’t mess up the low bands.  I never expected 60 countries on 160.

Bought a used C31xr to replace the TH7 the week before the contest. Was installed last weekend with help from KW1X and AA1ON.  A great addition to the station. 

Some intermittent problem on 40m.  Transmit was ok, but on receive it would drop 10-20db in signal levels at times.  I had to transmit to restore receiving. Very annoying.  Seemed to get worse as I transmitted more.  Probably one of my homemade hardline connectors.

Replaced one of the encoders in my K3 during the week.  It had broken during the V4 trip.  When I tried to make my first QSO of the contest I hit the key and the power went out.  Quickly tracked it down to a loose connection at the power supply (another thing that made the trip to V4 and back).  So started the contest 2 minutes late.

Surprise band the first night was 160.  It was very quiet here.  Must have been quiet in Europe as I was having no trouble calling stations and having them come right back.  Even got some answers to CQs. The second night I could still hear Eu well, but they couldn’t hear me as easily.

Meant to take a short 20-minute nap on Sat morning.  Woke up wide awake an hour later.  The alarm on the iPad showed it was going, but I didn’t hear any sound. (It was playing into my earbuds sitting across the room.)

Immediately jumped on the radio and found 20 already going.  Oversleeping would have been a disaster.

Conditions on Sat were okay, just one band lower than expected. And by the time 15m winds down, everyone in EU has left 20 to go to the low bands. 

Took another 2 hour nap Sunday morning.  More of a proactive measure since I didn’t really feel that tired.  One of the ‘benefits’ of old age is that I don’t seem to need sleep as much. When I woke up Sunday morning and sat down on 40m, could not believe how loud the JA signals were.  Several were 20 over with very little flutter.

I pushed down to 20m early on Sunday to bring the totals up. Which worked out well and meant I was ready when 15 opened to Asia.

The opening to Japan/Asia on Sunday evening was the best I have ever heard from here.  The JA signals on 20 were great.  Then got really good on 15.  Even worked a few on 10.

Some nasty pileups.  A few people seemed to be over-aggressive in their calling. By that I mean I kept hearing the same guys be annoying.  Also noticed a lot of times when a guy would call and then not hear the DX come back to them.  And not just once.  You need to be able to recognize your own call coming back through the noise.

Did work 4W8X on 5 bands. Amazed to hear them on 80. Even more amazed they could hear me.

Loved watching the scoreboard.  I use the mode where it shows all single ops regardless of Assisted or not. My goal on Saturday afternoon was to catch up with the multiplier total of K1ZZ.  And to not let N5DX get more than 1000 QSOs ahead of me. I think I only finished 975 behind.

I am going to have to learn this 2BSIQ thing.  Especially with multiple bands so open at the same time.  I did manage to put together one 2BSIQ period of about 40 minutes on Sat morning that showed the potential.

Great fun.  Thanks to everyone who gets on for the best weekend of DXing in the year.

Station

K3 + AL-1200
K3 + AL-1500

160m: 1/4-wave GP, shunt fed tower
80m: 4 square
40m: 2/2 @ 110’/70′
20m: 5/5 @ 100’/50′
15m: 5/5 @ 66’/33′
10m: 6/4/4 @ 100’/65’/30′
10-20m: C31xr @ 40′

By continent

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

    EU      99    435    977    821    908    873    4113    81.1
    AF       5      9     13     16     18     17      78     1.5
    NA      47     59     93     90     56     52     397     7.8
    SA       3     10     17     33     32     71     166     3.3
    AS       2      8     33    104     67     25     239     4.7
    OC       0      5     15     25     17     15      77     1.5

Rates

QSO/ZN+DX by hour and band

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

0000Z  --+--   --+--  119/44   12/17    7/10    2/4   140/75    140/75  
0100Z    -     16/16   89/12   19/24    5/5      -    129/57    269/132 
0200Z    -    118/34   40/6      -       -       -    158/40    427/172 
0300Z   2/4    90/11   25/19     -       -       -    117/34    544/206 
0400Z  51/35   13/12   12/7      -       -       -     76/54    620/260 
0500Z  34/17   18/14   17/18    5/5      -       -     74/54    694/314 
0600Z  25/5    39/3     8/8      -       -       -     72/16    766/330 
0700Z    -     20/6    87/7    20/11     -       -    127/24    893/354 
0800Z   6/2     1/0   104/1    21/12   --+--   --+--  132/15   1025/369 
0900Z    -      3/0    57/9    13/4      -       -     73/13   1098/382 
1000Z    -       -      6/0     5/2      -       -     11/2    1109/384    5
1100Z    -       -      5/3    61/10   33/23     -     99/36   1208/420   60
1200Z    -       -       -      8/6   187/22    3/5   198/33   1406/453 
1300Z    -       -       -       -    172/11   24/24  196/35   1602/488 
1400Z    -       -       -       -    108/3   101/39  209/42   1811/530 
1500Z    -       -       -       -     94/8   120/15  214/23   2025/553 
1600Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   44/17  115/4   159/21   2184/574 
1700Z    -       -       -    112/18    7/8    16/12  135/38   2319/612 
1800Z    -       -       -     96/13   14/13    8/10  118/36   2437/648 
1900Z    -       -      1/2     3/3    12/10    9/6    25/21   2462/669   20
2000Z    -       -     10/0    23/9     6/5    19/5    58/19   2520/688 
2100Z    -       -     45/1    27/4     7/3    13/0    92/8    2612/696 
2200Z    -      8/1     6/2    46/2     1/2     8/1    69/8    2681/704 
2300Z    -     34/7     2/3     7/6    11/4     9/4    63/24   2744/728 
0000Z  --+--    2/0    48/2    12/3     1/0    --+--   63/5    2807/733   20
0100Z   1/1    10/1    54/1     4/2     2/1      -     71/6    2878/739 
0200Z   2/1    10/3     6/2     3/1     1/0      -     22/7    2900/746   20
0300Z  10/1    23/5    30/0      -       -       -     63/6    2963/752 
0400Z  10/4     4/0    78/1     1/1      -       -     93/6    3056/758 
0500Z   8/4     4/6    70/0     3/0      -       -     85/10   3141/768 
0600Z   4/0    69/0    25/1      -       -       -     98/1    3239/769 
0700Z   1/0    37/1    58/0      -       -       -     96/1    3335/770 
0800Z  --+--   --+--    8/0     1/0    --+--   --+--    9/0    3344/770   52
0900Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    3344/770   60
1000Z   2/1     6/2    11/2    11/1      -       -     30/6    3374/776    8
1100Z    -       -      1/0   104/2    26/4      -    131/6    3505/782 
1200Z    -       -       -       -    125/0    49/11  174/11   3679/793 
1300Z    -       -       -      5/5     7/8   155/3   167/16   3846/809 
1400Z    -       -       -      2/0     4/4   142/3   148/7    3994/816 
1500Z    -       -       -      6/3     2/1   139/2   147/6    4141/822 
1600Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   79/0    67/3   146/3    4287/825 
1700Z    -       -       -     35/1    72/2    13/2   120/5    4407/830 
1800Z    -       -       -    144/2     7/0     4/0   155/2    4562/832 
1900Z    -       -       -    122/1      -     12/3   134/4    4696/836 
2000Z    -       -       -     72/0    18/0     8/1    98/1    4794/837 
2100Z    -       -       -     62/0    14/1    12/3    88/4    4882/841 
2200Z    -       -     73/0    17/0    15/1     5/3   110/4    4992/845 
2300Z    -      1/1    53/0     7/0    18/4      -     79/5    5071/850 

Total:156/75 526/123 1148/151 1089/168 1099/170 1053/163

Best 60 minutes: 254 starting 25-Nov-2023 14:27

Worked on 6 bands (53):

8P5A 9A1A C37N C6AQQ CN3A CR3A CR3W CR6K D4C DF0HQ DF6QV DK1AX DK1KC DK5TX DL1EFW DP9A DR4A ED1R ED8M EF6T EI7M EW5A HB9CA HG3N HG7T HQ9X II2S IO3F LA8OM LN8W M6T M6W MI5I OM7M OT7T OX7AM P33W PJ2T PJ4K SN7O TI7W TK4W TM1A TM6M TO7A V47T VC7M VO2AC VP5M XM3A YR8D YT5A ZF1A

Most worked entities:

          160M    80M    40M    20M    15M    10M   Total
    DL      18     91    163    156    192    188     808
    SP       6     29     54     50     66     50     255
     I       5     23     56     61     45     63     253
     F       5     20     48     48     41     45     207
    UA       1     13     63     40     54     24     195
     G       5     19     47     39     32     52     194
    OK       6     27     42     32     47     39     193
    EA       2     15     45     40     30     43     175
    VE      22     28     42     41     17     14     164
    PA       1     13     33     30     32     39     148
    HA       3     14     41     32     31     26     147
    JA                    13     76     41     10     140
    UR       5     10     37     20     41     25     138
    S5       4     12     25     27     20     25     113
    SM       2     14     34     19     18     15     102
    YO       2     11     30     12     29     15      99

                   ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, CW - 2023

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

Class: Single Op HP
QTH: MA
Operating Time (hrs): 22
OpMode: SO2R

Summary:
Band  QSOs
------------
  160:    0
   80:  104
   40:  417
   20:  384
   15:  136
   10:   95
------------
Total: 1136  Sections = 85  Total Score = 193,120

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club

Comments

Worst. Sunday. Ever.

The first 6-7 hours of the contest was fun.  I love the long exchange and trying to interleave QSOs on the second radio.

The hard sections seemed to be easy to find.  I got the sweep when VA1RST called in on 80m at 0630z.  (I worked at least 2 of every section except PE/VY2TT and VI/KP2M.)

Sunday was awful.  So many unanswered CQs.  Rate never happened during the morning so the afternoon, with the added solar storm, was even worse.

I would have quit but wanted to make my goal of 1000 QSOs.  Did it.  Then activity started to improve so I pushed a little further.  Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore and ended an hour early.

Was keeping an eye on AA3B and N2NT on the scoreboard.  They at least validated that there was no rate. We all marched along in lockstep.  🙁

Thanks to everyone who got on.  It is always difficult the weekend immediately after a great high sunspot CQ WW.

Rates

QSO/Sec by hour and band

Hour       80      40      20      15      10    Total     Cumm    OffTime

D1-2100Z    -       -     75/35   17/8     5/3    97/46     97/46  
D1-2200Z    -       -     35/8      -     76/16  111/24    208/70  
D1-2300Z    -     12/1    45/2    31/0     6/2    94/5     302/75  
D2-0000Z  --+--   34/5    --+--   62/2    --+--   96/7     398/82  
D2-0100Z    -     63/0    27/0      -       -     90/0     488/82  
D2-0200Z  21/1    54/1      -       -       -     75/2     563/84  
D2-0300Z  13/0    34/0    12/0      -       -     59/0     622/84  
D2-0400Z   7/0    52/0     1/0      -       -     60/0     682/84  
D2-0500Z  12/0    23/0      -       -       -     35/0     717/84  
D2-0600Z  11/1    21/0      -       -       -     32/1     749/85      9
D2-0700Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     749/85     60
D2-0800Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0     749/85     60
D2-0900Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     749/85     60
D2-1000Z   4/0      -       -       -       -      4/0     753/85     56
D2-1100Z  29/0    18/0      -       -       -     47/0     800/85  
D2-1200Z   2/0    21/0     2/0      -       -     25/0     825/85  
D2-1300Z    -     14/0    17/0      -       -     31/0     856/85  
D2-1400Z    -     16/0    15/0      -       -     31/0     887/85  
D2-1500Z    -     18/0    10/0     3/0      -     31/0     918/85  
D2-1600Z  --+--    1/0     5/0    --+--   --+--    6/0     924/85     38
D2-1700Z    -       -     21/0    10/0      -     31/0     955/85  
D2-1800Z    -      5/0    16/0     1/0     3/0    25/0     980/85  
D2-1900Z    -       -      2/0      -       -      2/0     982/85     53
D2-2000Z    -       -     10/0     2/0     5/0    17/0     999/85     28
D2-2100Z    -      7/0    16/0     1/0      -     24/0    1023/85  
D2-2200Z    -       -     38/0     9/0      -     47/0    1070/85  
D2-2300Z    -     10/0    29/0      -       -     39/0    1109/85  
D3-0000Z  --+--    2/0     5/0    --+--   --+--    7/0    1116/85     49
D3-0100Z   5/0    12/0     3/0      -       -     20/0    1136/85  
D3-0200Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1136/85     60

Total:   104/2   417/7   384/45  136/10   95/21

                    CQ Worldwide DX Contest, RTTY - 2023

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

Class: SOAB HP
Operating Time (hrs): 40.5
OpMode: SO2R

Summary:

Band    QSOs  State/Prov  DX   Zones
------------------------------------
 80:    316       42      41    12
 40:    663       50      62    18
 20:    900       49      73    26
 15:   1102       45      84    29
 10:    513       40      72    23
------------------------------------
Total: 3494      226     332   108   Total Score = 5,545,782

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club

Comments

This was a casual effort that turned serious.  Didn’t do the normal sleep and food prep for a big effort.  Was looking forward to the contest, but didn’t expect to spend full-time.  Conditions on Friday night and Saturday were great. Lots of good openings and rates.  Only slept 2 hours Friday night and 30 minute break for lunch. I would have been very happy if it ended after 24 hours.

Line at 24 hours: 2166 QSOs, 183 St, 95 Zn, 276 Cty for 2,958,914 points

The second 24 hours were a bit of a slog.  Not helped when one of my amplifiers failed about 1305z. The power output went from 1400W to 2W. After spending an hour operating with one radio and thinking about quitting, I decided to pull a spare amp out of the closet and keep going.  I was back in full SO2R mode by 1500z.

Was entertaining to watch the race between K1LZ and AA3B on the online scoreboard. They really piled up the multipliers.  At one point on Saturday, I was more than 160 mults behind AA3B.  I made it my goal on Sunday to close the gap to less than 100.  You would think available mults are somewhat fixed, and I should be able to find some that he found using the cluster.  But, no matter what I did, I never made it to under 100 mults behind.  It was good motivation to keep me tuning the bands. Running on two bands very much limits the ability to tune around. You have to hope the mults call in.

The rebuilt TH7 now has an SWR problem on 10m. The amp didn’t seem to care and I was able to work stations to the south.

Nice JA run on 15m Saturday evening.  Almost all right at the noise level. It was interesting to see how the bands opened in the morning.  20m was open well before sunrise but didn’t last long after due to absorption.  15m was the daytime money band.  10m was good on Saturday morning, but not so much on Sunday.

Spent time checking which antenna was best.  For 10m, it seemed like the high antenna at 100′ was always better than the low stack or all 3.  On 15 and 20 the stack was always best.

Spent a lot of time chasing missing states.  Thought I was going to miss RI on 20m, but found NC1CC with an hour to go.  Was missing OR on 20m until N7DB called in during the last hour.  Didn’t hear a MT station until late Sunday and then got K7QA on 2 bands.  Only worked one station in DE. No contact with VT although I heard N1IBM work someone.

Always a fun contest.  The RTTY crowd is very proficient these days.  Except for those few guys who still insist on sending everything 3 times.  The biggest impediment to rate is my ability to type.  I would mess up a letter and the station I was working would repeat their call multiple times.  My bad.

This is a new personal record for this contest.

Station

K3 + AL-1200

K3 + AL-1500/Alpha 76CA

80m: 4 square, dipole

40m: 2/2 @110’/70′

20m: 5/5 @100’/50′

15m: 5/5 @66’/33′

10m: 6/4/4 @100′,64′,32′

South: TH7DXX @40′

Rates

QSO/Zn+Dx+St by hour and band

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

D1-0000Z  --+--   38/37   60/48   --+--   --+--   98/85     98/85  
D1-0100Z    -     66/21   43/18     -       -    109/39    207/124 
D1-0200Z  24/24   21/7     3/0    21/27     -     69/58    276/182 
D1-0300Z  51/20   65/16     -       -       -    116/36    392/218 
D1-0400Z  48/16   65/9      -       -       -    113/25    505/243 
D1-0500Z  15/5    63/1     9/3      -       -     87/9     592/252 
D1-0600Z    -     18/4    66/12     -       -     84/16    676/268 
D1-0700Z    -      3/0    14/0      -       -     17/0     693/268    49
D1-0800Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0     693/268    60
D1-0900Z   3/2    11/4    29/1      -       -     43/7     736/275    34
D1-1000Z   9/4    25/6    60/14     -       -     94/24    830/299 
D1-1100Z    -       -     40/6   105/34     -    145/40    975/339 
D1-1200Z    -       -      4/2    88/10   80/31  172/43   1147/382 
D1-1300Z    -       -       -     63/6    81/10  144/16   1291/398 
D1-1400Z    -       -       -     59/7    86/10  145/17   1436/415 
D1-1500Z    -       -       -     56/7    40/18   96/25   1532/440 
D1-1600Z  --+--   --+--    3/0    28/2    21/5    52/7    1584/447 
D1-1700Z    -       -     39/5    49/9      -     88/14   1672/461    35
D1-1800Z    -       -       -     48/12   36/14   84/26   1756/487 
D1-1900Z    -       -       -     52/7    29/11   81/18   1837/505 
D1-2000Z    -       -       -     39/8    27/10   66/18   1903/523 
D1-2100Z    -       -     66/3     1/0    22/3    89/6    1992/529 
D1-2200Z    -       -     34/5    42/4     6/2    82/11   2074/540 
D1-2300Z    -     26/3    18/4    44/7      -     88/14   2162/554 
D2-0000Z  --+--   54/4    19/2     7/0     2/1    82/7    2244/561 
D2-0100Z   6/0    33/4    19/4      -       -     58/8    2302/569 
D2-0200Z  51/11   38/6      -       -       -     89/17   2391/586 
D2-0300Z  12/2    44/2    11/7      -       -     67/11   2458/597 
D2-0400Z  47/6     2/0     3/0      -       -     52/6    2510/603 
D2-0500Z  38/3     4/1      -       -       -     42/4    2552/607    26
D2-0600Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    2552/607    60
D2-0700Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    2552/607    60
D2-0800Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0    2552/607    60
D2-0900Z   5/0     1/0      -       -       -      6/0    2558/607    55
D2-1000Z   7/2    19/4    21/1      -       -     47/7    2605/614 
D2-1100Z    -     20/0    48/0    24/0      -     92/0    2697/614 
D2-1200Z    -       -     27/4    57/4      -     84/8    2781/622 
D2-1300Z    -       -      1/0    39/4     7/3    47/7    2828/629 
D2-1400Z    -       -     10/1    50/1     1/1    61/3    2889/632 
D2-1500Z    -       -       -     57/2    15/3    72/5    2961/637 
D2-1600Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   49/1    29/2    78/3    3039/640 
D2-1700Z    -       -     16/1    26/2     8/4    50/7    3089/647 
D2-1800Z    -       -     44/0    47/2      -     91/2    3180/649 
D2-1900Z    -       -     49/2    37/1      -     86/3    3266/652 
D2-2000Z    -       -     37/0     8/1    17/7    62/8    3328/660 
D2-2100Z    -      6/0    57/0      -      4/0    67/0    3395/660 
D2-2200Z    -     25/0    15/3      -       -     40/3    3435/663 
D2-2300Z    -     16/1    35/2     6/0     2/0    59/3    3494/666 

Total:   316/95  663/130 900/1481102/158 513/135

Best 60 minutes: 182 starting at 23-Sep-2023 12:16

Worked on 5 bands (54)

9A1A 9A5Y AA3B AA5AU C37N CR3DX CR3W DA0BCC DA0RR DD5M DH0GHU DJ3NG DK9IP DL1RTL
DL6JZ DL8TG DP6A DP6K DP7D DP9A DR3W EA4BAS ED7B EE4Y F8CRS G2U I4VEQ IQ3RK
IQ4FC K1AR K1SFA K5RZA K9CT KI1G KW1X LN8W LZ5R LZ6K N0UR N6WM NP4Z P49X PI4CC
PI4COM S50W S56A SN7Q SP50UUU TM3Z US8ICM UW1M W0LSD W6SX YO9HP

Worked on 4 bands (94)

Most worked entities

      80M    40M    20M    15M    10M   Total

K      166    287    239    209    105    1006
DL      44     62    122    168     91     487
I        6     41     78     98     38     261
SP       5     26     31     52     12     126
EA       6     18     26     37     31     118
PA       8     11     34     40     13     106
G        3     16     26     46     12     103
F        8     11     23     23     18      83
VE      14     30     13     15      9      81
JA              1     30     35             66
OK       3      9     19     22     13      66
UR       3     10     14     25      9      61

                    WAE DX Contest, CW - 2023

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

Class: Single Op HP
QTH: W1
Operating Time (hrs): 17.5

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  QTCs  Mults
-------------------------
   80:  110     0   100
   40:  225   213   111
   20:  378   434    84
   15:  451   560    88
   10:   49     0    40
-------------------------
Total: 1213  1207   423  Total Score = 1,023,660

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club

Comments

Part time.  I worked the fun parts of the contest.  Only used one radio + the cluster.

Went to bed at 03z each night so missed some easy mults on 80m like CT, PA, OE,and G!

15m was great both days.  10m opened well Sunday but very spotty.  Loud signals and weak ones.

Nice to see so much activity from Germany.

QSO/DXCC by hour and band

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

D1-0000Z  --+--   45/45   22/22   --+--   --+--   67/67     67/67  
D1-0100Z   5/12   23/15   30/8      -       -     58/35    125/102 
D1-0200Z  42/48   28/21    4/8      -       -     74/77    199/179 
D1-0300Z  30/28    9/9    13/12     -       -     52/49    251/228    16
D1-0400Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     251/228    60
D1-0500Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     251/228    60
D1-0600Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     251/228    60
D1-0700Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     251/228    60
D1-0800Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0     251/228    60
D1-0900Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     251/228    60
D1-1000Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     251/228    60
D1-1100Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     251/228    60
D1-1200Z    -       -       -     26/32     -     26/32    277/260    48
D1-1300Z    -       -       -    113/38     -    113/38    390/298 
D1-1400Z    -       -      2/4     6/0     1/2     9/6     399/304    51
D1-1500Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     399/304    60
D1-1600Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0     399/304    60
D1-1700Z    -       -      2/4    42/0    16/20   60/24    459/328    20
D1-1800Z    -       -     15/4    52/8     3/2    70/14    529/342 
D1-1900Z    -       -      1/0      -       -      1/0     530/342    57
D1-2000Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     530/342    60
D1-2100Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     530/342    60
D1-2200Z    -      5/6    55/12     -       -     60/18    590/360     7
D1-2300Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     590/360    60
D2-0000Z  --+--    3/0     4/0    --+--   --+--    7/0     597/360    41
D2-0100Z   5/4    37/3     3/0      -       -     45/7     642/367 
D2-0200Z  12/8    23/9    11/4      -       -     46/21    688/388 
D2-0300Z  15/0    15/3    12/0      -       -     42/3     730/391    15
D2-0400Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     730/391    60
D2-0500Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     730/391    60
D2-0600Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     730/391    60
D2-0700Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     730/391    60
D2-0800Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0     730/391    60
D2-0900Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     730/391    60
D2-1000Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     730/391    60
D2-1100Z    -       -     57/2     5/2      -     62/4     792/395    12
D2-1200Z    -       -      3/4    60/4     6/6    69/14    861/409 
D2-1300Z    -       -       -     52/2     2/2    54/4     915/413 
D2-1400Z    -       -       -       -      5/4     5/4     920/417 
D2-1500Z    -       -       -     50/2     3/0    53/2     973/419 
D2-1600Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   16/0    13/4    29/4    1002/423    31
D2-1700Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1002/423    60
D2-1800Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1002/423    60
D2-1900Z    -       -     38/0    29/0      -     67/0    1069/423    14
D2-2000Z    -       -     68/0      -       -     68/0    1137/423 
D2-2100Z    -       -      9/0      -       -      9/0    1146/423    49
D2-2200Z    -       -      2/0      -       -      2/0    1148/423    60
D2-2300Z   1/0    37/0    27/0      -       -     65/0    1213/423 

Total:   110/100 225/111 378/84  451/88   49/40 

Best 60 mins: 132 QSOs starting 12-Aug-2023 12:48

Worked on 5 bands:

9A30T 9A5Y DA2X DK9PY DL2SAX DL5AXX DP6A EF5Y EI5KF HB0DX IK0EFR IR2C IR2Q OM2VL OM7M RU1A S53X SN2B SP8R TM7A

                    CQWW WPX Contest, CW - 2023

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

Class: SOAB HP
QTH: MA
Operating Time (hrs): 18

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
  160:    0
   80:   55
   40:  486
   20:  543
   15: 1013
   10:   35
------------
Total: 2132  Prefixes = 931  Total Score = 5,748,925

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club

Comments

Conditions seemed fantastic for the times I was on.  Especially 15m.

The main goal for the weekend was to get together with W2SC and test our WRTC station setup.  Did that in the backyard on Saturday in the most perfect weather imaginable (callsign WR1TC).

Watched Formula 1 and Indy 500 on Sunday while operating.  Always fun how the score takes off as the QSO totals rise.

Nice to see so much activity (and prefixes) from Ukraine.

Rates

QSO/Pref by hour and band                                                       
                                                                                
Hour   160M     80M     40M     20M     15M     10M    Total     Cumm   OffTime

0000Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   38/38   --+--   --+--   38/38     38/38     41  
0100Z    -       -     48/38   86/81     -       -    134/119   172/157        
0200Z    -       -    136/75     -       -       -    136/75    308/232        
0300Z    -       -     79/56   36/25     -       -    115/81    423/313        
0400Z    -      7/5    14/10   30/15   15/10     -     66/40    489/353    19  
0500Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     489/353    60  
0600Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     489/353    60  
0700Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     489/353    60  
0800Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0     489/353    60  
0900Z    -       -      7/5      -       -       -      7/5     496/358    56  
1000Z    -       -     16/9    46/29   39/15     -    101/53    597/411        
1100Z    -       -       -       -      3/1      -      3/1     600/412    59  
1200Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     600/412    60  
1300Z    -       -       -       -    140/57     -    140/57    740/469     5  
1400Z    -       -       -       -     42/20     -     42/20    782/489    40  
1500Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     782/489    60  
1600Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0     782/489    60  
1700Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     782/489    60  
1800Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     782/489    60  
1900Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     782/489    60  
2000Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     782/489    60  
2100Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     782/489    60  
2200Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     782/489    60  
2300Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     782/489    60  
0000Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0     782/489    60  
0100Z    -       -       -       -     23/18     -     23/18    805/507    41  
0200Z    -       -     61/19   54/24    5/2      -    120/45    925/552        
0300Z    -     42/6    60/32     -       -       -    102/38   1027/590        
0400Z    -      6/2    46/26   46/16     -       -     98/44   1125/634        
0500Z    -       -     17/12   46/26    1/1      -     64/39   1189/673    16  
0600Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1189/673    60  
0700Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1189/673    60  
0800Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0    1189/673    60  
0900Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1189/673    60  
1000Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1189/673    60  
1100Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1189/673    60  
1200Z    -       -       -      1/1    74/14    3/0    78/15   1267/688     8  
1300Z    -       -       -     31/14   87/21     -    118/35   1385/723        
1400Z    -       -       -       -    140/31    4/1   144/32   1529/755        
1500Z    -       -       -      2/1   114/24   11/7   127/32   1656/787        
1600Z  --+--   --+--   --+--    8/7    82/19   --+--   90/26   1746/813        
1700Z    -       -       -     17/3    85/21     -    102/24   1848/837    32  
1800Z    -       -       -      4/3   104/26    8/3   116/32   1964/869        
1900Z    -       -       -     47/8    44/15    9/8   100/31   2064/900        
2000Z    -       -       -     34/7    10/4      -     44/11   2108/911    24  
2100Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    2108/911    60  
2200Z    -       -      2/2    17/13    5/5      -     24/20   2132/931    20  
2300Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    2132/931    60  

Total:  0/0    55/13  486/284 543/311 1013/304 35/19                           

Best 60 minutes: 156  @ 27-May-2023 13:10

Worked on 5 bands: CN3A NR4M

Most worked entities

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

     K             20    165    129    252     10     576
    DL              7     46     45    111            209
    UA                    10     34     37             81
    UR                    18     22     38             78
     I              2      9     20     40             71
    SP                    17     17     36             70
    VE              6     20     14     27             67

                    ARRL DX Contest, SSB - 2023

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

Class: SOUAB HP
QTH: MA
Operating Time (hrs): 28.5
OpMode: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
  160:   33    25
   80:  159    54
   40:  182    69
   20:  763   106
   15:  943   105
   10: 1162   103
-------------------
Total: 3242   462  Total Score = 4,493,412

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club

Comments

Considered going unassisted, but didn’t want to spend the weekend listening to people not send their calls…

All bands were open at the start, but I didn’t want to mess with 40.  Ended up calling CQ on 20.  Amazing where the band is open to at 00z.  A71KK called in at 59+20 and said he was running 80w.  Same with HZ1DS who was 59+ running 100w. Then a ZS. 

I did have one good run on 40m.  I was transmitting on 7205 and listening on 7089.  RW9USA called in and he was 40 over S9.  Amazing!  That was my only real success working split.  Don’t know why people don’t do that anymore.

Snow static started around 0130z.  By 0230z it was so bad I could not hear any signals on any band.  Went off to watch TV for a while.  Came back and the static was still bad. The only band with no snow static (160m) had some kind of electronic noise that was S6 across the band (probably from a neighbor).  Went to bed and hoped for better in the morning.

Saturday was fun.  Went straight to 15m at 1145z and it was off to the races. Jumped to 10m at 1246z and it got even wilder. After several hours took a break to do some errands, then took my wife out to dinner later that afternoon.  Watched the Formula 1 qualifying in the evening.  Got back on for Eu sunrise and caught up on the low band multipliers that I missed the first night. I did more CQing on 20m and was rewarded with a 3DA0 station calling in and asking what I needed for the contest.

Took a short sleep and got up to catch some of the Asia and Pacific mults on 40. The JAs were S9 on 40.

More running on Sunday morning.  Really struggled to get or keep a frequency on both 15 and 10.

The bands were slow to open.  I spent all day Sunday getting beat out by stations in PA, MD, and VA.  This makes sense since the bands were great to Italy and southern Europe all day but marginal to northern Eu.

As sunset passed to Western Eu the conditions improved.  Had a great run on 10m of stations that were solid S9 and yet many were running less than 50W.

I noticed something interesting this weekend. On Saturday morning my 10m stack at 60’/30′ was the best antenna for Europe. On Sunday, it seemed like the 6-ele at 90′ was always better. All this contest season the stack has been the winner, but not on Sunday.

I noticed something similar on 20m on both days. Normally the stack in phase (BIP) is ALWAYS the best antenna. I try out of phase (BOP) sometimes, just for fun, but it is never an improvement. Not this weekend. The BOP configuration was an S-unit louder to Europe. I guess it is true that you can never have too many antenna options.

20m was finally good for running when I went there early around 1900z. That meant I could get a frequency. Definitely helped boost the score since I was missing some easy mults there.

Spent the last part of the contest chasing multipliers.  Learned more humility. Had some great tail-end wins with HH2AA and 9V1YC. The last hour did have a good run to JA on 15m which was a pleasant surprise. Then jumped across all bands the last hour looking for anything I could work. Nice to have so many PY stations available. 

TM6M once again wins the award for widest signal.  There were lots of other wide and splattering signals from Europe.  The good propagation makes the splatter even more noticeable.  It is great for them to help keep the frequency clear, but not so good for the rest of us.  Very poor sportsmanship.

Overall a fun contest.  Thanks to those around the world that chase us across the bands.

Station

K3 + AL-1200
K3 + AL-1500

160m: 1/4-wave GP, shunt-fed tower
80m: 4 square, dipole
40m: 2-el @110′. 2/2 @ 110’/65′
20m: 5/5 @100’/50′
15m: 5/5 @66’/33′
10m: 6-el @100′, 4/4 @62’/32′
TH7DXX @40′ (south)

Rates

QSO/DX by hour and band

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

0000Z  --+--   --+--   57/28   26/18   16/12   --+--   99/58     99/58  
0100Z   1/1    27/16    5/1    30/24   12/4    10/5    85/51    184/109 
0200Z    -      2/1     4/4    29/10    7/5      -     42/20    226/129  33
0300Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     226/129  60
0400Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     226/129  60
0500Z  12/8    24/11   16/13    1/1      -       -     53/33    279/162  15
0600Z   3/3    19/7      -      2/1      -       -     24/11    303/173  17
0700Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     303/173  60
0800Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0     303/173  60
0900Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     303/173  60
1000Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     303/173  60
1100Z    -       -      1/0      -     55/23     -     56/23    359/196  41
1200Z    -       -       -      5/1   147/18   35/17  187/36    546/232 
1300Z    -       -       -       -       -    224/29  224/29    770/261 
1400Z    -       -       -       -    128/6    58/10  186/16    956/277 
1500Z    -       -       -       -     12/4    41/7    53/11   1009/288  26
1600Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    2/2    27/5    29/7    1038/295  43
1700Z    -       -       -     21/4    10/4   135/5   166/13   1204/308 
1800Z    -       -       -    122/19   10/3    15/3   147/25   1351/333 
1900Z    -       -       -       -    145/5     9/6   154/11   1505/344 
2000Z    -       -       -     14/1      -       -     14/1    1519/345  50
2100Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1519/345  60
2200Z    -       -       -     12/2     7/2    19/1    38/5    1557/350  42
2300Z    -       -      7/0    11/2     7/3    49/4    74/9    1631/359  13
0000Z  --+--    3/1    15/3     1/1     9/1    --+--   28/6    1659/365  29
0100Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1659/365  60
0200Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1659/365  60
0300Z   9/7    20/7    10/8    12/4     3/1      -     54/27   1713/392   3
0400Z   2/1    17/3     4/2     2/0      -       -     25/6    1738/398  22
0500Z   3/2    41/6    14/3     4/1      -       -     62/12   1800/410 
0600Z   2/2     1/0    29/2    32/3      -       -     64/7    1864/417 
0700Z    -      2/1     2/1     1/0      -       -      5/2    1869/419  49
0800Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0    1869/419  60
0900Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1869/419  60
1000Z    -      1/1     7/2      -       -       -      8/3    1877/422  46
1100Z    -       -      3/1   167/3     1/0      -    171/4    2048/426 
1200Z    -       -       -     42/2    95/1     6/0   143/3    2191/429 
1300Z    -       -       -       -    117/2    14/2   131/4    2322/433 
1400Z    -       -       -       -     66/2    26/2    92/4    2414/437 
1500Z    -       -       -      3/0     8/2   138/2   149/4    2563/441 
1600Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    2/1   115/0   117/1    2680/442 
1700Z    -       -       -       -      6/0   120/1   126/1    2806/443 
1800Z    -       -       -      6/1     9/1    73/2    88/4    2894/447 
1900Z    -       -       -    132/3     8/0     1/0   141/3    3035/450 
2000Z    -       -       -     60/1     4/1    26/2    90/4    3125/454   9
2100Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    3125/454  60
2200Z    -       -      1/1    19/3    15/1    14/0    49/5    3174/459  21
2300Z   1/1     2/0     7/0     9/1    42/1     7/0    68/3    3242/462 

Total: 33/25  159/54  182/69  763/106 943/105 1162/103

Best 60 mins: 234 starting at 04-Mar-2023 13:13

Worked on 6 bands: 25

8P5A 9A1A 9A1P CQ8M CU2AA E7DX ED5R ED8W EI9E IO8V IR4X J68HZ KP2M NP4Z PJ2T PJ4G SP8R TI1K TM0R TM6M TM7A TO3Z VP5M ZF1A ZF5T

Worked on 5 bands: 43

Most worked entities:

          160M    80M    40M    20M    15M    10M   Total
     I       2     19     21     88     99    145     374
    DL             15      9     65    101    145     335
     F       5     20     11     50     46     84     216
     G              6      8     48     60     85     207
    PA       1      3      3     55     45     91     198
    EA       1      8      8     40     36     52     145
    SP       1      7      9     34     44     30     125
    JA                     7     18     42     52     119
    UA                     4     20     40     23      87
    PY                     2     17     22     38      79