K5ZD, Single Operator, All Band, High Power
By Randall A. Thompson, K5ZD
k5zd@contesting.com
Summary Sheet
CQ WORLD WIDE DX CONTEST -- 1994
Call: K5ZD Country: United States
Mode: CW Category: Single Operator, High Power
BAND QSO QSO PTS PTS/QSO ZONES COUNTRIES
160 97 264 2.72 13 43
80 265 758 2.86 18 64
40 631 1836 2.91 31 105
20 835 2452 2.94 34 108
15 614 1807 2.94 23 77
10 49 127 2.59 14 35
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Totals 2491 7244 2.91 133 432 => 4,092,860
Operating Time: 45 hours
Equipment Description
Radios:
- IC-765 + Alpha 76CA
- TS-930 + Drake L-4B
Antennas:
- 160m elevated GP
- 80m Inverted Vee with top at 95′
- 40m Cushcraft 40-2CD
- 20m Stacked Hygain 205-CA at 100’/50′
- 15m LTA 5-ele 15 on 32′ boom at 70′
- 10m LTA 6-ele 10 on 30′ boom at 78′ fixed South
- TH7DXX at 70′
Notes on the Contest
This contest began for me 363 days ago. The first real test of my new station had resulted in a #3 finish in the ’93 WW CW only 30K behind K1KI and K1ZM. Lots of antenna work over the summer and this was going to be an all out effort to win. KQ2M told me during Phone SS that they were going to get the 40m beam up at KM1H. Add in N2NT, W1KM, N6BV, N2LT, KM9P and the usual stealth entry of K1ZM and I knew the competition was going to be tough.
0000Z
Despite all the anticipation, I start the contest absolutely flat. No adrenaline, no enthusiasm, nothing. Maybe it is my heavy duty work schedule, or the 9 extra people in our house the past 2 days, or just the burn out from this being my 3rd serious contest effort in 5 weekends (I vote for that one). I decide to grind it out and hope that I will warm up to the contest and find some source of motivation.
Bands are just as expected the first night. I take my pounding on 80m and have fun busting pile-ups on 160. 20m is open all night to JA although I only work a few since I am concentrating on the low bands.
Keep checking 20 during the 08, 09 and 10Z hours. Good scatter sounds like the top of the cycle. Bands are going to be great! I work two EA stations on 15m at 1030Z (that’s 5:30AM local time) and they are loud! Yes, the bands are going to be hot.
1100Z
Hmmm…I am hunt and pouncing on 20 but only the big guns are coming through. I am having no luck calling CQ. Sunrise is 1140Z and with the sun comes the devastating solar storm. Normally the 12Z hour is a big one here. I managed to find 15 QSOs spread across 80 to 20m. It is so bad I spend time calling a JA on 80, some LP on 40. Yuck!
During 13Z I spend time trying to find QSOs on 20 and 15m. It is a struggle.
Conditions are nearly identical to the WW Phone contest. It too suffered from a solar upset Saturday at sunrise. With a strong sense of deja vu, I go to 20m, start pressing F1, and wait for the bands to return. From my experience on Phone, I “know” that 15m will open tomorrow. So I concentrate on milking 20 for all it has. I use the second radio to tune 10 and 15 for easy Caribbean/SA mults.
1900Z
The computer screen starts to blur. I am having trouble seeing the point of the screen where I am trying to type. Unfortunately, I know exactly what this means — ocular migraine headache in 15 minutes. Look for Ibuprofen but we are out. Oh this is going to hurt. My concentration suffers badly, but I have lived through these during contests before.
Twenty is almost gone to Europe and 40 is a mess of unanswered CQs. I try several times to find a spot with no luck. I hear KM1H down around 7009 almost all weekend and I figure that his bigger antenna is carving out an advantage. My head still hurts and my enthusiasm is wilting!
I stick it out until late in the 01Z hour. This is awful. All bands closed to Europe! I have been in the chair for all but 5 minutes of the first 25 hours. It is time for a shower and some food.
0300Z
I continue to grind but the bands are bad. I keep thinking that I should go to sleep! My headache is receding but it still hurts. I keep questioning why I am doing this. I would give anything to know how the other single ops are doing. I want to quit, but there is always the chance I am close.
By 04Z, I can’t stand it any more. I decide to sleep for 45 minutes and get back up for EU sunrise. This was almost a mistake. I wake up fine but the “sleep drunkenness” is murder. It takes all of my experience and knowledge of what is happening to keep moving. My stomach is turning over and I am dizzy. 15 minutes later and I am awake but not after many thoughts of quitting. Why do we do this?
0600Z
I am rewarded by a recovery of conditions. One of my occasional exploratory CQs on 160 is rewarded with an answer from DJ6RX. I get 34 answers in 30 minutes including 5 new mults. I even get to 80m and get some answers there (my 80m scores are more a testament to my S&P ability than my signal strength).
I stay awake into the 0900Z hour running Europeans on 40. I need more sleep and decide to catch another hour from 0940Z to 1040Z. This results in another bout with sleep drunkenness. Note: Always take sleep breaks in 90 minute periods — it does make a difference.
1200Z
During the 11Z hour, 20m was kind of weird. Some signals but couldn’t get much going. I was checking 15 on the second rig and was hearing SA/AF and even some Europe on scatter. I only had 51 QSOs on 15 (33 mults) so I decided to see what I could work on scatter.
No problem working stations so I decide to CQ. No luck. I give up and tune down the band just in time to hear local W2SC get an answer. Hey, if he can get answers I should. I go back to 21011 and call CQ again. It works. Some on scatter and some booming on direct path. The frequency goes wild!
Europeans are calling in by the dozen. OT4T starts CQing up 2 kHz and he is 40 over! I see the rate meter climb like crazy. You know it is good when the last 100 meter is going up!
I try to move G4BUO to 10m on a lark. It is tough with the rate to even have time to call him on the second rig. We never work, but I notice there are lots of signals on 10 including EU on scatter. I hear/work an IS0 on direct path. With rates over 130/hour on the main rig, my rate drops each time I try the second rig. I am sure I gave away QSOs but I didn’t want to miss anything. I had 505 QSOs in less than 5 hours (that sure helps the score)!
1700Z
Time to go to 20m. I am focused on keeping the rate up. 20m is not very good and I end up alternating between CQing and S&P for mults. The 19, 20 and 21Z hours are pretty slow. About 2230Z, I decide that 40m is my best hope to make it to 4 Million.
I try CQing down low. I try around 7020. It is a battle and I am losing. Finally, I S&P up high in the band. I find another frequency and it is magic. Steady slow rate of one QSO per minute. The score builds and I am overjoyed to pass 4 Meg with 50 minutes to go. Amazingly the rate continues. YK0A calls in (the first time I heard them all weekend). They are puny weak. WJ2O/KP2 fires up down 1 and I go get him for another mult.
0000Z
Finally, the contest is over. I feel better, but I am certain that I am out of the running. It was so bad I was sure KQ2M or someone else must have done better.
I just about fall out of the chair when KQ2M reads his breakdown. It is CLOSE! We are only 12K points apart. We have the same zone and country multiplier. Boy, am I glad I didn’t sleep a minute more! Now it is up to the log checkers. I would normally be confident, but with that migraine for 8 hours, my concentration may not have been good enough. Congratulations to Bob either way it goes. I am sure he fought many of the same mental battles that I did.
Here are the numbers.
Continental Breakdown
160 80 40 20 15 10 ALL percent
North America 21 35 53 49 27 16 201 8.1
South America 4 12 22 22 26 23 109 4.4
Europe 70 213 508 670 537 7 2005 80.5
Asia 0 1 22 70 2 0 95 3.8
Africa 1 3 18 18 17 2 59 2.4
Oceania 1 1 8 6 5 1 22 0.9
Rate Sheet
HOUR 160 80 40 20 15 10 HR TOT CUM TOT
0 ..... ..... 92/32 9/4 ..... ..... 101/36 101/36
1 . . 66/14 11/6 . . 77/20 178/56
2 7/7 16/15 19/6 18/3 . . 60/31 238/87
3 9/8 4/3 24/5 7/6 . . 44/22 282/109
4 8/6 35/9 6/1 2/0 . . 51/16 333/125
5 9/4 30/5 . 4/3 . . 43/12 376/137
6 10/5 39/5 . . . . 49/10 425/147
7 . 61/4 . 1/1 . . 62/5 487/152
8 2/1 4/2 37/8 3/3 ..... ..... 46/14 533/166
9 . 6/3 41/6 3/3 . . 50/12 583/178
10 1/0 1/1 10/7 18/10 2/1 . 32/19 615/197
11 2/1 1/0 1/1 22/8 . . 26/10 641/207
12 . 1/0 4/1 10/5 . . 15/6 656/213
13 . . . 31/3 15/13 . 46/16 702/229
14 . . . 75/5 5/5 . 80/10 782/239
15 . . . 123/5 1/1 . 124/6 906/245
16 ..... ..... ..... 117/7 1/0 ..... 118/7 1024/252
17 . . . 95/7 1/1 1/1 97/9 1121/261
18 . . . 74/10 8/3 1/0 83/13 1204/274
19 . . . 47/0 3/2 4/3 54/5 1258/279
20 . . 5/1 . 12/7 16/12 33/20 1291/299
21 . . 13/0 8/3 2/0 5/3 28/6 1319/305
22 . . 37/2 3/2 1/0 . 41/4 1360/309
23 . . 25/2 23/2 . . 48/4 1408/313
0 ..... 1/1 32/4 ..... ..... ..... 33/5 1441/318
1 1/0 10/4 5/0 . . . 16/4 1457/322
2 2/2 1/0 1/0 . . . 4/2 1461/324
3 . 8/3 8/4 1/1 . . 17/8 1478/332
4 . . 3/1 1/0 . . 4/1 1482/333
5 6/4 . . . . . 6/4 1488/337
6 37/7 . . . . . 37/7 1525/344
7 2/1 37/3 . 1/1 . . 40/5 1565/349
8 ..... 3/2 57/1 1/1 ..... ..... 61/4 1626/353
9 1/0 4/3 11/0 . . . 16/3 1642/356
10 . 1/0 . . . . 1/0 1643/356
11 . . 8/6 11/1 . . 19/7 1662/363
12 . . . 8/2 69/20 . 77/22 1739/385
13 . . . . 139/6 1/1 140/7 1879/392
14 . . . . 130/3 4/4 134/7 2013/399
15 . . . . 95/2 11/9 106/11 2119/410
16 ..... ..... ..... ..... 69/5 1/1 70/6 2189/416
17 . . . 21/1 37/3 . 58/4 2247/420
18 . . . 52/1 6/1 2/0 60/2 2307/422
19 . . . 11/3 7/4 3/2 21/9 2328/431
20 . . 7/1 8/2 11/2 . 26/5 2354/436
21 . 2/2 5/1 10/3 . . 17/6 2371/442
22 . . 49/2 4/0 . . 53/2 2424/444
23 . . 65/3 2/0 . . 67/3 2491/447
DAY1 48/32 198/47 380/86 704/96 51/33 27/19 ..... 1408/313
DAY2 49/14 67/18 251/23 131/16 563/46 22/17 . 1083/134
TOT 97/46 265/65 631/109 835/112 614/79 49/36 . 2491/447
BREAKDOWN in mins/QSO's per hr
K5ZD CQ WORLD WIDE DX CONTEST Single Operator
HOUR 160 80 40 20 15 10 HR TOT CUM TOT
DAY1 1.7/29 4.0/50 7.0/54 9.4/75 1.2/42 0.8/34 ..... 24.0/59
DAY2 1.4/34 2.4/27 5.5/46 3.2/41 6.0/94 0.7/34 . 19.1/57
TOT 3.1/31 6.4/41 12.5/51 12.5/67 7.2/85 1.4/34 . 43.2/58