Category: writeup

                    ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, CW

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

Class: Single Op HP
QTH: W1
Operating Time (hrs): 22.5

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
  160:    0
   80:  347
   40:  517
   20:  308
   15:   16
   10:    0
------------
Total: 1188  Sections = 83  Total Score = 197,208

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club

Comments

My 42nd consecutive year with more than 1000 QSOs in SS CW!

Contest started OK.  Not great, but rate was consistent.  It really falls off around 0630z. I was trying to stay on, but the rate just got too slow.  The time change always makes me have to think when to set the alarm to get back on in time.

We were having quite a wind storm on Sat afternoon and evening.  Something in my 40m beam was intermittent, so had trouble copying a bunch of stations.  Probably have a higher number of errors as a result.  Made a bunch of QSOs using my 40m dipole that is up about 20′ hanging off of one tower (it fell a few months ago and procrastinated fixing it).

We had a short power failure on Sunday morning.  N1MM answered my CQ and I was just sending the report when everything went dark.  The UPS saved the computer, but the radios, amp, and switching all died.  By the time it all powered up again, N1MM was gone so the QSO was lost.

Got awful slow on Sunday. Couldn’t stay in the chair for the full 24 hours. Fun (and motivating) to chase AA3B on contestonlinescore.com. He got me in the end.

80m was super quiet on Sat night.  Was able to copy just about anyone who called on the first try. Weird to hear stations from across the country all morning on 40m. 15m was useless on Sat, but had some really strong signals on Sunday. N9RV was rock crushing for hours. Thought about listening on 160 a few times, but never made the effort.

Thanks to NP3X for the sweep! Nasty pileup but managed to sneak through. I think I worked 2 or more of every section except NT and VI.

Kind of packed it in once I got the sweep.  Worked on some CQWW log checking and watched the Patriots. Was surprised to get on for last 18 minutes and worked 14 stations!  I am sure once the final results come out, I will kick myself for not pushing to the end.

Nothing wrong with SS CW that another 1000 participants wouldn’t solve.

QSO/Sec by hour and band

 Hour      80      40      20      15     Total     Cumm    OffTime

D1-2100Z    -     81/30   14/8      -     95/38     95/38  
D1-2200Z    -     29/1    56/19     -     85/20    180/58  
D1-2300Z  21/4    13/1    48/7      -     82/12    262/70  
D2-0000Z  78/2    11/0    --+--   --+--   89/2     351/72  
D2-0100Z  70/2    13/0      -       -     83/2     434/74  
D2-0200Z  32/2    47/2      -       -     79/4     513/78  
D2-0300Z  35/0    32/0      -       -     67/0     580/78  
D2-0400Z  11/0    52/2      -       -     63/2     643/80  
D2-0500Z  27/0    17/0      -       -     44/0     687/80  
D2-0600Z  23/0     7/1      -       -     30/1     717/81  
D2-0700Z  12/0     3/0      -       -     15/0     732/81     35
D2-0800Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0     732/81     60
D2-0900Z    -       -       -       -      0/0     732/81     60
D2-1000Z    -       -       -       -      0/0     732/81     60
D2-1100Z   8/0    21/0      -       -     29/0     761/81     27
D2-1200Z   9/0    38/1      -       -     47/1     808/82  
D2-1300Z   9/0    36/0      -       -     45/0     853/82  
D2-1400Z    -      9/0     5/0      -     14/0     867/82     32
D2-1500Z    -     33/0     8/0      -     41/0     908/82  
D2-1600Z  --+--   13/0    19/0     2/0    34/0     942/82  
D2-1700Z    -      5/0    34/0     5/0    44/0     986/82  
D2-1800Z    -       -     27/0     6/0    33/0    1019/82  
D2-1900Z    -       -      5/0     1/0     6/0    1025/82     50
D2-2000Z    -     10/0    18/0     2/1    30/1    1055/83     13
D2-2100Z    -      3/0    33/0      -     36/0    1091/83  
D2-2200Z    -     13/0    15/0      -     28/0    1119/83  
D2-2300Z    -      2/0     6/0      -      8/0    1127/83     52
D3-0000Z   1/0     9/0    20/0    --+--   30/0    1157/83  
D3-0100Z   8/0     9/0      -       -     17/0    1174/83     20
D3-0200Z   3/0    11/0      -       -     14/0    1188/83     40

Total:   347/10  517/38  308/34   16/1

                    CQ Worldwide DX Contest, SSB

Call: K5ZD
Operator(s): K5ZD

Class: SO AB HP (Classic)
QTH: W1
Operating Time (hrs): 24

Summary:
Band      QSOs  Zones  Countries
------------------------------
  160:      53     11       33
   80:     190     18       69
   40:     229     20       68
   20:    1124     27      102
   15:     657     25       90
   10:      14      6        9
------------------------------
Total:    2267    107      371  Total Score = 3,120,862

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club

Comments:

Knew I couldn’t do a full effort so decided to try Classic overlay.

I was finishing up a show on Netflix when the contest started. Operated a bit over 2 hours and then decided to watch the World Series. It was the bottom of the 7th and I figured an hour would be a good break before getting back in time for Europe sunrise. Whoops. 10+ innings later it was now 0730z and bands were quiet. Gave up on trying to maximize my operating time for score. Went for fun instead.

Got up early and found a frequency on 20m. Wow! Rate was great with band open deep into Europe and Russia. Stayed a bit long just because the rate was so good. The Nor’Easter was in full force when I noticed the 20m stack lights were no longer showing the correct indication. An intermittent problem over the past two months. Can’t fix it now. Have choice of upper, lower, or both out of phase for rest of weekend.

When I got to 15m there were some loud signals so called CQ in the first spot I found.

Magic! The band was open with spotlight propagation all around northern Europe. Worked LY, OH and even some Russians. Has a 245 hour! This surprise and discovery are part of what keeps us coming back year after year.

As this excitement was happening, I noticed that my top 15m beam would only turn left. Luckily it was on Europe, but once I started messing with it, it then went to N, then NW, then W. So only the beam at 33′ to Europe for rest of weekend.

My doctor’s office was having a flu shot event so I stopped to go get one. Didn’t seem to impact my ability to operate and was glad to get it out of the way.

Took a nap in the afternoon. Caught a few stations on 10m, but not much. Only SA on 15m. 20m was great into Japan with lots of big signals.

40m is just a mess. I never thought I would be wishing for us to go back to the old days of working split all the time…

Watched the Red Sox again, but I did it while still working the low bands. Had to catch up on mults.

Sunday opened at the same time as Saturday. Got a good frequency and had a nice few hours. It felt like conditions were better, so I decided to go to 15m earlier. This is where being Classic with only 1 radio is a challenge.

I changed bands only to discover conditions were not great. No way to get my frequency back so I did some slow CQing on 15m. Went from a 211 hour on 20m to a 32 hour on 15m.  Ouch!

It was weird. How can we have so many SP stations in the log and no Germans?! They were even calling in after their sunset. As the sun moved, suddenly the band opened to Germany. That helped the score! Was sure missing the high 15 Yagi as many of the signals were right at the noise and had to surf the QSB to get in the log.

Had to take some time off to attend a concert my wife was playing in. Got back early enough to get to the 24 hour of operating mark. Although the last 2 hours were slow. Called lots of loud Europeans on 75m that could not hear me. Argh.

Spent time in the last 20 minutes calling a loud CT9ABO. No luck, but did work UR5AS. OK7K was the consistently loud signal from Europe on 160 all weekend.

As always, too many guys who don’t send their call. Although I found them more responsive when asked so maybe we are making progress. Didn’t notice as much splatter as usual, but that was probably because having only one radio and doing lots of CQing limited my visibility.

Never heard zones 18, 23, 24, 26, 28, 29, or 34.

Three hours over 200 were a blast. You see the rate go up and you just hope the frequency stays clear and guys keep calling.

Always amazing how this contest brings out the activity. Worked a lot of guys that were not in the SCP file. Thanks to everyone that go on and helped us all have more fun.

Now off to plan some antenna maintenance!

Randy, K5ZD

Rates

QSO/ZN+DX by hour and band

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

0000Z  --+--   --+--   18/19   26/10   --+--   --+--   44/29     44/29  
0100Z    -     23/29   50/32     -       -       -     73/61    117/90  
0200Z  12/13   10/5      -       -       -       -     22/18    139/108   32 RedSox
0300Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     139/108   60
0400Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     139/108   60
0500Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     139/108   60
0600Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     139/108   60
0700Z   1/0    12/11   25/20     -       -       -     38/31    177/139   34
0800Z   5/5     8/6     7/3     1/2    --+--   --+--   21/16    198/155   21
0900Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     198/155   60
1000Z   1/0     9/7    11/4     6/8      -       -     27/19    225/174   28
1100Z    -       -       -    187/48     -       -    187/48    412/222 
1200Z    -       -       -    218/6      -       -    218/6     630/228 
1300Z    -       -       -     99/2    87/32     -    186/34    816/262 
1400Z    -       -       -       -    245/20     -    245/20   1061/282 
1500Z    -       -       -       -     24/15     -     24/15   1085/297   24 Flu shot
1600Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   22/7    --+--   22/7    1107/304   60
1700Z    -       -       -    102/9     1/0      -    103/9    1210/313 
1800Z    -       -       -     12/2    36/13    5/5    53/20   1263/333   12 Nap
1900Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1263/333   60
2000Z    -       -       -       -     16/6      -     16/6    1279/339   48
2100Z    -       -       -     54/25   10/5     9/10   73/40   1352/379 
2200Z    -       -     54/5     4/0      -       -     58/5    1410/384   23 
2300Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1410/384   60 RedSox
0000Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0    1410/384   60
0100Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1410/384   60
0200Z   7/5    32/10    9/1      -       -       -     48/16   1458/400 
0300Z  11/8    26/7     4/0      -       -       -     41/15   1499/415 
0400Z  12/12   23/6      -       -       -       -     35/18   1534/433 
0500Z   4/1    31/5      -       -       -       -     35/6    1569/439 
0600Z    -      1/0     4/2      -       -       -      5/2    1574/441   52 Sleep
0700Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1574/441   60
0800Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0    1574/441   60
0900Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1574/441   60
1000Z    -      4/1     7/1      -       -       -     11/2    1585/443   16
1100Z    -       -       -    142/10     -       -    142/10   1727/453 
1200Z    -       -       -    211/5      -       -    211/5    1938/458 
1300Z    -       -       -     19/1    11/3      -     30/4    1968/462    2
1400Z    -       -       -       -     42/0      -     42/0    2010/462   60
1500Z    -       -       -       -     63/11     -     63/11   2073/473 
1600Z  --+--   --+--   --+--    4/0    81/2    --+--   85/2    2158/475 
1700Z    -       -       -      4/0      -       -      4/0    2162/475   57 Concert
1800Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    2162/475   60
1900Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    2162/475   60
2000Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    2162/475   60
2100Z    -       -       -     14/0    18/1      -     32/1    2194/476   29
2200Z    -       -     29/0    20/1     1/0      -     50/1    2244/477 
2300Z    -     11/0    11/1     1/0      -       -     23/1    2267/478   15

Total: 53/44  190/87  229/88 1124/129 657/115  14/15 

Best 60 minutes: 252 @ 27-Oct-2018 13:57

Worked on 6 bands:
VP2MDG

Worked on 5 bands:
8P5A 9Y4W CN3A D4C EF8R FY5KE LX7I LZ9W P33W P40T PJ2T PJ4Q SN8B V26B

Most worked countries:

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

    DL       1     18     12    160    106            297
     I              9     17     83     44            153
    SP       2      6      4     55     33            100
     F              8      9     52     28             97
    UA              1      6     79      8             94
    PA       1      9      3     54     24             91
     G       1      6      5     50     27             89
    EA              7     10     46     25             88
    UR       1      6      5     47     17             76

                    CQ Worldwide DX Contest, RTTY

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

Class: SOAB HP
Class Overlay: Classic
Operating Time (hrs): 23

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  State/Prov  DX   Zones
------------------------------------
   80:  229       40      34    11
   40:  369       46      50    17
   20:  834       44      72    25
   15:  150       13      41    17
   10:    7        3       4     3
------------------------------------
Total: 1589      146     201    73  Total Score = 1,530,480

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club

 

Comments:

Knew I was playing golf on Sat morning and attending a symphony orchestra concert on Sat evening.  Decided to try the Classic category even though I would not be able to operate at the optimum times.

It was fun.  I missed having the second radio to tune around while CQing, but I also enjoyed the strategic decision making needed to decide when to run and when to tune around.  Reminded me of how contesting used to be when I first started.

Bands and activity were better than expected.

Managed to have a 102 hour running with just one rig!  The RTTY ops are getting faster and more efficient.  If many would just send their call twice instead of 3-4 times, and if they wouldn’t send my call, we could see even faster rates!

Most studly QSO was with TO6OK on 15m.  Can’t believe he pulled my call out of the mess.  Then it took 5 overs before we could get the exchange due to Europeans that would not stop calling.  Read the screen guys!

I don’t know what it is about RTTY, but really enjoy trying to dig out calls and make QSOs with all the QRM and QSB.

Thanks to everyone that got on.  Lots of fun! (All those FT8 guys should have tried RTTY this weekend…)

Rates:

QSO/Zn+Dx+St by hour and band

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

D1-0000Z  --+--   37/39   17/22   --+--   --+--   54/61     54/61  
D1-0100Z    -     88/28     -       -       -     88/28    142/89  
D1-0200Z    -     63/19     -       -       -     63/19    205/108 
D1-0300Z  52/43    4/3      -       -       -     56/46    261/154 
D1-0400Z  16/7     1/0      -       -       -     17/7     278/161    40
D1-0500Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     278/161    60
D1-0600Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     278/161    60
D1-0700Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     278/161    60
D1-0800Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0     278/161    60
D1-0900Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     278/161    60
D1-1000Z    -      3/3     6/7      -       -      9/10    287/171    49
D1-1100Z    -       -     93/28     -       -     93/28    380/199 
D1-1200Z    -       -      8/3      -       -      8/3     388/202    56
D1-1300Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     388/202    60
D1-1400Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     388/202    60
D1-1500Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     388/202    60
D1-1600Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0     388/202    60
D1-1700Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     388/202    60
D1-1800Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     388/202    60
D1-1900Z    -       -     35/9     5/5      -     40/14    428/216    30
D1-2000Z    -       -     89/12     -       -     89/12    517/228 
D1-2100Z    -       -     63/12    3/7     2/3    68/22    585/250 
D1-2200Z    -       -     28/6     8/6      -     36/12    621/262    32
D1-2300Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     621/262    60
D2-0000Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0     621/262    60
D2-0100Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     621/262    60
D2-0200Z  23/11     -       -       -       -     23/11    644/273    38
D2-0300Z  73/16     -       -       -       -     73/16    717/289 
D2-0400Z  21/4    38/6      -       -       -     59/10    776/299 
D2-0500Z  17/4    31/2      -       -       -     48/6     824/305     5
D2-0600Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     824/305    60
D2-0700Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     824/305    60
D2-0800Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0     824/305    60
D2-0900Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     824/305    60
D2-1000Z  27/1    10/5      -       -       -     37/6     861/311    26
D2-1100Z    -       -    102/9      -       -    102/9     963/320 
D2-1200Z    -       -     45/1    11/17    1/3    57/21   1020/341 
D2-1300Z    -       -     80/7      -       -     80/7    1100/348 
D2-1400Z    -       -      9/0    53/14     -     62/14   1162/362 
D2-1500Z    -       -     13/2    28/11     -     41/13   1203/375 
D2-1600Z  --+--   --+--   87/6    --+--    1/1    88/7    1291/382 
D2-1700Z    -       -     23/3    28/10    1/1    52/14   1343/396 
D2-1800Z    -       -     66/4      -       -     66/4    1409/400 
D2-1900Z    -       -       -      7/0      -      7/0    1416/400    51
D2-2000Z    -       -       -      3/2     2/2     5/4    1421/404    51
D2-2100Z    -       -     48/1     2/0      -     50/1    1471/405 
D2-2200Z    -     21/1    22/9     2/0      -     45/10   1516/415    35
D2-2300Z    -     73/7      -       -       -     73/7    1589/422 

Total:   229/86  369/113 834/141 150/72    7/10 

Best clock hour: 102
Best 60 mins: 104

Worked on 5 bands (2):
P49X ZX2B

Worked on 4 bands (19):
9A1A 9A5Y AC0C CR3W DD2ML DR5N IQ4FC K0JJR K3EST KB1EFS KI1G KV1J PI4COM S51A S53S SN7Q VP2V/AA7V YT2T YU5R

WAE DX Contest, CW
Call: K5ZD
Class: Single Op HP

Operating Time (hrs): 16.5
Radios: SO2R

Summary:

Band   QSOs  QTCs  Mults
-------------------------
80:     131    23   100
40:     249   238   120
20:     585   744   100
15:      66    30    44
10:       5     0     6
-------------------------
Total: 1036  1035   370  Total Score = 765,530


Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club

Comments:

Fell asleep on the couch and missed most of the first night and morning. Part time after that.

Good conditions on 80m. I think I missed the best hours on 40m.

Helped N1RR raise an antenna Sunday morning. Got home just in time to find 15 and 10 open. Not many stations on 10, but it was open for those who were paying attention. F5IN was loud for 30 minutes.

Thanks to everyone that received QTCs from me.  Tried to give them out all weekend when someone asked and there weren’t other stations calling.

Fun to watch the big W/VE scores on contestonlinescore.com scoreboard.  I couldn’t seem to catch up with their rates even though I had less QSOs.  Is it possible the QSO totals from N1MM+ were showing the combined QSO+QTC?

 

QSO/Mult by hour and band

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

0000Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0       0/0     60
0100Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0       0/0     60
0200Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0       0/0     60
0300Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0       0/0     60
0400Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0       0/0     60
0500Z    -     42/63     -       -       -     42/63     42/63    27
0600Z    -     10/6     5/10     -       -     15/16     57/79    40
0700Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0      57/79    60
0800Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0      57/79    60
0900Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0      57/79    60
1000Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0      57/79    60
1100Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0      57/79    60
1200Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0      57/79    60
1300Z    -       -     58/36   20/18     -     78/54    135/133    9
1400Z    -       -     62/22    6/0      -     68/22    203/155 
1500Z    -       -     62/8      -       -     62/8     265/163 
1600Z  --+--   --+--   57/6    --+--   --+--   57/6     322/169 
1700Z    -       -     82/0      -       -     82/0     404/169 
1800Z    -       -     32/2      -       -     32/2     436/171   30
1900Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     436/171   60
2000Z    -       -     48/0      -       -     48/0     484/171   21
2100Z    -       -     26/2      -       -     26/2     510/173    8
2200Z    -     47/27    4/2      -       -     51/29    561/202   60
2300Z  13/20   22/3     2/2      -       -     37/25    598/227   24
0000Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0     598/227   60
0100Z  56/56   16/6      -       -       -     72/62    670/289   10
0200Z  31/16   35/3      -       -       -     66/19    736/308 
0300Z  21/4    11/3      -       -       -     32/7     768/315   32
0400Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     768/315   60
0500Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     768/315   60
0600Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     768/315   60
0700Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     768/315   60
0800Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0     768/315   60
0900Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     768/315   60
1000Z    -       -     14/0      -       -     14/0     782/315   50
1100Z    -       -     18/2      -       -     18/2     800/317   45
1200Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     800/317   60
1300Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     800/317   60
1400Z    -       -       -     25/16     -     25/16    825/333   26
1500Z    -       -     33/2    15/10    5/6    53/18    878/351 
1600Z  --+--   --+--   12/0    --+--   --+--   12/0     890/351   35
1700Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     890/351   60
1800Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     890/351   60
1900Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     890/351   60
2000Z    -       -     25/0      -       -     25/0     915/351   27
2100Z    -     14/0    38/2      -       -     52/2     967/353 
2200Z    -     41/6     6/4      -       -     47/10   1014/363 
2300Z  10/4    11/3     1/0      -       -     22/7    1036/370

Tot:  131/100 249/120 585/100  66/44    5/6

Most worked countries:

           80M    40M    20M    15M    10M   Total
    DL      44     69    211     29      3     356
    SP      12     17     34      2             65
    UR      11     16     29      2             58
    OK       6     16     24      2             48
     G       4      9     26      1             40
     I       2      9     24      4             39
    UA       5     12     21      1             39

Need more activity from outside Germany!

                    CQWW WPX Contest, SSB

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

Class: SOAB HP
QTH: W1
Operating Time (hrs): 14.5

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
  160:   85
   80:  230
   40:  304
   20:  675
   15:   63
   10:    2
------------
Total: 1359  Prefixes = 703  Total Score = 2,665,073

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club

Comments:

Just for fun.

160m was amazing to Europe on Friday night. OK7K was 59+20db.

20m opened very slowly on Sunday morning. Strange to have the sun up and not hear a signal on the band.

QSO/Pref by hour and band

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

0000Z   2/2    41/37    1/1    --+--   --+--   --+--   44/40     44/40    30
0100Z    -       -    104/82   20/16     -       -    124/98    168/138 
0200Z    -       -     50/34     -       -       -     50/34    218/172 
0300Z  25/12   39/28    3/2      -       -       -     67/42    285/214 
0400Z  30/17    2/2      -       -       -       -     32/19    317/233   41
0500Z    -     81/45     -       -       -       -     81/45    398/278 
0600Z    -      4/1    10/6      -       -       -     14/7     412/285   47
0700Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     412/285   60
0800Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0     412/285   60
0900Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     412/285   60
1000Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     412/285   60
1100Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     412/285   60
1200Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     412/285   60
1300Z    -       -      3/1    64/31     -       -     67/32    479/317   19
1400Z    -       -       -     92/59   12/9      -    104/68    583/385 
1500Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     583/385   60
1600Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0     583/385   60
1700Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     583/385   60
1800Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     583/385   60
1900Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     583/385   60
2000Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     583/385   60
2100Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     583/385   60
2200Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     583/385   60
2300Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     583/385   60
0000Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0     583/385   60
0100Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     583/385   60
0200Z    -       -     98/39     -       -       -     98/39    681/424   11
0300Z   8/1    60/17    5/1      -       -       -     73/19    754/443 
0400Z  20/6      -       -       -       -       -     20/6     774/449   50
0500Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     774/449   60
0600Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     774/449   60
0700Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     774/449   60
0800Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0     774/449   60
0900Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     774/449   60
1000Z    -      3/0      -       -       -       -      3/0     777/449   58
1100Z    -       -      4/2    19/9      -       -     23/11    800/460 
1200Z    -       -       -    155/80     -       -    155/80    955/540 
1300Z    -       -       -     90/45    3/3      -     93/48   1048/588    8
1400Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1048/588   60
1500Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1048/588   60
1600Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   11/5    12/8    --+--   23/13   1071/601   41
1700Z    -       -       -     40/10     -       -     40/10   1111/611   32
1800Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1111/611   60
1900Z    -       -       -     58/23     -       -     58/23   1169/634   26
2000Z    -       -       -     75/33   22/9     2/0    99/42   1268/676 
2100Z    -       -     26/8    22/7    14/5      -     62/20   1330/696 
2200Z    -       -       -     29/7      -       -     29/7    1359/703   30
2300Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1359/703   60

Total:    85/38  230/130 304/176 675/325  63/34    2/0

                    ARRL DX Contest, SSB

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

Class: SO Unlimited HP
QTH: W1
Operating Time (hrs): 17

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
  160:   17    14
   80:   79    45
   40:  234    65
   20:  900    99
   15:  358    91
   10:   34    17
-------------------
Total: 1622   331  Total Score = 1,610,646

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club

Comments

Did not really engage with the contest Friday evening. Wind was howling and conditions were not the best. Gave up when the rain static made hearing difficult. (Power did stay on all weekend – probably because we now have a generator.)

This was an SO1R effort. Didn’t want to deal with 2 amps running all weekend so just used one rig. Figured I was mostly going to chase spots anyway. Only a few times I wished I had the second rig to grab a mult without giving up the run frequency.

Up early Sat morning and had a great run going on 20 meters. At least I did until my wife came in and informed me she had backed the car into the partially open garage door.

This was a contest of haves and have nots. If you had a run frequency, you made rate. If not, you tuned or clicked on spots.

A lot of my operation on Sunday was to come in, click on spots, then leave. So actual operating time was less than reported by the software. Called it quits with about two hours to go. Was nice to watch the golf tournament and see people in warm weather and short sleeves.

Conditions on 80 seemed good, but couldn’t get any answers to CQs. Was lucky to find a 40m CQ frequency early on Sat evening that provided a burst of QSOs and mults. 20m was a zoo.

15m was marginal on Sat morning, but actually opened on Sunday morning for a few hours. Worked a few UA3’s which was a surprise. PA3AAV reported he was only hearing W1 stations. One Euro told me I was loudest signal on the band (always nice to hear even if not true). Even so, it didn’t seem like there were many people on the band. But, it sure was nice to have a run frequency without splatter from both sides.

10m was frustrating. Stuff would be spotted and couldn’t be heard. E.g., PJ4G was loud while P40L was inaudible.

I got to listen to the FRC club roster for almost every spot on 10m and 20m on Sunday afternoon. Those guys know how to use the cluster.

There are nuggets of fun and goodness in every contest. But, SSB surely tests that. I kept “quitting” the contest and then would come back again for more. Will be back for WPX SSB in a few weeks.

Station:

Elecraft K3 + Alpha 76CA
Logging software WriteLog by W5XD
HamPlus AS-82 for antenna selection

Tower 1  100’ Rohn 45G
Cushcraft 40-2CD at 110’
Hygain 205CA at 100’/50’ in upper/lower/both stack
Hygain 155CA at 66’/33’ in upper/lower/both stack 160m elevated GP

Tower 2  90’ Rohn 25G
10m 5/5/5 @ 90’/60’/30’ (only used the top antenna)
80m wire 4 square hanging from ropes off tower
Tower shunt fed on 160m.

Tower 3  38’ Rohn 25G
Hygain TH7DXX at 40’ rotary

Rates

QSO/DX by hour and band

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

0000Z   3/2    --+--   17/11    4/3    --+--   --+--   24/16    24/16   30
0100Z    -     24/23   26/14     -       -       -     50/37    74/53    9
0200Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     74/53   60
0300Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     74/53   60
0400Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     74/53   60
0500Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     74/53   60
0600Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     74/53   60
0700Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     74/53   60
0800Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0     74/53   60
0900Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     74/53   60
1000Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     74/53   60
1100Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     74/53   60
1200Z    -      1/1     9/7   139/30     -       -    149/38   223/91   16
1300Z    -       -       -    162/21   10/8      -    172/29   395/120
1400Z    -       -       -     25/5    25/21     -     50/26   445/146
1500Z    -       -       -     15/4    15/5      -     30/9    475/155  30
1600Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   29/4    22/13   --+--   51/17   526/172   6
1700Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    526/172  60
1800Z    -       -       -     56/1    20/5     8/8    84/14   610/186   7
1900Z    -       -       -      1/1     3/3     1/1     5/5    615/191  60
2000Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    615/191  60
2100Z    -       -     71/12   29/10    1/0      -    101/22   716/213    
2200Z    -     11/3    45/5    15/3      -       -     71/11   787/224    
2300Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    787/224  60
0000Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0    787/224  60
0100Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    787/224  60
0200Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    787/224  60
0300Z   2/2    14/8     4/4      -       -       -     20/14   807/238  39
0400Z   8/6    19/8    14/3      -       -       -     41/17   848/255
0500Z   1/1     2/1      -       -       -       -      3/2    851/257  60
0600Z   3/3     7/0    10/3      -       -       -     20/6    871/263  33
0700Z    -      1/1      -       -       -       -      1/1    872/264  59
0800Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0    872/264  60
0900Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    872/264  60
1000Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    872/264  60
1100Z    -       -      6/4    28/0      -       -     34/4    906/268  42
1200Z    -       -       -    129/2      -       -    129/2   1035/270
1300Z    -       -       -    118/3    34/8      -    152/11  1187/281
1400Z    -       -       -      1/1   151/15     -    152/16  1339/297
1500Z    -       -       -     19/0    47/4      -     66/4   1405/301   8
1600Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0   1405/301  60
1700Z    -       -       -      7/1     6/3      -     13/4   1418/305  50
1800Z    -       -       -     14/0      -       -     14/0   1432/305  52
1900Z    -       -       -     53/3    12/1    24/8    89/12  1521/317
2000Z    -       -       -     30/3     4/4     1/0    35/7   1556/324  25
2100Z    -       -     30/2    16/2     8/1      -     54/5   1610/329
2200Z    -       -      2/0    10/2      -       -     12/2   1622/331  40
2300Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0   1622/331  60

Total: 17/14   79/45  234/65  900/99  358/91   34/17 

Best 60 minutes: 216 on Sat morning on 20m

Six banders:
8P5A P40L PJ4G

Five banders:
C6ANM EA2RY EA6FO H72DX PZ5K TO3Z V26K ZF2MJ ZF9CW
(most of the misses were on 10m)

Most worked countries:

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

     I              8     27     84     48            167
    DL       1      1     20    105     30            157
     G              4     11     51     36            102
     F              4     16     47     27             94
    EA       1      5     16     41     20             83
    UA              2      4     62      3             71

                    ARRL DX Contest, CW

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

Class: SO Unlimited HP
QTH: W1
Operating Time (hrs): 27.5
Radios: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
  160:   96    52
   80:  434    77
   40:  814   100
   20: 1542   119
   15:  133    67
   10:   19    16
-------------------
Total: 3038   431  Total Score = 3,928,134

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club

Comments

Entertaining weekend. Mostly because I operated the good parts and walked away when it stopped being fun. Of course, watching the scoreboard always seemed to pull me back in for more operating time to chase the next guy on the list!

Low bands were great the first night. Very quiet. Must have been quiet in Europe as well since I called many weak stations on 160 and they came right back.

No meters like 20 meters on Sat morning. That’s what happens when 15 doesn’t open so everyone is on the same band. Had 14006 for a long time. A few short runs (I hesitate to call them that) on 15m.

Went to 40m at 1940z and was suprised to find I could get answers from very weak Eu.

Excellent opening to Japan on 20m just before sunset.

Coolest QSO was ZL3X on 10m. Weak and just in for a few minutes.

The bands seemed broken on Sunday morning. Just not as open as Sat. Good run on 40m, but after 2200z I couldn’t do anything. Calling guys on 80 and 160 got beat out by every W3 or W4 that was calling. Can’t tell if it was conditions or my antennas need work.

It is nice to do a DX contest where everyone is looking for us. Especially on the low bands.

Really enjoy operating assisted to help with the multipliers!

By Continent

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

    EU      65    384    722   1355     48      0    2574    84.7
    SA       6     10     23     38     39     13     129     4.2
    NA      22     24     33     36     28      4     147     4.8
    AF       3      7     14     17      7      1      49     1.6
    OC       0      8     11     14     11      1      45     1.5
    AS       0      1      9     80      0      0      90     3.0

Rates

QSO/DX by hour and band

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

0000Z  --+--   --+--  119/30   17/14   --+--   --+--  136/44    136/44 
0100Z    -     72/28   41/18     -       -       -    113/46    249/90 
0200Z  17/15   43/14   28/10     -       -       -     88/39    337/129
0300Z    -     16/2    17/3      -       -       -     33/5     370/134   39
0400Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     370/134   60
0500Z   9/7    69/1     4/1      -       -       -     82/9     452/143   27
0600Z  18/13   55/12    8/0      -       -       -     81/25    533/168
0700Z   1/0    23/6     7/2      -       -       -     31/8     564/176   26
0800Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0     564/176   60
0900Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     564/176   60
1000Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     564/176   60
1100Z    -      3/0    11/7   102/29     -       -    116/36    680/212   13
1200Z    -       -       -    204/10     -       -    204/10    884/222
1300Z    -       -       -    182/9     3/2      -    185/11   1069/233
1400Z    -       -       -    142/0    27/12     -    169/12   1238/245
1500Z    -       -       -    144/1    21/18     -    165/19   1403/264
1600Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   92/16   16/11   10/9   118/36   1521/300
1700Z    -       -       -       -       -      1/1     1/1    1522/301   57
1800Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1522/301   60
1900Z    -       -     27/0    44/12   21/6     3/2    95/20   1617/321    1
2000Z    -       -     30/3     4/3      -       -     34/6    1651/327   42
2100Z    -       -     65/3    39/8     6/3      -    110/14   1761/341
2200Z    -     14/2    81/4    10/1     3/1     1/1   109/9    1870/350
2300Z   6/3    45/1     7/5    21/2      -       -     79/11   1949/361
0000Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0    1949/361   60
0100Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1949/361   60
0200Z   4/2     3/3      -       -       -       -      7/5    1956/366   52
0300Z   9/5     7/2    34/7     2/1      -       -     52/15   2008/381
0400Z   7/2      -       -       -       -       -      7/2    2015/383   35
0500Z   8/1     7/2      -       -       -       -     15/3    2030/386   35
0600Z  14/3    55/0    40/2      -       -       -    109/5    2139/391
0700Z    -      3/1    83/1      -       -       -     86/2    2225/393   19
0800Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0    2225/393   60
0900Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    2225/393   60
1000Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    2225/393   60
1100Z    -      3/1     3/1   105/3      -       -    111/5    2336/398    7
1200Z    -      1/1     2/1   129/0     6/1      -    138/3    2474/401
1300Z    -       -       -     41/0      -       -     41/0    2515/401   30
1400Z    -       -       -     18/2    13/9      -     31/11   2546/412   44
1500Z    -       -       -    125/1     6/2      -    131/3    2677/415
1600Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   72/3     2/1     1/1    75/5    2752/420
1700Z    -       -       -       -       -      3/2     3/2    2755/422   51
1800Z    -       -       -      6/0     5/1      -     11/1    2766/423   49
1900Z    -       -       -     19/1     1/0      -     20/1    2786/424   41
2000Z    -       -     50/0     4/2      -       -     54/2    2840/426   25
2100Z    -       -     91/2     7/0     3/0      -    101/2    2941/428
2200Z    -      3/1    56/0    11/1      -       -     70/2    3011/430
2300Z   3/1    12/0    10/0     2/0      -       -     27/1    3038/431   20

Total: 96/52  434/77 814/100 1542/119 133/67   19/16 

Best 60 mins: 210

6 bands (8):
CR3DX FM5BH P40E P40W PJ2T PJ4A TI7W V47T

5 bands (33):
6Y2T 9A1A CE2MVF CR3W CR6K CU4DX EA2RY EA5RS EA6FO ED7P ED8W HG7T HH2AA HP3SS IR4X KP2M KP4KE LX7I M6T NP2N P49Y SN7Q SN8B T48K TM3R V26M V3T VP2MSS VP5K VP9/W6PH ZF1A ZF9CW ZL3X

                    CQ WPX RTTY Contest

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

Class: SOAB HP
QTH: W1
Operating Time (hrs): 22

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
   80:  275
   40:  674
   20:  872
   15:   46
   10:    0
------------
Total: 1867  Prefixes = 820  Total Score = 4,752,720

Comments

Something about near infinite mults that is fun. Always a thrill when some unusual prefix calls in. Of course, it does make the scores go up exponentially as you go deeper in the contest so time wasted at the beginning is difficult to make up.

Thought I would just play a bit, but watching the scoreboard drew me in and operated way more than planned. Fun to chase WK1Q, N3QE, and W3LL all weekend.
Rain all day on Sunday also encouraged some extra operating time.

Not much 2 band run time. 15 was really poor. Worked a few Eu both mornings.
CR6T was in for hours, but no one else.

Low bands were great. Having RW0A call in on 40 meters Sunday evening was amazing. He had a big signal.

The skill and efficiency of RTTY ops keeps improving. And rates are better as a result.

Thanks to everyone for the fun and the QSOs!

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

    EU      70    275    565      8      0     918    49.2
    NA     201    373    230     24      0     828    44.3
    SA       3     15     25     13      0      56     3.0
    AS       0      3     43      0      0      46     2.5
    OC       0      4      2      1      0       7     0.4
    AF       1      4      6      0      0      11     0.6

Rates

QSO/Pref by hour and band

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

0000Z  14/14   32/32   --+--   --+--   --+--   46/46    46/46     30
0100Z  41/28   73/56     -       -       -    114/84   160/130 
0200Z  37/17   52/38     -       -       -     89/55   249/185 
0300Z  54/25   57/38     -       -       -    111/63   360/248 
0400Z   5/2      -       -       -       -      5/2    365/250    57
0500Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    365/250    60
0600Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    365/250    60
0700Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    365/250    60
0800Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0    365/250    60
0900Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    365/250    60
1000Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    365/250    60
1100Z   5/3      -       -       -       -      5/3    370/253    55
1200Z   2/1    25/6    86/51     -       -    113/58   483/311 
1300Z    -     32/9    78/50     -       -    110/59   593/370 
1400Z    -     17/7    57/23    2/2      -     76/32   669/402 
1500Z    -       -     73/35    3/1      -     76/36   745/438 
1600Z  --+--   --+--   75/34    1/0    --+--   76/34   821/472 
1700Z    -       -      9/9     1/0      -     10/9    831/481    48
1800Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    831/481    60
1900Z    -      6/1    18/5    11/4      -     35/10   866/491    29
2000Z    -     44/11   40/13     -       -     84/24   950/515 
2100Z    -     19/5    74/30     -       -     93/35  1043/550 
2200Z    -     13/9    47/29   13/8      -     73/46  1116/596 
2300Z    -     19/7     3/1      -       -     22/8   1138/604    38
0000Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0   1138/604    60
0100Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0   1138/604    60
0200Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0   1138/604    60
0300Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0   1138/604    60
0400Z  29/10   55/27     -       -       -     84/37  1222/641    13
0500Z  31/5    54/14     -       -       -     85/19  1307/660 
0600Z   7/1     7/1      -       -       -     14/2   1321/662    45
0700Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0   1321/662    60
0800Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0   1321/662    60
0900Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0   1321/662    60
1000Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0   1321/662    60
1100Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0   1321/662    60
1200Z   9/2    19/4    31/10     -       -     59/16  1380/678    19
1300Z    -      1/0    86/31    2/1      -     89/32  1469/710 
1400Z    -       -     61/29    3/1      -     64/30  1533/740 
1500Z    -       -     59/15    7/1      -     66/16  1599/756 
1600Z  --+--   --+--   21/11    1/0    --+--   22/11  1621/767    39
1700Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0   1621/767    60
1800Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0   1621/767    60
1900Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0   1621/767    60
2000Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0   1621/767    60
2100Z    -     56/8    23/3     2/0      -     81/11  1702/778    10
2200Z    -     31/8    29/14     -       -     60/22  1762/800 
2300Z  41/10   62/8     2/2      -       -    105/20  1867/820 

Tot:  275/118 674/289 872/395  46/18    0/0

CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW

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

Class: SOAB(A) HP
Operating Time (hrs): 23.8
Radios: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Zones  Countries
------------------------------
  160:   68    13       42
   80:  310    22       90
   40:  387    31      116
   20: 1044    33      122
   15:  708    27      117
   10:   13     9       10
------------------------------
Total: 2530   135      497  Total Score = 4,632,560

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club

Comments

Part time fun. Business trip leaving on Sunday afternoon and my son was home for the holidays. Decided to avoid trying to do anything competitive. Was serious when I was on, but walked away when it wasn’t fun or the family wanted to do something.

Friday night was tough. Even the loud Eu on 80m couldn’t hear me. 160 was even tougher. I am concerned that my 40m beam is now acting like a dipole, the 80m 4 square has high dump power beaming Eu, and got beat out by everyone and his brother on 160m. Time for some maintenance.

Woke up late Sat morning and 20m was already packed. Tuned the radio up on 15m ad heard signals so called CQ. Started slow but then became a raging pileup. Fun!!

Sunday morning I got up earlier and found spot on 20m. Always fun when the Russians are coming in. Although a snarl of callers all on the same frequency really slows things down.

Weird to have 9 zones and 10 countries on 10m. Saw lots of spots for Caribbean stations, but I only heard band noise when I checked them out. Band was very spotlight.

Did much better than expected. Conditions were interesting and entertaining, although frustrating with lower than normal signal levels. Signal quality (with a few exceptions) was better than ever.

Always great to hear so many friends from around the world. Thanks for the QSOs.

I think I am done with truly competitive single ops. Time for the younger guys to take over.

Some numbers…

By Continents

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

    NA      29     37     43     50     41      4     204     8.1
    SA       6     11     24     30     40      7     118     4.7
    OC       1      2      9      7      6      0      25     1.0
    EU      28    246    280    909    596      0    2059    81.4
    AF       4      9     19     25     22      2      81     3.2
    AS       0      5     11     22      3      0      41     1.6

By hour

QSO/ZN+DX by hour and band

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


D1-0000Z  --+--   --+--   68/46   20/26   --+--   --+--   88/72     88/72  
D1-0100Z    -     65/46   35/21    3/1      -       -    103/68    191/140 
D1-0200Z    -     36/12    5/2      -       -       -     41/14    232/154 
D1-0300Z  14/16   29/5     5/5      -       -       -     48/26    280/180 
D1-0400Z   5/4    41/4    38/8      -       -       -     84/16    364/196 
D1-0500Z   6/5    39/10   24/13     -       -       -     69/28    433/224 
D1-0600Z   3/0      -      4/2      -       -       -      7/2     440/226    55
D1-0700Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     440/226    60
D1-0800Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0     440/226    60
D1-0900Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     440/226    60
D1-1000Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     440/226    60
D1-1100Z   1/0     6/5    15/14   10/13     -       -     32/32    472/258    31
D1-1200Z    -       -       -     50/27  122/37     -    172/64    644/322 
D1-1300Z    -       -       -     14/6   201/14     -    215/20    859/342 
D1-1400Z    -       -       -     48/13   54/42     -    102/55    961/397 
D1-1500Z    -       -       -    144/17   15/9     3/6   162/32   1123/429  
D1-1600Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0    1123/429    60
D1-1700Z    -       -       -     59/16    6/0     4/5    69/21   1192/450    26
D1-1800Z    -       -      1/0    26/4    12/10    1/2    40/16   1232/466 
D1-1900Z    -       -       -      6/4     9/1      -     15/5    1247/471    25
D1-2000Z    -       -       -       -      4/3     2/2     6/5    1253/476    60
D1-2100Z    -       -    125/5     9/3      -       -    134/8    1387/484 
D1-2200Z    -      3/3    15/9     3/3     2/3      -     23/18   1410/502    29
D1-2300Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1410/502    60
D2-0000Z  --+--    4/3     8/5     1/0    --+--   --+--   13/8    1423/510    31
D2-0100Z    -      7/2      -       -       -       -      7/2    1430/512    49
D2-0200Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1430/512    60
D2-0300Z  20/14    6/7     7/6      -       -       -     33/27   1463/539     6
D2-0400Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1463/539    60
D2-0500Z  10/9    40/7    10/6     1/2      -       -     61/24   1524/563     7
D2-0600Z   9/7    27/7    22/2      -       -       -     58/16   1582/579 
D2-0700Z    -      7/1     2/1      -       -       -      9/2    1591/581    52
D2-0800Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0    1591/581    60
D2-0900Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1591/581    60
D2-1000Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1591/581    60
D2-1100Z    -       -      3/2   122/6      -       -    125/8    1716/589    
D2-1200Z    -       -       -    191/0    11/8      -    202/8    1918/597 
D2-1300Z    -       -       -     63/4   110/3     1/2   174/9    2092/606 
D2-1400Z    -       -       -     22/2   133/6     1/1   156/9    2248/615 
D2-1500Z    -       -       -    151/3    13/1      -    164/4    2412/619 
D2-1600Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   83/0     7/2     1/1    91/3    2503/622    14
D2-1700Z    -       -       -      6/1     5/5      -     11/6    2514/628    48
D2-1800Z    -       -       -     12/4     4/0      -     16/4    2530/632    42
D2-1900Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    2530/632    60
D2-2000Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    2530/632    60
D2-2100Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    2530/632    60
D2-2200Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    2530/632    60
D2-2300Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    2530/632    60

Total:    68/55 310/112 387/147 1044/155 708/144  13/19 

Best 60 minutes: 216 a personal best from USA (sending call almost every QSO)

Worked on 6 bands:
TI7W

Worked on 5 bands:
6Y0W 6Y3M 9A1A 9A7A 9Y4/VE3EY CE3CT CN2AA CN2R CR3OO EF8R ES9C HG7T HQ9X IR4M LN8W LY4A LZ9W M6T P40C P40L PJ2T PJ4Y TK0C TO2SP V26K V47T VP5M VY2TT YT5A ZF2MJ

ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, CW

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

Class: Single Op HP
QTH: W1
Operating Time (hrs): 22.8
Radios: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
  160:    0
   80:  159
   40:  491
   20:  523
   15:   43
   10:    0
------------
Total: 1216  Sections = 82  Total Score = 199,424

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club

Comments:

Did the CQ WW, then 2 days with no electricity, then a one day trip out and back to Seattle. If it wasn’t one of my favorite contests I might have skipped.

Got off to my best start ever. I don’t think I have ever had more than 3-4 hours over 100 in 40+ years of SS. It was incredible how short the skip was on 20m.

Stayed in the chair for first 9 hours straight. By then it was starting to get slow and the real SS CW showed up. Nothing to do but keep calling CQ and tuning the second radio.

Had NP3A call me on 40 early Sunday morning. Figured K9VV would make an appearance from KP2 on 15 on Sunday afternoon – just had to find him. I kept tuning the band listening for a wild pileup. Worked more than 2 of every section except only one VI and no NNY.

I was mentally ready to quit after about 18 hours, but kept pushing while watching football on TV and reading the NCJ. I kept hoping an NNY station would show up on 80 near the end. With 1 hour to go, I packed it in. (Where were the K2NNY guys this year? We missed you!)

This was my 41st consecutive year with more than 1000 QSOs in SS CW. I love many things about the contest, but low activity levels are concerning.

QSO/Sec by hour and band

 Hour      80      40      20      15     Total     Cumm    Off 

D1-2100Z    -       -     83/35   17/10  100/45    100/45  
D1-2200Z    -      8/0    91/13    9/0   108/13    208/58  
D1-2300Z    -     12/1    90/10     -    102/11    310/69  
D2-0000Z  --+--   15/4    84/3    --+--   99/7     409/76  
D2-0100Z   6/0    62/2    19/0      -     87/2     496/78  
D2-0200Z  37/0    34/0      -       -     71/0     567/78  
D2-0300Z  16/1    56/0      -       -     72/1     639/79  
D2-0400Z  10/0    48/0      -       -     58/0     697/79  
D2-0500Z  17/0    33/1      -       -     50/1     747/80  
D2-0600Z  18/0    10/0      -       -     28/0     775/80  
D2-0700Z   3/0      -       -       -      3/0     778/80     54
D2-0800Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0     778/80     60
D2-0900Z    -       -       -       -      0/0     778/80     60
D2-1000Z    -       -       -       -      0/0     778/80     60
D2-1100Z  14/0    12/0      -       -     26/0     804/80     24
D2-1200Z   7/0    26/1     3/0      -     36/1     840/81  
D2-1300Z    -     29/0    13/0      -     42/0     882/81  
D2-1400Z    -     23/0    19/0      -     42/0     924/81  
D2-1500Z    -     19/0    15/0      -     34/0     958/81  
D2-1600Z  --+--   12/0    15/0     2/0    29/0     987/81  
D2-1700Z    -      2/0    17/0     8/1    27/1    1014/82  
D2-1800Z    -      5/0    16/0      -     21/0    1035/82     31
D2-1900Z    -       -      4/0     3/0     7/0    1042/82     43
D2-2000Z    -     13/0    15/0     4/0    32/0    1074/82      5
D2-2100Z    -     15/0    20/0      -     35/0    1109/82  
D2-2200Z   4/0     6/0    15/0      -     25/0    1134/82  
D2-2300Z   6/0     5/0     4/0      -     15/0    1149/82     38
D3-0000Z  14/0    18/0    --+--   --+--   32/0    1181/82  
D3-0100Z   7/0    28/0      -       -     35/0    1216/82  
D3-0200Z    -       -       -       -      0/0     778/80     60

Total:   159/1   491/9   523/61   43/11