Category: writeup

CQ WW RTTY WPX Contest

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

Class: SOAB HP
QTH: W1
Operating Time (hrs): 30
Radios: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
   80:  365
   40:  826
   20:  756
   15:  490
   10:    0
------------
Total: 2437  Prefixes = 872  Total Score = 6,607,144

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club

Comments:

I needed some contest therapy to escape the snow storms and work stress. Planned to do about 20 hours, but got hooked watching the online scoreboard and chasing AA3B all weekend.

Several hours into the contest, the active radio was locked in transmit. Had to reboot the computer to clear the problem. This happened every 90 minutes or so until 18z Sat when I finally figured it out. Was costing me about 10 minutes each outage as I tried to unplug things in case it was RF. Finally I figured out that it was the footswitch that was plugged into the YCCC SO2R box!
Unplugged that and all the problems went away.

I missed an hour of operating time in the first evening. Plus enough frustration that I stopped to watch TV for awhile. By then AA3B was way ahead, but half of the fun of the scoreboard is to see if I could make up some ground. Tough in WPX with the exponential score increase due to mults!

I noticed that Bud had jumped way ahead of me on mults. About 20z Sat, I realized that WPX RTTY allowed single ops to use the cluster. Turned it on and enjoyed seeing the RTTY RBN spots go scrolling by. Couldn’t make up the gap, but it was fun to have another element in the mix in addition to running two radios.

Best DX QSO was having a JA call me on 40m.

Never heard a signal on 10m (only listened once).

RTTY is a great test of the station. Discovered that my 20m stack switchbox up on the tower has a relay problem.

30 hours of op time is just right. Slept 4-5 hours each night. Took a walk both days. Took my family out to dinner on Sat. Didn’t try to manage my off times to any strategy, but was good to see Bud and I were off about the same hours.

Almost quit with an hour to go due to snow static. 40m was in great condition, but the snow static was S9+10. Wanted to get to the full 30 hours so kept grinding it out.

Thanks to everyone who got in the log. RTTY operating just keeps getting better and better. Less guys who feel the need to send their call or exchange
20 times.

Station:

Station 1 Elecraft K3 + Alpha 76CA
Station 2 Elecraft K3 + Ameritron AL-1500 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

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

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

Rates:

QSO/Pref by hour and band

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

D1-0000Z  --+--   30/26   53/42   --+--   --+--   83/68     83/68  
D1-0100Z    -     52/39   39/23     -       -     91/62    174/130 
D1-0200Z  23/15   65/39    8/4      -       -     96/58    270/188 
D1-0300Z  47/19   60/28     -       -       -    107/47    377/235 
D1-0400Z   1/0     1/0      -       -       -      2/0     379/235    59
D1-0500Z  36/21   37/24     -       -       -     73/45    452/280    18
D1-0600Z  38/19   46/16     -       -       -     84/35    536/315 
D1-0700Z  25/13   28/14     -       -       -     53/27    589/342 
D1-0800Z   5/2    14/5    --+--   --+--   --+--   19/7     608/349    45
D1-0900Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     608/349    60
D1-1000Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     608/349    60
D1-1100Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     608/349    60
D1-1200Z   6/3    19/4     5/5      -       -     30/12    638/361    41
D1-1300Z    -     12/3    58/33   15/4      -     85/40    723/401 
D1-1400Z    -       -     59/24   69/33     -    128/57    851/458 
D1-1500Z    -       -     36/12   76/27     -    112/39    963/497 
D1-1600Z  --+--   --+--   47/11   52/14   --+--   99/25   1062/522 
D1-1700Z    -       -     75/23   21/6      -     96/29   1158/551 
D1-1800Z    -       -     35/10   11/5      -     46/15   1204/566    21
D1-1900Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1204/566    60
D1-2000Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1204/566    60
D1-2100Z    -       -     25/9    16/6      -     41/15   1245/581    10
D1-2200Z    -     11/2    36/18    4/2      -     51/22   1296/603 
D1-2300Z    -     51/21    9/7      -       -     60/28   1356/631 
D2-0000Z   8/1    69/18    6/3    --+--   --+--   83/22   1439/653 
D2-0100Z    -     21/3      -       -       -     21/3    1460/656    48
D2-0200Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1460/656    60
D2-0300Z   3/1    10/2      -       -       -     13/3    1473/659    50
D2-0400Z  49/10   61/19     -       -       -    110/29   1583/688 
D2-0500Z  50/8    21/6      -       -       -     71/14   1654/702 
D2-0600Z  29/3    23/7      -       -       -     52/10   1706/712 
D2-0700Z  13/2     8/2      -       -       -     21/4    1727/716    33
D2-0800Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0    1727/716    60
D2-0900Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1727/716    60
D2-1000Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1727/716    60
D2-1100Z   7/1    10/3      -       -       -     17/4    1744/720    43
D2-1200Z   4/2    47/6    34/12     -       -     85/20   1829/740 
D2-1300Z    -     15/2    41/12   52/14     -    108/28   1937/768 
D2-1400Z    -       -     40/10   64/11     -    104/21   2041/789 
D2-1500Z    -       -     14/6    73/14     -     87/20   2128/809 
D2-1600Z  --+--   --+--   29/6    18/4    --+--   47/10   2175/819    24
D2-1700Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    2175/819    60
D2-1800Z    -       -     26/4    10/4      -     36/8    2211/827    36
D2-1900Z    -       -     31/3     5/2      -     36/5    2247/832     2
D2-2000Z    -       -      3/1     4/4      -      7/5    2254/837    60
D2-2100Z    -     56/10   29/4      -       -     85/14   2339/851 
D2-2200Z   2/0    19/1    18/8      -       -     39/9    2378/860 
D2-2300Z  19/3    40/9      -       -       -     59/12   2437/872 

Total:   365/123 826/309 756/290 490/150   0/0  

Best 60 mins: 132 QSOs @ 11-Feb-2017 13:57-14:57

Most worked countries:

           80M    40M    20M    15M    10M   Total
     K     216    425    253     34            928
    DL      34     51     68    115            268
     I       5     43     46     38            132
    EA       6     27     30     22             85
     G       4     16     22     28             70
    SP      10     15     13     28             66
    VE      19     17     16      3             55

28 stations worked on 4 bands
9A1A CR3A DH0GHU DJ6TK DK0EE DK1IP DL1DTL DL1DVO DL6NDW DL70DSH DP7D DP9A HF9M HG17EYOF K7TQ KB1EFS LX7I LY2W M0P N1FF NO6F P49X S51A S55W SZ1A UV5U WK7S YL4U

CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW

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

Class: SOAB(A) HP
Operating Time (hrs): 37
Radios: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Zones  Countries
------------------------------
  160:   63    13       37
   80:  496    22       92
   40:  625    35      117
   20: 1478    35      124
   15:  604    26      115
   10:   53    15       29
------------------------------
Total: 3319   146      514  Total Score = 6,238,980

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club

Comments:

This was a great SWL event. I spent many hours listening to Europeans work each other on the low bands. I got so frustrated after the first 2 hours that I went to watch TV.

40m was the worst I have ever heard for a complete contest. It never opened on Friday night and was only a little better Saturday. There was no Eu sunrise bump at all either morning. The band did open early in the afternoons, but not big rates. Longpath to Asia was pretty good on Sunday evening, but only worked a few JA.

80m was really frustrating except for the 05-06z hours each night. The rest of the time I was calling Eu and either getting beat out by other Eu or getting a CQ in response.

The mornings were a rate fest. Unfortunately, 15m was short lived so most of the action was on 20m. Sunday morning I had 14001 and it just kept producing an endless stream of Eu. I tried 15m a few times, but it never produced as much as 20m. Thus the big total on that band.

Was happy to work as much on 10m as I did. A few of the QSOs were marginal so won’t be surprised if I lose a few mults.

There was a clear divide between southern and northern Europe. Not many Scandinavians or northern Russians in the log. Amazing to see how CW activity from EA, F, and I keeps increasing.

Didn’t seem there was a much trouble with key clicks this year. There was some wide and buzzy signals – CR6K and II9P on 15m to name two.

Everything in the station worked perfectly all weekend. Only issue was on Sunday afternoon when the DX Cluster started showing only the suffix of callsigns. The connection dropped and then things were fine so someone must have noticed and made a fix.

I normally run with global RBN spots (minimal filtering). Will need to rethink that with these conditions. Too many spots that weren’t workable.

Sleep strategy was 3 hours the first night. Then 3 hours from 01-04z. Got on for 2 hours and then slept 3 more. That seemed to work out perfectly for missing some bad hours and keeping me alert on Sunday.

I had the online scoreboard (cqcontest.net) on the screen all weekend. Woke up Sat morning in 23rd place. 12 hours later I was #2. Always fun to chase the next score and make the pass. Or watch someone else pass me (motivating!). I was tempted to quit a few times, but I could see everyone was struggling with the conditions.

Thanks to everyone that enjoyed the game. W1 has a real advantage in any DX contest, but especially so this year.

Station:

Station 1  Elecraft K3 + Alpha 76CA
Station 2  Elecraft K3 + Ameritron AL-1500 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

The Numbers:

By Continent

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

    NA      35     49     92    111     59     16     362    10.9
    EU      16    416    455   1233    447      0    2567    77.3
    SA       6     12     26     51     52     33     180     5.4
    AF       4      9     21     32     26      2      94     2.8
    OC       2      7     14     15     14      2      54     1.6
    AS       0      3     16     36      5      0      60     1.8

By Hour

QSO/ZN+DX by hour and band

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

0000Z  --+--   21/26    5/8    35/25   --+--   --+--   61/59     61/59  
0100Z   3/5     8/7    42/41    6/7      -       -     59/60    120/119 
0200Z   5/4    12/3      -      6/8      -       -     23/15    143/134    31
0300Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     143/134    60
0400Z    -     55/20    4/2      -       -       -     59/22    202/156    17
0500Z  17/16   41/10   11/5     1/1      -       -     70/32    272/188 
0600Z    -    154/5     1/1      -       -       -    155/6     427/194 
0700Z   8/4    37/24    5/8      -       -       -     50/36    477/230 
0800Z   9/8     4/3     7/5     2/2    --+--   --+--   22/18    499/248 
0900Z    -      5/0     8/9      -       -       -     13/9     512/257    47
1000Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     512/257    60
1100Z    -      1/1    13/9    22/16     -       -     36/26    548/283    32
1200Z    -       -       -    192/29    4/5      -    196/34    744/317 
1300Z    -       -       -     41/5   134/31     -    175/36    919/353 
1400Z    -       -       -     25/18  129/7      -    154/25   1073/378 
1500Z    -       -       -     67/4    75/17   14/16  156/37   1229/415 
1600Z  --+--   --+--   --+--  154/7    23/21   --+--  177/28   1406/443 
1700Z    -       -       -     28/6    26/12   14/11   68/29   1474/472    10
1800Z    -       -      5/3    44/9    12/9      -     61/21   1535/493 
1900Z    -       -     11/6    26/5     4/3     5/4    46/18   1581/511 
2000Z    -       -     89/11    4/3     9/3      -    102/17   1683/528 
2100Z    -      1/2    74/13    7/3     1/1      -     83/19   1766/547 
2200Z    -       -     57/9      -      1/0      -     58/9    1824/556 
2300Z   5/6      -     57/7     3/0      -       -     65/13   1889/569 
0000Z  --+--   14/5    34/4    --+--   --+--   --+--   48/9    1937/578     3
0100Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1937/578    60
0200Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1937/578    60
0300Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1937/578    60
0400Z   3/3     9/4     8/1     2/1      -       -     22/9    1959/587     1
0500Z   6/2    16/2     2/2      -       -       -     24/6    1983/593 
0600Z   4/2    78/0     1/0      -       -       -     83/2    2066/595 
0700Z    -     14/0     2/0      -       -       -     16/0    2082/595    33
0800Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0    2082/595    60
0900Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    2082/595    60
1000Z    -      2/0      -       -       -       -      2/0    2084/595    57
1100Z    -      2/1     6/2   105/4      -       -    113/7    2197/602 
1200Z    -       -       -    176/0     8/3      -    184/3    2381/605 
1300Z    -       -       -    141/1    37/15     -    178/16   2559/621 
1400Z    -       -       -    130/0    13/4     4/5   147/9    2706/630 
1500Z    -       -       -     76/0    38/1     1/0   115/1    2821/631 
1600Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   23/0    60/8    --+--   83/8    2904/639 
1700Z    -       -       -     50/1     4/0     3/2    57/3    2961/642 
1800Z    -       -       -     40/1     8/1     7/5    55/7    3016/649 
1900Z    -       -     21/0    22/0     4/0     5/1    52/1    3068/650 
2000Z    -       -     32/1     4/0    13/0      -     49/1    3117/651 
2100Z    -       -     85/1    22/3     1/0      -    108/4    3225/655 
2200Z    -      9/0    13/3    24/0      -       -     46/3    3271/658 
2300Z   3/0    13/1    32/1      -       -       -     48/2    3319/660 

Total: 63/50  496/114 625/152 1478/159 604/141  53/44

Most worked DX

          160M    80M    40M    20M    15M    10M   Total
    DL            105     61    220     88            474
    EA       2     10     23     58     42            135
     F       2     20     22     44     38            126
     G       1     19     23     60     15            118
     I             17     45     85     47            194
    OK             40     29     58     32            159
    SP             23     24     59     16            122
    UA              8     18    100      1            127
    UR              7     31     80      7            125
    VE      18     21     32     42     11            124

149 different country multipliers worked.

10 stations worked on 6 bands:
6Y9X 8P5A 9Y4/VE3EY HK1NA PJ2T PJ4Q TI5W V26K V47T VP2ESM

37 stations worked on 5 bands:
6Y3T 9A7A CN2AA CN2R CR3OO CR6K CU4DX EA2EA EF8R HC2AO HG7T HI3CC HR2J J70BH KH6J KH7M KP2M KP2Q LX7I NP4DX P40W PI4CC PJ4A PS2T PZ5V TK0C TM6M VC2T VC3W/2 VC7X VE3EJ VE3JM VE3YAA VE9AA XL3A ZD8W ZF2MJ

Best 60 minutes: 202 QSOs

ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, CW

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

Class: Single Op HP
QTH: W1
Operating Time (hrs): 22.7
Radios: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
  160:    0
   80:  389
   40:  357
   20:  402
   15:  114
   10:    0
------------
Total: 1262  Sections = 83  Total Score = 209,492

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club

Comments:

My 40th consecutive year with over 1000 QSOs in SS CW!
(http://k5zd.com/scores/sweepstakes-cw-personal-records/)

Not very motivated to put in a full effort, but when I saw this was going to be the 40th year, I had to give it a run.

Have had an bad SWR on my 40m beam for over a year. Was motivated Sat morning to diagnose the problem. On trip #1, found a bad coax connector at the top of the tower. I strung together 400+ feet of extension cords and on trip #2, I carried up the soldering iron and put on a new connector. Nice to have 40 working again.

My best start ever. Great runs from the start of the contest until 06Z. Then it was like someone turned off the activity.

Stopped early and took most of my off time all at once. Have never done that before. Sure removes the pressure on Sunday since there is no escape except to keep CQing and tuning.

Sunday was never great for rates. Seemed to hover around 30-35 with a few hours in the 40s.

Now I know why I have tried to save offtime to avoid the Sunday evening 00z and 01z hours. Ugh. Almost quit it was so bad. 15 mins of CQing with no answer. Last hour was good.

Worked at least 2 of every section. My traditional difficult ones were out in plenty. Was nice to go to sleep with a sweep in hand. NE was the most difficult and last section.

Operating quality seemed to be better. Almost everyone seemed to send the right thing when I sent NR, PR, CK, SEC!

Way too many checks in the late 50s and early 60s, without enough in the last few years. The traffic handlers that make SS special for me are all getting old.

QSO/Sec by hour and band

 Hour      80      40      20      15     Total     Cumm      Off 

D1-2100Z    -       -     18/10   78/33   96/43     96/43  
D1-2200Z    -      1/0    77/15   16/2    94/17    190/60  
D1-2300Z    -     37/3    50/4      -     87/7     277/67  
D2-0000Z  35/7    52/4    --+--   --+--   87/11    364/78  
D2-0100Z  72/2     6/0      -       -     78/2     442/80  
D2-0200Z  80/1     3/0      -       -     83/1     525/81  
D2-0300Z  70/1     8/0      -       -     78/1     603/82  
D2-0400Z  44/0    16/0      -       -     60/0     663/82  
D2-0500Z  24/0    25/1      -       -     49/1     712/83  
D2-0600Z   8/0     7/0      -       -     15/0     727/83     36
D2-0700Z    -       -       -       -      0/0     727/83     60
D2-0800Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0     727/83     60
D2-0900Z    -       -       -       -      0/0     727/83     60
D2-1000Z    -       -       -       -      0/0     727/83     60
D2-1100Z  15/0     7/0      -       -     22/0     749/83     28
D2-1200Z  15/0    25/0      -       -     40/0     789/83  
D2-1300Z   5/0    21/0    11/0      -     37/0     826/83  
D2-1400Z    -     17/0    27/0      -     44/0     870/83  
D2-1500Z    -     13/0    30/0      -     43/0     913/83  
D2-1600Z  --+--    3/0    26/0     6/0    35/0     948/83  
D2-1700Z    -     23/0    33/0      -     56/0    1004/83  
D2-1800Z    -      5/0     5/0      -     10/0    1014/83     43
D2-1900Z    -      2/0    32/0     5/0    39/0    1053/83  
D2-2000Z    -       -     33/0     8/0    41/0    1094/83  
D2-2100Z    -      4/0    24/0     1/0    29/0    1123/83  
D2-2200Z    -     11/0    20/0      -     31/0    1154/83     37
D2-2300Z   2/0    13/0    14/0      -     29/0    1183/83  
D3-0000Z   1/0     3/0     2/0    --+--    6/0    1189/83     50
D3-0100Z  10/0    27/0      -       -     37/0    1226/83  
D3-0200Z   8/0    28/0      -       -     36/0    1262/83  

Total:   389/11  357/8   402/29  114/35

WAE DX Contest, CW

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

Class: Single Op HP
QTH: W1
Operating Time (hrs): 13.5

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  QTCs  Mults
-------------------------
   80:  117     0   148
   40:  227   180   132
   20:  338   388    96
   15:  233   390    88
   10:   49     0    48
-------------------------
Total:  964   958   512  Total Score = 984,064

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club

Comments:

Better conditions than expected. Especially on 80m the first night.

Thunderstorms prevented much operating on Sat evening.

Surprised to find 10m open on Sunday morning. My best multiplier total ever.

QTCs are something you just have to deal with. Most annoying when you find a mult on 10m and they keep taking QTCs. Instead of working 100/hour, they end up working about 40/hour rate.

Spent a lot of time outside enjoying the Summer weather or inside watching the Olympics.

 

QSO/DXCC by hour and band

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

0000Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0      0/0      60
0100Z    -     45/22     -       -       -     45/22    45/22  
0200Z  72/30   17/10     -       -       -     89/40   134/62  
0300Z  38/7    18/5    11/5      -       -     67/17   201/79  
0400Z   5/0    16/0     7/2      -       -     28/2    229/81     33
0500Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    229/81     60
0600Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    229/81     60
0700Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    229/81     60
0800Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0    229/81     60
0900Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    229/81     60
1000Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    229/81     60
1100Z    -       -     38/14   20/11     -     58/25   287/106    17
1200Z    -       -     20/12   45/12     -     65/24   352/130 
1300Z    -       -      3/3    57/10     -     60/13   412/143 
1400Z    -       -       -      7/1      -      7/1    419/144    13
1500Z    -       -      4/1    19/3      -     23/4    442/148    13
1600Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0    442/148    60
1700Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    442/148    60
1800Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    442/148    60
1900Z    -       -     52/3    12/2      -     64/5    506/153    19
2000Z    -       -     46/2      -       -     46/2    552/155    36
2100Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    552/155    60
2200Z    -      5/0    26/3      -       -     31/3    583/158    35
2300Z    -     32/5    35/1      -       -     67/6    650/164 
0000Z  --+--   10/0     1/0    --+--   --+--   11/0    661/164    53
0100Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    661/164    60
0200Z   2/0    17/1     1/0      -       -     20/1    681/165    13
0300Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    681/165    60
0400Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    681/165    60
0500Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    681/165    60
0600Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    681/165    60
0700Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    681/165    60
0800Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0    681/165    60
0900Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    681/165    60
1000Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    681/165    60
1100Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    681/165    60
1200Z    -       -      1/0    30/3    45/23   76/26   757/191 
1300Z    -       -     13/0    21/2     1/0    35/2    792/193    21
1400Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    792/193    60
1500Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    792/193    60
1600Z  --+--   --+--   25/0     9/0    --+--   34/0    826/193    10
1700Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    826/193    60
1800Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    826/193    60
1900Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    826/193    60
2000Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    826/193    60
2100Z    -       -      6/0    13/0     3/1    22/1    848/194    28
2200Z    -     24/1    45/2      -       -     69/3    917/197 
2300Z    -     43/0     4/0      -       -     47/0    964/197 

Total: 117/37 227/44  338/48  233/44   49/24

IARU HF World Championship

Call: WR1TC
Operator(s): K5ZD
Station: K5ZD

Class: SOABCW HP
Operating Time (hrs): 11
Radios: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  CW Qs  Ph Qs  Zones  HQ Mults
-------------------------------------
  160:    25            5       4
   80:   157           10      17
   40:   207           12      24
   20:   741           25      22
   15:   216           14      20
   10:    59            8      10
-------------------------------------
Total:  1406    0      74      98  Total Score = 742,524

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club

Comments:

Had the best of intentions to make a serious mixed mode effort. Spent a sleepless night on Thursday in the Newark airport. Tried to catch up on sleep and woke up 15 minutes before the contest.

Started out on CW. When I switched to SSB, I discovered that Writelog was not forwarding the mic audio to the radio. I could record messages and play them, but no live audio. Probably a configuration error, but my bad for not checking things out in advance. After 20 wasted mins, decided to go CW only.

Conditions were good enough to be entertaining, but certainly not great. I spent a lot of time practicing with dual CQ. It is amazing how well it can work, and how easily you can get messed up and sound like a lid.

Enjoyed watching the online scoreboard and chasing AA3B and K1MK. Especially after I started taking breaks. It was fun to see if I could make progress on catching them.

Surprised to work some EU HQ stations on 160. They were weak here, but seemed to be hearing very well.

Finally nearing midnight, decided I had enough and packed it in.

Always fun to hand out the WRTC memories by using WR1TC. People really seem to copy this call on the first try!

Rates:

QSO/ZN+HQ by hour and band

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

1200Z    -       -     22/4    76/15   26/10     -      124/29   124/29 
1300Z    -       -       -     53/4    20/7      -       74/11   198/40   20
1400Z    -       -       -     69/5    24/2    15/6     108/13   306/53 
1500Z    -       -       -     65/1    42/3      -      107/4    413/57   20
1600Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   39/2     8/3    21/2      68/7    481/64 
1700Z    -       -       -     88/5    38/2      -      126/7    607/71    2
1800Z    -       -       -       -       -       -        0/0    607/71   60
1900Z    -       -       -     30/1     8/1      -       38/2    645/73   46
2000Z    -       -       -    111/3    31/4     3/3     145/10   790/83 
2100Z    -       -       -    133/1     8/0    20/7     161/8    951/91 
2200Z    -       -     16/11   59/3    11/3      -       86/17  1037/108  20
2300Z    -       -       -       -       -       -        0/0   1037/108  60
0000Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--      0/0   1037/108  60
0100Z   2/2    99/19   24/10    8/5      -       -      133/36  1170/144   6
0200Z    -     47/6   126/9      -       -       -      173/15  1343/159
0300Z  23/7    11/2    19/2    10/2      -       -       63/13  1406/172  20

Total: 25/9   157/27  207/36  741/47  216/34   59/18

CQWW WPX Contest, CW

Call: AK1W
Operator(s): K5ZD

Class: SOAB HP
Operating Time (hrs): 19
Radios: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
  160:    2
   80:  145
   40:  657
   20:  902
   15:  395
   10:   11
------------
Total: 2112  Prefixes = 849  Total Score = 5,447,184

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club

Station:

K3 + Alpha 76CA
K3 + AL-1500

160m: Shunt fed tower
80m: 4 square
40m: 40-2CD @ 33m
20m: 205CA/205CA @ 30m/15m
15m: 155CA/155CA @ 20m/10m
10m: 6/4/4 @ 30m/20m/10m
Mult: TH7DXX @ 10m (south)

Comments:

Excuses:
– My son was visiting for the weekend
– Beautiful weather outside
– Monaco F1 race, Indy 500

Conditions were entertaining. Great activity from Europe as always. Conditions Sunday morning were better than Sat.

Surprised how easy it was to work Europe on 80m. Must have been low QRN on their end.

Great fun watching the online scoreboard and chasing NR3X and NK7U. Caused me to operate many more hours than I would have without the extra motivation.

40m beam has SWR problem. 15m antenna not rotating. Seems to be something broken every time I get on the air.

QSO/Pref by hour and band

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

0000Z  --+--   --+--  116/97    1/1    --+--   --+--  117/98    117/98  
0100Z    -       -    123/83    4/4      -       -    127/87    244/185 
0200Z    -      3/3   108/72   13/11     -       -    124/86    368/271 
0300Z    -     52/21   47/21   12/9      -       -    111/51    479/322 
0400Z    -       -      2/1     2/2      -       -      4/3     483/325  
0500Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     483/325  
0600Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     483/325  
0700Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     483/325  
0800Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0     483/325  
0900Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     483/325  
1000Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     483/325  
1100Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     483/325  
1200Z    -       -      7/0    76/33   11/11     -     94/44    577/369  
1300Z    -       -       -    123/53    9/6      -    132/59    709/428 
1400Z    -       -       -     93/48    8/6      -    101/54    810/482 
1500Z    -       -       -      8/5      -       -      8/5     818/487  
1600Z  --+--   --+--   --+--    7/4     6/2    --+--   13/6     831/493  
1700Z    -       -       -     73/28   27/13    4/4   104/45    935/538 
1800Z    -       -       -      8/5      -       -      8/5     943/543  
1900Z    -       -       -      1/0    49/9      -     50/9     993/552  
2000Z    -       -       -     20/7    91/27     -    111/34   1104/586 
2100Z    -       -       -     81/29   36/14     -    117/43   1221/629 
2200Z    -       -       -    134/36    4/2      -    138/38   1359/667 
2300Z    -       -       -     23/5      -       -     23/5    1382/672  
0000Z  --+--   --+--    7/1     1/1     7/5    --+--   15/7    1397/679  
0100Z    -       -    101/30    9/5      -       -    110/35   1507/714 
0200Z    -     16/3    81/16   10/4      -       -    107/23   1614/737 
0300Z    -     73/4    31/8      -       -       -    104/12   1718/749 
0400Z   2/1     1/0     7/1      -       -       -     10/2    1728/751  
0500Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1728/751  
0600Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1728/751  
0700Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1728/751  
0800Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0    1728/751  
0900Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1728/751  
1000Z    -       -      4/2      -       -       -      4/2    1732/753  
1100Z    -       -     23/5    74/27     -       -     97/32   1829/785 
1200Z    -       -       -     23/11   81/11     -    104/22   1933/807 
1300Z    -       -       -      6/2    54/10    7/0    67/12   2000/819  
1400Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    2000/819  
1500Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    2000/819  
1600Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0    2000/819  
1700Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    2000/819  
1800Z    -       -       -     85/21    6/2      -     91/23   2091/842  
1900Z    -       -       -     15/7     6/0      -     21/7    2112/849  
2000Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    2112/849  
2100Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    2112/849  
2200Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    2112/849  
2300Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    2112/849  

Total:  2/1   145/31  657/337 902/358 395/118  11/4

                    ARRL DX Contest, SSB

Call: K5ZD

Class: SO Unlimited HP
Operating Time (hrs): 19

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
  160:   42    33
   80:  133    58
   40:  172    71
   20:  668   107
   15:  856   108
   10:  375    91
-------------------
Total: 2246   468  Total Score = 3,153,384

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club

Comments:

Wow! Sure didn’t expect conditions to be this good. Every band was great during the times I was on.

Only a part time effort, but that made it even more fun. Mostly chased countries and tried to run when I could find a frequency.

Personal best hour from the USA with 229 on Sat morning on 20m. SH5 says best 60 mins was 230 QSOs. Lots of other good hours. When I could find a frequency where I could hear.

Splatter was bad, but I did say something to a few of the worst and they seemed to be able to clean it up. You don’t know if you don’t ask.

Was fun being Assisted so I could chase countries. Also had the online scoreboard up so I could track some of the other guys. Fun to try to catch the next score on the list.

My goal was 1000 QSOs, but conditions and rates were so good, I couldn’t stop.

Most amazing opening was Sat evening on 15m into Japan. Signals were really loud and I was even able to run JA for 45 minutes.

I went single radio for this one. Something is going on in my shack and I get terrible RF feedback in the headphones when using the YCCC SO2R box. It was clean when I plugged the headphones into the radio. With the DX Cluster, I didn’t really need the second radio.

23 stations worked on 6 bands! Its nice when 10m and 160m are both open.

5D3A 6Y1LZ 9A1A 9A1P C6ANA CR2X CR6K E7DX EI6JK EI7M EI9E HA1AG KP3Z 
M6T P40M PJ2T PJ4G PZ5W TI5W TM6M TO66R V26M YL2SM

26 more on 5 bands.

9A8M CS2C DF2SD DR1D ED7P ES5Q EU1A G5W HG7T HI3K II9P IO5O IR4M LX7I 
OE2S P40L PS2T S50A S54ZZ S57AL SN8B TM1T UA2F VP2MMF YN5Z YV1KK

Most worked countries:

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

    DL       1     12      7     60     92     39     211
     I       1      4     22     60     59     32     178
    JA                           15     81             96
    SP              5      8     31     37     11      92
     G       1      3      5     27     34     21      91
    PA              2      2     50     26     11      91
    UA              1      2     34     46      2      85
    EA              5      5     27     34     12      83
     F       1      4      6     22     30     20      83

Rates:

Hour   160M     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    -       -     36/25   36/22     -       -     72/47     72/47     18
0400Z   8/8    35/24   24/11     -       -       -     67/43    139/90  
0500Z   7/6    44/19    6/5     5/1      -       -     62/31    201/121     9
0600Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     201/121    60
0700Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     201/121    60
0800Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0     201/121    60
0900Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     201/121    60
1000Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     201/121    60
1100Z    -       -       -      6/5      -       -      6/5     207/126    58
1200Z    -       -       -    229/39     -       -    229/39    436/165 
1300Z    -       -       -      7/1   150/47   11/7   168/55    604/220 
1400Z    -       -       -       -       -    113/44  113/44    717/264 
1500Z    -       -       -       -    115/15   30/9   145/24    862/288 
1600Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   55/8   123/9     4/3   182/20   1044/308 
1700Z    -       -       -     16/2     6/5     4/1    26/8    1070/316    50
1800Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1070/316    60
1900Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1070/316    60
2000Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1070/316    60
2100Z    -       -       -       -     38/9     7/2    45/11   1115/327    38
2200Z    -       -      9/3    22/4    67/11    7/5   105/23   1220/350 
2300Z    -       -       -      3/0    12/0     1/1    16/1    1236/351    43
0000Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0    1236/351    60
0100Z    -       -     10/6    28/8      -       -     38/14   1274/365    38
0200Z   8/5    18/6    25/5      -       -       -     51/16   1325/381    15
0300Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1325/381    60
0400Z  15/11   25/8    22/11    3/1      -       -     65/31   1390/412      
0500Z   4/3     7/1      -       -       -       -     11/4    1401/416    51
0600Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1401/416    60
0700Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1401/416    60
0800Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0    1401/416    60
0900Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1401/416    60
1000Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1401/416    60
1100Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1401/416    60
1200Z    -       -      5/2   118/3    13/0      -    136/5    1537/421     9
1300Z    -       -       -       -    170/3      -    170/3    1707/424 
1400Z    -       -       -      1/1    24/0   105/7   130/8    1837/432 
1500Z    -       -       -     13/3      -     22/3    35/6    1872/438    30
1600Z  --+--   --+--   --+--    4/3    80/2    28/0   112/5    1984/443 
1700Z    -       -       -      1/1      -     15/1    16/2    2000/445    52
1800Z    -       -       -     53/0     8/1     2/1    63/2    2063/447    34
1900Z    -       -       -     18/3     9/4    14/3    41/10   2104/457    21
2000Z    -       -       -       -       -      9/4     9/4    2113/461    60
2100Z    -       -       -     35/1    26/0      -     61/1    2174/462    19
2200Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    2174/462    60
2300Z    -      4/0    35/3    15/1    15/2     3/0    72/6    2246/468    10

Total: 42/33  133/58  172/71  668/107 856/108 375/91

                   ARRL DX Contest, CW

Call: K5ZD

Class: SO Unlimited HP
Operating Time (hrs): 17
Radios: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
  160:   39    35
   80:  277    72
   40:  370    90
   20:  577    99
   15:  682   105
   10:   87    65
-------------------
Total: 2032   466  Total Score = 2,840,736

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club

Comments:

My father-in-law passed away last week and the memorial service was on Saturday.
The service and visiting with family was wonderful. That eliminated Saturday
from operating.

Really enjoyed my few hours on the air. Nothing like getting to 15 meters for
the first time on Sunday morning. The pileup was intense! Made me truly
realize how valuable it is to tune off the spot frequency. Those were the guys
that got through fastest.

Best 60 mins was 210 QSOs.

DX contests are really fun when you are not trying to win anything. You can
come and go as you like. Conditions were surprisingly good during the times I
was on. 10m was spotty on Sunday, but there were some loud Europeans. Worked
JA on 80-15.

Worked 19 stations on 6 bands: 6Y1D 8P5A 9A1A CR3W CU4DX KP2M OL7M OM2VL P40XM
PJ2T PJ4X PJ6A SN7Q TI5W TO7A V26M VP2MWA YL2SM ZF1A

Thanks to all the Europeans that helped fill my log.

40m antenna had high SWR. It seemed to get out, but I wasn’t hearing very
well.

160m antenna toward Europe was broken. Missed some mults because of that.

Couldn’t switch the 80m 4 square on Friday night.

Station is falling apart from old age. Time to do some maintenance this
summer.

Rates:

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

0000Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     412/170    60
0100Z    -       -      6/6    20/12     -       -     26/18     26/18     40
0200Z   6/6    40/22   42/24    6/6      -       -     94/58    120/76  
0300Z   7/6    76/12   23/12     -       -       -    106/30    226/106 
0400Z   7/7    56/10   13/9      -       -       -     76/26    302/132 
0500Z   1/1    17/11   31/12    4/2      -       -     53/26    355/158 
0600Z   6/4    35/3    16/5      -       -       -     57/12    412/170    21
0700Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     412/170    60
0800Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0     412/170    60
0900Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     412/170    60
1000Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     412/170    60
1100Z    -      3/2     5/4    13/9      -       -     21/15    433/185    42
1200Z    -       -       -    151/22     -       -    151/22    584/207     8
1300Z    -       -       -     16/11     -       -     16/11    600/218    60
1400Z    -       -       -     11/1     4/4    31/27   46/32    646/250    30
1500Z    -       -       -       -     59/52     -     59/52    705/302    35
1600Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0     705/302    60
1700Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     705/302    60
1800Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     705/302    60
1900Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     705/302    60
2000Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     705/302    60
2100Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     705/302    60
2200Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     705/302    60
2300Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     705/302    60
0000Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0     705/302    60
0100Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     705/302    60
0200Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     705/302    60
0300Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     705/302    60
0400Z  10/10     -       -       -       -       -     10/10    715/312    52
0500Z   2/1    20/7    80/4      -       -       -    102/12    817/324 
0600Z    -     14/1    25/1      -       -       -     39/2     856/326    39
0700Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     856/326    60
0800Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0     856/326    60
0900Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     856/326    60
1000Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     856/326    60
1100Z    -      2/2     2/1    11/1      -       -     15/4     871/330    52
1200Z    -       -       -    167/14   34/4      -    201/18   1072/348 
1300Z    -       -       -       -    200/13    2/2   202/15   1274/363 
1400Z    -       -       -       -    151/8    13/8   164/16   1438/379 
1500Z    -       -       -     25/6    34/6    26/17   85/29   1523/408 
1600Z  --+--   --+--   --+--    2/0   164/0     6/6   172/6    1695/414 
1700Z    -       -       -       -      7/4     1/1     8/5    1703/419    55
1800Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1703/419    60
1900Z    -       -       -     56/5    12/6     5/3    73/14   1776/433    22
2000Z    -       -     42/4    69/4    11/6     3/1   125/15   1901/448 
2100Z    -       -     80/5    11/3     6/2      -     97/10   1998/458 
2200Z    -       -      1/0    11/0      -       -     12/0    2010/458    51
2300Z    -     14/2     4/3     4/3      -       -     22/8    2032/466    48

Total: 39/35  277/72  370/90  577/99  682/105  87/65

Summary

Call: K5ZD
Class: SOAB(A) HP
Operating Time (hrs): 45

 Band   QSOs Zones Countries
 ------------------------------
 160:    136  17    65
 80:     731  29    99
 40:    1199  38   130
 20:    1308  38   138
 15:    1173  34   136
 10:     234  24    88
 ------------------------------
 Total: 4781 180   656  Total Score = 11,607,024

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club

Operation

I appreciate (and envy) everyone who made the choice to spend time with family over the holiday weekend. My family has learned that it is better for all of us to let me spend time locked in the radio room.

Station hardware was ready. Op was mostly ready. Decided on doing Assisted again because it was so much fun before and I love chasing mults.

40m was definitely the band to start on. I didn’t even try to find a run frequency – just tuned up the band calling people.

Low bands were awesome both nights – able to work Europe on 160 the first night. Some good runs on 80m when I could find a clear spot.

Amazing how late 40m stays open after European sunrise – was working stations more than 3 hours after their sunrise time.

Took a 1 hour nap the first night from 1000-1115. Figured if I didn’t sleep then I was going to be loopy later in the day. 20m was already open when I woke up. Moved to 15m at 1236z and stayed on 21012 for the next 5 hours straight! Never had that much run time on one frequency before. Best 60 minutes was 216 QSOs. I was able to pick up lots of mults on 10m, but it never sounded good enough to abandon the rate on 15m.

Had a moment of panic around 2130z when it appeared I lost my antenna switching. Was running on 40m and trying to diagnose the problem. Finally decided it was in the relays that gave access to the Tribander. Swapped some coax to go around the relays and everything was working again — but no more quick switching to the South antenna.

By now I was totally locked into the contest. Had about 5.8 million at the halfway point (around 2800 QSOs). No run time on 10 meters so was really hoping it would open the second day.

Came out to see what my family had for dinner. Ate some Thanksgiving left overs and then was back at it. Finally decided on a quick nap from 0350-0445z while rates were slow. Feels weird when you try to wake up in the middle of a sleep cycle.

Good runs on 80 meters. Band was super quiet and open very well. Was even able to get a few answers to CQs on 160m.

Took another sleep from 0940-1115z. Rest of the contest was a blur. Since I had spent so much time on 15m on Saturday, I stayed on 20m and worked lots of deep Russians. This also gave me a chance to chase mults on 15m (I only had 75 countries on 15m). Really struggled to find a good run frequency on 15m. The band was packed!

Around 1530z, the Europeans on 10m started to get loud. I did a slow run there. Band was actually quite good, but not much activity. Was able to CQ and get answers until 1630z. It was nice to get one last bit out of 10 meters before it just becomes a memory.

Things started to get really slow around 1800z. Nothing to do but keep CQing on 20m while tuning 10 and 15. Went to 40m at 2030z and was able to work VK6LW and AH0K on LP! 40m was great all the way to the end.

Spent last hour tuning around on 80m. Busted the SU90IARU split pileup on the first call. I didn’t really expect to have a chance. Then one called 3V8SS and minute later. Got a “?” out of 4L5P, but no QSO. Just couldn’t find country 100 on 80m.

Comments

My station does not feel loud on 40 or 160m. I seemed to spend a lot of time waiting my turn on those bands. Same when calling stations to the South on 10 and 15. There were a few pileups I could never get through – like HR2J on 10m.

SH5 reports 275 second radio QSOs. I think it was more than that.

I was spotted on Sunday as KH8B. It is amazing how many people who should know better (and know how to copy CW) were calling me. Even with the cluster you have to LISTEN!!

Wide signals are a real problem. If one of the real loud and real wide stations sits down next to you, it is impossible to copy through the clicks. I love having a panadapter to see the band, but it pains me to see how many signals are 1-5 Khz wide. This and excess power are ruining CW contesting.

I did record the entire contest. May try to get the recordings up on the web site when I find time.

Yes, Skimmer and the RBN have changed contesting. It sure is fun to have that much information about what is happening across all bands. Becomes an information management challenge. I struggled to get a good spot filter set up. Thanks to W1VE and WC2L for use of their clusters.

Thanks to everyone who makes this the best contest of the year. It takes two to make a QSO so wouldn’t be the same without so much activity and DXpeditions from all parts of the world. Thank you all!

Station

K3 + Alpha 76CA
K3 + AL-1500

160m: Ground plane, Shunt fed tower
80m: 4 square
40m: 40-2CD @ 33m
20m: 205CA/205CA @ 30m/15m
15m: 155CA/155CA @ 20m/10m
10m: 6/4/4 @ 30m/20m/10m
Mult: TH7DXX @ 10m (mostly south)

Numbers

By Continent

          160M    80M    40M    20M    15M    10M   Total      %
    SA       5     16     32     31     36     48     168     3.5
    AF       6     14     20     23     22     21     106     2.2
    OC       1      4     20     18     16      4      63     1.3
    AS       1     11     40    128     52      1     233     4.9
    EU      92    622   1012   1045    984    117    3872    81.0
    NA      31     64     75     63     63     43     339     7.1

Rates (QSO/ZN+DX)

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

0000Z  --+--   --+--   68/59   48/56   --+--   --+--  116/115   116/115 
0100Z    -      3/4   100/14   19/13     -       -    122/31    238/146 
0200Z    -    109/44   14/9      -       -       -    123/53    361/199 
0300Z    -    106/17   16/14     -       -       -    122/31    483/230 
0400Z  41/33   25/1    34/10     -       -       -    100/44    583/274 
0500Z  15/14   82/6    32/5      -       -       -    129/25    712/299 
0600Z  11/7    75/23    9/3     3/2      -       -     98/35    810/334 
0700Z   2/2    12/1    81/12     -       -       -     95/15    905/349 
0800Z   3/1    10/11   79/2     1/0    --+--   --+--   93/14    998/363 
0900Z    -      4/1    62/14    1/1      -       -     67/16   1065/379 
1000Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1065/379   60
1100Z    -      1/0     8/0    70/28     -       -     79/28   1144/407   23
1200Z    -       -       -    109/15   79/28     -    188/43   1332/450 
1300Z    -       -       -      8/9   191/18   14/18  213/45   1545/495 
1400Z    -       -       -       -    169/7    28/24  197/31   1742/526 
1500Z    -       -       -       -    142/2    19/12  161/14   1903/540 
1600Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--  130/2    19/18  149/20   2052/560 
1700Z    -       -       -     39/14   75/10   13/9   127/33   2179/593 
1800Z    -       -       -    150/3    28/27     -    178/30   2357/623 
1900Z    -       -       -     83/5    25/18     -    108/23   2465/646 
2000Z    -       -     95/2     5/1     8/7    12/9   120/19   2585/665 
2100Z    -       -     98/1     3/3     7/4      -    108/8    2693/673 
2200Z    -       -     83/1      -     26/5      -    109/6    2802/679 
2300Z    -      3/6    39/4    11/7     8/1      -     61/18   2863/697 
0000Z  --+--   44/7    19/4    --+--   --+--   --+--   63/11   2926/708 
0100Z  12/7     5/0      -      1/0      -       -     18/7    2944/715   20
0200Z   3/1    15/0     1/0    30/2      -       -     49/3    2993/718 
0300Z    -     29/1     4/0    18/3      -       -     51/4    3044/722 
0400Z    -       -       -      6/4      -       -      6/4    3050/726 
0500Z  45/13     -      2/0     3/1      -       -     50/14   3100/740 
0600Z    -     95/0     8/0      -       -       -    103/0    3203/740 
0700Z    -     80/2     9/0      -       -       -     89/2    3292/742 
0800Z   2/3     7/0    54/0    46/0    --+--   --+--  109/3    3401/745 
0900Z    -      2/0     7/4    39/1      -       -     48/5    3449/750   21
1000Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    3449/750   60
1100Z    -       -      1/0    98/0      -       -     99/0    3548/750   22
1200Z    -       -      3/5   128/2    10/9      -    141/16   3689/766 
1300Z    -       -       -     93/0    30/12     -    123/12   3812/778 
1400Z    -       -       -     34/1    90/0     2/1   126/2    3938/780 
1500Z    -       -       -       -     46/10   44/8    90/18   4028/798 
1600Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   48/2    47/12   95/14   4123/812 
1700Z    -       -       -     96/1    17/2      -    113/3    4236/815 
1800Z    -       -       -     93/1     1/1    21/0   115/2    4351/817 
1900Z    -       -       -     58/2     5/2    13/0    76/4    4427/821 
2000Z    -       -     29/2    15/1    19/1      -     63/4    4490/825 
2100Z    -       -     96/0      -      5/1     2/1   103/2    4593/827 
2200Z    -      4/4    67/3      -     14/1      -     85/8    4678/835 
2300Z   2/1    20/0    81/0      -       -       -    103/1    4781/836 

Total:136/82 731/128 1199/168 1308/176 1173/170 234/112

36 Stations worked on 6 bands
4O3A 9A1A CN2AA CR2X CR3L D4C DF0HQ DL0CS DL0GL DL0UM E7DX EI7M G5O II9P KP3Z LZ9W OL3Z OL4A OM7M OP4K P33W P40L PI4CC PJ2T PJ4A PJ4Q PZ5W TF2CW TI5W TM6M V26K V47T VE2IM VE9AA ZD8W ZF2MJ

54 worked on 5 bands

                    ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, CW

Call: K5ZD

Operator(s): K5ZD

Station: K5ZD

Class: Single Op HP

QTH: W1

Operating Time (hrs): 21.5

Radios: SO2R

Summary:

 Band  QSOs

------------

  160:    0

   80:  207

   40:  432

   20:  492

   15:  104

   10:    0

------------

Total: 1235  Sections = 83  Total Score = 205,010

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club

 

Comments:

Sat down at 15 minutes before the contest and discovered my 15m Yagi wouldn’t turn.  It was pointed at Europe.  Had to use the TH7 at 40′ for the whole contest on 15m.  The 40m beam seems to have a trap problem – the SWR is moving up the band implying that I really have a dipole with a broken director.  It was also intermittent on receive.  Time to get some work done by WW CW!

Great start.  First 3 hours on 14031.  40m was a wasteland until after midnight.  It got good, but everyone seemed to be staying on 80m.

Decided to get 4+ hours of sleep rather than manage the offtime. I felt better on Sunday, but ended up with no off time to escape the slow rates.

Sunday morning was ok, but by lunch time, the bands were almost worked out. Not enough new activity coming on the air so it got really slow.

VE6 and NWT were my last two sections.  Was happy to find VE6EX late Sun morning. When I heard auroral buzz on stations 15 meters, I gave up hope for ever finding VE8.  Lucked out and heard someone working VY1AAA at the bottom of 20m.  He was at whisper level, but managed to get a QSO.  My usual nemesis is VE5 and VO1.  Worked lots of both.

When I called CQ for 10 minutes without an answer on 40 and 80m, decided to end the contest early. Off to catch an early flight at 6am Monday morning.

Thanks to everyone that got on and enjoyed the spirit of traffic handling. This was my 39th consecutive year of SS CW with more than 1000 QSOs in the log.

 

 

QSO/Sec by hour and band

 Hour      80      40      20      15     Total     Cumm    OffTime

D1-2100Z    -       -     94/37   10/8   104/45    104/45

D1-2200Z    -       -     83/15   16/3    99/18    203/63

D1-2300Z    -      2/1    73/5    11/3    86/9     289/72

D2-0000Z  --+--   12/0    71/2    --+--   83/2     372/74

D2-0100Z  28/0    29/1    12/0      -     69/1     441/75

D2-0200Z  45/3    23/0      -       -     68/3     509/78

D2-0300Z  22/0    58/2      -       -     80/2     589/80

D2-0400Z  58/0    23/0      -       -     81/0     670/80

D2-0500Z   9/0    58/0      -       -     67/0     737/80

D2-0600Z  13/0    23/0      -       -     36/0     773/80     16

D2-0700Z    -       -       -       -      0/0     773/80     60

D2-0800Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0     773/80     60

D2-0900Z    -       -       -       -      0/0     773/80     60

D2-1000Z    -       -       -       -      0/0     773/80     60

D2-1100Z   8/1     5/0      -       -     13/1     786/81     41

D2-1200Z  12/0    34/0      -       -     46/0     832/81

D2-1300Z   2/0    36/0     7/0      -     45/0     877/81

D2-1400Z    -     34/0    10/0      -     44/0     921/81

D2-1500Z    -     33/0    11/0     1/0    45/0     966/81

D2-1600Z  --+--   21/0    11/1    12/0    44/1    1010/82

D2-1700Z    -      7/0    29/0     8/0    44/0    1054/82

D2-1800Z    -       -     27/0     9/0    36/0    1090/82

D2-1900Z    -       -      4/0    19/0    23/0    1113/82      4

D2-2000Z    -       -     10/0     6/0    16/0    1129/82     60

D2-2100Z    -       -     22/0    12/0    34/0    1163/82

D2-2200Z    -     19/0    12/0      -     31/0    1194/82

D2-2300Z    -      5/0     9/1      -     14/1    1208/83     14

D3-0000Z  --+--    4/0     7/0    --+--   11/0    1219/83     60

D3-0100Z   8/0     3/0      -       -     11/0    1230/83     36

D3-0200Z   2/0     3/0      -       -      5/0    1235/83     50

Total:   207/4   432/4   492/61  104/14