CQ WORLD WIDE DX CONTEST -- 2000
Call: 8P6SH
Category: Single Operator
Power: Low Power
Band: All Band
Mode: SSB
Country: Barbados
Zone: 08
BAND QSO QSO PTS PTS/QSO ZONES COUNTRIES
160 1 0 0.00 1 1 HF2V
80 27 59 2.19 6 18 HF2V, HF6V
40 126 274 2.17 13 35 HF2V, HF6V
20 664 1394 2.10 20 54 KT34XA, HF6V
15 548 1162 2.12 24 58 KT34XA, HF6V
10 682 1497 2.20 21 72 KT34XA, HF6V
---------------------------------------------------
Totals 2048 4386 2.14 85 238 => 1,416,678
All reports sent were 59(9), unless otherwise noted.
Equipment Description: TS 450s, ICOM 738 & Pentium Computer
Antennas: KT34XA, Butternut HF6V & HF2V
Comments: I dedicated this contest operation to my departed friend
Stephen,
8P6CV and operated low power for the first time in a CQWW.
It was a
bit better than I thought it would be, but called for a lot
of
patience to work mults.
Murphy first took control of the contest when the Prime
Minister
presented the national budget on Tuesday - the debate
followed
on Wednesday & Thursday - and as the announcer for live
radio
coverage of that debate, there I was in the House of
Assembly
until 11pm Thursday still with antennas to erect.
But Murphy reserved his best for a few minutes into the
contest.
The beam somehow got stuck beaming due west - USA is just
west
of north and EU is just east of north - so west is about the
worst
direction to have a stuck rotor. I finally managed to muscle
it
around to north Sunday morning (after spending hours away
from
the station shopping for fishing line and light rope).
It's so funny - I was trying to get a line over the boom
late on
Saturday evening finally gave up as it was dark - only to
find
on Sunday morning that my final effort had actually worked.
So,
managed to release the brake on the T2X rotor and swing the
KT34XA around to north - it refused to go past that point.
So that's why my EU presence was very dissapointing. I
missed the
usual 10m openings to EU which are my traditional bread and
butter.
The few African and Asian mults I heard were hard to work.
With
just 100 watts I needed to be aimed right at them.
With only 100 watts, I also found QRM a huge problem. It's
tough
to appreciate this as I normally run QRO in contests but I
had
to abandon run frequencies very often where if I had higher
power
the offenders would not have cranked up so close to my
frequency.
The most fascinating moment was moving a mult (I won't say
who!!)
he suggested 21452 - which without thinking I dutifully
typed into
the computer to QSY rig 2 - computer beeps and does't QSY -
so in
a panic I QSY using rig - there he is calling... and just as
I'm
about to answer... another station comes up and says - "I
heard
that" and then it hits me - We're out of band!!! Needless to
say
QSO not logged. But you do have to be so careful!!!
On the positive side, my most productive time was spent
listening
to 8P1A (W2SC). What a great op he is. I learnt a lot about
managing a pile-up and then put it to good use with personal
best
rates as follows:
1220z: 9 per minute (540/hr)
0238z: 52 per 10 minutes (312/hr)
0321z: 271 per hour
The modest 1.4M is a new 8P record for the low power category
in
CQWW. It eclisped the previous 766K held by 8P6CV since 1997.
I
expect 8P1A to smash his 1999 11M effort for the high power
record.
Thanks for all the guys who managed to pull my peanut whistle
through the heavy QRM and to the great ops who worked me on 5
bands.
Next year I really do hope to have a genuine presence on
160m. And
I will most probably be back as low power also!!! It was fun.
Club Affiliation: Carib Contest Club
QSL Manager: KU9C
Dean St. Hill, 8P6SH
--
FAQ on WWW: http://www.contesting.com/FAQ/3830
Submissions: 3830@contesting.com
Administrative requests: 3830-REQUEST@contesting.com
Problems: owner-3830@contesting.com
|