CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW - 2023
Call: K1LT
Operator(s): K1LT
Station: K1LT
Class: SO(A)AB HP
QTH: Ohio EM89ps
Operating Time (hrs): 35
OpMode: SO2R
Summary:
Band QSOs Zones Countries
------------------------------
160: 87 15 56
80: 205 22 86
40: 252 31 108
20: 259 37 118
15: 383 34 127
10: 325 33 124
------------------------------
Total: 1511 172 619 Total Score = 3,348,303
Club: Mad River Radio Club
Comments:
I put up a 40-meter sloping dipole. This month-long project required
removing about a dozen large cotton-wood trees, a couple of large
poplars (tulip) trees, and numerous saplings. Nearly every one of
these trees had to be pulled with a rope to keep them from falling on
the guy wires around my 100-foot tower. Ultimately the dipole did not
seem to work any differently than my ground mounted vertical, but now
there is a nice space for a tram wire for a future project.
Friday afternoon I was tuning around and working DX before the contest
when a hissing and snapping noise emanated from the Alpha 8410. After
the noise, there was no power output. Note there was no faulting.
The fault protection has not worked on this amplifier in a while and
my procrastination has finally paid off. Apparently, the plate choke
failed, probably because of previous stress from unprotected faults.
I removed the 8410 and substituted the K8CC estate ETO 91B. This
amplifier has a history of intermittent sadness which manifests as
weird tuning and low output. The K8ND ETO 91B is still in-line with
the second radio, so no problem, right?
The goal was 3000 QSOs and more than 100 multipliers on each of 4
bands, assuming conditions reminiscent of 2014 when I had 2800 QSOs
when the high bands were really terrific.
Conditions seemed good Friday evening since there were JAs on 10
meters. However CQing on the high bands the first night was not
productive so chasing multipliers came easily. I slept 4 hours and
got up before sunrise to chase Asia and Oceania.
Saturday morning the bands seemed weird. Just after sunrise the
signals on 20 were weak, signals on 15 were much stronger and very
numerous, and signals were all over 10. However, the 10 meter opening
seemed slow and CQing was not productive compared to chasing spots.
Since a run of 300 QSOs in a couple of hours did not materialize, my
3000-QSO goal quietly slipped away. But spots!
Chasing multipliers led to more than 100 countries on each of 40, 20,
15, and 10 by 0222Z Saturday (Sunday GMT). Since 80 was also looking
good, I set a long-shot goal of 100 multipliers there. 5BDXCC in a
weekend would be impressive.
I slept 5 hours the second night. Sunday before sunrise there was a
nice opening to the west on 80 with several strong JAs and a Fw and a
4W, but nothing heard on 160.
Sunday morning high bands seemed a lot more normal and CQing was
finally productive, which was useful because new multipliers were
getting scarce.
Somewhere around 1700Z while I was away for a few minutes the K8CC
estate ETO 91B ceased to produce power. I spent an hour screwing
around trying remedies and I discarded the notion of swapping
amplifiers with the second station. Why not just use the second
radio? My antenna switching does not yet include a relay to switch
the 'main beam' to the second radio and the 'secondary beam' which is
available to the second radio was stuck (voluntarily) on the
Caribbean. I must admit that my thinking was fuzzy at that point, but
I finally decided to see how operating low power worked.
Surprising, low power was still fairly effective. There weren't as
many multipliers to chase, and CQing would still produce short runs.
I fought the pileup on AH2R on 10 meters for 20 minutes just to see
how that works. So low power, at least after 75% of the contest had
elapsed was not terribly painful. I did skip chasing a couple of last
minute multipliers such as VK9XY.
The numerous DXpeditions were greatly appreciated, especially since
they were generally easy to work. Thanks to 4W8X, FW5N, and K8R for
making Oceania more interesting. Heard but didn't work 7O73T and
VK9XY.
Favorite calls: TO0T. What a toot! ER1KAA reminded me of a former
girl friend.
Surprise multiplier: ZS2M on 40 meters.
DX worked: 3B8, 3B9, 3D2, 3V, 4J, 4L, 4U1V, 4W, 4X, 5B, 5H, 5W, 5Z,
6Y, 7Q, 8P, 9A, 9H, 9Y, A7, BY, C3, C6, CE, CM, CN, CT, CT3, CX, D4,
DL, DU, E7, EA, EA6, EA8, EA9, EI, ER, ES, EU, F, FG, FM, FR, FS, FW,
FY, G, GD, GI, GM, GM/s, GU, GW, HA, HB, HB0, HC, HI, HK, HL, HP, HR,
HS, HZ, I, IS, IT9, J3, JA, KH2, KH6, KL, KP2, KP4, LA, LU, LX, LY,
LZ, OA, OE, OH, OH0, OK, OM, ON, OX, OY, OZ, P4, PA, PJ2, PJ4, PJ7,
PY, PZ, S5, S7, SM, SP, SV, SV9, TA, TF, TG, TI, TK, UA, UA2, UA9, UK,
UN, UR, V2, V3, V4, VK, VP5, VP9, VU, XE, YB, YL, YO, YU, YV, Z3, Z6,
ZD7, ZF, ZL, ZL7, ZP, and ZS for a total of 136 entities, 1 more that
last year.
Equipment: K3S, P3, Alpha 8410 then nothing; K3(s), P3, ETO-91B
limping; high band antennas: X7 at 101.5 feet and X7 at 61 feet; low
band antennas: full sized 40 vertical over 32 radials, sloping dipole
at 90 feet, full sized 80 vertical over 60 radials, 60-foot 160 'tee'
over 75 radials. Beverages for low band receiving. Arrays of short
verticals for 160 receiving including homebrew receivers and software
for beam steering. Writelog 12.
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
______________________________________________
3830 mailing list
3830@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/3830
|