CQ Worldwide DX Contest, SSB - 2023
Call: KQ2M
Operator(s): KQ2M
Station: KQ2M
Class: SOAB HP
QTH: CT
Operating Time (hrs): 21.2
OpMode: SO2R
Summary:
Band QSOs Zones Countries
------------------------------
160: 11 4 6
80: 86 11 37
40: 218 21 64
20: 559 30 84
15: 914 27 89
10: 1039 23 75
------------------------------
Total: 2827 116 355 Total Score = 3,775,065
Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club
Comments:
Over the Winter I became motivated to upgrade my station – antennas,
computers, filtering, operating skill, etc. to see what this op is capable of
while there is still time. I’m 62 and not in good health, so, if not now,
then when?
I planned my antenna, station and operator upgrades which also included losing
weight and a conditioning program to build much needed physical stamina. My
goal was to be completely ready with all the station upgrades and new skills and
rejuvenated body by CQWWSSB. It was to be a HUGE effort and I began in
earnest in May. All was going well until late July when I completely ruptured
my right distal biceps tendon. When it happened it felt like the whole inside
of my right arm ripped away and slid several inches underneath the skin. I have
had severe injuries before and it was obvious that this was another one. In an
instant my plans were vaporized.
I’m very physically active so the idea my right arm being at half-strength for
the rest of my life was not reasonable. Two months later I had surgery. It’s
a nasty one where the surgeon drills a small hole completely through the radius
(forearm) bone, sews the tendon to a “button”, inserts it through the hole
to the other side where the button is anchored against the bone and then he sews
the tendon on the other side of the bone to a titanium screw which is then
screwed into the hole to hold it all in place. The recovery is a long process
involving Occupational and Physical Therapy. It’s 10 weeks before you can
strengthen it and 9 – 12 months before you are mostly recovered if all goes
well. Surgery was 5 weeks ago. I am ahead of schedule and able to do some
simple physical things and hold about 2 – 3 lbs max. but I am far from healed
and have to be extremely careful. I am working on getting the swelling down
and recovering range of motion but that timeframe did NOT coincide with antenna
work in the woods. One functional arm doesn’t get it done. I was not able to
fix everything before CQWWSSB which included an ACOM2000a, which I was unable to
box up and send for repair, so it operates at about half power.
After missing contesting for about half of the last solar cycle with a series
of severe auto-immune illnesses I wasn’t about to pass up operating CQWWSSB in
this new cycle. I decided to push hard for about the first 24 hours and see
what would happen.
It being a major DX contest in 2023, there was a requirement that we have a
solar storm. As usual the storm started on Friday just before the contest and
the K index quickly shot up to 4, but the high bands are far better with a 120
solar flux and it was fun to work a few BY’s on 20 and run some JA’s on 15
to start because I didn’t know if I would hear them again during the weekend.
I tuned across 15 and quickly worked E2A, V63CB, BG2AUE and BY1RX. Then tuned
20 and worked a very loud JT5DX a few more JA’s and SA and CA mults and back
to 15 where I found a very loud D4C at 0115z!
Now it was time for the 40 SSB snakepit where I was hearing 2 – 4 stations on
the same freq. at the same time. There were parts of the band where it was
literally impossible to pick out any callsigns, simply unbelievable! After 30
minutes of this I needed a break. 20 was wide open over the pole and I worked
B0A, RM9I and a few other mults, tuned 15 and then tried to run on 80, which was
open to EU and was quiet but signals were down about 5 – 7 s-units from
normal. Even the usually loud EU stations were barely S5. K=4 and a very fast
solar wind with high proton density will do that!
I continued to focus on mult hunting until 0350z when I found a good spot on 40
SSB and had my only run on that band – about 110 stations in 1 hour. 160 was
almost useless so I did not spend much time there, preferring instead to tune 20
and 80 until 0630z when I had a brief run on 80 SSB. By 0715z I was back on 40
SSB which was improving and I started to run EU, but I knew that I needed to
make a decision – stay up all night and then go into the high band EU runs in
an impaired state with elevated AFIB risk, or take the 90 minutes of sleep and
be ready for 20? When I was younger the answer of course would be STAY UP!
DUH! But now I have to take health into account, so I worked a few EU stations
coming through on 20 (K was now 5) spent a few minutes with my XYL and then went
to sleep.
Back on 20 at 1004z where cndx were pretty poor. K index still at 4, Solar wind
> 500 @ 8 protons (both ugly numbers) and Bz was strongly negative at –
6.52. I began a slow run while noting that CR6K was loud on 15. The rate on 20
was mediocre and it was not open to the North (UA3, UA9, JA) so I couldn’t
wait to jump to 15, which, as it turned out was also mediocre until about 1130z
when someone turned up the volume switch on signals and then KABOOM! When UC9A
called in at 1138z on 15 followed by UP2L and 4L7KA, I knew that things would be
ok. LOL! The last 10 qso rate exploded to 372 and last 100 rate climbed over
240. The problem was that 10 opened almost simultaneously and I did not know
what might happen to 10 with a solar storm, so even though the qso rate on 15
was well above 200/ hr, I felt it was essential to qsy to 10 even though signals
were not nearly as loud. I waited for 10 to fill in with more stations and then
at 1304z I qsyed to 10 and 5 minutes into the run, when a VERY loud UT1XU called
in, I sensed that something special was about to happen because UR stations are
often not head in CT on 10 meters when the K = 4 and, if heard, they are
certainly NOT loud!
The rate picked up quickly, the freq. was clear and several OH, LA, SM stations
called in followed by some Russians. At ~ 1330z, someone again cranked up the
volume knob on signals and the rate EXPLODED well into the 400’s for last 10
qsos’s and then, at 1338z, an AMAZING rate spike to 580.6 / last 10 qsos !
And after that rate spike, my highest ever, the last 10 qso rate stayed between
380 and 470 while the last 100 qso rate rocketed up to 378.2 at 1345z ! Even
though the UR and UA stations disappeared, the qsos kept coming, with AT3K
calling in at 1414z. A few times the rate dropped and I was concerned but then
it immediately picked up again. There were never more than 5 – 10 stations
calling, and signals strengths were good enough to pick out a call cleanly. I
knew that this was a special hour but I did not realize how special until much
later. Several times in the past I had a 60 min rate of between 270 – 287
qsos from the US, but a 300 hour had eluded me.
As far as I knew, no Single Op had ever had a 300 hour operating UNassisted
from US with a US callsign. My previous best hour ever from the US was 287 in
CQWWSSB. But now, from 1329z – 1428z I had just had a 330 qso hour !!
The 330 hour was in the middle of 254 and 246 clock hours at 13 and 14z. And
the high rates on 10 continued with 187 and 194 at 15 and 16z. I qsy’d to 15
in the 17z hour (159 qsos) and then had a 229 hour at 18z followed by
consecutive 189 hours at 19z and 20z, the last of which was on 20. At 21z the
propagation changed with it getting dark in New England and EU and signal
strengths dropping sharply except for Western and Southern EU. It was time to
go to 40 and attempt to run or tune and pick up the mults on 10 and 15 that I
had missed during the EU runs.
And then 10 surprised me AGAIN. While running EU on 20 at 2230z, I tuned 10 on
the 2nd radio and heard and worked 5W5W. And now 10 opened wide to the Pacific
as well as to the South and I quickly worked 3G1B, VL4A, YJ0TT, ZL7IO, ZM1A,
ZL1IF, KH6J, T2C, VK4A, FW1JG, VK4WT, JH1KRC (beaming South), PS0F, VK8NSB, VL4R
E51JAN and H44RH for several double mults. That was the best 10 meter Pacific
opening that I have ever heard!
I tuned 15 and hoped for a repeat of 10 but no such luck. A few loud JA’s and
a bunch of SA/CA new mults, but aside from NH2DX, the Pacific stayed on 10.
I am right-handed and by now my right (surgical) arm was relentlessly telling me
to STOP operating IMMEDIATELY!
I went QRT Saturday evening at 2343z after one pass through the bands
2827 qsos 116 z 355 DX
= 3,775,065 in 21.2 hours NON-Assisted
CNDX were alternately lousy on (80 and 160) and (10, 15 and 20 at times), and
INCREDIBLE! (10 and 15) resulting in considerably more qsos and fewer mults than
expected.
I’ve never had so many stations say to me “Hi Bob, it’s nice to see you
again” and it was wonderful to see so many old and new friends this weekend!
My daughter once asked me why I liked contesting so much and I said “Because
it’s fun and you NEVER know what is going to happen!” THIS weekend is why,
after 50 years, I am just as excited about DX contesting as ever!
My arm is healing, I believe that I set a US rate record and my daughter
completed her first week of full-time employment at the Penn State Applied
Research Lab (ARL). My xyl and I are going to celebrate all of this with a nice
Italian dinner later. It’s been a great weekend!
Thanks for the qsos and the mults and a special thanks to the DXpedition ops!
See you all in CQWWCW.
73
Bob, KQ2M
kq2m@kq2m.com
BREAKDOWN QSO/mults KQ2M CQ WORLD WIDE DX CONTEST Single Operator
HOUR 160 80 40 20 15 10 HR TOT CUM TOT
0 ..... ..... ..... 48/43 42/25 ..... 90/68 90/68
1 3/4 10/13 49/37 14/5 13/5 . 89/64 179/132
2 . 4/4 . 34/16 14/1 . 52/21 231/153
3 . 17/14 38/14 . . . 55/28 286/181
4 2/2 . 99/18 1/0 . . 102/20 388/201
5 4/3 28/14 2/1 4/5 . . 38/23 426/224
6 . 27/3 17/11 . . . 44/14 470/238
7 2/1 . 10/2 8/4 . . 20/7 490/245
8 ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... 490/245
9 . . . . . . . 490/245
10 . . . 62/19 12/13 . 74/32 564/277
11 . . . 12/1 128/35 . 140/36 704/313
12 . . . . 222/12 . 222/12 926/325
13 . . . . . 254/47 254/47 1180/372
14 . . . . . 246/6 246/6 1426/378
15 . . . . . 187/12 187/12 1613/390
16 ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... 194/4 194/4 1807/394
17 . . . . 31/2 128/4 159/6 1966/400
18 . . . . 220/7 . 220/7 2186/407
19 . . . . 189/7 . 189/7 2375/414
20 . . . 176/14 13/0 . 189/14 2564/428
21 . . . 149/4 . . 149/4 2713/432
22 . . . 51/3 13/7 21/18 85/28 2798/460
23 . . 3/2 . 17/2 9/7 29/11 2827/471
0 ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... 2827/471
1 . . . . . . . 2827/471
2 . . . . . . . 2827/471
3 . . . . . . . 2827/471
4 . . . . . . . 2827/471
5 . . . . . . . 2827/471
6 . . . . . . . 2827/471
7 . . . . . . . 2827/471
8 ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... 2827/471
9 . . . . . . . 2827/471
10 . . . . . . . 2827/471
11 . . . . . . . 2827/471
12 . . . . . . . 2827/471
13 . . . . . . . 2827/471
14 . . . . . . . 2827/471
15 . . . . . . . 2827/471
16 ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... 2827/471
17 . . . . . . . 2827/471
18 . . . . . . . 2827/471
19 . . . . . . . 2827/471
20 . . . . . . . 2827/471
21 . . . . . . . 2827/471
22 . . . . . . . 2827/471
23 . . . . . . . 2827/471
DAY1 11/10 86/48 218/85 559/114 914/116 1039/98 ..... 2827/471
DAY2 . . . . . . . .
TOT 11/10 86/48 218/85 559/114 914/116 1039/98 . 2827/471
BREAKDOWN in mins/QSO's per hr KQ2M CQ WORLD WIDE DX CONTEST Single Operator
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
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