2002 ARRL International DX Contest (CW)
03/19/2002 |
OH6NIO
I really did not have any serious plans for this contest but I decided to work a few QSOs anyway. I had been very busy and occupaid with some other things so a relaxing weekend just working some QSOs in the contest sounded a really good idea. I did not expect to have any big scores because I did not have any time to prepare for the contest weekend. Luckily I had just repaired my 80 antenna so I could have fun on all bands except for 160m where my amplifier does not work. Last year I worked both CW and SSB on 15m single band and I did not feel like doing it all over again.
Because I was not too serious about the contest I did not have any sleep before the contest. Here in Finland the contest start at 02AM. Just before the contest started I was amazed to hear some stations on 10m and I searhed for a clear spot. 15m would probably have been a little better choice because the signals were not extremely strong and my setup on 15m is much better. Anyway I had fun on 10m for 30 minutes before things turned into slow motion then it was time to QSY to 15m. The band was incredibly hot. QSOs just kept on coming until about 0253Z when I moved down to 20m. The band was wide open so the next hour resulted in astounding 155 QSOs on CW! The next hour 04-05Z was not far behind with 147 QSOs. Then as a sum of degrading band conditions and sleep deprivation 05-06Z netted in 92 QSOs. At 0622Z 20m was still good enough but I feared that it might be too late for 80m because the sun had already risen. So it was the last chance to snatch some good multipliers on 80m. Then I QSY'd to 40m at 0653Z until about 08Z. There were still some stations with decent signals on 15m at that time but I could not get any good runs going. 0826Z I was already very tired but I heard strong signals on 20m so I just pushed away until around 10Z. Finally I took a needed nap and I woke up to start on 15m at 1150Z. After a while I realized that it was very difficult to get a good run so I decided to take a try on 10m. I workwed on 10m until 1324Z when I tried to get a good run on 15m but at 1456Z I had to QSY again to 10m.
I was not very pleased on what I had gotten on 15m. It seemed like my antenna system was shooting over because it is a quite high stack (108/138ft or 33/42m). Probably the take-off angle of my stack was way too low on the prime opening. I had already had similar observations from some other contests. On the computer analysis by AO I can see that the first null off the vertical pattern occuring at 11 degrees. On 10m I have a single 5 element yagi at 128ft and I believe that I was using the second vertical lobe of the antenna on the prime opening. That is why 10m worked much better at that moment. So it seems that there is some antenna work to be done before CQWW.
10m band was good enough until 1655Z when the take-off angle on 15m was a little bit lower suiting my antenna system. The propagation was not exceptionally good but I managed to work the next 2 hours 17-19Z 65 and 60 QSOs. Then 15m took a dive and the things turned a bit slow. At 2203Z 15m was very poor so I tried 20m but the propagation did not peak up. Finally at 0059Z I made a last try on 15m and after 48 QSOs I passed out at 0141Z. At that moment after more than 1600 QSOs I was exhausted but also thrilled. I wished that I had slept before the contest.
After 05Z I finally woke up and turned my rig on 80m at 0526Z. This morning I was 1 hour earlier so I thought I could grasp some more multipliers on 80m. At 0609Z I had 16 states including OH and MI worked and I was quite pleased. It is not so much when compared to the numbers of the mults that the guys in central or west europe work. The plain truth is just that there is a big difference in the propagation between us. Just like day and night. Running 100W into a low dipole in western europe usually beats us badly anytime.
0620Z I started on 40m and I knew that while I was sleeping I had lost many multipliers. Then at 0749Z I made a handful of QSOs on 20m and then I was more than ready for my beauty sleep. After some 4 hours of sleep I went right away to 10m. The propagation was down from saturday but still good enough for some 40-60 QSOs/h. At around 17Z the propagation on 10m was marginal and I tried to QSY to 15m and without much of luck then back to 10m for 45 minutes and then at 1755Z 15m started to produce QSOs. 15m remained workable (50 Q/h) until 2111Z when I realized that 10m was hot. The last 3 hours of the contest were something that I could never have imagined. 21Z 90 QSOs, most on 10m; 22Z 100 QSOs on 10m and 23Z 91 QSOs. 2332Z I made my final band change from 10m to 15m where I managed to work 48 QSOs in 28 minutes (rate more than 100 Q/h). I could have worked even more stations because 15m was still wide open.
The cw-weekend started with the idea of working some casual pile-ups ending up to 2287 QSOs and 223 multipliers breaking 1.5M. I was more than pleased with my result although I ended up sleeping more than 9 hours during the contest and I probably should have paid more attention to the low bands. I sure had a lot of fun. -- OH6NIO
Because I was not too serious about the contest I did not have any sleep before the contest. Here in Finland the contest start at 02AM. Just before the contest started I was amazed to hear some stations on 10m and I searhed for a clear spot. 15m would probably have been a little better choice because the signals were not extremely strong and my setup on 15m is much better. Anyway I had fun on 10m for 30 minutes before things turned into slow motion then it was time to QSY to 15m. The band was incredibly hot. QSOs just kept on coming until about 0253Z when I moved down to 20m. The band was wide open so the next hour resulted in astounding 155 QSOs on CW! The next hour 04-05Z was not far behind with 147 QSOs. Then as a sum of degrading band conditions and sleep deprivation 05-06Z netted in 92 QSOs. At 0622Z 20m was still good enough but I feared that it might be too late for 80m because the sun had already risen. So it was the last chance to snatch some good multipliers on 80m. Then I QSY'd to 40m at 0653Z until about 08Z. There were still some stations with decent signals on 15m at that time but I could not get any good runs going. 0826Z I was already very tired but I heard strong signals on 20m so I just pushed away until around 10Z. Finally I took a needed nap and I woke up to start on 15m at 1150Z. After a while I realized that it was very difficult to get a good run so I decided to take a try on 10m. I workwed on 10m until 1324Z when I tried to get a good run on 15m but at 1456Z I had to QSY again to 10m.
I was not very pleased on what I had gotten on 15m. It seemed like my antenna system was shooting over because it is a quite high stack (108/138ft or 33/42m). Probably the take-off angle of my stack was way too low on the prime opening. I had already had similar observations from some other contests. On the computer analysis by AO I can see that the first null off the vertical pattern occuring at 11 degrees. On 10m I have a single 5 element yagi at 128ft and I believe that I was using the second vertical lobe of the antenna on the prime opening. That is why 10m worked much better at that moment. So it seems that there is some antenna work to be done before CQWW.
10m band was good enough until 1655Z when the take-off angle on 15m was a little bit lower suiting my antenna system. The propagation was not exceptionally good but I managed to work the next 2 hours 17-19Z 65 and 60 QSOs. Then 15m took a dive and the things turned a bit slow. At 2203Z 15m was very poor so I tried 20m but the propagation did not peak up. Finally at 0059Z I made a last try on 15m and after 48 QSOs I passed out at 0141Z. At that moment after more than 1600 QSOs I was exhausted but also thrilled. I wished that I had slept before the contest.
After 05Z I finally woke up and turned my rig on 80m at 0526Z. This morning I was 1 hour earlier so I thought I could grasp some more multipliers on 80m. At 0609Z I had 16 states including OH and MI worked and I was quite pleased. It is not so much when compared to the numbers of the mults that the guys in central or west europe work. The plain truth is just that there is a big difference in the propagation between us. Just like day and night. Running 100W into a low dipole in western europe usually beats us badly anytime.
0620Z I started on 40m and I knew that while I was sleeping I had lost many multipliers. Then at 0749Z I made a handful of QSOs on 20m and then I was more than ready for my beauty sleep. After some 4 hours of sleep I went right away to 10m. The propagation was down from saturday but still good enough for some 40-60 QSOs/h. At around 17Z the propagation on 10m was marginal and I tried to QSY to 15m and without much of luck then back to 10m for 45 minutes and then at 1755Z 15m started to produce QSOs. 15m remained workable (50 Q/h) until 2111Z when I realized that 10m was hot. The last 3 hours of the contest were something that I could never have imagined. 21Z 90 QSOs, most on 10m; 22Z 100 QSOs on 10m and 23Z 91 QSOs. 2332Z I made my final band change from 10m to 15m where I managed to work 48 QSOs in 28 minutes (rate more than 100 Q/h). I could have worked even more stations because 15m was still wide open.
The cw-weekend started with the idea of working some casual pile-ups ending up to 2287 QSOs and 223 multipliers breaking 1.5M. I was more than pleased with my result although I ended up sleeping more than 9 hours during the contest and I probably should have paid more attention to the low bands. I sure had a lot of fun. -- OH6NIO
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