The Station
Radio 1 - FT-1000 + Alpha 76CA
Radio 2 - IC-765 + Drake L-4B
- Tower 1 - 100' Rohn 45G
- 40-2CD @ 110'
205CA @ 100' / 50'
5-el 15 @70' on rotary sidemount
6-el 10 @75' fixed south
80m Inv Vee with top at 95'
160m 1/4-wave GP with 4 elevated radials
-
- Tower 2 - 90' Rohn 25G
- Stack of TH7DXX at 90'/45' using WX0B StackMatch
40m 1/2-wave sloper to west
80m 1/4-wave elevated GP with 4 radials
160m Inv Vee with top at 88'
The Story
Early this year Randy asked if I was interested in defending my CQWW
SSB title from his station and it did not take long to say yes, as last
year's CQWW was probably the best contest I had ever operated. The
station worked well as usual, I made good decisions, and used the second
radio as well as ever. In the end, I finished with a big lead in Q's and
multipliers. This year K1AR would be on and I was looking forward to the
challenge. Unfortunately, as it turned out, the weekend proved to be
full of poor preparation, operating blunders and I ended up not much of
a match for K1AR.
Living in Kansas without a station makes it hard to get a feel for
the bands. My only operating this year was ARRL CW as 8P9JG and about an
hour in the NAQP. The last DX QSO from the US was at 2359Z in last
year's CQWW. I had been told that 10 meters would be open but had little
other insight into what to expect.
This year I needed to be in California for a full day meeting on
Tuesday so any possibility of arriving on Wednesday night was
eliminated. In addition, Randy had a trade show in Texas and would not
be home until Saturday night so it was not appropriate to arrive any
earlier than necessary. Randy's wife Connie was remarkably accommodating
and I really appreciate her tolerance of my operating.
I arrived Thursday night and began the setup. I had built a two radio
switching box over the summer that I had sent ahead for Randy to setup.
When I arrived, Randy had the computer set up and most of the switching
was ready. After a minor cable change to get the two radio switching to
work with CT, it appeared that everything was ready. I also spent some
time learning the new antenna switching scheme. We had added a second
TH7 this summer for 10 and Randy bought a WX0B SixPak to allow any
antenna to reach either radio. His station had been relatively intuitive
and now it was even easier.
I eventually cycled through all of the antenna/radio/amp combinations
to check for RF and interstation interference especially now that there
were several new combinations. Every combination seemed to work OK
except that the secondary antennas on 80 and 160 would trash the audio.
Randy called that evening to see if everything was all right and I let
him know the issues. I also had a minor computer problem and, having had
a bad experience with this in the past, I let that go and focused on the
RF issue. Randy had a couple of ideas but we agreed to wait until
morning to finish the job.
After several hours of troubleshooting I managed to solve the problem
by isolating the grounds and using Randy's audio transformers. However,
once I had everything fixed, the audio on the second radio was trashed
on every band. This time is was not RF or switching related and would
work great when the compressor was off. I was getting tired by then and
I was concerned at the energy I had been expending and decided that I
would just go without the compressor on radio 2. I also spent a fair
amount of time debating whether to drive to my old house and get my
AL1200 to replace the L4B as the second radio amplifier. I eventually
decided not to add anything new and just take a nap. In the end, I never
used the secondary 80 and 160 antennas but I had major problems all
weekend working guys on the second radio.
I had a good nap and was well rested. I had a number of issues at
work to resolve so I spent the next couple of hours on the phone.
Despite being a great HF location, Randy's place is not very friendly to
cell phones. Around 6PM local time I told the people at work that I had
to go and I would be "in-communicado" the rest of the weekend.
I smiled at the irony at that statement and resumed my focus on the
contest ahead.
Around 23Z Randy gave a final call to see if everything was ready. I
told him about my plan to not use the compressor on the second radio to
which he replied "that sounds like a bad plan." He said that
the 765 has good but very thin audio with absolutely no punch and I
would have a problem in the pileups. He was right. I hung up with Randy
and settled in to radio room. I was listening to K1AR warming up on 20
to get some sense for the propagation, which was not good. I eventually
gave John a call. He was his intense self and told me that we may be
tied for now but it would not be that way for long. I kind of felt like
Rocky before a fight when Apollo Creed said "You're goin'
down."
0Z finally rolled around and I was CQing on 20 and trying to pick up
mults on 15 with the second radio. I ran off a few stations but the rate
went zero after 10 minutes. I did not have any luck with the 0Z 15 meter
pileups last year and this year was no better. After about a half hour I
went to 40 to run and managed to get some calls in the log and worked 20
with the second radio. After an hour I had 60 Q's on 40 but it was
slowing down so I went to 80 earlier than usual. 80 proved to be the
money band all night long with a 78 hour at 3Z (plus 8 second radio Q's
on 160 and 20) and over 250 Q's the first night. 160 was a
disappointment. I was hoping for a good European opening since this was
the one band where I had a major advantage over K1AR but it was not to
be. I cycled back through 40 and waited for the high bands to open. I
was reasonably pleased with the first night, with the exception of 160,
but I was a little behind last year's multiplier total.
In the 10Z hour, 20 became runnable and I was working guys but the
on-frequency QRM was unbearable. On the second radio I heard 'AR CQing
on 15 and getting answers so I decided to QSY for a better frequency. It
took a little while to get going but the rate finally picked up. At the
time, I was angry that prematurely left good rate on 20 for lesser rate
on 15 but the breakdown shows a 139 hour at 11Z.
I was very concerned about missing the 10 meter opening so I listened
intently on the second radio. Twice I convinced myself that the stations
were loud enough to be runnable and made the band change to 10.
Unfortunately, each time I worked a few stations but could not get
anything going and had to go back to 15. Finally, around 14Z the band
did open but I could manage no better than a 98 hour. The two TH7's at
90/45 feet did not seem to be even remotely dominant. Eventually 10 ran
out and it was back to 15 for two unremarkable 90 hours. At this point I
was pretty disappointed in my poor decision making and inability to get
big rate on 10 and 15. To compound things, I was having a very difficult
time breaking the 10 meter pileups with the second radio. All things
considered my frustration level was very high.
In the 17Z hour I went back to 20, the money band at K5ZD, and the
rates went back up to 148, 151, and 128 in consecutive hours. It was
this period that QRATE measured a best 60 minute rate of 182.
In the next few hours, I completely botched the JA opening. When
running JA on 20 I heard JA's on 15 on the second radio so I decided to
QSY to 15 to capture the opening. When CQing on 15 I heard JA's on 10,
an opening I did not expect, so I tried CQing on 10 for a while.
Basically, I was not expecting a JA opening on 15, let alone 10, and I
ended up working the bands in reverse. When it was all over I could not
help but be concerned about how many multipliers I probably missed.
I finally reached the halfway point with 1990 QSOs but a multiplier
total that was far less than last year. The halfway point is always a
low morale point for me and requires a full mental effort to maintain my
motivation. In assessing my performance, I knew that I had made a number
of bad decisions and had a poor multiplier total so I gave up hope of
competing with K1AR. I knew I would have to be perfect to compete and I
certainly was far from perfect. As it turns out, after looking at K1AR's
breakdown post contest, I was actually ahead of him by 77 Q's but he had
70 more multipliers. My multiplier fears were well founded.
At 0Z, I had a 54 hour on 40 and settled in for the inevitable slow
hours that lie ahead. The next 9 hours consisted of rapid band changes
and determination to squeeze out every QSO. 160 was much better the
second evening but was never runnable. I picked up some good multipliers
but it was clear that I would not get full benefit of my 160 advantage.
Around 08Z I took my traditional 10 minute nap and the 09Z hour produced
the only sub 10 QSO hour of the contest, but with 6 multipliers.
Determined not to repeat the previous day's mistakes, it was time for
the high bands to open but this day was to be more bizarre than the
previous. 20 was very slow to open in the morning, the 10Z hour was
generally unproductive and 11Z was not much better, but 12Z finally
produced a 139 hour. It was clear that the bands were down from the
previous day and 10 meters never was really runnable.
After an 89 hour in 14Z, the bottom started to fall out or 15. The
stations seemed to be getting weaker and it was getting more difficult
to pull them through the QRM. All the while 10 was swimming in African
multipliers which I just could not work with the second radio. With rate
failing on 15 I gave up and took the main radio to 10 to pick up 5A, 9J,
and FR which I had been trying to work for a half hour. Upon returning
to 15, I could not build any rate so I tried 20 but it was too early.
At this point, I totally lost my grip and tuned the bands for a while
trying to figure out the propagation. In the 16Z hour, I relinquished my
QSO lead which I had held for nearly 40 hours. I went back to 15 and
simply CQ'd at slow rate while I sought multipliers on the second radio.
During this period, K3LP/J6 actually moved *me* to 10. I simply could
not buy a QSO as the rate plummeted. Looking at the post contest
results, it does not seem as though anybody else suffered to the same
degree. In retrospect, I wonder if fatigue took over or if the
propagation simply did not favor any of my available antenna
combinations. I wish I had this period on tape for review.
Ultimately, 15 never recovered for me and I QSY'd to 20 at the normal
time and some semblance of rate returned. I tried one QSY to 40 later on
but it was not productive and I mostly ran out the string on 20.
When it was over, I knew I was desperately short of multipliers
particularly on 10. On 3830 I listened to the multi scores trying to
figure out how I did but nothing made me feel positive about 10. Randy
had food on the stove upstairs and was running down to hear the scores.
Finally it was time to report single op scores and with the confusion,
K1AR slipped in ahead of me to report his score. As he ran through his
breakdown I was doing OK until he got to 20 meter mults and it was
downhill from there. He took me by about 100 Q's and 1 million points. I
dumped my score in next and I am sure he sweated a little over my
lowband scores but he got the last laugh in the end.
Contemplating the results, there was a lot of fault to be found. My
preparation was poor. I should have swapped amplifiers, I should have
fixed the audio problem before going to bed Thursday, and I should have
prepared myself better for the 10 meter openings. Likewise my operating
technique was not good, many bad decisions and not enough use of the
second radio. It was going to take a super effort to compete with 'AR
and I did not even measure up to last year. No excuses, I did not do
what it took to win and the better operator prevailed. Congratulations
John!
The next morning I left early for the airport just to be sure. Upon
arriving at the counter, I was informed that my flight had been
cancelled but I had been rescheduled on an earlier flight and they would
still honor my free upgrades. I muttered that I finally caught a break
this weekend and it is after the contest is over. The guy behind the
counter did not understand but I just shook my head without giving an
explanation.
Once again I would like to thank Randy for the use of his fine
station and for allowing people the privilege of guest op'ing. I
especially wish to thank Randy's wife Connie for allowing me to hang
around the house and operate the radio even though Randy was away. Their
collective hospitality takes the stress out guest operating and makes me
look forward to the next one.
Tom Georgens, W2SC
Continent Statistics
