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ARRL DX Phone Contest of 2001.
I called Tom, K1KI on Tuesday to see how plans were shaping up for a multi
two. Turns out that Tom's possible work commitment ended up being
definite, and the other "usual suspects" had commitments themselves, so I
was offered the run of the station for the weekend. I had not done a single
op effort for many years, and never from a station with any significant low
band capability. I thought about it overnight and decided to accept the
challenge, and enter as single op assisted.
I arrived at Huckleberry Mountain Friday at 2230Z or so, a little after Tom
got home from work for station checkout. Since we only decided to go single
op two days before, the station was still configured as it was for the multi
two operation two weeks before. We moved a bunch of stuff around for an
about an hour or so to try to get all controls together, dropping a
StackMatch control box in the process. After the fall, the box made an
ominous rattling sound. Since WX0B was not able to get a flight to Hartford
in time for the 10M opening Saturday morning, we cobbled the thing back
together as best we could with some vinyl tape. The 160M four square was
known to be limited as 3 of the vertical elements were down due to some
logging activity on a neighboring parcel of land. The remaining element
had performed adequately two weeks before, but now the amp was completely
unhappy with it. Tom volunteered to tromp out into the woods to
investigate later that night. We also swapped out the Alpha 86 for an Alpha
77 as the '86 was acting kind of cranky. In case you care, carrying a '77
alone leaves nice purple dents in your fingers.
Started off with a good omen . 9M0M answered my CQ while I was establishing
my run freq on 15M at about 2350Z Friday . and he was loud! He promised to
come back in after 0000Z, but he never did. I never managed to work them on
that band. I decided focus on 10 and 15 early on as the solar flux was
relatively low to start with and forecast to decline. I stayed on 15 for
the first hour, and then moved to 20. Looking back at the log, I am not
sure why I moved so early . I seemed to have a decent rate to JA at the
time.
I found an open spot at 14160, and stayed there for an hour or so, then
moved down to 40 and 80. Somewhere around this time, Tom reported that his
reconnaissance of the 160M antenna revealed that the lower 40M yagi fixed on
Europe had become "unfixed", and tangled itself with 160M wire vertical. No
160M that night! I continued on with working whatever I could find on 40
and 80 until 0500Z.
My sleep strategy was to take two 5 hour breaks. One a little earlier on
Saturday, and one a little later Sunday in the hopes that the 160M ant was
fixed. Previous efforts I had made involving minimal sleep were sometimes
disastrous . I remember a final exam fiasco in college after an all-night
cram session, as well as a contest effort that I gave up on at about 1500Z
on a Sunday morning because I felt so miserable.
First European worked on Saturday morning was TM0F at 0954Z. I moved to
15M at 1100, and to 10M at 1230. I concentrated on rate, ignoring most
spots. I only chased after stuff I though might not be around all weekend
like 5U, 5B4, OD5 and a couple of others. Had I done my homework, I would
have known that some of these were big operations and were around all
weekend. At one point, I went to chase an African mult, but he was a casual
guy just handing out a few Q's. He went into 45 second apology to the
pileup because he wanted to go. Seizing an opportunity to get a nice clear
run frequency, I started calling "CQ Contest" the moment he signed off.
Since half the pileup just kept calling the poor guy while he was on his
soliloquy, they figured I had run him off. It was kind of fun to hear them
yell at me. Dxers, remember: listen, listen then listen some more. I
bounced back and forth between 15 and 10 all day until I moved to 20 at
2145. Rates were steady all day, and I had good success keeping a good run
frequency. I found other stations, both US and DX very happy to move off if
they encroached on my frequency. I think the key was to ask them to move
off before anyone had answered their CQ . I also tried to be extra polite.
Out of probably 20 requests over the course of the weekend, I think 19
complied . fantastic! Thanks for your cooperation guys.
Tom made a trip up the tower Saturday evening (antenna work is best done in
the dark) and freed the 160M vertical wire from the 40M yagi. The amplifier
was perfectly happy now. Unfortunately, conditions were rather poor, and I
only managed 5 Q's on top band. On one trip to the band, I called C6A/N2VV
unsuccessfully for a couple of minutes. K1ZM worked him easily, along with
several other stations. For some reason he just couldn't hear me. I tuned
around and found EA8BH, but he just CQ'ed in my face. I spotted him to see
who else could work him, and along comes W1WEF and several others who worked
him on the first or second call . what is wrong? Oops! I was transmitting
into the 80M four square! Turned the antenna switch, touched up the amp and
90 seconds later had two more mults in the log.
Sunday morning I got of to a bit of a late start at 1049Z after hitting the
snooze button a couple of times, but overall felt pretty good. Solid,
steady runs kept me pumped up all through the morning. I started on 20M,
moved to 15M at 1112, and was on 10M at 1224. Runs were great, and 10M
was still going strong. I felt loud, beating KC1XX in several pileups.
Found out that CT does not allow a "." in the power field when G0LIC called
in with 59 100 milliwatts.
I know K1AR says "phone sucks", but some things happen on phone that you
just don't get on CW. Like YV5LIX exclaiming "My god ... you're 50 over
9!!!" Then there is I3XKJ Marcellino who called in at 1600 Sunday and for
some reason, seemed absolutely overjoyed to work me. He wanted to know my
county, 10-10 number etc, but he was so darned happy and enthusiastic, I
felt bad about sending him on his way. We chatted for 5 minutes or so, and
I enjoyed the change of pace, as by this time some signs of fatigue were
setting in.
While I was feeling much more awake than I expected to be, I still started
to make mistakes. I somehow got the Charlie Kilo disease, where I kept
starting to send my exchange as 59 Charlie Kilo. I think I caught myself
each time, but I would not be surprised if there aren't a couple folks out
there trying to figure out which state "CK". Another malady was Zero Zulu
syndrome which manifested itself whenever a caller had both a 0 and a Z in
his callsign. I had to QRS to about 5 WPM as my tongue just could not form
the phonetics properly. I also made about 150 QSOs on 10 meters with the
amp's bandswitch set to 15, and for a while the 20M tower appeared to be
falling over.
Sunday was almost a carbon copy of Saturday until I decided that I did not
have enough mults on 20M, so I moved there at 1854, with the hope that some
of the "easy stuff" would call in. Sure enough, they did including YB and
DU. Late that afternoon the rate tapered off, and I could not get any runs
going anywhere. I spent a fair amount of time pointing and shooting at
spots as they came in, and managed to keep the last 10 QSO rate meter above
100 for quite a while.
During the contest, nothing broke, except Tom's wife's car. After backing
out of the garage, the engine died, and wisps of smoke came out from under
the hood. I may have had had the 7 ele 10M beam pointed at it at the
time.Oops.
Things to improve for the future are to make sure the station is configured
for easy band changes. I probably missed 30-50 mults as I was afraid to
leave my run frequency for the many seconds it took to flip bandswitches,
tune amps etc. Other ergonomic improvements will include putting the rotor
control boxes in the same room as the radios. I also might try to shorten
my off times. I thought I did pretty well at avoiding the urge to be a DXer
rather than a contester when juicy spots come along, although I did spend
too much time chasing VP8 and the infamous TG Sunday evening. And I will
talk to Marcellino BEFORE the contest.
Last Q in the log was EA3JE at 2359 on 80M. When the dust settled I had
worked 2750 QSO's, 426 countries, 10 states and 3 Canadian provinces. Wow.
I didn't know I had it in me. A big thank you goes out to K1KI who
suggested I do the single op effort in the first place; his wife Kacy who
fed me all weekend, N1RR for research and advice before the contest, and all
the spotters who fed me mults.
-Joe KM1P
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K1KI ARRL INTERNATIONAL DX CONTEST Single Unlimited 04 Mar 2001
Continent Statistics
160 80 40 20 15 10 All %
North America SSB 4 11 12 29 38 46 140 5.0
South America SSB 0 5 3 31 39 68 146 5.3
Europe SSB 0 50 99 470 598 996 2213 79.6
Asia SSB 0 0 2 42 117 31 192 6.9
Africa SSB 1 2 2 13 15 15 48 1.7
Oceania SSB 0 0 0 11 13 16 40 1.4
BREAKDOWN QSO/mults
HOUR 160 80 40 20 15 10 HR TOT CUM TOT
0 ..... ..... ..... ..... 85/12 ..... 85/12 85/12
1 . . . 44/26 4/0 . 48/26 133/38
2 . . 13/13 21/13 2/1 . 36/27 169/65
3 . 15/13 17/10 . . . 32/23 201/88
4 . 12/7 19/8 . . . 31/15 232/103
5 . . . . . . . 232/103
6 . . . . . . . 232/103
7 . . . . . . . 232/103
8 ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... 232/103
9 . . . 7/4 . . 7/4 239/107
10 . . . 142/19 . . 142/19 381/126
11 . . . 1/0 141/40 . 142/40 523/166
12 . . . . 66/5 60/30 126/35 649/201
13 . . . . . 155/14 155/14 804/215
14 . . . . 2/1 76/20 78/21 882/236
15 . . . . 4/3 50/13 54/16 936/252
16 ..... ..... ..... ..... 9/4 65/4 74/8 1010/260
17 . . . . 49/7 1/0 50/7 1060/267
18 . . . . 100/6 . 100/6 1160/273
19 . . . . 16/0 66/9 82/9 1242/282
20 . . . . . 53/12 53/12 1295/294
21 . . . 22/1 27/11 19/2 68/14 1363/308
22 . . . 7/1 22/5 9/4 38/10 1401/318
23 . . . 44/7 8/0 . 52/7 1453/325
0 ..... ..... 3/0 19/1 8/2 ..... 30/3 1483/328
1 . . 27/4 . . . 27/4 1510/332
2 . . 10/1 19/4 1/0 . 30/5 1540/337
3 . 4/2 11/5 21/10 . . 36/17 1576/354
4 3/3 21/14 1/1 4/0 . . 29/18 1605/372
5 2/2 7/5 7/1 . . . 16/8 1621/380
6 . . . . . . . 1621/380
7 . . . . . . . 1621/380
8 ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... 1621/380
9 . . . . . . . 1621/380
10 . . . 11/0 . . 11/0 1632/380
11 . . . 12/0 122/0 . 134/0 1766/380
12 . . . . 51/3 86/4 137/7 1903/387
13 . . . . . 124/4 124/4 2027/391
14 . . . . 1/1 100/0 101/1 2128/392
15 . . . . . 106/0 106/0 2234/392
16 ..... ..... ..... ..... 1/1 112/0 113/1 2347/393
17 . . . . 1/1 69/0 70/1 2417/394
18 . . . 10/0 72/2 . 82/2 2499/396
19 . . . 87/4 . . 87/4 2586/400
20 . . . 82/3 . . 82/3 2668/403
21 . . . 25/1 14/4 8/0 47/5 2715/408
22 . . 3/2 5/4 4/3 1/1 13/10 2728/418
23 . 8/4 7/3 7/1 . . 22/8 2750/426
DAY1 ..... 27/20 49/31 288/71 535/95 554/108 ..... 1453/325
DAY2 5/5 40/25 69/17 302/28 275/17 606/9 . 1297/101
TOT 5/5 67/45 118/48 590/99 810/112 1160/117 . 2750/426
BREAKDOWN in mins/QSO's per hr
HOUR 160 80 40 20 15 10 HR TOT CUM TOT
0 ..... ..... ..... ..... 67/76 ..... 67/76 67/76
1 . . . 48/55 5/53 . 53/55 120/66
2 . . 13/58 41/31 6/21 . 60/36 180/56
3 . 23/39 25/40 . . . 49/40 229/53
4 . 24/30 29/39 . . . 53/35 282/49
5 . . . . . . . 282/49
6 . . . . . . . 282/49
7 . . . . . . . 282/49
8 ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... 282/49
9 . . . 6/68 . . 6/68 288/50
10 . . . 61/14 . . 61/140 349/66
11 . . . 3/21 57/14 . 60/143 408/77
12 . . . . 28/13 31/115 60/127 468/83
13 . . . . . 61/154 61/154 528/91
14 . . . . 2/77 58/79 60/79 588/90
15 . . . . 4/64 56/53 60/54 648/87
16 ..... ..... ..... ..... 14/39 46/85 60/74 708/86
17 . . . . 59/50 1/47 60/50 768/83
18 . . . . 60/99 . 60/99 828/84
19 . . . . 14/69 45/87 59/83 888/84
20 . . . . . 61/52 61/52 949/82
21 . . . 13/10 26/63 21/55 59/69 1008/81
22 . . . 8/54 26/50 26/21 60/38 1068/79
23 . . . 43/61 17/29 . 60/52 1128/77
0 ..... ..... 6/32 21/55 17/28 ..... 44/41 1172/76
1 . . 59/27 . . . 59/27 1231/74
2 . . 26/23 31/37 2/27 . 59/31 1290/72
3 . 6/38 31/21 22/57 . . 60/36 1349/70
4 7/25 24/52 2/39 5/49 . . 38/46 1387/69
5 7/17 7/61 5/78 . . . 19/49 1406/69
6 . . . . . . . 1406/69
7 . . . . . . . 1406/69
8 ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... 1406/69
9 . . . . . . . 1406/69
10 . . . 11/60 . . 11/60 1418/69
11 . . . 12/59 48/15 . 60/134 1478/72
12 . . . . 24/12 36/144 60/137 1537/74
13 . . . . . 60/123 60/123 1598/76
14 . . . . 0/21 59/101 60/101 1658/77
15 . . . . . 64/100 64/100 1721/78
16 ..... ..... ..... ..... 1/43 55/122 57/120 1778/79
17 . . . . 3/22 59/70 62/68 1840/79
18 . . . 7/90 52/83 . 59/84 1898/79
19 . . . 60/87 . . 60/87 1958/79
20 . . . 60/82 . . 60/82 2018/79
21 . . . 32/47 25/34 9/53 66/43 2084/78
22 . . 14/13 15/19 9/26 3/19 42/19 2125/77
23 . 11/44 12/36 13/32 . . 36/37 2161/76
DAY1 ..... 0.8/34 1.1/43 3.7/77 6.4/84 6.8/82 ..... 18.8/77
DAY2 0.2/21 0.8/50 2.6/27 4.8/63 3.0/91 5.8/105 . 17.2/75
TOT 0.2/21 1.6/42 3.7/32 8.5/69 9.4/86 12.5/92 . 36.0/76
BREAKDOWN in kilo-points by hr
HOUR 160 80 40 20 15 10 HR TOT CUM TOT
0 ..... ..... ..... ..... 101 ..... 101 101
1 . . . 133 3 . 135 236
2 . . 62 67 5 . 134 370
3 . 63 52 . . . 115 484
4 . 36 45 . . . 81 566
5 . . . . . . . 566
6 . . . . . . . 566
7 . . . . . . . 566
8 ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... 566
9 . . . 21 . . 21 586
10 . . . 169 . . 169 755
11 . . . 1 254 . 255 1009
12 . . . . 63 161 224 1233
13 . . . . . 156 156 1390
14 . . . . 5 130 136 1526
15 . . . . 15 85 99 1625
16 ..... ..... ..... ..... 22 58 80 1705
17 . . . . 60 1 61 1766
18 . . . . 88 . 88 1853
19 . . . . 10 76 86 1939
20 . . . . . 83 83 2022
21 . . . 18 61 20 100 2122
22 . . . 9 35 22 65 2187
23 . . . 57 5 . 62 2249
0 ..... ..... 2 16 13 ..... 31 2281
1 . . 33 . . . 33 2314
2 . . 10 27 1 . 38 2352
3 . 11 28 54 . . 93 2445
4 14 71 5 3 . . 92 2537
5 9 25 9 . . . 43 2580
6 . . . . . . . 2580
7 . . . . . . . 2580
8 ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... 2580
9 . . . . . . . 2580
10 . . . 7 . . 7 2587
11 . . . 8 78 . 86 2672
12 . . . . 45 71 116 2789
13 . . . . . 96 96 2884
14 . . . . 5 64 69 2953
15 . . . . . 68 68 3021
16 ..... ..... ..... ..... 5 72 76 3097
17 . . . . 5 44 49 3146
18 . . . 6 54 . 61 3206
19 . . . 72 . . 72 3278
20 . . . 64 . . 64 3342
21 . . . 20 25 5 51 3393
22 . . 10 20 15 5 49 3442
23 . 21 17 9 . . 47 3489
DAY1 ..... 99 158 473 726 793 ..... 2249
DAY2 24 128 113 306 245 424 . 1240
TOT 24 227 271 779 971 1217 . 3489
Editors Note: When the final results were published, KM1P came 6th in the 'W/VE Single Operator Assisted, Phone' category, and 2nd for the No.1 call district, with a final score of :
3,434,400 - 2700 - 424
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