2006 ARRL International DX Contest (Phone)
03/08/2006 |
K0HW
Another ARRL DX Contest has come and gone. My objective each year is to improve my score over the previous year. I always operate these contests as Single Operator - Low Power. I had fun this year again as always. It always puts extra energy into the effort when the other station recoginizes South Dakota as the multiplier and thanks me for being there.
It is hard to operate the contest as a low power station, I can't imagine what it would be trying to operate QRP. It is all S&P up and down the band switching bands from time to see if any new stations have moved from one band to another. Once in a while you will hear a station calling CQ and go to call them and they don't respond. You try again and again and they are just not there. I usually decide if the frequency is clear that it must be a chance to try a CQ for myself.
It does not usually work but this time on Sunday afternoon I tried it and suddenly the band lit up with the rate meter hitting 90 per hour at times. It was good for about 20-30 QSOs of which I was very happy as I was averaging only 15 per hour. Later I got an E-Mail from a station that said they had spotted me in SD and had fun listening as I got a pileup!
Here is a summary of the last 3 years of my logs with a side by side comparison:
2004 22 HR -------- 2005 22 HR --------- 2006 28 HR
Score 248,523 ------ Score 139,536 ------- Score 193,752
QSO PTS DX -------- QSO PTS DX -------- QSO PTS DX
160 2 6 2 ------- 160 2 6 2 ------- 160 2 6 2
80 23 69 19 ----- 80 13 39 12 ----- 80 19 57 15
40 7 21 7 ------- 40 17 51 13 ----- 40 28 84 21
20 159 477 60 --- 20 96 288 51 ---- 20 231 693 72
15 182 546 70 --- 15 149 447 63 --- 15 118 354 42
10 70 210 29 ---- 10 29 87 11 ----- 10 16 48 4
TOT 443 1329 187 - TOT 306 918 152 - TOT 414 1242 156
As you can see if you look at these scores in detail the sunspot dive is having an effect. It shows greatly on 10 meters. Also my ability to work split on 40 meters is improving with time. The amount of time
I spent in this contest is the reason my score is higher this year than last year. More time in the chair always seems to help.
ICOM 756PROII, HyGain TH11DX, Dipoles on 40, 80 & 160 and Writelog -- K0HW
It is hard to operate the contest as a low power station, I can't imagine what it would be trying to operate QRP. It is all S&P up and down the band switching bands from time to see if any new stations have moved from one band to another. Once in a while you will hear a station calling CQ and go to call them and they don't respond. You try again and again and they are just not there. I usually decide if the frequency is clear that it must be a chance to try a CQ for myself.
It does not usually work but this time on Sunday afternoon I tried it and suddenly the band lit up with the rate meter hitting 90 per hour at times. It was good for about 20-30 QSOs of which I was very happy as I was averaging only 15 per hour. Later I got an E-Mail from a station that said they had spotted me in SD and had fun listening as I got a pileup!
Here is a summary of the last 3 years of my logs with a side by side comparison:
2004 22 HR -------- 2005 22 HR --------- 2006 28 HR
Score 248,523 ------ Score 139,536 ------- Score 193,752
QSO PTS DX -------- QSO PTS DX -------- QSO PTS DX
160 2 6 2 ------- 160 2 6 2 ------- 160 2 6 2
80 23 69 19 ----- 80 13 39 12 ----- 80 19 57 15
40 7 21 7 ------- 40 17 51 13 ----- 40 28 84 21
20 159 477 60 --- 20 96 288 51 ---- 20 231 693 72
15 182 546 70 --- 15 149 447 63 --- 15 118 354 42
10 70 210 29 ---- 10 29 87 11 ----- 10 16 48 4
TOT 443 1329 187 - TOT 306 918 152 - TOT 414 1242 156
As you can see if you look at these scores in detail the sunspot dive is having an effect. It shows greatly on 10 meters. Also my ability to work split on 40 meters is improving with time. The amount of time
I spent in this contest is the reason my score is higher this year than last year. More time in the chair always seems to help.
ICOM 756PROII, HyGain TH11DX, Dipoles on 40, 80 & 160 and Writelog -- K0HW
Back
