Station Description
Radio 1 - Yeasu FT-1000D + Alpha 76CA
Radio 2 - Icom IC-765 + Ameritron AL-1200
Tower 1 - 100' Rohn 45G
40-2CD @ 110'
205CA @ 100' / 50'
5-el 15 @70' / 35'
80m Inv Vee with top at 95'
160m 1/4-wave GP with 4 elevated radials
Tower 2 - 90' Rohn 25G
6-el 10 @90' with 4/4 @ 60'/30'
40m 1/2-wave sloper to west
80m 1/4-wave elevated GP with 4 radials
160m Inv Vee with top at 88'
Tower 3 - 40' Rohn 25G
TH7DXX at 40'
Get Ready…
For me, major contests always begin well before 00Z. Despite winning CQ
WW CW in 2000 and setting a new USA record, I knew I had been lucky. I
beat K1AR in the log checking process and John made it clear he was ready
for a rematch. N2NT, KQ2M, W1KM, and other serious single op competition
were all prepared for another run at the record during the peak of the
sunspot cycle.
I try to make a major station upgrade each year. When I had the
opportunity to purchase two 4-element 10m Cushcraft Yagis and some tower
sections from K1SD in March, the target was identified. 10m was an aspect
of my station I knew needed improvement.
I erected the tower sections to make a new 30' tower right at the peak
of my hill. A TH7DXX that had been at 90' was moved to the new tower for
primary use as a go-to antenna for the South. The 6-element LTA 10m beam
was moved from being fixed on Europe at 20' to being fully rotary at 90'
where the TH7 had been. The two new 4-element beams were stacked at 30'
and 60' on the same tower. Now I had a 3 high stack for 10m with some real
horsepower at the top.
Another project was to get the 40m beam on its own coax into the shack
instead of sharing with 15m. This improved the antenna selection
flexibility by allowing 40 and 15 to be used at the same time.
Another station improvement was the addition of a W5XD MK-1100 keyer.
This is a wonderful external hardware accessory for WriteLog logging
software that does all of the CW keying and audio switching needed for
SO2R. Through the use of WriteLog's excellent two radio support and some
keyboard macros, I could do all of the switching without ever having my
hands leave the keyboard. A serious effort in SS CW provided all the
practice needed to develop my technique. After 20+ years of doing SO2R,
this was the most automated system I had ever experienced, and I felt it
had definitely improved my SS score.
Get Set…
Over the years I have developed a series of actions that help me
prepare for the rigors of a 48-hour single op effort. They include having
the station completely set up the weekend before, getting as much sleep as
possible during the 6 days leading up to the contest, and trying to relax
from the pressures of work.
The station was ready on time but I still had one concern. There was a
new source of line noise that had appeared a few weeks before. Rain
usually makes it go away, but the month had been particularly dry and no
rain was expected before the contest. On Wednesday, the noise was worse
than ever with a solid S7 buzz across every band when beaming anywhere
from North to West. I called K1AR's voice mail and left him a recording of
the buzzing along with the message that I was out of it if the noise
didn't go away.
The Thanksgiving holiday is both a help and hindrance for contest
preparation. My in-laws live about 3 hours away in Woodstock, NY. We drove
over to visit them on Wednesday evening. Of course, this meant lots of
turkey and football on Thursday, but also a few extra hours of sleep and a
late afternoon nap. Friday morning I was able to sleep in a bit more and
we drove home Friday afternoon. Since I was asking my wife to return home
early so I could do the contest, we stopped at a restaurant and had a
large late lunch on Friday. It took forever to get in and out of the mall
with all of the shoppers! We finally arrived home about 5PM with the
contest just 2 hours away.
I immediately turned on all the equipment and connected the antennas.
The bands sounded fair and amazingly the line noise was completely silent.
I took this as a good omen and headed off to bed for a short nap of about
an hour. Not as much as the 3 hours I would have liked, but that was one
of the things lost when we decided to eat out. Took a shower and was
sitting at the radio ready to go at 2330Z. Much earlier than normal!
The bands were funny. Not great, but not bad either. Ten was punk, 15
was open a bit, 20 had signals. I decided that 40m was the place to start
for the highest rate and found a frequency around 7022. I worked a few
people to get warmed up and things were ready.
Go… - Not!
As the clock rolled over, a large Eastern European multi-op station
that had been down 1 KHz decided that they wanted to be on the same
frequency I was. We engaged in dueling CQs to start the contest - each
working just enough guys to stay but neither doing very well. I worked
more QSOs on 15m on the second radio than I did calling CQ. After 10
minutes of this, I decided to find another spot and began moving up the
band. Another 10 minutes of S&P (search and pounce) go by and still
can't find a hole to call CQ.
This is a moment of panic for a single op. The adrenalin is pumping.
You have spent months preparing for the contest and spent the last week
totally focused on getting off to a big start. Now things start to slip
away.
I switched to 15m to chase multipliers and get my head clear. Then down
to 20m for more tuning and calling. Amazingly, I had managed to make 47
QSOs and a bunch of multipliers in the first 30 minutes. 20m had some very
loud signals from Europe and Asia so I decided to find a frequency and see
if I could get something going. I landed on 14020 and started a nice
steady run. The frequency was quiet enough that I could use the second
radio on 40m to chase multipliers. It was a pleasant surprise when K4ZW/JT
called in with a very good signal on 20m at 0051Z. The second radio shows
QSOs logged all the way up to 7070! No wonder I couldn't find a clear
frequency on that band.
I ended the first hour with 109 QSOs and 106 multipliers. I had my rate
sheet from 2000 printed out and saw that I was doing OK, even with all the
moving around. The next 2 hours continued with CQing on 20m and second
radio S&P on 40. At 0245Z I was able to start a run on 40m.
You often hear about sports teams that arrive at a big event saying all
the right things, yet just seem to be flat. I now know what this feels
like. Despite being fully prepared, I was surprisingly devoid of emotion
and passion when the contest began. I assumed that I would get into it
once things got started, but instead my attitude was getting worse. I kept
going more on habit than desire. This is very disconcerting when you know
there is still a long way to go.
At 03Z I decided to jump from 40m to 160m. I had noticed in the weeks
before the contest that 160 was opening earlier rather than at European
sunrise. The decision was a good one as I worked 5 zones and 10 countries
(many from Europe) during the next 15 minutes. Happy with this, I jumped
back to CQing on 20m for more rate. When 5H1X (K1XM op) called in at
0340Z, I already had 26 zones and 60 countries on the band! The next 30
minutes was a careful search up 80m working multipliers. I finally found a
frequency to call CQ up at 3545, which became my home for the next 45
minutes (70 QSOs)! A few second radio QSOs on 40m helped fill in some more
multipliers.
The 05Z hour was a mix between 40 and 80m. I would run on one and
listen on the other, then switch. By 06Z, I had 19 zones and 64 countries
on 40m. The 06Z hour was mostly running on 7045. At this point I was
keeping up with the rate from the previous year, but I knew it was being
done through aggressive S&P and band agility. Conditions were clearly
not as good as the previous year, and they seemed to be getting worse
rather than better.
During the 07Z hour, I noticed that the main tuning knob on the FT1000
was getting harder and harder to turn. It finally just froze up and would
not turn at all, even under great force. I kept CQing and working guys
with the IC765 while I tried to figure out what was wrong. I managed to
find the necessary Allen wrench to get the tuning knob off, but couldn't
see anything. Finally decided that I couldn't fix it or waste any more
time.
I recalled that WriteLog had a feature to tune the radio using the
mouse wheel. I read the help file and found how to make it work. This
allowed me to tune the frequency of the FT1000 but the tuning rate was too
fast. Back to the help file revealed the INI file command to change the
tuning rate and I slowed it down to 100Hz steps. It wasn't great, but at
least I could tune stations in and work them.
At this point, my attitude was really at a low point. The rate was
slowing down and the radio problems were distracting. I had only made 25
QSOs during the 07Z hour and figured that I had to be falling behind.
I made no QSOs from 0801Z until 0813Z. This was probably a mental
health break with a bathroom and food run. 20m was starting to open so I
established a slow steady run on 14015 for the rest of the hour. There
were a few second radio QSOs on 40m, which pushed the multiplier totals to
24 zones and 82 countries on that band.
The 09Z hour continued the run on 14015 while also tuning the other
bands. Worked 8P9Z, P40Q, and ZV8O on 160m. Got FG/N4CD and XQ1ZW on 80m.
At 10Z, the wheels came off. Just 17 search and pounce QSOs in the next
40 minutes. There were some good multipliers, but the bands were broken. I
was still bothered by the radio tuning knob problems, the lack of signals
on 20m, and a general disappointment in how things were going. With the
sun coming up outside, and what should have been one of the highest rate
hours, I made the decision to quit the contest.
With my last QSO logged at 1037Z, I lay down on the floor of the radio
room and went to sleep.
Restart
Something woke me up about 1125Z. I remember thinking that I had
arranged my family's life to do this contest, so I should get up and keep
going. Even if I wasn't going to win, I could at least enjoy the contest
and see what I could wring out of the bands.
I came back on the air at 1129Z and worked a C6A, ZL, and a JA on 40m.
Then found YZ1AU on 15m but he was the only signal. Conditions stunk, so I
just did a systematic S&P across all bands for the next 40 minutes.
After the contest, I would learn that I had given up no QSOs to K1AR
during this period. It was pure luck that I went to sleep during the
absolute worst period of conditions!
The break and decision to quit had removed the pressure and
expectations of being competitive from my mind. I was now free to just
enjoy the fun of contesting. There is probably a lesson in this.
The 12Z hour began to see conditions return. I was able to establish a
run on 14022 and use the second radio to work some loud stations on 15m.
15 was still not really open and it took several calls to get each
station.
At 1310Z I went to 10m and started working loud Caribbean and South
American stations. I did two complete S&P passes across the entire
width of 10m and managed to also work some Europeans. 15m must not have
been too good at the time either since at 1345Z I returned CQing on 14008.
It is kind of hard to imagine just how disturbed conditions were at
this point. The band seemed to randomly open to small pockets of the world
and then close again just as fast. I spent the entire 14Z hour calling CQ
on 20m, but actually working more stations S&P using the second radio
on 10 and 15m. It wasn't until 1530Z that I stopped CQing on 14008 and
decided to S&P full time on 10m.
With conditions so poor, and no guarantee they would be better the next
day, I was keeping a keen eye on the higher bands and trying to make sure
I got as many multipliers as possible. As I tuned around on 10m, I started
hearing German stations coming in on the direct path with reasonable
signals. I decided to call CQ and was rewarded with a nice run. It was
perfect band for SO2R. The 10m frequency was perfectly clear with a steady
rate, while leaving plenty of time and concentration available for calling
stations on 15m. In the 16Z hour, I had 101 QSOs on 10m and 34 more on 15!
The bands were returning to normal!
This burst of rate fully reengaged me into the contest. I really enjoy
contesting and find it rather addictive once I get started. I was now
thinking like a serious competitor and operating like one.
With the FT1000 tuning knob problem, each CQing band change was a
dance. First I would find and establish a frequency using the IC765. Then
I would bring the FT1000 to that frequency using computer command.
Finally, I would switch radios. It wasn't a big problem, but required a
little bit of extra effort each time.
The 17Z hour was mostly on 10m with the jump to CQing on 15m occurring
at 1744Z. I was fresh meat on a hot band and the rate took off. One hour
later, at 1855Z, I made the jump to 20m and the roll continued. 19Z had 93
QSOs on 20m with 11 second-radio QSOs on 15 including VQ9X and 5R8HD. 20Z
was more of the same with 77 contacts on 20 and 13 more on 15.
At 2138Z I jumped down to 40m to see if I could find any long path
multipliers. Worked a very loud JA3YBK and JI2KVW, but that was it. Turned
the beam to Europe and set up shop on 7035 at 2153Z. This would begin an
amazing run that may have been the deciding point in the contest.
After the first 24 hours I had 1797/122/406 for about 2.7 Million
points. My best hope was to get to 6 Million. No new record this year.
I stayed on 7035 calling CQ until 0433Z. During this period I worked
over 330 stations on 40m while also working nearly 100 QSOs on the second
radio - many of them multipliers. Some of the goodies that called in on 40
during this period include 3B8/LA7MFA, T95O, 4X/OK1EE/P, ZS6DX, ZF2LA,
KL7FH, and 5H1X. It was 3V8BB firing up just a few cycles away that ended
the run so I worked him for 40m country 98.
The first half of the 05Z hour was spent CQing on 3546 while chasing
multipliers on 160m. It was back to 7031 at 0539Z - my new home for the
next 4+ hours until 0953Z! Wow, another 260+ QSOs on 40 plus a few more
multipliers on the other bands with the second radio. This late 40m
opening did not happen the first night so conditions were obviously
returning to normal. I was also starting to think that I might be making a
competitive score.
I took a short 10-minute break during the 10Z hour. At 1042Z I
established a 20-minute run of Europeans on 14032. A little search and
pounce across 20m to start the 11Z hour and I was back to CQing on 14009
at 1111Z.
When I finally listened to 15m at 1150Z, I discovered that the band was
wide open! I immediately moved to 21004 and the rate exploded with 130
QSOs in the next 60 minutes. I repeated the discovery on 10m at 1245Z. The
band was packed with signals. My main thought at this point was to run as
fast as possible and try not to fall too far behind K1AR and KQ2M. There
have been too many contests where I could keep up during the slow times,
but lost due to a few high rate hours on the high bands.
Conditions were great, but up and down. At 1400Z, I moved back to 15m
and established a run on 21002. This was a great frequency for the next 3
hours (312 QSOs) and let me do some second radio work on 10m (57 more
QSOs). When 5H1X called in on 15m, I moved him to 28213 for a double
multiplier. At 17Z it was back to running on 10m. Something I have never
done before, this movement back and forth between 10 and 15 may have
helped me work more stations than if I had stayed on one band for the
entire time.
The rate was slowing down during the 18Z hour and I was making a lot of
band changes. The SO2R functionality of WriteLog was being handled
completely by my subconscious. It is a good thing the software records the
frequency of the QSO, because I was changing bands so much that I
sometimes couldn't remember which band I was on. (Sleep deprivation may
have had something to do with that…) By now the FT1000 tuning knob was
beginning to turn although not freely, but at least I could do some tuning
with it.
The 19Z hour was spent mostly CQing on 15m with second radio action on
10 and 20. At 2030Z I moved the run radio to 14016. Signals from Europe
were very loud and the band was crowded. I went looking for a quieter spot
and ended all the way up at 14089. The rate was pretty good although there
was occasional competition from various digital mode stations. Finally one
of them ran me off and I was on the move again. The FT1000 main tuning
knob was about 70% free by this time so it was possible to tune down the
band. I was looking in vain for an OH0 but found VP9/W6PH and 4U1ITU
instead. Ended up CQing on 14036.
Sleep deprivation starts to introduce some interesting thoughts around
this time. I recall thinking each station that called was revealing some
aspect of their personality in how they called. It made for some very
bizarre conversations with myself…
At 2126Z I had one of the more memorable QSOs of the contest. There
were several stations calling and one of them had that hollow sound that
only comes from being far away. I heard "ER" and asked for a
repeat. SP3HC was calling at the same time and he responded as well as the
"ER". It took some maneuvering but I finally had the
"ER" station calling in the clear and it was 3W2ER! Cool
multiplier (country 116) and a surprisingly good signal. 3W2ER later sent
me a recording of his side of the QSO and he was not hearing any of the
European callers, just me. So I end up sounding like a lid since it took 3
tries to get his call.
Twenty minutes later HB0/DL1RWB calls in for country 117. I stay on
14036 all the way to the end of the contest (the last 2 hours 45 minutes
on that one frequency!). During the same time, 10m opens to Japan as well
as I have ever heard it. Gives me lots of easy second radio QSOs to chase.
On 20, I am called by JY5HX, and then have back-to-back QSOs a few minutes
later with 9V1YC and FR5FD to get to 120 countries (a new personal record
for one band in a single op effort).
Final score on the computer shows 3832/158/512 for 7,378,710 points.
After the contest I go up to 3830 to see how the competition has done.
I am amazed when K1AR and KQ2M check in with numbers that are below mine.
For a contest that I had assumed was lost, there was new hope.
Notes
It really was a tale of two contests. The first 14 hours were really
frustrating and well below the excellent conditions we had become used to
from the two previous years. Things started to recover and by Sunday at
12Z, we were experiencing the full joy that is CQ WW.
I believe the key component to my success in the contest was aggressive
and continuous use of two radios. WriteLog and the W5XD keyer represent
the state of the art in SO2R technology available today. By my count, I
had 374 second radio QSOs in the first 24 hours and another 261 in the
second 24 hours (I define second radio QSO as one that is made away from
the band that I am actively CQing on). That is a total of 635
"extra" QSOs. Sure, some of them I would have worked later
anyway, but the margin of difference over K1AR is the difference in the
number of second radio QSOs we each made. You can see the number of second
radio QSOs in the rate sheet below.
The FT1000 tuning knob problem was gone when I tried to use the radio a
few days later. I can only assume that a bearing was broken and had jammed
when it heated up during use early in the contest. As it cooled down, it
returned to a position where it was not jamming the shaft mechanism. The
problem has not reoccurred since.
It amazes me every year how big this contest has become. Reading 3830
score reports after the contest always reveals a number of calls with big
QSO totals that were never heard all weekend! A look at the breakdown by
country shows a lot of holes in the multiplier chasing that could be
easily filled. Always room for improvement next year!
WriteLog showed a total operating time of 47:07. No wonder I slept for
more than 12 hours after the contest!
Continent Statistics
