Each CQ WPX SSB contest I went in some multi category, which has its advantages, but also disadvantages. There were several novelties in the contest and according to them I considered choosing a category. Three weeks for the Contest was clear, the new output stage is not yet ready. Half K9AY grew up in the garden (version 80 m / 40m), that I tapped into SDR receiver. Reception for such an antenna appeared to be very. Two weeks before the race, I had to remove it, because sawing old trees. After talking with Steve OM7KW I chose SingleOp Allband Assisted Low Power, a category that is popular for the simplicity of setup and the competition in it is great.
In strategic terms, I plan to spread 36 Hours of operation are possible, that I will release the first hour and focus mainly on the night hours, whereas the lower band walks away much better. Negligible and double points benefit over the top bands. And since 100W is not very CQ style friendly, go with&P style.
As part of the strategy, I also declared “goals”, hourly targets, v N1MM window. Then statistics shows, What is the QSO rate than planned. And of course I added LiveScore. These are incentives, because competing alone in the SingleOp category also takes away the psyche.
The progress was good contest, N1MM practically still showed, I'm above target. Propagation conditions are fluctuating, appeared and Aurora. With a little patience, however, it was possible to make connections to the Caribbean and North America at 40m. Trying the same at 80m and not always at 160m doesn't make much sense with 100W and simple antennas.
DX cluster still show numerous spots and 10m, but real audible (and doable) stations was low. So he plays 15m and 20m during the day. Mostly 15m is an interesting band in terms of multipliers. it is pleasing, that, in the evening to pass through the station 20 m. Predcontestový view of the propagation conditions were not very optimistic.
At 11 pm I take a two-hour break for sleep (for the whole weekend I've slept three hours) and I continue The rate is not high, But as zalog. NE1C to 40 m is 6 times more rewarding than UT5 spot on 20m.
Sunday's morning brings a record settlement OM, but propagation conditions significantly ZHOSI. And because I took some time against the plan, followed by a further, shorter break. But the turbulence in the spread also brought a positive improvement at 10m. And in the following hours, conditions improve more and more. Solve the dilemma – I need to choose a break, that I have satisfied 36h operation even when I do not feel tired. I quickly collect connections on the still open 15m and 20m band and when I feel, 15 m that closes, I go from station.
I'm back in time and I can do two more multipliers, YW4D a EI3HDB na 20m. There are also other signals, but it can not be charged over the mountains and 100W is not possible. I am already testing CQ in the lower bands and for many stations it represents “OM0″ interesting multiplier. Briefly thus can experience the genuine pile-up.
However, at the end of the race, the stations are lost, and remaining nervous. As soon as the spot from the cluster appears, It is creating the 10-minute series of stations. Therefore, the rate in the last two hours is significantly weaker.
Contest ends, the logo is 1173QSO, what at 603 multipliers gives 1 573 227 points. In the livescore, I tried to stay above KZ1M and WP3A for a long time, but both had excellent finish. Congrats!
