about running this year's WAE-Cw contest remotely, it wasn't until 90 minutes before starting time that I actually put in a request to run SOAB from WA6TQT's Anza location in Southern California.
Permission was given as long as I ran
100 watts (max.) and didn't rotate the antennas. Because this was an EU-only contest, I asked for the stacked yagis to be fixed at 35-degrees while the 80-meter 4-Square was "aimed" SQUARELY in the direction of Europe.
This was my 1st WAE GiG from the
Anza location. Hearing EU signals @ the W7AYT QTH is RARE, altho they were reasonably plentiful @NX6T ("NashVille") in Fallbrook; @WA6TQT, EU signals were EVERYWHERE. Sunday afternoon was the FIRST time I have EVER heard EU signals @23:45z (4:45pm).
While I couldn't then actually work them, had there been 2+ more hours of operating time leftover, 2-way communication would have easily been possible. NoT realizing that propagation to Europe happens MUCH earlier in Anza may explain how I missed out on an opening on 80.
Calling CQ throughout the weekend documented the fact that WQ6X's only 100-watt signal was LOUD all over the USA and Canada. Surprisingly, a NUMBER of spots were made from locations
like KH6, 5W1, ZL1 & VK4 - all off the backside of the yagi stacks. The signal seemed to have a stronger presence "deeper" into Europe; moving farther northward "diluted" signal quality dramatically.
Other than a single contact on 15 meters and one on 80, the majority of the contest activity was on 20-meters with 40-meters taking up the slack. With the SFI hovering around 74, 20 meters did not stay open reliably throughout the night, as it DiD last month.
Previous WAE GiGs found using N1MM's Ctrl-Z QTC
setup to be a nightmare.
To resolve this, the decision was made to create a .ADI practice file in Concord to perfect the QTC sending process.
I am indebted to the 30 EU stations who accepted my QTC traffic during WAE:
DL3DTH, OM3GI, DL8WX, DJ5MW (twice), EA5FID, IR2Q, ED1R, DP6R, DL6RAI, R5AJ, DP7X, OM5ZW, OL5Y, F5UTN, 9A5SSS, OM2VL, TM6X, LZ5R (twice), DA2X, S51Z, DF9LJ, LY5W, OQ5M, EA5F, DL7ON, IR2C, OE6MMD, DL9EE, DK5PD and 9A5Y.
When it was all over, only 2 QTC's remained undelivered. As I recall, in past WAE events, because propagation to Europe suddenly disappeared, I ended up with upwards of 50+ undelivered QTC messages - OOPS.
There were a BUNCH of AWESOME WPX-style European callsigns for this event, my FAVorite
being SX200JAO. Other favorites include: 9A5SSS & OZ1AAA, IU0ITX, LY9Y, 9A2AJ, IV3EAD, S53ZO, SM0BRF, DL1BUG, GM3ZRT, M0BY, IK0XBX, DL1NKS, HB9ARF, UX1UA, DH1TST,
OH6UE, EA6/EI6DX & PA0INA.
The Watchword for this last weekend was: F A D I N G.
Eu stations LOVE to run 30-35+ WPM in Cw contests, but in fact because of FADING they
were often barely able to copy 20-wpm. I made judicious use of N1MM's sending speed buttons,
often dialing it down to 13-wpm in order for them to make copy of my exchange number.
Using the [F7] key, I could bang out the QSO number again and again.
Ironically, it would seem that fading was rarely a factor when sending QTC message - GO Figure!
When it was ALL Over, looking at the 3830 Stats disclose that WQ6X ended up:
- 28th Worldwide
- 7th in USA / NA
- 1st-Place Left-coast (W6/W7/PAC)
DiD YOU work the WAE Cw contest?
How many EU Q's and QTC's DiD YOU Send?
No comments:
Post a Comment