CN8WW (DL6FBL)
CQ WW DX Contest 1998

Ben, DL6FBL, was operating both 1998 CQWW SSB and CW contests from Morocco/North Africa.
Category: SO/AB/HP/UA (Single Operator, All Bands, High Power, unassisted).
 
CQ WORLD WIDE DX CONTEST -- 1998 -- SSB

BAND  QSO   PTS  P/Q    Z CTY 
-------------------------------------------
 160   76   209  2.75   8  32 
  80  758  2237  2.95  18  80 
  40  968  2868  2.96  22  94 
  20 1672  4979  2.98  34 110 
  15 1788  5319  2.97  32 120 
  10 2503  7463  2.98  27 111 
-------------------------------------------
 All 7765 23075  2.97 141 547 => 15,875,600

 CQ WORLD WIDE DX CONTEST -- 1998 -- CW

BAND  QSO   PTS  P/Q    Z CTY
-------------------------------------------
 160  156   457  2.93   9  33
  80  832  2477  2.98  19  71
  40 1274  3799  2.98  24  83
  20 1076  3207  2.98  31  99
  15 1085  3234  2.98  31 101
  10 2127  6350  2.99  28 102
-------------------------------------------
 All 6550 19524  2.98 142 489 => 12,319,644
Continent Statistics CN8WW - 1998 - SSB

   160  80  40   20   15   10  ALL     %
NA  15 283 511  538  277 1387 3011  38.2 
SA   0   4  17   31   41   96  189   2.4 
EU  53 447 420 1046 1345 1009 4320  54.8 
AS   0  15  13   52  120   25  225   2.9 
AF   9  19  17   16   22   22  105   1.3 
OC   0   2   3   12    8    5   30   0.4

  

The SSB score was good enough for finishing #3 worldwide, #1 Africa, setting a new African Record, and winning the continental trophy.
The CW score was good enough for finishing #5 worldwide, and #2 Africa.
Both scores were good enough to win the special trophy "combined scores SSB/CW"


From left to right: Amplifier 1, Monitor 1, Radio 1, Rotators and Antenna Control Boxes, Radio 2, Monitor 2, Amplifier 2. This must have been early in the contest, because I was still drinking water instead of Diet-C*ke... 


UBN-Reports:

How accurate was my logging? CQ magazine is preparing a "UBN-report" for every log entrant. This file is accessible via the internet (password protected, check http://cqww.com for more details). Normally this file is "for your eyes only", but I don't see any reason, why the public should not be allowed to access my files. Here you can see my mistakes and log errors:


Pictures:

Picture: The home of CN8MC in Rabat [A.R.R.A.M.'s Clubstation]
Picture: Antenna pictures I
Picture: Antenna pictures II
Picture: Antenna pictures III (See what the antenna sees, pictures from the top of the tower)
Picture: CN8WW License
Picture: Some views of Rabat downtown


Equipment:
 
Radio Transceiver Amplifier
Radio 1: Kenwood TS-850S Ameritron AL-1500
Radio 2: Kenwood TS-850S Heathkit SB-220
Band Antenna 1 Antenna 2 Antenna 3
160m Dipole @ 15m n/a n/a
80m Dipole @ 15m n/a n/a
40m 2-ele Cushcraft Yagi n/a n/a
20m Fritzel Tribander @ 15m Cushcraft R7000 Vertical n/a
15m Fritzel Tribander @ 15m Cushcraft R7000 Vertical n/a
10m Fritzel Tribander @ 15m Cushcraft R7000 Vertical n/a

Two networked computers with K1EA CT v9.23. Some little switch boxes and interfaces...


Situation:
Morocco is in North West Africa (CQ Zone 33). The QTH is Rabat, the capital city of Morocco. Grid locator is IM63NX. Europe is very close and can easily be contacted around the clock on at least three different bands at the same time (Beam heading 10-60 degrees). Japan lies behind Europe (30 degrees). Signals from and to there must go through the European wall. The beam heading to the United States is 300-320 degrees. The U.S. can be worked at least on one band at any time.
On the high bands I used antenna switching and power splitting technology. To enable best coverage of Europe/Japan and the U.S. the Tribander was pointing towards the U.S. when open. Europe/Japan (30 degrees) were worked on the Vertical. Each antenna was fed with half the output power of the amplifier.

Strategy:
Almost every contact was worth 3 points. The aim was to keep a constant pile-up on the running station, by being on the highest band, which was open to Europe and/or the U.S. at the same time. If the rate allowed it, the second radio was used for working multipliers on another band. For instance, at 0000z I started running on 14 MHz and called multipliers on 3.5MHz. I put a strong emphasis on multipliers and tried to move around as many multipliers as possible. The full 48 hours were operated (Doping: Coffee, Diet-Coke and two Aspirin every six hours...) Electricity was stable and no technical problems occured, the only defect was a blown capacitor in the SB-220's power supply. Simply didn't use that amp thereafter...

Personal Goal:
This year my goal was to achieve one or more of the following:

Comments (after the contest):
Downtown QTH, LOTS of noise. S9 on 160m. Sorry, I could only copy a few of you there. There was also a huge building exactly in the way to the USA. Worked 1300 Ws on 10m and only 277 on 15m. But there was CN8NK on 15m single band giving you that multiplier... I was able to work 3094 QSOs in 12 hours (Sat. 0700z-1859z). That is an average rate of 257 Qs/hr. Wow, great fun!!!
QRATE says: 1240z: 9 per min (540/hr)
                      1247z: 67 per 10 min (402/hr)
                      1327z: 336 per hour
This was a stateside run on 10 meters!!!

I operated the full 48 hours (CT says 47.1 hrs), only running for the bathroom a few times. Sunday around 2200z I realised after about 10 minutes, that I was only sitting and staring out in the dark. When that hit me I took a walk outside and downed one liter of Diet C*ke. Then it worked again (but slowly...). I will be back in Morocco for CW !!!

DL6FBL, 29/02/00
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