CQWW WPX Contest, SSB Call: DL6FBL Operator(s): DL6FBL Station: DF0CG Class: SOAB HP QTH: JO31CQ Operating Time (hrs): 36 Radios: SO2R Summary: Band QSOs ------------ 160: 41 80: 342 40: 432 20: 1879 15: 761 10: 34 ------------ Total: 3489 Prefixes = 1079 Total Score = 10,024,322 Club: Bavarian Contest Club Comments: 2x FT-1000MP + amps 160: Dipole @ 30m 80: Dipole @ 30m 40: 3-ele KLM @ 34m + 40-2CD @ 34m 20: 5 over 5 @ 32/16m + XM520 @ 20m 15: 5 over 5 @ 35/25m + 155BA @ 20m 10: 5-el @ 30m (rotary) + 5-el (fix SA) @ 23m + 5-el (fix NA) @ 16m Beverages to NA (160m long) and JA (100m long). BIG Thanks to the DF0CG crew for letting me use the station again. It's always fun for a Single OP to play with a Multi/Multi setup... ;-) I arrived at the station Thursday around 1 pm and unloaded my stuff which was still originally packed from my CQWW CW trip to 9Y4ZC. At this opportunity I found my swimming trunks, which were hiding under the FT-1000MP... Markus (DJ7EO), Jochen (DH5HV) and Thorsten (DO1ET) helped me fix some minor problems. Markus later headed to Belgium to be a part of the OT5A team, Jochen operated the contest from his home station, and Thorsten made some more cables and preparations for the final station-wide computer network. Right at the beginning of the contest I lost my voice. It was the revenge of the last delayed influenza, and I was only able to caw into the microphone for the whole contest. People who might have been thinking about my "bad modulation", please accept my apologies. I had decided to start the contest on 80 meters, because 80 meters was better than 40 meters last year from my home station. On 3769 I worked 234 stations in the first two hours, which included many Europeans, some forty W/VEs, a few UA9/UNs, and YY5YMA, PU7EEL, PJ4Y, 9Y4W, YV5KAJ, PS8DX and YW4M. At 0216z I checked 40 meters, but US signals were only marginal. I switched over to 160 meters, but detected a problem in the 160m amplifier only 5 QSOs later. I switched it off and went jumping between 40 and 80 meters until 0610z. Goodies on 40 meters were J75RZ, YI9VCQ, PJ4Y, NP2I, XE1MM, CN8SG, 5K3W, NP3CW, 4L2M, HI3CCP, WP4CTD. On 80 meters YV4BU, P43E, HR2AEC, TS3A, and on 40 meters again 6Y4Y, T49C, CN2BC, XE1MEX, XE1REM, ZL1ANH, ZL1V, FY5KE, V25O, CE3RDV, some more South Americans and a good number of W/VEs with better signals now. 20 meters had not really come to live so I decided for a first quick one hour break, poured some coffee and held the fridge up. I was back at 0721z, worked a few mixed QSOs on 20 meters (Europe, UA9s, VK/ZLs, one! JA giving me a 001 on short path, TO1T, J75RZ and V25O, but no Stateside) before going to 15 meters at 0740z. JA signals were loud, the rate was OK at slightly above 100 QSOs/hour, and many rare Asia multipliers went in the log. Goodies were 9M2MT, 9V1RH, BG7KQF, BX1AAB, BD7IPO, BY4BNS, VR2BG, WH2V, BG1JR, BG6AHP, 4F1MEU, EY1ZA, BX2AH, BU2AI, S9SS, DV3ZQR, B3C, 9V1BH, 6M0MM, BD7IEE, BY2HIT, BG1FBV, a few VK/ZL/YB and some more South Koreans. It was amazing to see the rising activity from China, and we can only hope that more and more new Chinese Amateurs find their way into Contesting. When nobody was coming back to a CQ, I threw in a quick 20 meters QSO on the Second Radio. At 1036z I found 14193.5 clear and did not leave the frequency until 2002z, when I started my major break. These almost 9.5 hours produced 1208 QSOs, which is an overall rate of 127 QSOs/hour. Best hours were 12z, 13z, and 14z with 157, 160, and 150 QSOs. That's not too bad regarding my "ordinary" DL6 callsign and the serial number thing, which slows down the rate dramatically compared to a CQWW or ARRL DX contest. Goodies were VP9I, P43E, JU1DX, KG6DX, B3C, CB5A, WH2V, TI5N, VP9FX, DU1IVT, 9M2FB, B4HG, 9M2TO, BG7LHY, HS8KGG, ST2NH, YE3K, DZ9DZ, KH7X, DU4JT, VR2XLN, VY0PW, FM5DN, AH7C, and 6Y5BB. I only managed 25 QSOs on 15 meters on the Second Radio during this run, among which were ZD8Z, ST2T, EK3SA, 5U7JB, TZ9A, D4B, 8P9AM, 9G5FO and 8R1K. My voice had to be lubricated with mineral water all day long to get at least the caws out. A summary showed that I was drinking 14 liters of water during the contest (not to forget the two beers in the break ;-). Especially during my long run on 20 meters I knew perfectly well that when I was running for the bathroom I would be losing my precious running frequency. In my desperation I remembered a tip from DL4NAC (YLs, children and gentlemen: close your eyes) and: I cut off the upper part of one of the 1.5 liter plastic mineral water bottles, stood up and peed in the bottle, while still making QSOs. Yeah, I even managed this stunt four times without losing a drop! How's MTV saying: "Don't try this at home..." ;-) Certainly this would have been even more entertainingly, when the webcams had been in action, but (luckily?) the DSL internet connection was down all weekend, which was also the reason why I was going "unassisted". In the break (after holding up the fridge again), I had programmed my alarm clock for 2330z, when I wanted to fill in two hours of running 40 meters stateside. It woke me up, but after testing my voice I decided to forget about 40 meters. I wanted to take the rest of the 12 hours break now and re-programmed the alarm clock for 0600z. After a long shower and a brief visit to the fridge I jumped on 20 meters at 0650z, called CQ and CQ and CQ without answer, and suddenly knew that it was a mistake to give away the more productive evening hours the day before. The rate was quite low. Some goodies were TG9IIW, PJ2T, 3W2XK, FM5JC and PJ4Y. The Second Radio on 15 meters produced some UA9s, weak JAs, TR8CA and 8Q7DV. At 0817z I jumped over to 15 meters, but couldn't get anything going. I had hoped for a repeat of Saturday's 15 meters JA opening, which was part of my break time strategy. Only a few minutes later I left 15 meters and wandered around between 40, 20 and 15 meters without good luck. A quick Second Radio visit to 10 meters revealed VU2DSI with a good signal, but nobody else. Some minutes later 8Q7DV and OD5WPX became workable on 10 meters, too. The JAs were weaker than Saturday, and a much smaller number went in the log. Goodies on 15 were BG4WCK, 9M2TO, EY8BA, BA4AA, VR2XLN, YI9VCQ, BD4AAQ, BX4AQ abd DW1NJT. At 1036z I switched over to 20 meters for an hour. The only goodie was OX3RZ. At 1140z I went back to 15 meters and was rewarded with V8ASV, DU4PMA, V25O, TO1T, V85GD, XV2PS and BD7IHN - within 15 minutes! The Second Radio was on 10 meters and found YI9VCQ and a number of nice signals from South America. I even called CQ on 10 meters for 15 minutes, but was only called by UN2O, three DLs, three PAs, F5POJ and PY2BRZ. The Second Radio found ZF2NT, HI3CCP and some others on 15 meters. At 1225z I was CQing on 15 meters again, but the rate was low. Goodies were BG9TD, TI5N, 5R8FU, TI2VW, CP1FF, T49C, HZ1EX and VP9BO, with second radio QSOs on 10 meters with YI9QWO, JY4NE and YB0ECT in between. At 1248z N2MM called for my first US on 15 meters. He said his antenna was pointing due East, and so I was beaming due West. At 1253z came K3ZO and K5TR, at 1307z came NJ4U, and then K3TW, who suddenly was 40 over 9. This magic only lasted for a few minutes. K3KO, K4ZW, WC4E, N3KS, and K4JE found me, but I could not establish a good rate. The next 15 minutes I struggled to decide for the next running band and jumped between 20, 15 and even 40 meters, before I found a clear spot on 14296. The rate went up, but signals were difficult to read, because the band was fully packed, and especially the neighbouring stations BELOW my own frequency produced a babbling noise at S9. This "noisefloor" made it almost impossible to copy signals weaker than S7! And there were plenty of them. This was a bit strange, because the "neighbours" were more than 2 kHz away, which should already make a good separation. I did not have this problem from the neighbours sitting HIGHER in frequency... Goodies were HR2JGG, 4F1MEU and SV9CVY, Michael, whom I had visited for the CQ WW SSB contest in 2001. At 1436z I tried 15 meters again, but couldn't establish a good rate to the US. It was more like DX'ing with stations like HQ2DMR, T49C, ZF2SC, 8P6EX, HR2AHC, and RU3HD/ANT (Antarctica) calling in. At 1454z I gave up, and tried 40 meters. I knew that I was still lacking many easy Central European multipliers, because I had mostly been on the high bands on Saturday working DX, not Europe... ;-) The rate was OK, but after 20 minutes I went back to 15 meters. Now the US signals were better, and I stayed there until 1640z working W/VE, South America and ZS9Z, VP8BKF, XE1KK, XE1MM, PT9ZBJ (who was the first PT9 station in my life), and P49MR (who said: "This is your new multiplier calling..." ;-). From 1640z thru 1653z I wandered over 40 and 15 meters without luck, and finally sat down on my money band, 20 meters, again. I was on 14271 until 1819z, worked W/VEs, Europeans and KH7JJ, HP1XX, XE1KK, XE1MEX and OX3LX. The Second Radio on 15 meters found P40A, VQ5L, FY5KE and HP1XX, whom I tail-ended at the end of another QSO (just for the fun of it ;-). For the last few minutes I had watched the LX5A frequency on 15 meters. The distance is just 250 kilometers, but I could NOT HEAR most of the stateside stations they were working. At 1820z I could hear most of the stations in the LX5A pileup and decided to give 15 meters another try. The rate was good, but my friend Carl, OE9MON, shocked me deeply when he asked why I was CQ'ing when so many US stations were calling me. That was just another hint, how a few hundred kilometers ?South? can change your whole life... ;-) From 1840z thru 2156z I sat on 14272 milking the band for more US stations. I was also called by KH7FX, a loud E21EIC on the back of the stack (I'm not trying to rhyme...), CN8BV, NP2KW, TG9ANF, 6Y4Y and V31TT. The Second Radio found PJ4Y, 9Y4W, XQ3BRN, J75RZ, 8P6GE, NP2I, PJ2T and P43E on 15 meters, and loud and easy D4B and 8Q7DV on 40 meters. In between I had called HG8R for a new multi on 80 meters, and I was obviously giving him a hard time to copy me. After the QSO I checked the setup and found the 80 meters amplifier to block all HF. Probably the output relay was hanging, so I had worked HG8R with a piece of coax cable in the basement a few meters UNDER the Earth. Good ears there... ;-) After switching the amplifier off, I could get at least the barefoot power out for a few more QSOs. Later I even tried to run barefoot for a few minutes on 3733, but was quickly driven away... I had planned for an intense running on 80 meters for these easy, yet elusive European multipliers, but this was obviously not going to happen. Now that 80 meters was unusable for running, I jumped between 160 and 40 meters for the rest of the contest. 160 produced some of the easy European multipliers, but the rate was not good, so I better went for some more 6 point US stations on 40 meters. Michael, SV9CVY, called in again, and just in time for the end of the contest my voice came back. I was able to speak in whole sentences again, and not just caw a five-nine-whatever-number-it-was into the mike. Here is some statistics. Note that I almost worked double as many DX stations than EU stations: 160M 80M 40M 20M 15M 10M Total % EU 40 283 190 552 178 15 1258 36.1 NA 0 35 179 1133 205 0 1552 44.5 AS 1 14 19 108 280 13 435 12.5 SA 0 9 36 19 55 5 124 3.6 AF 0 1 6 14 14 0 35 1.0 OC 0 0 2 52 27 1 82 2.4 QSO/Pref by hour and band Hour 160M 80M 40M 20M 15M 10M Total Cumm OffTime D1-0000Z --+-- 124/112 --+-- --+-- --+-- --+-- 124/112 124/112 D1-0100Z - 111/80 - - - - 111/80 235/192 D1-0200Z 5/2 24/18 55/27 - - - 84/47 319/239 D1-0300Z - 4/2 69/34 - - - 73/36 392/275 D1-0400Z - 69/42 6/4 - - - 75/46 467/321 D1-0500Z - - 90/48 - - - 90/48 557/369 D1-0600Z - - 12/4 - - - 12/4 569/373 50 D1-0700Z - - - 28/11 34/15 - 62/26 631/399 20 D1-0800Z --+-- --+-- --+-- 18/11 104/45 --+-- 122/56 753/455 D1-0900Z - - - 16/8 103/37 - 119/45 872/500 D1-1000Z - - - 84/26 11/5 - 95/31 967/531 D1-1100Z - - - 116/35 8/4 - 124/39 1091/570 D1-1200Z - - - 157/50 - - 157/50 1248/620 D1-1300Z - - - 160/47 - - 160/47 1408/667 D1-1400Z - - - 150/40 - - 150/40 1558/707 D1-1500Z - - - 94/23 5/5 - 99/28 1657/735 D1-1600Z --+-- --+-- --+-- 96/27 7/5 --+-- 103/32 1760/767 D1-1700Z - - - 115/33 1/0 - 116/33 1876/800 D1-1800Z - - - 119/30 - - 119/30 1995/830 D1-1900Z - - - 101/29 4/1 - 105/30 2100/860 D1-2000Z - - - 3/2 - - 3/2 2103/862 57 D1-2100Z - - - - - - 0/0 2103/862 60 D1-2200Z - - - - - - 0/0 2103/862 60 D1-2300Z - - - - - - 0/0 2103/862 60 D2-0000Z --+-- --+-- --+-- --+-- --+-- --+-- 0/0 2103/862 60 D2-0100Z - - - - - - 0/0 2103/862 60 D2-0200Z - - - - - - 0/0 2103/862 60 D2-0300Z - - - - - - 0/0 2103/862 60 D2-0400Z - - - - - - 0/0 2103/862 60 D2-0500Z - - - - - - 0/0 2103/862 60 D2-0600Z - - - 5/1 - - 5/1 2108/863 52 D2-0700Z - - - 63/16 13/2 - 76/18 2184/881 D2-0800Z --+-- --+-- 10/3 13/1 34/8 3/0 60/12 2244/893 D2-0900Z - - 9/4 7/1 55/11 1/0 72/16 2316/909 D2-1000Z - - - 21/7 31/12 7/3 59/22 2375/931 D2-1100Z - - - 25/5 26/5 2/0 53/10 2428/941 D2-1200Z - - - - 49/11 21/3 70/14 2498/955 D2-1300Z - - 8/2 36/5 37/8 - 81/15 2579/970 D2-1400Z - - 11/3 50/6 17/6 - 78/15 2657/985 D2-1500Z - - 24/3 - 77/12 - 101/15 2758/1000 D2-1600Z --+-- --+-- 4/1 8/1 80/5 --+-- 92/7 2850/1007 D2-1700Z - - - 101/13 6/2 - 107/15 2957/1022 D2-1800Z - - - 75/10 37/4 - 112/14 3069/1036 D2-1900Z - - - 77/12 10/3 - 87/15 3156/1051 D2-2000Z - - 3/1 75/5 12/1 - 90/7 3246/1058 D2-2100Z 16/2 1/1 17/0 66/6 - - 100/9 3346/1067 D2-2200Z 20/3 9/2 35/0 - - - 64/5 3410/1072 D2-2300Z - - 79/6 - - - 79/6 3489/1078 Total: 41/7 342/257 432/1401879/461 761/207 34/6