Killer Sun

This is the second CQ WPX CW contest from the DL2LSM QTH in a row. I have been ahead of last years performance until the sun shut down the bands for quite a while. So, I kept the number of QSOs almost constant. However, the final result is a bit lower compared to last year.

Thursday before the contest had been a holiday in Germany and I took Friday off. So, there has been plenty of time to setup the station. I wanted to test my double zepp antenna for next weeks fieldday. However, there have been some problems with the setup and I ended up taking it down. So, the working proved 40m delta loop antenna has been erected as low-band alternative for the contest. This time the apex has been as high as 16m. This antenna is easy to erect and proved to work pretty well during the contest.

Normally, I start the contest a bit later to cool off the heat a bit and have a chance to work people with the first or second call. This year hasn’t been different. The low bands have been in reasonable shape and even on 80m a number of state side stations found its way into my log. To work DX stations on 40m is still difficult since competition is strong. Normally something for the second night, but I have been succesful with a handful. 20m has been open early and yielded some good DX. W6er and 7ers and even KH6 found their way into my log. Later, there has been plenty of activity on 20m. Conditions haven’t been great but Ok. The higher bands, i.e. 10m and 15m, have been almost useless. Just a few contacts here and then. So, I have been ahead of last years result by about 60 Q’s when I opted for a short nap at about 00:00z. The plan has been to sleep for about 2 hours to get back up for the sun rise. Well, it least this had been the plan. Unfortunately, I slept and woke up well after sunrise. I checked the bands to found them closed or in very bad condition. So, I ended up keeping off air a couple of hours longer. Afterwards, with all off-time taken, life became horrible. The bands were almost dead and every QSO has been a true accomplishment. Eventually, the advance in QSOs had been changed to a disadvantage. Luckily, 10m and 15m came back to life around sunset and allowed for a better rate. Later, I went back to the low bands and tried – at least for me – a new technique. I called CQ on 80 while listening on 40m and working stations there. This worked pretty well, despite that the noisy bands needed frequently repeats. About two minutes to go Karel, OK2FD, called in. He is a strong competitor for quite some years now. He had about 120 Q’s less. So, I guess the result isn’t so bad. However, he normally is quite strong with multipliers and QSOs on 40m.

I ended up with a deficit of about 10 Q’s compared to last year. However, the number of multipliers is a bit lower due to the worse conditions on the low bands. Therefore, the overall score is down by about 4%. Not to bad for a CME prone weekend.

There haven’t been particular highlights. Nevertheless, working KH6 on 20m (NH7A, KH6CW, WH6R) is always a thrill. The latter had a solid signal on 40m, too. However, my power hasn’t been enough to raise his attention. Additionally, VK (VK6LW) and ZL (ZL4TT, ZM4A) could be reached. An interesting QSO has been made with SV2/SV1RG/A who is operating from a monastery at Mount Athos. Unfortunately, his DXCC status is uncertain.

As always, I would like to thank DL2LSM and XYL for the logistical and moral support.

Preliminary Result:

Call:  DM2M
Operator: DK3WE
Class: SO All Band Assisted QRP
Rig:   2x K3 (5W)
Ant:   2x20m Dipole @20m, spider beam @13m, 40m Delta Loop @16m
QTH:   @DL2LSM, JO61GH

Summary:

Total Score: 2749 * 652 = 1.792.348

Band   QSO   Points   Prefixes 
------------------------------
160     26      46        10  
 80    296     590       146  
 40    450    1027       214 
 20    550     950       260  
 15     73      97        17  
 10     35      39         5  
------------------------------
Total 1430    2749       652

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Downloads:

• Log (submitted)