CQ WWDX CW 2022
Long Path Surprises
Activity moves towards the high bands since the sun activity goes up. One one hand this produces some nice DX openings but produces also some unproductive times especially during dusk. Nevertheless, this contest has been a lot of fun. For the first time I could break the 2000 QSO mark.
This time I haven’t had time to setup the station the weekend before the contest. I arrived at the station on Thursday late afternoon since the Deutsche Bahn gave me two extra hours for the same prize. So I moved the outside installation work to Friday. It took a good part of Friday. In addition, I precooked the meals for the weekend to relieve my parents a bit. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get a as much rest as wanted before the contest start.
As usually, I started to work stations on 160m with interlaced three pointers on 40m. Later I went to 80m as well. Checking the 20m band gave some good Pacific and Asian multipliers (HS, ZL, FK). This always leaves a big smile. Afterwards, the high bands are in the focus till dawn which repeats on the second day. Unfortunately, I didn’t hear my alarm clock. So, the break during the second night got a bit too long.
The long path openings provided both highlights as well as a low light. Highlights have been the 40m long path to zone 3 on the first afternoon and to VR on 10m the second afternoon. While checking 10m for the last time with the antenna to South America after sunset a station started CQing with good signal. With just getting ‘XAN’ I realized that this must be VR2XAN. Not realizing that at this time this must be long path propagation I changed the antenna to short path and called him. Of course, he didn’t hear me. After realizing and correcting the mistake I made it into the log before the RBN crowd arrived. I haven’t had that much luck on 80m Saturday morning when ZM1A showed up with exceptional good signal. Holger, ZL3IO, on the key did his best but he got blanked by the crowd with everybody giving their calls without listening reducing the rate he could work stations drastically…
Around sunset the second day I was about 250 QSOs short of 2000. A number I wanted to crack for a while now. The hopes to reach that number had been quite low since literally every QSO on the low bands was mentally hard work. So, I took a short break to refocus and started kind of fresh to give it a shot. This strategy worked well and I managed to cross the magic number and logged QSO number 2022 when the bell whistled. However, lets see if it withstands the log check process.
The second double zepp used for 80m proved to be of just minimal use. I don’t think I will use it again. Nevertheless, a private skimmer setup could be a reasonable addition to the station setup. However, the largest improvement possible is still the operators performance. I’ll try to work on it …
Last but not least, I would like to thank DL2LSM and XYL for the logistical and moral support. Without your support theses results wouldn’t been possible.
Preliminary Result:
Call: DM2M Operator: DK3WE Class: SO All Band Assisted QRP Rig: 2x K3 (5W) Ant: 2x20m Dipole @20m, 2x25m Dipole @16m, spider beam @20m,
40m shortened 2 el. @17m, 160m Inverted-L 15m high QTH: @DL2LSM, JO61GH Summary:
Total Score: 3983 * (144 + 452) = 2.373.868 Band QSOs Points Zones Countries --------------------------------------- 160 182 197 9 49 80 453 582 15 65 40 381 769 28 87 20 446 989 31 93 15 348 883 33 92 10 212 563 28 66 --------------------------------------- Total 2022 3983 144 452[ nggallery id=102 template=caption]
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