View the breakdown for the contest here:
http://k5go.com/sh5/k5go/2013/
Recorded the entire contest, but most of it is boring. Here are a few clips:
Things To Do Differently
1. Better QSO distribution between 10 and 15 meters. Bounce between CQ frequencies. Don’t camp out on 10 meters for 5 hours straight. Its ok to CQ on 15 for a short stint and then go back to 10 meters. This allows second radio to be on 10 when it is open to EU.
2. Completely tune through 10 meters with single radio when it is open to Europe one time on both days. Same for 15 meters. For sure do the same when Caribbean and Africa is coming in, because most of those guys won’t find you.
3. 15 meter antenna on the bluff towards Japan was sorely missed. JA count was 100 Qs down as a result of using the 7 element at 90′.
4. Don’t post score to live contest site.
Call: N5DX Operator(s): N5DX Station: K5GO/N5DX Class: SOAB HP QTH: AR Operating Time (hrs): 46 Radios: SO2R Summary: Band QSOs Zones Countries ------------------------------ 160: 36 13 20 80: 93 21 57 40: 631 29 81 20: 694 35 111 15: 928 32 106 10: 1875 36 106 ------------------------------ Total: 4257 166 481 Total Score = 7,641,717
Two comments were made by family members on Thursday evening that were stuck in my head going into the contest. 8 year old daughter: "Daddy, why does it take you a month to get ready for the contest?" 60+ year old father: "It will be a miracle if nothing breaks." Not to many good vibes to be had by those two thought processes running through my head. I even told my wife that maybe I should just take up basketball again (being 6' 6" has its advantages). All of those thoughts were erased when I sat down to the radio to hear what were just incredible conditions. Its very rare from Arkansas to be faced with the legitimate option of beginning the contest on 10, 15, 20, or 40 meters. Really cool to be running Asia on 10 meters while picking off EU mults on 80 and 160. Other than the first 1.5 hours I feel like I did a really good job of maximizing score. EU was easy to work on 160 and 80 but not good enough to run. 20 was open all night, but other than Friday evening, I never had any real night time runs on that band. JA on 40 was paltry. I was amazed at everyone's willingness to move to different bands for needed multipliers. Great fun to build up the multiplier total that way. Despite this, I probably missed 30 easy mults on 10, 15, and 20 meters that could have been obtained with more efficient tuning and a more balanced distribution of QSOs between 10 and 15 meters. Probably should have stayed on 20 a little longer in the morning to allow the second radio to comb through 15 to find juicy multipliers. Then moving to 15 and staying a little longer to do the same scenario on 10 meters. I perhaps stayed on 10 meters a little to long in the morning while running EU. The zone 14 guys just kept pouring in and with good signals. With a clear frequency on 10, it was really hard to make myself QSY to 15 to dig out a run spot. I can count on my hands the number of CQWW SSB contest I've operated and of those operations this was only my second single op operation. What a memorable one it will be. I knew going into the contest that I would have some big time W5 competition. Knowing this pushed me hard to max out every minute of operating time and it is a satisfying feeling to have given the contest everything I had. Congrats to Steve, N2IC, for setting a new W5 record. Nothing broke and the contest was certainly worth all the time that was put into it. 73, Kevin, N5DX
