[TVARC] Fwd: ARRLDX CW K2DM SOAB QRP

[George Briggs]

>                     ARRL DX Contest, CW - 2023
> 
> Call: K2DM
> Operator(s): K2DM
> Station: K2DM
> 
> Class: SOAB QRP
> QTH: NFL
> Operating Time (hrs): 40
> 
> Summary:
> Band  QSOs  Mults
> -------------------
>  160:   19    13
>   80:   71    36
>   40:  248    62
>   20:  180    60
>   15:  229    56
>   10:  319    60
> -------------------
> Total: 1066   287  Total Score = 917,826
> 
> Club: The Villages Amateur Radio Club
> 
> Comments:
> 
> Before the contest I set two goals:  win my category (QRP) and make over 1,000
> contacts.  Time will tell on the first goal, but propagation and activity
> definitely helped me achieve the second goal.
> 
> It takes a certain mind set to make a (nearly) full-time QRP entry.  You have to
> have patience, because it sometimes will take you more than a few calls to get
> through to some stations.  But you also have to have confidence (arrogance?) to
> jump into a pileup expecting positive results.  This happens more often than you
> might expect.  You also have to understand that your rate on Sunday afternoon
> will probably fall to single digits per hour.
> 
> So, there I was, butt-in-chair about an hour before the contest started, ready
> to walk 40M from bottom to top, hoping to make at least as many contacts as last
> year in that first hour.  Overnight I cycled through 40, 80, 160 and 20M, and I
> did well compared with last year.  I only slept a couple of times for about an
> hour each, making sure I caught the EU sunrise and any surprise 20M openings. 
> 20M DID provide some contacts, even with 5W.
> 
> I didn't spend much time on 20M Saturday morning because 15 and 10 opened rather
> early.  You cannot do well operating QRP unless you do quite a bit of CQing.  So
> as I S&P'd my way up the bands, I stopped on clear frequencies and tossed
> out some CQs.  I am amazed at how the first CQ is often rewarded with an answer.
> Two or three contacts later the frequency is lost to someone with a bigger
> signal than mine, so I resume S&P.  Of course, the CQ success rate increases
> as you QSY from 20 to 15, and from 15 to 10.
> 
> I slept a little longer Saturday night, then waited for 20M to open.  When it
> did open, 15 and 10 followed quickly, so I followed the old axiom of being on
> the highest open band.  Even with that, I did return to 15 and 20 to boost the
> totals on those bands.  Then Sunday afternoon arrived!
> 
> Even QRO ops see activity decline on Sunday afternoon.  There simply aren't as
> many stations to work.  "Packet" pileups are common on many common,
> non-multiplier stations.  This "feature" of Sunday is probably an
> annoyance to ops in the assisted category, but it is deadly to the non-assisted
> QRP op.  So I find myself waiting minutes until the big guns have finished, and
> I can get through.  Of course, I could have moved on, but to what?  There are
> only so many new stations that come on Sunday afternoon.  To be honest, Sunday
> afternoons are BORING.  I typically have rates in the single digits in the last
> four hours of the contest, and I have to work hard to get that.  So this year I
> packed up and went home at about 4:15 PM, having made TWO contacts in the 3:00
> hour.  If I don't achieve my goal of winning my category, so be it.
> 
> One interesting aspect of spending a lot of time QRP S&Ping is that I hear
> many friends beat me out with their flagpoles and end-fed wires.  I heard ND4G,
> W3US, WB2ART, K1CTR, K2TE and K2PS at various times.  Nice going guys!
> 
> It goes without saying that my success is in large part to the MANY DX stations
> who stuck with me to get my call and exchange right.  And to those (mostly)
> patient QRO stations who stood by and let me make the contacts.  I appreciate
> it!
> 
> I beat last year's contact total by 300 QSOs and a ton of multipliers.  Thank
> you sunspots!
> 
> 73,
> George K2DM
> 
> 
> Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/