ARRL Int'l DX Contest CW (2013)

ARRL DX Contest, CW

Call: NR4M
Operator(s): NR4M, N3ND, W0UCE, N1LN, K7SV, K4GM, K4GMH, K4EC, KC4D,
K1SE, N3UA, N2YO, K4IA
Station: NR4M

Class: M/M HP
QTH: VA
Operating Time (hrs): 48

Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
160: 347 66
80: 1023 100
40: 1624 117
20: 2115 122
15: 1786 117
10: 959 107
-------------------
Total: 7854 629 Total Score = 14,726,148

Club: Potomac Valley Radio Club

Comments:

As we've frequently said before, it's always nice to have new folks operate with us. We has the same Carolina folks with us that did last year (W0UCE and N3ND) plus N1LN. It was great to have both Bills back from Lynchburg. As always the local group was fun, and had fun. Without them on Sunday afternoons, we wouldhave trouble covering bands after the traveling guys depart.

The station played well, with nothing breaking during the contest. The rotator on the 6 el 20 was broken before the contest and the 40M second radio lockout box was not working as well.

Bands by operator - In addition to ops listed other filled in from time to time.

160 - K4EC, KC4D, N1LN, W0UCE
80 - K7SV, W0UCE
40 - N2YO, K4GM
20 - N3UA, N1LN, K4GMH, NR4M
15 - N1LN, N3ND, KC4D, K4EC, K4IA
10 - K1SE, K4GM

It goes without saying, that conditions were pretty darn good. We had fairly stout rain static at time Friday night.

160 - Band was rather noisy at the beginning. New Hi-Z 8 circle heard very well. It was certainly better than the 4 two direction Beverages.

80 - Band started great with a first hour of 137. The 4 el delta loop, with apex at 190 ft, has really played well. We were impressed with the 4SQ, which is no slouch, until we got the delta up for Eur. The 80M 8 circle certainly plays, but we had a problem with 160 RF getting into it. Need to put bandpass filters on it, as we did the 160. Worked a number of 100W JAs, but don't think we worked any 5 watters this year. Then again, there were a bunch of QRPers from EUR. It was great to work EY8MM, T6MO and 9V1LC on the band! The Beverages seemed to play better on 80 than 160.

40 - As always, one of our prime bands. The stack of OWAs seemed to play well, as did the 3 el Mosley. We always kid Chip, N2YO, about all his YO kin working us to beef up his 40 meter totals!

20 - We apparently dropped the ball a bit early Saturday morning. Somehow or other, NR4M appeared at 4AM to find no operator and the band wide open to Eur. He had a great time working the band (still don't know what Mr. sleep at night was doing up at that hour!). The second radio lockout worked great on 20 and certainly contributed to the score in terms of numbers and mults. While the 6 el was pointed due west, the 5/5//5/5 stack still played nicely.

15 - The pileups from Eur were really heavy at times and the runs from JA were lots of fun, again making it interesting to pull some of the QRP signals out of the muck! The 5/5/5 stack has been a great performer, but we need to fix an apparent problem with the top one generating noise on 10M. 10 - While we were happy to work scattered Europeans Saturday morning, it was really nice to have a solid opening Sunday. After the Eur opening was gone, the guys really did a great job in scrubbing the bands looking for mults and Qs. It's really nice to have a stack 5/5/5 on Eur, a stack 6/6 on SA and a rotatable 5 el antenna to instantly switch directions. I don't think we worked any L/P Asia in this one.

A few general comments. We had few issues with stations poaching our run frequencies in this one. The node we usually use for spots/skimmer worked well until some point Saturday morning. At that point, we connected with one of the better known nodes, but for the rest of the weekend, were plagued by huge numbers of bad skimmer spots. I sense there are a number of skimmers out there that have not incorporated the updates made, that have greatly reduced the propensity for bad calls.

Oh, yeah, can't forget to mention that "Chef Archie" also came down from the Carolinas and prepared a scrumptious lunch on Saturday. Of course, his pals K0DER and BA1LEY, were here to keep Arch and the gang company and to  clear the floor of any food droppings!

And, finally, we extend our heartfelt thanks to Steve and Carolyn for their hospitality at the Goat Farm this weekend!