I have never before taken part in the CW Ops CW Open contests. It’s an interesting format, 3x 4-hour sessions. They are clearly designed around the East Coast of the USA for times that suit my operating and sleeping patterns.
The first session on Friday 4th September was 2000-2359 EDT, which meant only staying up for an hour or two longer than normal. However, hvaing recently had some unusually serious computer trouble I found when I tried to start the contest I had to reinstall N1MM+, which lost me 15 minutes off the start.
Session 1 Call: AD5XI Operator(s): AD5XI Station: AD5XI Class: Single Op LP QTH: Operating Time (hrs): 3:45 Summary: Band QSOs Mults ------------------- 160: 80: 52 40 40: 70 66 20: 15 15 15: 10: ------------------- Total: 137 121 Total Score = 16,577 Club: Potomac Valley Radio Club
Session 2 ran on Saturday morning starting at 0800 and running until 1159 EDT, which was an earlier start than usual for a weekend, but I was able to get up in time.
Even though the session was was going OK then for some reason N1MM+ was hanging while trying to log a QSO. Closing the ‘Available Mults and Qs’ window stopped the hanging. No idea, but I did the whole 4 hours, though band conditions didn’t seem as good to me and my QSO count was lower.
Session 2 Call: AD5XI Operator(s): AD5XI Station: AD5XI Class: Single Op LP QTH: Operating Time (hrs): 4 Summary: Band QSOs Mults ------------------- 160: 80: 26 26 40: 25 25 20: 62 57 15: 10: ------------------- Total: 113 108 Total Score = 12,204 Club: Potomac Valley Radio Club
Session 3 then ran from 1600-2000 EDT, which again I found rather civilised, however it started badly with a very wideband elevated noise floor – much more than usual and my ANC-4 wouldn’t shift it. Finally that noise dropped off, meaning I could hear on 20m again, but it came back soon after.
Then my folks from back home called and kept me on the video call for a couple of hours. I got back in the chair for the final 20 mins and thankfully the noise wasn’t there at that time.
Session 3 Call: AD5XI Operator(s): AD5XI Station: AD5XI Class: Single Op LP QTH: Operating Time (hrs): 4 Summary: Band QSOs Mults ------------------- 160: 80: 40: 14 10 20: 30 30 15: 10: ------------------- Total: 44 40 Total Score = 1,760 Club: Potomac Valley Radio Club
Some very impressive numbers being handed out, made me wish for even a modest tower and directional antennas as well as the ability to run high power. Oh well, 100W and a dipole still gave me an enjoyable experience until the noise levels of Session 3 severely reduced my mojo. Had the noise not been plaguing me I may have held off the family video! 😉