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Contest : CQ World Wide DX Contest
Callsign : M0BLF
Mode : CW
Category : Single Operator - Single Transmitter (SOSB)
Overlay : ---
Assisted : Assisted
Band(s) : 40
Class : Low Power (LP)
Zone/State/... : 14
Locator : IO70WL
Operating time : 8h50
BAND QSO CQ DXC DUP POINTS AVG
--------------------------------------
40 200 12 51 0 282 1.41
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TOTAL 200 12 51 0 282 1.41
======================================
TOTAL SCORE : 17 766
Dupes are not included in QSO counts neither avg calculations
Station: IC-706Mk2G (with FL-100 CW filter), 90W, Bencher CW key
Antennas: For 40m: Inverted-V dipole at about 8m max height
Computers: Win-Test for logging, no CW keying from computer
This was only a part-time entry, with a total of about 9 hours on. It was mainly aimed at increasing the number of countries I have worked on CW on 40m (62 before the contest started). This objective was successfullly achieved, as I worked 12 new DXCCs on 40m CW: 4O, CT3, D4, EZ, IS0, JA, LX, SV, SV9, TA, TF and ZC4. EZ was an all-time new DXCC for me and D4, JA, SV9, TA and TF were all new for me on CW. The best DX was JA, which was a big surprise given the equipment and QTH.
As indicated by the low average points score (1.41), most QSOs were with Europe — but it was only a dipole!
There were no major problems, except that I lost an hour or so on Saturday morning after some problems with faulty connections in the temporary dipole, which then needed to be taken down. The IC-706 struggled with the amount of stations on the band, even with the additional filter, and so had to be operated with the built-in attenuator. I have to say that I have not noticed this in major contests before, so perhaps people were running more power this year? The computer also developed some problems, which caused me to lose time. Not a problem with Win-Test per se, but with Windows itself: the laptop I was using had not been connected to the internet for over a year, and so there were a lot of Windows Updates transparently downloaded. The issue was that it decided to download more than it had hard-disk space to install, resulting in having 0MB free space, and Win-Test freezing while the HDD was thrashed! Helpfully, this occurred at one of the busiest times on 40m: 22UTC on Saturday. Grrr... Needless to say, I then disconnected the computer from the network to stop any more downloads (which were continuing despite automatic updates being off!), but this then left me without Cluster assistance throughout Sunday.
All-in-all, however, I am quite pleased with the way that this contest went from this poor location.
The video below was made during the contest. If you cannot see the embedded video, you can also watch it at YouTube.
QSL via M0BLF: Full QSL Information
I last entered CQ WW DX CW in 2006, when I was in the SOSB(A)/20 LP category.