Imabug's journey into electronics and amateur radio as AB4UG and VA6BUG
Final scores for the CQ WW 2013 contest are available and the 60 828 points I racked up in the Single Op Low Power All Band category got me #819 in the world, #280 in North America and #49 in the US 4th call area. With the Rookie overlay, it puts me at #55 in the world, #19 in North America and #4 in the US 4th call area.
For my first big contest effort, I’m pretty pleased with that.
There were a bunch of QSO parties happening this weekend: MI, ND, NE and ON along with the ARRL Rookie Roundup (SSB). I didn’t have a whole lot of time to spend playing on the radio this weekend, but I did spend a few hours juggling log files tuning around for QSO party contacts. Caught handful of MI stations and a few ON stations, but didn’t hear any ND stations and only a couple very faint NE stations.
Michigan QSO Party
Band QSOs Pts Mul
7 3 3 2
14 5 5 4
Total 8 8 6
Score: 48
Ontario QSO Party
Band QSOs Pts Mul
14 3 12 3
Total 3 12 3
Score: 36
Tuned around for a little bit during the last half of the Rookie Roundup, but didn’t hear too many stations playing. Found four stations wandering around 20m. This will be my last year as a “Rookie”, so I figured I might as well take part in the Rookie Roundups while I can.
ARRL Rookie Roundup (SSB)
Band QSOs Pts Mlt
14 4 8 4
Total 4 8 4
Score: 32
This past weekend was the Georgia QSO Party, a 2 day affair that I only played for a few hours in. The only activity I was hearing was on 40m again, like with the other nearby state QSO parties I’ve participated in.
Made 19 QSOs in 18 counties tuning up and down 40m over the two days, including one who was using an /AG suffix as a new General class ham.
Band QSOs Pts Mul
7 19 19 18
Total 19 19 18
Score: 342
The CQ WW log check report for my submission dropped into my mailbox last night and it looks like i’ve got a few busted QSOs. Ended up with 177 contacts and 60 828 points (down from the 185 QSOs and 70 716 points in my initial submission). Turns out there’s also a point penalty for QSOs that aren’t in the other person’s log, or incorrectly copied call signs. 4 of my QSOs got dropped for not being in the other contact’s log, which is kind of disappointing because I know at least two of them were clearly copied by both sides (at least I thought so anyway). Another 4 QSOs got dropped because I didn’t copy the call sign correctly (either typo’d or heard incorrectly). Rats.
On the other side, 2 stations didn’t copy my call sign correctly, and 3 got the exchange wrong.
I like these log check reports. Gives me some things to keep in mind for the next contest.
************************** Summary ***************************
185 Claimed QSO before checking (does not include duplicates)
177 Final QSO after checking reductions
498 Claimed QSO points
444 Final QSO points
94 Claimed countries
91 Final countries
48 Claimed zones
46 Final zones
142 Claimed mults
137 Final mults
70716 Claimed score
60828 Final score
14.0% Score reduction
4.3% Error Rate based on claimed and final qso counts
4 (2.2%) calls copied incorrectly
0 (0.0%) exchanges copied incorrectly
0 (0.0%) band change violations
4 (2.2%) not in log
0 (0.0%) duplicates (Removed without penalty)
0 (0.0%) calls unique to this log only (not removed)
************************* Not In Log *************************
28338 PH 2013-10-26 1626 AB4UG 5 ED5N 14
21303 PH 2013-10-26 2215 AB4UG 5 D4C 35
14247 PH 2013-10-27 0020 AB4UG 5 XP1A 40
14223 PH 2013-10-27 2301 AB4UG 5 NR5M 4
********************* Incorrectly copied *********************
21245 PH 2013-10-26 2101 AB4UG 5 KP4BDC 8 correct KP4BD
21285 PH 2013-10-26 2129 AB4UG 5 HI3Q 8 correct HI3K
21336 PH 2013-10-27 2040 AB4UG 5 PX2T 11 correct PX2C
7171 PH 2013-10-27 2235 AB4UG 5 SN2T 15 correct SN2B
********* Stations Copying Your Exchange Incorrectly**********
28000 PH 2013-10-26 1436 TM7F 14 AB4UG 4 should be 5
7182 PH 2013-10-27 0218 ED5N 14 AB4UG 4 should be 5
14202 PH 2013-10-27 2256 CT3MD 33 AB4UG 4 should be 5
************* Stations Copying AB4UG Incorrectly *************
21367 PH 2013-10-26 2258 ZW5B 11 AB4U 5
7169 PH 2013-10-27 0212 RN3F 16 KB4UG 5
Spent a few hours playing in the CQ WPX 2014 contest. Had a few other things going on this weekend so I didn’t spend a whole lot of time playing radio. Most of my radio playing was on the last day of the contest. I think I put in a total of about 4 or 5 hours in the chair and got 77 contacts, pretty much all on 10m. Went down to some of the lower bands just to see what I could hear. Found a few other contesters, but it wasn’t quite as busy as I expected. Compared to last year, my QSO rate was higher, but fewer contacts.
One big highlight was working a VK4 station (VK4KW) on 10m SSB which I was kind of surprised to hear, and even more surprised when I actually got him.
This is how I finished up the contest.
Band QSOs Pts WPX
7 4 4 4
14 2 6 1
21 5 11 4
28 66 181 64
Total 77 202 73
Score: 14,746
Nothing spectacular, but I think it’s decent enough.