Call: W5WZ
Operator(s): W5WZ WM5H
Station: W5WZ
Class: 2E LP
QTH: LA
Operating Time (hrs): 19:37
Summary:
Band CW Qs Ph Qs
80: 94 0
40: 318 15
20: 791 3
15: 711 172
10: 172 125
Total: 2086 315 2401 Total Score = 8,974
CQWW WPX Contest, SSB – 2020
Call: W5WZ
Operator(s): W5WZ
Station: W5WZ
Class: SO(A)SB20 HP
QTH: LA
Operating Time (hrs): 6
Summary:
Band QSOs
————
160:
80:
40:
20: 764
15:
10:
————
Total: 764 Prefixes = 353 Total Score = 386,182
Club: Louisiana Contest Club
Comments:
Weather was so nice, spent as much time outside as possible. Made good progress
on preparations for my new 80 meter 4-square, soon to be installed.
With the stay-at-home order in place, I felt guilty spending time away from my
family in the evenings, so went inside with them.
2020 ARRL DX SSB
Call: W5WZ
Operator(s): W5WZ WM5H K5OF K1DW KA5M
Station: W5WZ
Class: M/2 HP
QTH: LA – Louisiana
Operating Time (hrs): 45:42
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
160: 35 32
80: 163 70
40: 298 84
20: 753 107
15: 214 55
10: 4 4
Total: 1467 352 Total Score = 1,500,576
Club: Louisiana Contest Club
Comments:
Several “firsts” for the W5WZ station and team for this contest.
First time for Ed, K5OF to join the W5WZ team, flying in from North Carolina.
It was good to have him on the team.
First time for Dallas, K1DW to guest op at W5WZ; he operated from his home in
Texas, by remote controlling one of the K3’s at W5WZ.
First DX contest since expanding the beverage receive antenna farm.
First contest since moving the 80-meter dipole from 77 to 105 feet.
First contest with the EA4TX interlock installed, allowing easy Run/S&P on a
single band.
Marsh KA5M also drove in from Shreveport (100 miles) on Sunday.
Special thanks to Sharon KW5MOM for the pot of gumbo and the pot of chili; Bobby
for the usual spread of deli meats and breads; Ed for pre-contest dinner on
Thursday night.
As usual, too much food AND lots of fun!
–73, Scott W5WZ
January 2020 NAQP SSB
Band QSOs Mults
160: 104 36
80: 320 50
40: 573 55
20: 658 52
15: 106 25
10: 0 0
Total: 1761 218 Total Score 383,898
Since last weekend\’s NAQP CW, all the shack Window 7 computers were replaced with Window 10 computers. Added a single Logitech wireless keyboard/mouse – discovered that RF causes problems with – putting both computers in a F1 voice keyer loop. During the 15 meter run in the 2nd hour of the contest, something in the RF path failed, sending the SWR very high, prematurely ending our work on 15 meters. No other problems. Me and Bobby both stayed in the seat.
Our best performance to date in an NAQP!
Thanks for the QSOs, and thanks for those that accepted our invite to move to other bands.
2020 Jan NAQP CW M/2
Call: W5WZ
Operator(s): W5WZ WM5H
Station: W5WZ
Class: M/2 LP
QTH: LA
Operating Time (hrs): 12
Location: LA
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
160: 181 43
80: 289 53
40: 301 56
20: 311 57
15: 72 22
10: 0 0
Total: 1154 231 Total Score 266,574
2019 CQ WW CW M/S HP
First time every for a Multi-Op of any major CW contest. We had fun, and wished for more operators to share the fun and BIC time.
As always, thanks to WM5H for pre-contest work getting the station ready and for good food.
Very glad to have my elmer, Jim W5LA, BIC for the majority of the run workload. We are going to make a serious contester out of him!
Band QSOs Zones Countries
160: 67 14 41
80: 168 24 82
40: 256 31 110
20: 775 34 133
15: 89 23 75
10: 39 11 21
Total: 1394 137 462 Total Score 2,210,909
During a post-contest phone call with K8AZ, Tom remarked that a country count more than 400 in the M/S category is a serious competitive effort.
2019 ARRL NOV SS SSB M/S
Once again, a group of LCC members tackled the M/S HP category. Jim W5LA, Bobby WM5H and Scott W5WZ were on hand for the event. Prior obligations took all 3 way on Sunday morning for about 4 hours. Consequently, QSO count was down, but we still had fun!
Band QSOs
160: 0
80: 241
40: 689
20: 532
15: 6
10: 0
Total: 1468 Sections 83 Total Score 243,688
2019-CQ WW SSB @ K8AZ
I made my 7th trip to Chesterland, Ohio to the fantastic station of Tom, K8AZ for the 2019-CQ WW SSB contest. Yes, it is a long drive – 16 hours or so. But the camaraderie with the gang makes it all the better!
As usual, I spend some time on Friday helping Tom with various maintenance, repairs, or installations of new items. This trip was no exception. Many hands do indeed make light work!
Tom takes a pre-contest walk around the antenna farm. This time, we found the rope supporting the SW element of the 80-meter transmit 4-square had broken, and the result was a rope tangled up in the elements of several yagis on a rotating tower.
In waning day light, we worked to free the rope from the tower such that the 80-m antenna would be usable. The rotating tower is 15 and 20 meters, so we parked it toward Africa for the night. Once the rope was free, we managed to get it positioned such that the 80-m antenna functioned for the overnight operating period.
The next morning, it was raining. The forecast called for increasing winds throughout the day and into the night. K8AZ and I ventured with bow and arrow to get a string over the appropriate tree. First challenge was using a sling blade to clear walking paths and work areas in the raspberry thicket, then cross a creek to find the loose end of the rope. Second challenge was to place the string. First shot success! Then pulled a larger string, and at last the final rope. With the antenna repaired, back to the house for shower and then operating time again.
Near sunset on Sunday night, suddenly 80-meter 4-square SWR went really high. Upon inspection, we found the NE element had broken loose from the feed point. Hauled a ladder out and worked beyond sunset to complete the repair with 20 minutes left in the contest.
Highlights of this contest: seeing my friends K8AZ, K8NZ, W8CAR, WT8C, AA8OY, K8RR, W8WWV, K8BL; riding in and driving a dual motor Tesla Model 3; meeting KE3X and talking contest strategy; and working CN3A on 160m with my own call!
CQ Magazine included this blog post in their official post-contest writeup!
Two years in a row! 2018 ARRL SS Delta Division Winner!
2019 August NAQP SSB M/2
Call: W5WZ
Operator(s): K5ER KA5M W5LA W5WZ WM5H
Station: W5WZ
Class: M/2 LP
QTH: LA
Operating Time (hrs): 10:53
Location: USA
Summary: Compare Scores
Band QSOs Mults
160: 2 2
80: 57 24
40: 434 48
20: 627 52
15: 0 0
10: 0 0
Total: 1120 131 Total Score 146,720
Five members of the Louisiana Contest Club gathered at W5WZ for a M/2 effort.
Having operated the past three NAQP SSB as a M/2 team, Bobby WM5H and Scott W5WZ, were the anchors, joined by periodic station guests Mark K5ER, Marsh KA5M and Jim W5LA.
For this contest, the SO2R station was split between Run 1 and Run2. Additionally,
for the first time at W5WZ we added an in-band S&P station interlocked with Run 2. This S&P 2 was furnished with its own set of independent antenna: KT-34, 40m dipole and 80m dipole. Bandpass filters and front-end protection was employed on all three tranceivers.
We opened with a 262 QSO first hour; hopes were high! The rate decayed to a second
hour of 159, followed by 140 in the 3rd hour.
W5WZ Max Rates:
2019-08-17 1821Z – 8.0 per minute (1 minute(s)), 480 per hour by W5WZ
2019-08-17 1829Z – 5.1 per minute (10 minute(s)), 306 per hour by KA5M W5WZ
2019-08-17 1904Z – 4.5 per minute (60 minute(s)), 272 per hour by KA5M W5WZ
At 2240z, we heard what every contester dreads on a summer day – booming thunder.
Looking at a real-time lightning strike website, we quickly made the decision to
disconnect and safe the station until the slow-moving storm passed. No rain ever
fell at W5WZ, and the strongest part of the storm passed a few miles to our west.
W5WZ – Off Times >= 30 Minutes
2019-08-17 2253Z – 2019-08-17 2359Z 01:07 (67 mins)
No signals ever heard on 10 or 15. Even though 20m was the QSO total king, the mult
count was low. 40m QSO total was lower than our expectations, but the big
disappointment was 80m. Even with the beverage receive antennas, because of the nearby storms and static crashes, we were sorely disappointed in our 80 meter QSO totals.
Carribean stations were not heard; logged 2 Puerto Rico, 2 British VI, and 1 Barbados.
Beginning around 2130z, QSB on 20m was fast and deep, and it wasn’t much better on 40m.
But, with all that, the station performed flawlessly. Operators new to interlocked
transceivers gained valuable experience that will be most helpful for November SS SSB. We employed N1MM+’s “partner mode” on Run 2 and S&P2, with the partner having a separate computer while listening to the same receiver audio stream as the rig operator.
My elmer, Jim W5LA, is a CW guy. He says he doesn’t like SSB contesting. However,
he remarked during the contest that operating a SSB multi-op contest was one of his
bucket list items. Don’t be going anywhere Jim! We’ll make an SSB op out of you yet!
Without the help and contributions of the team, this couldn’t have happened and been
such a success
My wife, Sharon KW5MOM, tolerating all of us!
Bobby, WM5H, for 2 days of assistance in the sweltering heat to get the outdoor antenna work and other preparations completed. And as always, for ensuring that the team is well-fed (to find out how well-fed, you’ll have to be on the W5WZ team for a contest)!
Jim, W5LA for bringing a few pieces of needed equipment to make the partner mode a
success, and for crossing over to the dark side of SSB contesting! It was great to
operate with my elmer at my side (BTW, it is his fault I’m a ham!).
Mark K5ER, for giving up a valuable Saturday away from his wife and other of life’s
necessary responsibilites and priceless opportunities with family.
Marsh KA5M, for making the longest drive to join us- last time he joined the W5WZ team was 2010 CQ WW SSB- he should come back more often!
Thanks for all the QSOs!
73 from Scott W5WZ