K3LR was Multi Multi for the first time in the ARRL DX CW contest

K3LR finished #4 in W/VE

BAND   QSOs   DXCC  OPs
160        54         41         W3YQ
80          231       66         NI8L
40          811       107       NA8V
20          1136     124       WA8YVR
15          867       105       WR3G
10          108       55         K8CX

Total     3207      498  =  4,791,258 points

+ K3LR helped on all bands

ARRL contest observations

*WWV   Day 1  SF108  A=17   Day 2  SF108  A=13

I was the 20 meter operator at K3LR during the ARRL DX contest
last weekend.  Here are some notes and reactions:

First, the ARRL is a *lot* different from the CQ WW.  There is just
no comparison in the level of activity.  I thought that the level of
participation from JA and the former Soviet republics was way down.
There was almost no Africa at all.  This was very evident on Sunday
afternoon -- bands were open, but no new QSOs to be found.

Soapbox comment:  Couldn't the ARRL do something about this?
Is support for contests now politically incorrect?  A couple of
suggestions are obvious:  (a) allow points from DX-peditions to be
counted towards club scores, and (b) publicize the contest (and
possible new awards as incentives) with DX clubs and ARRL-ish groups.
Maybe point (b) is already being done, I dunno.

Back to the contest ...

We had a different operating setup on 20 than W3LPL.  I was pretty much
the operator.  Tim, K3LR, spelled me for a few hours each night for sleep.
That was pretty much the way it was on all bands -- a one-guy show (six
different guys, of course).

My general comment about the whole weekend was how *weak* signals were.
The only signals I ever remember being over S9 (on a 781 with the preamp
on) were a couple of ZL's late Saturday night.  When the band is really
open, usually it is full of key clicks and trash Europe, but this
weekend it was clean as a whistle.  Not a good sign.

Pretty much copied signals that were completely in the mud the whole
weekend long, especially in the afternoons.  Nothing too unusual about
that -- but I don't think I could have run half the stations that I did
using Tim's antennas (5/5/5 at 170/110/50) if I was at my old house (single
5 el at 130).  I just couldn't have heard them.

I did "notice" the long path opening Sunday morning, but I don't think we
really profitted much by it.  It was nice to figure out that SU2MT was
coming in LP, so that it went from a huge ugly pile SP to in-and-out on LP.
But parking the high beam WSW and calling CQ didn't get any answers at
all, and I didn't hear any LP stuff that we hadn't already worked.
Still, it was a neat opening.

We really didn't have any glitches that we can point to as costing us
QSOs -- we just came up about 100 contacts short of the top US scores,
that's all.  In years past, I think that we could have made that up
with JA's and Asiatic Russians, but they just weren't there for this
contest.  Not this year, maybe not for a lot of years.

We will just have to keep trying, I guess, and hope that the right
propagation will come around to make us more competitive.

   -- Pat
      WA8YVR

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