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| 2013 Russian DX Contest Results |
Our signal was powered by an Ameritron ALS-1300 No Tune amplifier peaking at 600 watts on the meter.
I really appreciate logging Asian stations from as far as Mongolia into Japan, China, South Korea, and Asiatic Russia. Certainly, Friday night conditions from W6AB, Satellite Amateur Radio Club, was thumping #hamr fun.
Something happened as if a knife switch was thrown shutting down the ionosphere.
No Gain Without Pain
Admittedly, my quality of sleep was sorely lacking, as a cot is nothing like sleeping in the bed at home. Also, the evening adrenaline after logging DX on 15 and 40m, didn't help either.
I was pumped RadioSport March madness given my 24 hour kitchen pass and an opportunity to operate at the club station. The mean sea level height is 750 plus feet with clear take off angles in all directions. I had hardware fired up, wetware soaked with a few cups of coffee, then I sat in the chair.
Forty meter rate looked good for the first hour going into sunrise with plenty of Asian activity. The premise of the game being log those 10 pointers in Russia and build my oblast in addition DXCC multiplier count. I switched over to AB's 6 element tri-bander at a heading between 25 to 30 degrees from our location.
Collateral Damage
Twenty meter action into Europe was depressing and 15m surged for about an hour or so with the path collapsing too early in the event. Likewise, our East Coast competitors had their antenna systems pointed toward Europe, smashing my hopes at resurrecting rate. Furthermore, two stateside QSO parties, including BARTG RTTY and NA Sprint SSB siphoned most casual operators.
Perhaps, it is safe to say, that everyone suffered and no one came out the clear winner this weekend? Potentially, given RadioSport, chasing DXpeditions, and DXing are significant motivators for high frequency activity over a weekend, that a point of diminishing return was reached?
I pushed the off button on the wireless set after 10 hours of pain in the chair. Yeah, I'm having lower back issues although I'm in the gym strengthening my core muscle groups such as the abdomen. I feel strongly that my extra weight at the waist pulls on my lower back.
Overall, my success wasn't measured by my performance instead it was measured in lessons learned.
Contest on!
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