[Moon-net] 2007 ARRL EME Contest (2m Recap)

[Edward Cole]

The second weekend of the ARRL EME Contest is about over.

I had a good second weekend with 18 stations worked:
3 new states: MS, GA. PA
2 new DXCC: Ukraine and Argentina
1 new WAC: South America
12 new initial contacts

Here is the list:
24/11/2007:
[UTC-CALL-SIG-T/R POL, * initial]
0000 QRV
0311 DL8GP -20 H/V
0327 *DJ7OF -16 H/V
0343 *UR5LX -17 V/V
0657 K9DX - 9 H/H
0713 *W8PAT -24 H/H
0719 *K1JT -12 H/H
0725 *N5KDA -12 H/H
0733 *WA4NJP -17 H/H
0743 KB8RQ - 9 H/H
0749 *W3SZ -15 H/H
1000 QRT
1500 QRV
1800 QRT

25/11/2007:
0030 QRV
0250 HB9Q - 6 V/H
0711 *W2CNS - 16 H/V
0719 *F6BKI - 16 H/V
0826 *LU1CGB -18 V/V
0909 *ZL2DX - 13 H/V
0927 K6MYC - 10 H/V
0943 *K7MI - 24 H/V  (polarity was sw 3-times to finish at 0949)
1000 QRT
1400 QRV
1519 RN6BN - 8 V/H
1650 QRT due to high wind

Not unexpected was the weekend start with nearly every KHz from 144.1 
to 144.150 occupied.  My DEMI 144/28 + SDR-IQ showed this real nice.
Also was not getting any calls for the first few hours as all the QRO 
stations work each other.
But then about 0630 my CQ's generated a pileup that lasted two hours...nice.
Note that during that time Faraday was quiet and signals were 
great.  Late (>1500) Saturday conditions were bad!
Sunday Faraday kicked up making it a real challenge to keep a QSO 
going.  I saw -18 stations dive to -28 in less than a 
minute.  Patience was the way.
Without Polarity diversity I would not have made many contacts (kudos 
to M2 & K6MYC).

The first weekend netted me 16 contacts (1 dupe).
Total 32 contacts (23 initials):
10 states (3 new WAS, total 21)
14 countries (5 new DXCC, total 32)
Score?  I'll figure that later :-)

Think what would result of having QRO?  I feel pretty good as a QRP 
effort (125w at antenna).  We're working on that.
Thanks to all those I worked who were the ONES that put in the effort!

73,
Ed - KL7UW
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  BP40IQ   50-MHz - 10-GHz   www.kl7uw.com
144-EME: FT-847, mgf-1801, 4x-xpol-20, 185w
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