CQWW WPX Contest, SSB 2011 Call: DM1A Operator(s): DL1IAO Station: DL0WW Class: SOAB HP QTH: JN49FO Operating Time (hrs): 34 Radios: SO2R Summary: Band QSOs ------------ 160: 45 80: 217 40: 442 20: 1011 15: 1125 10: 83 ------------ Total: 2923 Prefixes = 1100 Total Score = 8,588,800 Club: Bavarian Contest Club Comments: 2x IC756Pro3(INRAD) + Alpha87A, IC4KL (40m) TopTen decoders, WX0B bandpass filters & homebrew 2R-switching WT v3.23.0 on 2x HP Omnibook XE3 (160) 27m shunt-fed tower, Mag-Loop (RX) (80) Bobtail (NW/SE), Delta Loop, DP @10m (40) 3el M2 Yagi @20m (linear-loaded, tuned for CW), DP @10m (20) 5el M2 Yagi @27m (15) 5el Yagi @25m (10) 6el Yagi @24m (sharing tower with 40m) I returned from a business trip on Saturday, so off-time choices were limited. I didn't get the full operating time but tried to catch the best DX hours. As the 40m Yagi is useless in the high phone band I needed to fire up the IC4KL with its built-in antenna tuner or use a low DP for those QSOs. Most times 15m felt very good, even to AS and OC in the morning. However, on Sunday between about 14:30-16:30Z I experienced a real propagation blackout with DX signals almost disappearing. I could watch it on the Pro3's scope and the only thing that worked was to switch between 20m and 40m and work some EU or AS. Others just seemed to continue with their 15m NA run. I noted a similar effect in ARRL SSB but thought it was a poor choice of antenna height for that part of the opening. With a few SSB antenna tweaks and better planning 10M should be within reach from this station. Of course, a few people have done it easily this year - congrats! CU in summer for some CW contesting. 73, Stefan DL1IAO@contesting.com http://www.dl1iao.com