The Contest

Finally ready to go just as the clock ticked 23:59. That gave me one minute to find a frequency and start CQing. The run was immediate even though signals were very fluttery. The USA East Cost was very weak. Had a few Carribbean stations call in that I never heard again - V47KP and FG5EY. Very quickly the band started to go to JA. 9M2TO called in for another good mult. Near the end of the first hour, RU0LL, DU3NXE, ZM2K, and BV4QW were some nice surprises.

The ten meter antenna system at PY5EG

Stateside was gone after the first hour and it was mostly JAs on the band. JA is almost at the antipode from PY5EG and N5FA had warned me that they would come in all night. I took a spin across the band and worked XX9X who had a good signal and XU2A.

Around 02Z, the band went even deeper and I worked 3W5FM, HS0AC, and a weak AT2UR. Worked aboput 15 BV and BY stations which is more than I even knew existed. They had great signals!

At 03Z I snagged 8Q7DV. A few minutes later A61AJ came in. In between all of this DX were more JAs. It seemed that if I called CQ they could work me. But with all the flutter, if I called them they could not get the call correct. 7W5B is not right! Only 16 QSOs this hour but they were interesting ones. A small JA run erupted in the 04Z hour. I would tune around occasionally and it was wild to hear an almost quiet band with things like XZ1N and A45XR coming in.

After a short break, I was back on 10m during the 07Z hour. Found JT1A with a big signal. Started a great run of Europeans about 0730Z. At the time, I thought they were coming in from the Northeast on direct path. Rates were really good in the 08Z and 09Z hours. Local sunrise was about 0750Z.

At 10Z it was like someone threw a switch. I couldn't get any answers so had to do some S&P. The OH gang was booming in, but not much else. Worked OH0RJ for a good one. I really thought we had experienced a SID event and had no idea what to expect. At this point I felt any chance at a record was slipping away. The 11Z and 12Z hours were in the 50's. It was obvious that the path from the USA to Europe was great! Tuning around I was lucky to find TA2IJ for a new one.

18Z and 19Z are when the real fun began. Having 199 and 192 hours back to back was a thrill. No question that the USA ops are the easiest to run in the world. They send things only once, they are loud, and they are fast. 5N3CPR and VP5M each called in to give me new ones. At 1911Z VE2/N6ZZ helped me out with zone 2. That was a relief. At 1941Z KL1R gave me zone 1.

Somewhere during the 23Z hour, Oms walked into the shack and noticed that Marcelo was turning the ``wrong'' rotator. I could have died - we had just worked the first 23:30 with me turning the 15m rotator and Marcelo turning the 10m rotator. What a low point. I think it was just conincidence, but immediately upon recognizing the problem the JA signals came up and a nice run started!

I felt really bad for Marcelo. Since he had to get up to turn the rotators, he usually pointed them at Europe and NA and left them. Since I was sitting right next to them, I would often turn the high beam in some unusual direction just to see what might be out there. When you are dealing with such big antennas, the wrong direction is like putting the lights out! What was amazing to me is that I had not missed a multiplier that I had heard up to that point.