CQ WORLD WIDE CW DX CONTEST -- 2014

      Call:      PJ2T
      Category:  Multi Multi
      Power:     High Power
      Band:      All Band
      Mode:      CW
      Country:   Curacao
      Zone:      9      

CQWW CW 2014 – Could it get any better? 

Wow - another CQWW CW in the books.  It never ceases to amaze me how we all converge on a site and the common bond of ham radio supersedes differences and we all fall in to a common goal. 

Our team consisted of: 

Rick -  N0YY + Dee
Geoff - W0CG + Dorothy
Marty - K2PLF
Fred - NA2U
Kyle - WA4PGM + Pam
Mark - N5OT
Gene - KB7Q
Lee - KY7M
Jeff - K8ND
Jim - W8WTS
Bill - K9HZ 

We set three goals for the team: 

#1  Have Fun

#2  Beat last year’s score

#3  Beat HK1NA

#4  Win the World

 We certainly met our #1 goal - we had fun!  Great food, good conversation, learning from each other, is all part of the appeal of what PJ2T has to offer in a multi-operator environment.

 As the dust has settled a bit the scores illustrate that CN2AA appears to have finally beat the standing M/M record from 1999 and in so doing established real world dominance!  And they beat an old CN2 score!

 Then came the next three - HK1NA, 9K2HN, and PJ2T.  All close in score but...  That said, I am willing to wait to see what the LCR/UBN does to the scores.  You never know...

 I will choose to focus on the high points and the take away's that keep us motivated and coming back for more.  We can be very proud that we bested our local competition in the multiplier department.  Clearly we hear better and we do a better balance of Qs and multipliers.  Sure we have some limitations, but we are also evolving.  And we will always evolve!

 We did leave some multipliers on the table.  ZA/YU7CM on 80 CW was loud but unworkable.  We heard the 7O2 on multiple bands but it would up in only the 15M log.  And there were others.

 But here is what I can tell you - we did more points per op than everyone except CN2AA!!!  That says a lot!  The most important component of the effort are the human assets!

 Were there frustrations - sure!  But if you don't push things you would never experience them.  WriteLog may be nearing its end of usefulness.  We need to improve antenna selection and availability at the key positions.  (We have a plan for that!)  We still have significant interference issues.  (Some of which are nearly impossible to fix - consider the 20M interference to 10M when we were both on the US Tower!!!

 From a personal perspective, I enjoyed the team, the camaraderie, the willingness to do what it took to get things ready.  We got hit with some travel challenges and lost luggage, but that is travel - not PJ2T!  The food was great!  Dee even wants to come back - she enjoyed spending time with a bunch of hams!  Pam was a lot of fun too and helped keep us fed.

 Oh yeah and the food - WOW - I drool just thinking about the meals...  'nuff said!  And I think I can say with authority - no one starved!

 And then there is Geoff...  What can we say - without his attention to detail for the station and maintenance, we would likely be contesting with a dipole barefoot.  It takes a lot of work and Geoff has been there to keep it all working.  He loves a couple of slots to operate, but is content to watch us all churn through the contest.

 As a team we did very well.  We brought together a bunch of like-minded operators with different skills and perspectives.  We came together, not as all-stars, but as a well-oiled machine with core skills and our collective differences.  It is those differences that make us a great team.  I was honored to be the contest coordinator.

 The band captain concept seems to work well.  It allows the sub-teams to do the detailed coordination necessary to succeed.  Again it was FUN!!!

 I am attaching some of the different breakdowns for your personal assessment.  There were some interesting observations:

 1)  Kyle wins the highest Q per hour rate - but most interesting it was the first hour of the contest!!!  (196 per hour!)

 2)  We put our first 1000 Qs in the log in the first two hours!  Ahhhh  if we could have kept that rate...

 3)  Rate on 10M was lower than I had anticipated but I also did not anticipate the depth of the piles.  In the past, Jeff, K8ND had commented about 160M with the deep fades where you had to construct callsigns one letter at a time - well it was the same case on 10M!  That sure impacted the rate!

 4)  Watching 10M be a 24 hour band was eye-opening.  Begs us to think our way through the implications.

 5)  The ridge antenna continues to amaze and the technology of the triplexer is nothing short of magic.

 6)  We worked a total of 238 stations on all 6 bands!  There were 4605 unique callsigns.

7)  We worked more than 9 QSOs per minute 126 times.

 8)  US represented 42% of our QSOs.  The rest were distributed as follows:

Germany = 5.7%

Japan = 5.4%

European Russia = 4.9%

Canada = 3.1%

Ukraine = 2.7%

Italy = 2.4%

Asiatic Russia = 2.3%

Poland = 2.1%

Czech Republic = 2.0%

 Plans are already developing for next year.  Come down and be radio active!!!

      - Rick, N0YY