The target objectives, this time, were the followings (now along with the declared scores):
| Item | IOTA 2000 Goals | Claimed IOTA 2000 | Final IOTA 2000 |
| QSOs | 1400+ | 1398 | 1394 |
| Multipliers | 120+ | 152 | 149 |
| Score | 850.000+ | 1.106.712 | 1.082.634 |
| Final Rank # | 1 - 3 | World #? (100watt) |
WINNER
World #1 (100watt) |
Were these objectives ambitious enough?
Of course they were, and they had to be since my IOTA 1999 results at J49WI .
So no discussion: I had to do it better and........ I did it!!
What follows here is a description of what happened and...... how.
The days before the contest I had bad feelings about the site and the band
responsivness, especially on the upper side of the HF portion.
I hardly made a qso on 10 meters, and very few (less than 20) on 15 meters. It
sounded like
dead bands, but I knew they weren't (or not??). While 17 metres were almost
wide open
daily and in very good shape
I couldn't realize what was going wrong on the other bands.
I expressed all my frustration to my friend Stefano IK2QEI two day before, (he
surely
will decide not to
confess me nextime anymore...), and , like a true friend should do, he helped me
when paragonate this situation to the same he was feeling at J48QEI for the
EUHFC
last year.
(He won EUHFC, of course, and he had a totally different set up over there:
anyway I
was praying it were really true the same).
With these scenarios, and with 80 meter dipole set up as I could, certainly not
as per.... manual, I really didn't know how to make a serious plan: where to
start? how long to stay on the bands?
when to check for openings? I had only two bands, 20 and 40, on
which put the basis of something, really too bad a perspective.
I decided... not to decide yet.
The next day was a look around day. I wanted to relax myself and stay with the
family
the whole morning. I still was thinking for a plan, so I spent the afternoon to
try to understand better the situation. Nothing different from the previous
days: never had a real pileup on 15m, while the 17 were always good.
After dinner a spent a couple of hours more to look for the bands. I went to
sleep
with all my questions still open.
And the D-Day begun.
The sun and the sea were really nice, and enjoyed the whole morning on the beach: tunning, swimming, playing, resting, etc... The lunch is over and lasts less than two hours to go. Blood pressure is raising and I still do not want to think to the plan. I will decide the last minute but something is saying me that there is only one chance: the 15m! They have to be good, otherwise it will be anything but fun!.
|
It's 11.35 and get up from bed where I spent last hour to rest in the freshness
of the room: outside is 39 Celsius!
Switch on the radio and while the PC is completing its reboot start listen to the bands. What's happened? All the bands are full of signals. Oh well, that's what we all were waiting for! Quickly do the plan, which in fact is the same of last year at J49WI. Why to change if it has worked so well? Of course few refinements were already taken into account and now .....I know were to start. It's 11.45 now. It's time to look for a place on the band. I find a clear spot, which is even too much clear: 3 free KHz, at 21019. Start a CQ. No answer as usual....hhhmmm ??!!. Call CQ again and this time starts a little run. I thanks all the guys wishing them with: CUL in TEST, 73! 24 stations are worked in 12 minutes: not too bad, compared to what I saw till then on this band! |
|
DF5WA/P from EU047, calls in. It is a good multiplier for the contest: PSE
CUL in TEST, 73! EA8BWP..PSE CUL in TEST 73; EI0CZ.... PSE CUL in TEST 73..
It's 11.58Z....AS...AS....AS...AS.. with the paddle holding the spot while I'm restarting my TRLog with the new IOTA file, ready for the contest. It's 11.59Z and the long CQ TEST is running, while the clock approaches 12.00Z. Here we are and the first qso is on the log: UA3GM 599 1 EU001, TU . I had a real good pile-up: the rate meter rapidly increased 60,80,100,120,140,158 ???? and stayed up for quite a long time. |
|
The first hour ended with 119 qsos and 15 mults! Really a good start, isn't it!