CQWW 2015 SSB SO AB LP OWO (Only One Wire)

Here as short review on OH1RX "CQWW SSB / SO AB LP only one wire -weekend":

Installation on Thursday was easy - 20 minutes and you are on air.
SWRs (mid band) 80 – 10 were all below 1.8, i.e. the antenna was performing even better than in the specs. Even 160 worked fine although not even designed to do so. I.e. I could really run LP AB OWO (One Wire Only), unassisted of course. Why to kill the fun?
N.b. Due to my tinnitus problem, I worked the contest, as all contests at home, without headset and using only rig´s loudspeaker. Not for SO2R guys, but really refreshing when you can move around freely.

Besides functional testing I worked only two test QSOs on Friday: 80m local and 18m DU1IST / 599. The 60 degrees tilted, bottom fed EFHW was surprisingly quiet compared to my full size delta loop and GP on 80m. Feeding point was 1m from the ground.
I planned to invest to the last days of autumn in my county and clean the gardens etc. to prepare for the winter. I.e. Classic category was just fine for me. With LP and wire S&P was the only meaningful way to operate thus I made no CQ runs at all! (good practice for M/S multiplier operation ☺ ). I started the contest very late, at 14:50z on Saturday after 8 hours work outdoors to find that 10m was all open … just great!

Working on a wire is a) easy b) difficult. No automation, not switches just run BUT you are an underdog in every QSO. I got both sincere greetings for trying hard to get through a pile up and irritated, nasty comments for being wakely audible. I put the later ones to the account of tired ops after 36 hrs of continuous run in the middle of terrible QRM/QRN and splatters. Typically I had to call 2-5 times to get through an ordinary pile up. Thick piles took a lot of attention in timing and way to put the call sign into alphabets. Quite of few multipliers I had to revisit on and on again, thus rig´s memory was full of stored spot QRGs in a all the bands.
Very odd phenomenon was to find stations in semi-rare zones to work by zones and countries rather than to fill the log as it goes. DX style contesting created unnecessary QRMming and comments on band. Signals were in general clean and wide splatters were rare.

Highlights: 10m openings from OH1 to the Pacific and Caribbean & short skip 15/20m QSOs to zones 16-14-20.
QSO of the contest: in fact it is “an almost in the log QSO” on 20m with ZL1X under AH0K (0.2kHz above, 59+20dB). This was a struggle that will be remembered. He got my CS ok, but did not hear my “five-nine-fifteen”, thus the QSO was not a ok in the log, pity. I closed the shop at 19z on Sunday due to work on early Monday.
Thanks to all for QSOs (and being patient).

Summary; EFHW- 8010-1k is a neat antenna for a weekend operation, when your goal is not to be the strongest on band but to get on air fast and have fun with minimum effort.

The fact sheet:
Contest : CQ World Wide DX Contest
Callsign : OH1RX
Mode : PHONE
Category : Single Operator (SO)
Overlay : Classic
Band(s) : All bands (AB)
Class : Low Power (LP)
Zone/State/... : 15
Locator : KP10NJ
Operating time : 16h58

BAND QSO CQ DXC DUP POINTS AVG
------------------------------------------------------------
160      34      4   22      0      33        0.97
80        83      8   43      0      94        1.13
40        78      9   36      0     110       1.41
20       144   17   56      0     230       1.60
15         92   17   45      1     170       1.85
10         84   18   39      0     169       2.01
------------------------------------------------------------
TOTAL 515  73 241      1     806      1.57
======================================
TOTAL SCORE : 253 084

CU in CQWW CW - a bit more power and antennas, though.
73s
Jouko OH1RX