Like a Sponge

Absorption of DX signals according to HAARP

I enjoy reading several radio related blogs and one in that batch is by John, N8ZYA. John's blog details his chasing DX using QRP (low power). John's at the 122 days of DX worked now and I applaud his determination. John's use of QRP and indoor antenna's is something I may be doing myself, depending on where we choose to live in 1'land. If we are apartment dwellers, that will surely be the case but if we are lucky enough to land a house with a bit of property, hopefully I can throw something minimal up on the rental property. Maybe, just maybe, I can catch John on 40 meters or one of the other bands once we get settled. Sadly, I have not worked John from my Alaskan QTH, but he did hear me on one occasion and tried to unsuccessfully work me. I was hoping to work John from here someday but it appears I will be 4,600 miles closer when I finally snag a QSO with him.

I'm envious of John today as from the HAARP Riometer graph above, I simply hear absolutely nothing on the bands this morning. Not one signal! The radiation storm has rendered the ham bands useless here. Even if I could send 1,495 more watts than John through my coax and out my 4 element beam at 43 feet, I'm not working anyone. You simply can't work what you don't hear. Well, excluding some of the weak signal digital stuff now-a-days. :0)

Propagation here in Alaska (like many northern latitudes) can be extremely challenging. I had high hopes for some low power contest QSO's this weekend in the WPX contest. If this spaceweather continues, there will be few, if any. But on a positive note, our local weather has taken a turn for the better! The weather at our house is currently 40 degrees! The holiday weekend local forecast appears promising. Needless to say, it will be another busy weekend here and thankfully, the outdoor activities will not be hampered by rain or gusting winds.

I can't predict what the bands will be like tomorrow afternoon for the start of the WPX contest but at least I can safely predict our grill will be used a few times this weekend. This weekend will be the culmination of my ham radio activities from BP53lu. My remaining QSO's with my Mosley HF beam are now on the horizon. As the DXing sun sets for me this weekend, it will rise once again many miles east of here in the coming weeks/months. This is the weekend that I normally close the shack for the summer. This weekend is no different. It's camping season and we are now being bathed in sunlight nearly 24 hours a day. Lack of propagation, depressing? Yes!  All I have to do is step outdoors and it's all forgotten. 

Hello May!

 I woke up early and had a few extra minutes so I decided to turn on the radio to listen for any DX. It's May 1st, and I thought it would be nice to log a contact or two early, breaking in the month right. When I turned on my Icom 765PRO, all I heard was powerline noise on 20 meters, and lots of it. We recently received another 3-4 inches of fresh snow so obviously a transformer or an electrical connection somewhere is being effected by the latest accumulation. And not only that, but I found the bands to be totally silent. This led me to HAARP's website and in looking at the Magnetometer and the Riometer, it was obvious we have some solar activity that has effected propagation.

Like summer, I hope the propagation returns to Alaska. Like spaceweather and local weather, it seems to be one storm after another. But, I'm remaining optimistic that if May begins like this that maybe, just maybe, we will have excellent conditions for the CQ World Wide CW WPX Contest at the end of the month. That will be my last contest from this QTH so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I can have the window open to the shack and work lots of stations on 10 meters! Wishful thinking? Maybe. But that's pretty good from a "Glass is half empty" kinda guy. 

Propagational Time-Out?

HAARP - My Icom is no match for high solar winds today!

Spaceweather has been a bit of a topic the last 24 hours or so. We are currently experiencing the effects of a Coronal mass ejection (CME). The increase in solar wind also brings an increase of absorption. Saturday was not too bad when it came to band conditions. I have a short weekend, so I opted to do less radio on Saturday and set aside a bit more time on Sunday. Well, as luck would have it, the solar wind increased and when I woke up early this morning, there was not one signal on any of the bands. 

JT65Flat Screen (JT65-HF)

 As noon on Sunday approached, the bands did not even show signs of getting any better. I left my rig sitting on the 20 meter JT65 frequency and not a single station was decoded all morning. Here is the screen shot I took early this afternoon local time (to the right). JT65 is a great weak signal mode however, when the bands are this bad due to geomagnetic activity, not even the weak signal stuff will do any good. I have found also that JT65 does have trouble decoding signals with Auroral Influence (AI) and you can easily tell by the signal signature on the waterfall, if a signal does have any AI. 

Auroral Influence (JT65-HF)

The example of the AI to the left shows what JT65 signals look like on  the waterfall of the JT65-HF software. The signals looks as if it's "smeared" and not well defined. And as you can see, the last decoded transmission was at 2156z and I show nothing decoded  at 2159z, but it's apparent that signals are on the band. Personally, I think Olivia seems to function the best under these type of rough band conditions. PSK31 is not even an option with bands this tough, as I won't decode a signal. But as I mentioned earlier this morning during a conversation I was having on Twitter, when I moved to Alaska, the term "Radio Blackout" hit home. 

Auroral Oval as seen from Ovation Aurora

So, what is a ham to do when the bands are dead quiet? Well in my case, my weekly trip to the Post Office yielded plenty of direct QSL card requests including a nice full envelope of cards from the Alaska QSL Bureau. I also received the latest CQ and QST magazines! So, I have plenty to keep me busy. From what I'm reading, I think it will be a few days before the bands heal. I do have my camera battery charged up and ready for some auroral displays. I read last night, it was pretty good. We have been experiencing very clear and colder weather but the clear skies at night will make for some great aurora viewing. So, I will try to stay up tonight and see if the St. Patrick's Day green will extend into the heavens above. With the Spring Equinox just a few days away, this is when most will tell you it's the best time to view the aurora above. 

Photo ©KL8DX 

If I had to attach a visual representation of what it's like to operate ham radio during this type of band conditions, I would have to say the photo to the left does just that. And oddly, these tough conditions normally hit on the weekends! But I hope that maybe, just maybe, we will see in increase in the solar flux and 10 meters will once again come alive. I love that band! And in speaking of 10 meters, I read this morning in the March edition of CQ Magazine that I will have a bit more wallpaper to enjoy. It appears that I managed to take top spot during the 2012 CQ WW DX RTTY Contest on 10 meters, low power, single band, single operator, Alaska. My wife tells me she can always tell when I get my new magazines. My bathroom visits tend to take much longer but thankfully, we have two bathrooms in our house. 

So, when it comes to operating ham radio during high absorption weekends, I feel like the moose in the photo above I took here at Denali. But a bad day of ham radio is always better than a good day at work, right? 

Weekend Conditions Put The Word TEST in Contest!

2013 CQ WPX RTTY Contest

 My schedule has been pretty busy over the last few weeks so there has been little time for radio. With that said, let me back up to the previous weekend for the CQ World Wide WPX RTTY Contest. 

I had to balance working the weekend, working on a home remodeling project and operating in the RTTY contest. As it turned out, the bands were less than favorable so it was easy for me to be distracted from the contest. I was hopeful NOT to have to work the weekend but as it ended up, I did. So I spent the weekend working on our arctic entry and wrapping up some last minute work related programming. I ended up working only a handful of RTTY contacts all weekend, 51 of which were on 20 meters, 26 of which were on 15 meters and 8 were on 10 meters. And of course, it was a breezy weekend here that weekend, wind gusts in the mid to upper 30's. That lead to more QRN, which made already tough bands even harder since signals were not very strong. My path to Europe was fair considering the conditions with my best DX worked being 5C5W. Most interesting callsign worked in the lower 48 goes to AG1RL. With the WPX weekend a bust for the most part, I was looking forward to this past weekend for the ARRL DX Contest.

ARRL DX 2012

I looked back at my previous scores and found I had focused on 20 meter single band efforts. Last year I remember heading outdoors and photographing the aurora during the contest weekend (see photo at right). Solar activity can sure effect any effort this far north. Even though it was not as pronounced as last year, I was once again effected this year, more specifically on Sunday. My goal was to break 1,000 QSO's and attempt to work more multipliers than in years past, focusing on the Canadian sections that always elude me. The most sections I have worked in this contest with my single band efforts is 58. With the weather forecast calling for little to no wind, my QRN was not predicted to be an issue. As the week progressed, the weekend was shaping up to be a good one. With good weather, no real solar wind to deal with and a few extra days off, things looked promising. 

ARRL DX 2013

My initial strategy was to do nothing but Search & Pounce (S&P) on Friday night. I wanted to search out sections (multipliers) and just take my time slowly moving the VFO up and down the band. When I'm tuning, I start at the bottom and work my way up. Once I get to the top of the band, often times I head all the way to the bottom and work my way back up. That's exactly what I did. My ceremonial QSO number one was with NQ4I at the bottom of the band. As I worked my way up, I found many a familiar callsign and a few personal friends. Propagation was coast to coast at this point as I was picking off states from both the right and left coast. I managed Scot, KA3DRR on the left and team K3LR on the right. Wait, I'm up here in Alaska looking down so, is it my right or their left? Regardless, I continued my quest to manage as many stations as I could before 15 meters closed for the evening. My strategy for Saturday was to find a QRG and call CQ as much as possible in hopes of adding lots of QSO's. I was going to do some S&P on Saturday but I was going to leave Sunday for the 50/50 balance of both running and hunting. My final QSO for Friday night was at 0244z. 

Magnetometer from HAARP

Saturday morning started out very slow. I encountered KL7RA and KL2R, both with respectable local signals, working stations I could not even hear. My first and only QSO early was with an Oregon station at 1752z and I could not muster up another QSO until 1927z! I wrote it off as yet another consequence of "low power, low tower", as I've done in the past. The HAARP Magnetometer showed a bit of activity but nothing that was band deadening. Since there had not been much on 15 early, I pointed my beam to Europe to see if I could hear anything on 10 meters when I first got on. And what do you know, I heard the all elusive "NF" section on 10 meters, several VE3's and K1ESE in Maine with a respectable signal! That had me second guessing wondering if I should have attempted a 10 meter rather than 15 meter single band! Nope, I decided on a strategy and I was sticking with it. It was not long before signals faded away on 10 and it was quiet again. Those hams were probably pointed to Europe and I was hearing them well in Alaska! Propagation, ya just never know.

Rates with previous year targets

Saturday was tough but not a bust. Signals really did not come up and the band did not get busy for me until around 2130z! I was dealing with my typical propagation paths and I only broke the 100 QSO per hour rate once on Saturday (see graph above). Considering my effort last year was an entirely different band, I still loaded my targets in Win-test to keep me motivated. Major differences were obviously the beginning and end of the contest. But again, things became lively and it was standing room only on 15 meters. And when the band becomes lively, I tighten down my CQ filter and dig myself in for the long haul. 

Some of my notes from Saturday included one of my biggest complaints on contest weekends. Yes, here I go! I'm getting increasingly tired of stations moving in and calling CQ contest without even waiting to see if the frequency was in use. This happened more to me this weekend than normal! Obviously is the use of QRL is like a stop sign on a lonely country road meaning there are times to use it and other times not? I had a handful of stations calling me and NP4G decided my frequency was going to be his. He plopped right on frequency and started calling "CQ test." Soon, the stations calling me and the stations calling him became chaotic. I was left to moving on. Now yes, I know contest weekends are going to be busy, you will hear the person next to you, and like a Nascar race, there will be some bumping into each other. But poor operating is what starts non-contesters complaining about contesters. And the biggest complaint I always read from those non-contesting types are contesters who just drop in on a frequency they (non-contesters) were occupying and the contester takes it over. This happened to me on both days, Saturday first with NP4G, followed by NE8P and PY4FQ. No QRL, just hit my frequency and call CQ! My final note for Saturday was, I think most of the snow birds were in Arizona and Florida! I worked lots of stations in those states. With our temperatures below zero, maybe it was an envious observation.

HAARP Riometer

I noticed that Sunday was going to be much harder than Saturday. This got me to thinking that I should have done a bit more S&P for multipliers on Saturday rather than wait until Sunday. Nothing I could do to fix that this late in the game. It was apparent that sunspot AR1675 decided to throw a wrench in the propagation for Sunday by the effects of an M-Class Solar Flare. As you can see from the HAARP Magnetometer graph above and the HAARP Riometer graph to the left, both show the effects of the solar flare. I was getting tired waiting for 15 meters to open so I headed down to 20 meters. I also was doing my usual social interaction on Twitter. 

JT65A QSO with Peter, 2E0SQL

On twitter, I was conversing with G4BAO and Peter, 2E0SQL. They were talking about JT65A and so I fired up the software and turned my antenna toward Europe. I had seen another 2E0 station calling CQ so I had mentioned it to Peter. The band turned out being pretty busy with JT65 signals so Peter mentioned he would call me on 14.077. I was pleasantly surprised to see Peter's CQ (see graph at the right). I quickly hooked up my digital interface as I was using my CW interface. I attempted to answer him but the software was not keying up my rig. It took me a minute to realize I still had Win-test running in the background and it was using the port that JT65-HF was trying to use therefore, it was unable to transmit. Once I closed out Win-test, I was able to answer Peter's CQ and another JT65A QSO was complete! 

I was Peter's first Alaska QSO on that mode so the morning started off pretty well I'd have to say. Like many a Twitter ham, I've been able to add several that I follow or who follow me, to my logbook. It's always fun when a plan comes together. After our QSO, I fell back to 15 meters, reestablished my CW interface connection and waited for the band to open so I could continue my contest quest.

With being DX in this contest, my antenna remained pointed to the lower 48 and Canada for most of the weekend. It's possible for a lower 48 station to work 100 entities or more on a single band in this contest. The most sections I can get is on a band is 63. With that in mind, it's about getting as many of those mults as possible but more importantly, getting as many QSO's as possible. So in my mind, this was less of a S&P mult hunting contest and more of a "Park & Bark" strategy. 

Win-test: Mults I missed are indicated in White

Sunday in a nutshell was extremely tough. Very much a low but I had a few highs mixed in with that mood. I had more instances of stations hitting my run frequency and not sending QRL and just CQ'n. The first was W5WMU but he realized that the frequency was in use afterwards and moved on (thank you!!) rather than deciding to partake in a CQ battle. W7TJ was another followed by JA8RWU and each of those had me move off onward up or down the band looking for a new home. I was hearing more DX than stateside stuff but toward the end, I had three much needed multipliers call in! The first was W3MLK for Delaware! Martin has helped me in several contests getting that much needed DE multiplier! VY2OX followed by N7NG (WY) which really gave me the boost that I needed to finish the contest. Thank you all!! And of course, thanks to everyone who called and worked me! I've accepted defeat when it comes to the Canadian sections as I've never been close to a clean sweep and they are normally the sections that I get skunked on. But, effort and strategy pays off and I will always continue to get beyond those 58 sections I've been stuck on since I began playing in this contest from up here. 

In conclusion, even though the band was tough this weekend, it was still fun to operate. The mini solar tsunami as I like to refer to it, did put a huge damper on my Sunday and I did leave a few of my eggs in one basket so to speak. In looking back, I should have done a bit more section hunting on Saturday, rather than leaving it to Sunday. But many friends encountered and I was able to make several contacts to stations in my home state of Ohio. This, as with all the contests, tested my patience, my CW ability, my equipment and my strategic ability. Once the logs are washed, it will also test my accuracy ability.  

My score breakout is listed below. I suffered a 3rd degree burn to my left index or forefinger a day before the contest. The band may not have been hot this weekend but I assure you, the piece of metal I had heated up and accidentally touched was! I made a few typing mistakes on callsigns because of it, as it's much harder to type with your finger tip bandaged up. Thanks to all for the contacts and as the sun slowly moves back towards Alaska, I begin to shift my focus from exiting contest season to entering camping season! If all goes right, as March approaches, I will get to enjoy the SSB flavor of this contest at another location, enjoying great company and great operators! 

Contest         : ARRL International DX Contest
Callsign        : KL8DX
Mode            : CW
Category        : Single Operator (SO)
Overlay         : ---
Band(s)         : Single band (SB) 15 m
Class           : Low Power (LP)
Zone/State/...  : 100
Locator         : BP53LU
Operating time  : 13h01

 BAND   QSO S/P DUP  POINTS   AVG
----------------------------------
  160     0   0   0       0  0.00
   80     0   0   0       0  0.00
   40     0   0   0       0  0.00
   20     0   0   0       0  0.00
   15   568  53   7    1704  3.00
   10     0   0   0       0  0.00
----------------------------------
TOTAL   568  53   7    1704  3.00
==================================
       TOTAL SCORE : 90 312

Dupes are not included in QSO counts neither avg calculations

Propagation Goes Away But The Sun Slowly Returns

Very Brief View of the Sun

I saw something today I had not seen for many weeks and that was a brief encounter with the sun! We are in the shadow of Mount Healy (at the right side of this photo) so this time of year, any direct sunlight is short lived. But, in just a few more weeks, the sun will be high enough to shine down on us for at least half of the afternoon. Winters are long and dark here in Alaska, but seeing this does the body good! I snapped this photograph from our front deck looking south east. We are experiencing the coldest temperatures of 2013 as our low last night was around -32.6F. As of this writing, it has warmed up to -26.5F, but tonight was supposed to be the coldest of the weekend. 

This past Thursday night (Friday morning) I pointed the beam to Europe and was able to work about 45 stations prior to pulling the plug. It was great to catch David, A92GE again. I'm very appreciative of all those who yelled my way as I had a small pile-up going. Sadly, an early rise for work the following morning had me pull the plug long before the pile-up had dwindled down. I was hoping to do the same over the weekend but our solar wind increase put the kibosh to that idea. But on a positive note, I did manage to work Carl, 9X0PY for a new entity this weekend! 

HAARP Magnetometer 

I reference HAARP on a daily basis just to get an idea of what I may expect propagationally. When a solar wind struck the earths magnetic field this weekend, it sent shock waves through the ionosphere and the propagation headed south. Pretty obvious from the HAARP Magnetometer graph to the right that we received a pretty healthy solar slap from our sun. I have not heard much of anything on the bands this weekend and this is the very reason. It's great having these websites only a mouse click away. Saves me a cold stroll outdoors checking connections and antennas as I wonder why I'm not hearing a ham on a band!

HAARP Riometer

When it comes to propagation, absorption is our enemy. The HAARP Riometer graph to the left shows heavy absorption therefore, any radio waves overhead are not bouncing but being absorbed. As I've mentioned before, "Red = Dead" when it comes to this graph. And oddly enough, these events normally happen on contest weekends. I can't imagine this did any favors to anyone in a northern latitude operating the ARRL 160 Meter Contest this weekend. I don't have an antenna for that band so you won't find me in that contest. I would love to operate that band someday so, it's on my bucket list. 

Another highlight for me this past weekend was contacting Walt, LW3EX who gave me my final SKCC K3Y DX station contact. I had been missing only South America and Walt had his usual great signal into Alaska which allowed me to wrap up my Grand Sweep. Sadly, January has been an exceptionally busy month for me so I have not been able to operate much as K3Y/KL7. But, WL7WH and KL7IDA are doing a great job sending Alaska QSO's to those in need. 

As February fast approaches, I can't help but get excited about two fun contests that month. CQ WPX RTTY Contest is first and I think I've recovered enough from the last RTTY contest to diddle again. The following weekend will be the ARRL CW DX Contest. Another one of my all time favorites for sure. So, I'm hoping the sun settles down during the month of February as not to ruin either of those contest weekends. With any luck, my low power signal will make it out of the 49th and be heard around the globe! 

CQ World-Wide DX CW Contest - The Morning After

Comparing CQ WW CW 2011 / 2012

This past weekend was the annual CQ World-Wide DX CW contest and from the perspective of many, is the biggest contest of the year. From Multi-Operators to Single, many plan for this past weekend months in advance. Many operators in the US,  still feeling the effects of large amounts of good food on Thanksgiving followed by breaking their bank on Black Friday, hit the airwaves in anticipation of logging many contest QSO's. I for one, wish my holiday calorie to QSO count were much closer to one another. Sadly, it never fails that I consume many more calories on Thanksgiving Day and the days following, than I can put QSO's in my contest log. On the positive side, Thanksgiving leftovers work wonderfully at keeping the body fueled for countless hours of VFO turning and the keyboard pounding fun of this contest. 

ARS KL8DX Claimed Score & Summary

In my previous post, I mentioned working the November Sweepstakes as part of the Multi-Operator effort at KL2R. In looking at how Larry, N1TX had Win-test set up, the previous years effort in the Targets Tracking Window was a great motivator (photo above). I know, I'm one of those operators who is not using my complex software to full advantage and I had never used this function before. It did help me keep focused. I spent a little extra time setting up Win-test the night before (I know, the night before, really? When will I learn?) but I still need to get into using ESM (Enter Sends Message) mode with this software. But, I'm getting there. I'm still an F-Key abuser and it would save time and I'm sure would increase my rate. 

My score breakout summary is listed directly above and it just so happened that I beat my last years effort although, not by much! My claimed score last year was 792,396 and logging 1,852 QSO's. The main difference last year was that 10 meters was my money band but this year, that turned out being 15 meters. Had 10 meters come to life, my numbers would have looked very different. The CME that impacted Earth must have sent 10 meters packing (see graph below from HAARP's Magnetometer). I'm not a propagation guru but I do know 10 meters did not provide a fraction of the contacts it did for me last year. Last year, I worked 971 QSO's on 10 meters alone!

Magnetometer from HAARP

In speaking of the CME that shook up the Ionosphere overhead, it made for a bittersweet weekend. It obviously effected the propagation and it made the polar path on Friday night extremely tough and Saturday night was no picnic either. I'm running low power these days as I have yet to afford getting my AL-1500 repaired. Shipping to and from the lower 48 alone would be costly and that does not include the repair. It just means I have to pass up more multipliers or try harder and longer to get them, or wait until Sunday. Regardless, it was memorable working European stations on Friday night while gazing out my shack window and watching the auroral display dancing overhead! Now mind you, I've experienced the aurora overhead for several years but I still get excited and enjoy photographing it. Friday night was no exception, I had to stop what I was doing in the contest, costing me valuable 3 point QSO's with Europe (surprising we had a path with aurora being so active) to head outdoors at -17F to snap some photographs! I was outdoors for well over an hour just enjoying the light show overhead. I'm easily distracted and I needed Bonnie and Fannie here from team KL2R to keep me focused. 

Auroral display CQ World-Wide DX weekend © KL8DX

Like many hams, I have more than one hobby. My second favorite is photographing our adventures here in Alaska. I love sharing it with friends and family in the lower 48, many of which have never been to Alaska. We arrived in Healy at our friends house (KL1SF & KL1MF) on the 25th of November, 2003. We moved into park housing during December of 2003, and a few months later, we purchased our current home. Now mind you, I did experience the aurora from Northern Ohio and even photographed it a few times but such events were rare. Here, the "Northern Lights" are viewed nearly all winter long. This alone helps ease the pain of winter however, it's normally very cold outdoors during the prime viewing times. 

Auroral display CQ World-Wide DX weekend ©KL8DX

If you dress warm and have an understanding camera and tri-pod, it's not hard to capture these breathtaking events. The photo above and to the left, are those I took on Friday night showing the auroral display over our QTH. Now mind you, this is after it had subsided a bit. Our shack window (shown illuminated in blue on both photos) is the best viewing window for the aurora as I keep the shack mostly dark. I'm not one for enjoying copious amounts of light both at home or at the office. My office for years has been nicknamed, "The Cave." My wife made a rare appearance in the shack over the contest weekend to enjoy the light show to the north while I was chasing European stations on 15 and 20 meters. If only I could get her to upgrade and be interested in a Multi-Single effort. Nah, more fun for me! All kidding aside, her support and supplying necessary nutritional needs goes without saying, these contest weekends would not be successful without her support and understanding. Like many a ham, I'm lucky to have an understanding spouse. 

Now getting back on track with the contest, my goal was to log over 2,000 QSO's and beat my previous year score. I did beat my score (claimed) however, I did not break the 2,000 QSO mark. As I had mentioned before, had 10 meters been great, I would have easily manged that goal. As it was, attempts to get a run going on 10 meters was in vain and it worked out best for Search & Pounce only (S&P). The 3 point contacts were nice but I wanted more. But like with any contest, there were highlights and low lights. Me complaining about 10 meters was a low light but I'm thankful for my 199 QSO's on that band. Lots of radio friends encountered along with so many familiar callsigns. My low band antenna's stink and to those who pulled my signal out on 40 and 80 meters, hats off to you and your station! I took some notes during the weekend contest and here are a few unedited I had listed -

• Getting to hate Saturday and Sunday mornings. I can't seem to get the attention of anyone on the East Coast as they are still pointed to Europe.
• My morning strategy, chasing "Bleeps" on the Spectrum Scope while consuming copious amounts of decaf coffee. Yea I know, I get more out of the bleeps than I do the coffee. 
• Saturday morning, 10 meters opened up briefly but then closed back down. 
• Gray Line propagation working well and added some much needed multipliers.
• Seriously PY3DX, I've been on this frequency for well over an hour! If you want it that bad, go ahead and take it! I'm working PY's right and left so I know you can hear me! Ugh!
• Full break-in is a bit tough to get used to but necessary with as quickly as some stations call when I'm CQ'n.
• Sunday, the return of propagation (somewhat), thank you!!!!!!
• Is it me or does it seem like CW ops increase their speed by 50% on Sunday? Tryptophan must be wearing off, goodness!
• EL2A, on 15 meters and logged?!! What just happened? That did!
• Aurora is beautiful and I'm still able to work Europe? I must be dreaming!
• Trying to understand why DX stations don't ID more frequently. If you work more than 5 stations and don't ID, I'm gone! If I was Assisted, I might know who you are but for now I don't, and really don't care.
• Well, here come the DUPES so someone must have spotted me as something other than my callsign. Probably as KL7DX again. Surprising how many click on the band map and pull the trigger!
• EF8M, you want me in your contest log but just don't know it.
• Seriously Sunday? Normally I can work these multipliers today and they are no easier than Saturday! WTH?
• Enjoying Twitter and the #WATwitter Hashtag spearheaded by Connie, NR4CB. She is the Bionic Nerd!  
• 10 meters, where are you??
• Pile-up's...I'm trying everyone, please have patience! I'm drinking decaf, remember?
• It's 1655z and I'm at 1,355 QSO's and 554,222 points! I think I can, I think I can...
• Damn, there are some strong stations out there! Size does matter!
• I wish my score could count towards NCC!
• Contest is over, I need Motrin!!!!!!!!!!!!
• LOTW will probably need life support after this weekend...and next...and the weekend after that...LOTW might need Motrin!

That is my 2012 summary of the CQ World-Wide DX CW Contest as I experienced it. It was tough but enjoyable. My fellow Alaskan's were out in force and from the preliminary posts on 3830, not many should be missing Zone 1. I on the other hand, missed Zone 1 on 40 meters. I could not break the KL7RA pile-up. A huge thanks to all those that make this contest (and all of them) possible. I would write more but the 5 day deadline for log submission is here and I gotta get to my soapbox and log submission! Thanks for all the contacts, sorry to those I missed, and I appreciate everyone's patience as I still am learning pile-up management. Add many calling at the same time and the effects of the aurora washing out their signal, it can be extremely tough to just get a partial callsign, let alone a full one. I'm thankful for each and every contact and if I'm running and you don't get me the first time, please come back! Like my paycheck, my pileups are normally short lived.