I'm a 10? Not Really, But I Did Rain RTTY All Over Europe This Morning on 15!

My rate...rates?

So, I happened to stumble across some pretty interesting information this afternoon regarding the 2012 CQ World Wide CW Contest. This page had Valery, R5GA's callsign all over it. He has a listing of stations within their classifications and claimed best 60 minute CW QSO rates. This appears to have been extracted from their submission files. Either way, this was extremely interesting to review.

Now mind you, I'm not a high speed CW operator. I've always dreamed of being able to mentally copy a long QSO at 40 wpm but, that will never happen. Not to make excuses but I think it boils down to how I first learned CW. I feel that if I had learned differently, my copy would be much better than it is 25+ years later. And it's not for lack of practice. I try to get on CW as often as possible and contest weekends are excellent practice! It's possible to work so many great DX stations but also increase your copy speed. I can be rusty on a Friday afternoon when a contest starts but if I try hard and stay focused, by Sunday, I'm ready for a 32 wpm QSO! Well, at least I feel that way. I like to refer to it as Contest Code Overload! It's like eating a bunch of chocolate or drinking several cups of leaded coffee. I'm ready for anything and bouncing off the walls. But as the contest ends, I will push myself away from the radio, exit the shack and take a long break before returning, even leaving the contest program running. I will rekindle my relationship with my wife, our beagle and the cat (well, actually my daughters cat that she forgot to take with her) who frequently visits over contest weekends. 

Anyhow, getting back on track...you can see my detailed break-out here. Or you can click on any of the callsigns on the "All time records" page and it will show you the individual best efforts. My effort apparently shows what a computer decided was worthy of 10th place for my single operator, low power entry. And when I look at the list of stations, there are some great operators! And it makes my key stick just thinking about being listed on the same page with them! Little ol me. 

Other Alaskan stations who are listed are KL2R, KL7RA and NL7G. Of the three, I've only personally operated with Larry, N1TX (at KL2R). I have the utmost respect for Larry as an operator and contester. I only wished I lived a bit closer as I would love to spend more weekends at KL2R and continuing learning from Larry. I've written in previous blog posts about the team at KL2R. A very skilled and focused group of operators, all of which I very much look up to. I've always wanted to head down to Rich, KL7RA's station (been invited) but that is a very long haul for me. I still hope to. Rich has also been very instrumental in helping me become a better operator with advice, suggestions and more. There is a group of contesters here throughout Alaska that I keep in touch via email and a few I have met personally. I feel I owe my wallpaper success stories to them all, as they accepted this "out of stater" and have never made me feel like a "lid." They've answered all my questions and I feel I can ask anything of them, no matter how silly I might think it might be. 

One of the neat things about today's modern technology is, even though I've only personally met about half of the contesters I correspond with, I've been able to gain lots of great advice and insight from them via email. What I'm trying to say is, even if you live in the sticks like we do, you can still reach out and get valuable information and get your questions answered. You just need to ask. I arrived to Alaska entirely as a Search & Pounce (S&P) contest operator / DX'er and I will depart a "Park & Bark", not afraid to dig in and call CQ kinda guy. There are lots of publications available as well, both printed and electronic that give some good advice. In the latest National Contest Journal (NCJ), an article written by Mike, VE3GFN caught my eye. The title read, "The Little Pistol Pages." Mike's focus is more from a small station perspective so I'm looking forward to future reads from Mike in NCJ publications. I have found NCJ a valuable magazine with many articles from many a skilled operator, sharing experiences and advice on how to take operating to the next level. Most of the major magazines (like QST and CQ) and some organizational magazines also get into explaining the ins and outs of operating. Yes, I know, contesting is not for everybody but if you love ham radio and are in any way competitive, a good contest weekend might be just the ticket. 

15 Meter RTTY Contacts this morning - 100 watts

I had a bit of insomnia this morning so I strolled into the shack and found some great European signals on 15 meters! Well, I decided to take advantage of being awake and I worked one station one RTTY then I moved up and called CQ. I was on from 1015z to 1145z and that 1.5 hours flew by! To the right is a graphic illustration of where my 100 watts rained down over points east of me. My RTTY signal seemed to be raining all over Europe! I love openings like that. The only thing that could of made it better was doing the very same thing but on 10 meters! A ham can dream, right? As tired as I am now I hope I don't have a repeat but if so, I can only hope the bands will be open like they were this morning. 

2013 ARRL RTTY Roundup Overview

Spectrum Scope after RTTY Contest Sleep Deprivation %-)

This past weekend was the annual ARRL RTTY Roundup Contest. This is a 30 hour long contest (operators can operate no more than 24 hours) and in my opinion, the perfect length. Locally, that started the contest at 9 AM Alaska time on Saturday and ended up at 3 PM Alaska time on Sunday. It's one of those "Everyone Can Work Everyone" kinda contests, which is awesome as well. And, the other neat part about this contest is, multipliers only get worked credit once, regardless of band. So now we fall into even more strategy especially if a multi-band assault is on hand. When I did a bit of research on my previous year efforts, I realized I had not officially submitted a score for this contest since 2009. I did however make several contacts in 2010, a handful in 2011 and none in 2012. 

KL8DX RTTY - Keyboarding On The Move

One of the things I wanted to do differently this year was in setting up N1MM a bit differently. I was going to take the plunge and utilize the "Logthenpop" macro. I waited to just hours before the contest to take this plunge (yeah, I know) and I watched THIS great video by Larry, K8UT. Now mind you, I'm in contests to have fun as I don't have a station that is truly competitive. For that, I need many more antennas and much more height, and a little extra horsepower would not hurt either. I send my callsign after every QSO and my run macro has the callsign of the station I'm going back to listed twice. The exchange or my report is sent 2-3 times, depending on band conditions. Often times (IMHO) it wastes less time sending an exchange one more time rather than a full exchange a second time. I adjust this on band conditions. I also send "TU" and maybe a 73 before calling CQ once again. But anyhow, I wanted to be able to stack callsigns using the "Logthenpop" macro. More on that experience in a bit. 

KL8DX N1MM Macros from the ARRL RTTY Contest

I squeeze my run and S&P macros in the first twelve F-key assignments. Macros are always a controversial subject and I'm not going to hit that bees nest. I made several mistakes getting used to the Enter Sends Message (ESM) mode with N1MM. I've been an F-key abuser for years but now I need to retrain myself to use the Enter key and trust the software. As I found out, Enter does in fact send the message but at times, not the message I wanted it to send! I set up the program but what I failed to realize was that if I started to stack calls, what was the best way to clear a call from the stack and move on to an awaiting callsign? This is what caused me to send KT6D and K7TQ (sorry, as it's a perfect example of operator error on my part) a macro (my F8 which is shown above cleared out) that sent something to the effect, "Alaska is DX in this contest but if you want it, my state is Alaska." I had this macro because some people don't read the contest rules prior to the start of a contest. Alaska is not considered a state in this contest but a DX country! And for that very reason, our report includes a serial number and not "AK" for Alaska. I was getting asked enough that I created a macro to address that very question. 

Anyhow, I experimented on the fly with call stacking and for the most part, it was successful. I have more reading to do before the next contest to see how I need to handle changes to my call stack as I previously mentioned. The other issue I discovered is that call stacking is a great feature but you need callsigns to stack! Not that I'm anything special, but I can normally get a few people calling me at the same time when I'm running stations. The issue with RTTY is, when everyone calls, they call at the same time and unless they purposefully call off frequency a bit, you end up with a jumbled mass of letters and numbers that don't mean squat! At the very best, you might get a partial callsign. So, the problem I had, when I decided to wait an extra few seconds in an attempt to decode another station to "stack", others would get impatient and start calling and I'm back to square one. But, when I was able to decode more than one callsign, I found this hugely efficient at keeping rate. I'm sold on it's use, I just need to perfect it.

CBS Stats for ARS KL8DX

There were many highlights during this contest and I'm pretty happy with my result. I'm not sure how the other Alaskan stations did outside of our local contesting group here. I know my Alaska low power effort beat the  previous Alaska low power effort held by AL7BB from 2002. I also know that this year, Rich, KL7RA beat AL7BB's high power effort, which he held from way back in 1999. My effort is far from plaque worthy but some of that new ARRL redesigned wallpaper would make a nice addition to my shack! I know there were several Alaskan stations operating so I just will have to wait and find out. I'll let you know in about 12 months, hopefully less. 

What really helped my score was the good conditions into Europe on 20 meters during Sunday morning. Our beagle had me up a few hours earlier than expected (I had the alarm set for 0500 local but I ended up at 0300 local) and that worked to my advantage for those juicy European multipliers! I snagged my first EU contact at 1201z and I worked Europe steady until shortly after 1700z. No rate to speak of, just some good steady contacts that inflated my log by 100 QSO's and 15k points or so. Well worth dragging my butt out of bed early and that's all part of the strategy. Taking advantage of propagation and the bands when they yield the best potential for contacts to certain parts of the world. 

Just a few notes from this contest. It was great getting the RTTY heavy hitters in the log, Don, AA5AU and Phil, GU0SUP! Anyone who has been researching anything about RTTY has seen these callsigns before! I had several people sending my callsign before they sent theirs, when I was running stations. This takes up lots of time and I had one station send his callsign at least 5 times before stopping. I had a zero station work me twice on 15 meters and then tell me I was a dupe when I called him on 20. For the record, I work dupes! He now lost one QSO (not that it will or will not break the bank). I had one station even send, with his callsign, his grid square and state when calling me after my CQ. But you know what, in the end, I appreciate every QSO so I really don't care how you call me, just call me. It would be nice if a few would streamline their macros though. I'm saying this after I had such a macro challenged weekend, which I'm sorry to the handful of stations I sent extra bandwidth to. Oh, and one pet peeve I will admit to, are those stations who call me when I'm running and then ask me for my callsign before sending me their information! Excuse me, but why call me if you don't know who I am? It's almost as if they joined the pile-up and were hoping to find out who I was before they were called but managed me on the first call. 

Conditions were above average and other than some horrible QSB, the bands ended strong. 15 & 20 meters reminded me of stadium bathrooms during the halftime show. Standing room only and everyone was to close for comfort. I could not image running AFSK with such crowded bands! 20 meters alone was full from just above the PSK31 frequencies to 14.140!! 15 meters, just as bad! 10 meters never produced the many Central & South American contacts that it's known for up here. But, I managed a few for sure. And oddly enough, I managed a few last minute state multipliers on 10 that I could find anywhere else!

KL8DX's Score Summary for ARRL RTTY RU 2013

In the end I was still missing North Dakota for my Worked All States in this contest. Of course, I always get skunked on the Canadian Provinces. A clean sweep is just out of my reach with my station. After medication and therapy, I've come to terms with that. "Small tower, low power leaves my contesting fate in the hands of a higher power."

Our weather has been unseasonably warm due to wind so I experienced yet again more QRN which made the weak (599 :0) signals harder to copy at times. 

I had fun chatting on Twitter (as I will normally due during slower portions of contests without breaking any self spotting contest rules, etc) with many friends and several of those went from my timeline to my contest log, by chance.  Also, congratulations to Sean, VA5LF for his potential VE5 SO/HP new record! 

I also enjoy (and do not promote) listening to music while I'm working a RTTY contest! I love music and have a pretty broad playlist. My play list from this past weekend consisted of the following bands (this from a guy who is still stuck in the 80's);

• Daughtry
• Fireflight
• Halestorm
• Nickelback
• Sick Puppies
• Theory Of A Deadman
• Skillet

KL8DX's Tweet After Surviving Another Year

So the ARRL RTTY Roundup ushers in a new year and the current contest season is about half over. I'm excited to see what 2013 brings and I myself, am suffering from acute cabin fever. I'm looking forward to camping and the return of the midnight sun! I want to wish all of those reading here a very healthy and DX filled new year! I hope DX falls easily into your logbooks and you achieve all you want to achieve this year. Like I mentioned before, I think this will be a year of change for me and my family. We welcomed a new grand daughter in 2012 as our grandson turned 1. Thanks for reading and for those following, I appreciate it. I'm just a small station living the BIG dream in Alaska, which I enjoy sharing with friends and family. You won't find an Alaskan reality TV show with me in it but you will find me on the bands enjoying one of the greatest hobbies in the world! 

The 2012 ARRL 10 Meter Contest - Like Eggnog

Pre-amped Up and listening for all I have!

10 Meters was tough sledding this past weekend for the annual ARRL 10 Meter Contest. Having to work late on Friday, by the time I made it into the shack, there was not a single station to be heard on 10 meters. Normally I can snag a Hawaiian station or a few JA's on Friday night but NIL. On Saturday morning while waiting patiently for propagation to arrive on 10 meters, I worked a few stations in the monthly SKCC Weekend Sprintathon on 20 meters. Once 10 meters started showing signs of life, my focus changed to that band. It was obvious that it was gonna be a tough weekend.

My first QSO was around the 1830z mark with W0AIH, who had a super signal into my part of Alaska. But as it would turn out, the lower 48 was going to be effected by a mixed bag of propagation for me. The Central & South American stations were booming in, which is somewhat typical on 10 meters here. By the end of the opening on Saturday night, the furthest east I had worked was New York. This meant that the harder W1, W2 and W3 stations had to be picked up on Sunday, assuming there was propagation! 

Statistics from ARS KL8DX

My statistics graph to the right from Win-test puts things into perspective from Saturday. I had one fair hour of contacts rolling in when I found a clear frequency and called CQ. It was obvious that this was going to be another contest that was all about location! Hearing some of the numbers DX stations were exchanging as I tuned across the band, hearing stations like PJ2T with over 700 QSO's or CW5W with over 1,000 QSO's this early in the contest made me jealous. I can only imagine what they were hearing so far south as I've never personally experienced propagation down that way. My passport is like my wallet, empty. Anyway, my Saturday night ended with just over 100 QSO's in the log, leaving me with that sinking multiplier feeling. Highlights were finishing up the day with two VK4'S, VK4WIL and VK4IZ, and then my last QSO being with AH0BT.

States & Provinces Worked (Blue) & Not Worked (White) 

When I woke up early on Sunday morning, I was hoping for some either North East USA or some Europe. I sometimes can get lucky and attract the attention of the NE stations when they are working Europe by busting through the back of their beams. Normally this is only effective with the BIG GUN stations but I was hoping to close the book on some of the harder NE states. To my amazement, the band was pretty quiet Sunday morning except for D4C. Wait, D4C? Was I hearing that right? It was obvious that he had a pile-up (all of which I could not hear). Peaking at times 599 here, really? Like playing the lottery, I joined in knowing full well I was not going to win with all those playing. I called several times but I realized the obvious. But I did get to hear Rich, KL7RA snag em! Either way, D4C was putting in an extremely impressive signal into the Interior of Alaska Sunday morning. After listening to that for a bit, I tuned around hearing a few 1's and 2's but I was not having any luck putting any in the contest log. I finally scored my first NE stations just before 1600z with N1IW and N2MM. Kudos to N2MM for pulling me out of the mud! It was not long before the band fell silent once again.

Sunday was extremely slow going but 10 meters started to show signs that it wanted to cooperate around 1930z. I was beginning to hear more and see more activity on the spectrum scope of my Icom 756PRO. Even though things were looking up, QSB was extremely tough! I had stations call me and when I sent them my exchange, on several occasions, they were either very weak or unreadable and I had to ask for a repeat. An extreme case of "Strong & Gone" as I like to refer to it. I would call CQ for several minutes without a single caller. I would begin to multitask and do a few other things and when I turned my attention elsewhere, someone would call me. I would have to quickly hit the "Escape Key" to get my repeated CQ to stop and then shamefully ask for a repeat or a partial call confirmation. It can be hard to stay focused during those dry periods. 

In the end, I made well under half of the contacts I did last year. I'm certain I did not work anything new to me this weekend but I was sure hoping. Running low power, I sure had plenty of stations CQ'n in my face but that's all part of the challenge when the bands are tough. But a bad day of contesting is still better than a great day in the office! This week is the 25th anniversary of me taking and passing my Novice test in Fremont, Ohio those many years ago. Things have sure changed just in my 25 years of enjoying this hobby. But in keeping with the theme of the season, when it comes to 10 meters and 10 meter contesting, it's like Eggnog...I can't get enough of it. The holiday season brings the return of Eggnog to store shelves and the ARRL 10 Meter Contest. Thanks to the ARRL for supporting yet another great contest! Thanks for all the QSO's, too! My 3830 submission is listed below with further comments. This might as well be my last effort in this contest from this QTH but God willing, it won't be my last 10 meter contest effort and with any luck, I can enjoy Eggnog and the ARRL 10 meter contest next year.

ARRL 10-Meter Contest

Call: KL8DX
Operator(s): KL8DX
Station: KL8DX

Class: SO CW LP
QTH: Alaska
Operating Time (hrs): 10h14m

Summary:
Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
  CW:  375    63
  SSB:    3      5
-------------------
Total:  375     63      Total Score = 94,500

Club: North Coast Contesters

Comments:

This will be a CW only submission but I did work a few
that asked me to QSY to SSB. I had to work late on Friday
so I also started out with NIL until Saturday morning.
My first contest QSO came at 1828z and last fell into
the log at 2342z, Saturday. Saturday was tough but that's
contesting. Saturday was even a bit harder due to QRN
as a direct result of 40 mph wind gusts that day. I
watched our temperature go from -21F to +20F in a matter
of a few hours thanks to the arrival of the SE wind flow.

The last four hours of Sunday showed my best rates all
weekend. I had higher hopes for the last big contest of
2012, as I didn't even hit the 50% mark from what I was
able to accomplished last year.

I think the most notable points with this contest was
the crazy propagation and QSB. The QSB was intense at
times and stations would call and then disappear. I was
low power so like many, I had multipliers CQ in my face
to no avail. I missed more than I care to list.

Happy Holidays to all and I hope to find my way into a
few logs as this contest season continues into 2013. I
have no valid complaints about this contest as 378 QSO's
are better than none, which was the case only a few years
ago. I predict that 2013 will be the year of change for this
station. But for now, it's time to enjoy the holiday season
and from our shack to yours, on behalf of KL8SU and myself,
Seasons Greetings from Alaska! May many new multipliers and
entities fall easily into your logbooks in 2013.

Sincerely,

Phil - KL8DX
Suann - KL8SU
Dempsey (The Wonder Beagle)
Luna (The Grandcat)

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.