2007 CQ WPX CW Results

By Jamie Dupree NS3T 

"3V8 is a good location for WPX...but I am very busy....Our team's idea is to work multi-single or multi-two as 3V8BB." - Hrane Milosevic, YT1AD

Two weeks before the 2007 CQ WPX CW contest, that was the plan for the defending champ - go multi-op and not defend his 2006 single operator WPX title.

But as the numbers have rolled in, now 3V8BB (YT1AD op) is at the top of the single operator list, with a claimed score of 13.6 million points, which if it holds up would give Milosevic his second straight win, to go with four other single op all band WPX plaques.

3V8BB's score knocked out of first place Steve Merchant K6AW, who had operated HC8N to an early lead with almost 13 million points.

Now in third is P33W, piloted by RA3AUU at 10.6 million points. In fourth place is Jim Fitzpatrick WI9WI, who ran up 8.6 million points at PJ2T on Curacao, just ahead of Ken Widelitz K6LA, who grinded out over 8.3 million points as VY2TT in Canada.

"I was down 20% from last year" said Widelitz, "but I don't see where I could have done much better given the (bad) 15 meter propagation."

"I was down 1,000 QSO's on 15," said Widelitz, who bluntly added "15 meters just sucked."

Meanwhile, in his first serious WPX CW effort in four years, WRTC veteran Dan Street K1TO, staked himself to an early US lead in the 2007 CQ WPX CW, with a claimed score of over 7 million points as NE4AA.

"I felt like I did the best I could" said Street. "I hit the second radio pretty hard and picked up a lot of prefixes and QSO's that way."

It was basically a two band affair at NE4AA, as Street made all but 193 of his nearly 2900 contacts 20 and 40 meters.

"40 meters worked well to Europe for those crucial 6-pointers" said Street, who added that he was "reasonably happy with (my) off-time strategy, although there were still many frustrating hours, particularly on 20 when I could hear EU stations repeatedly steal the frequency."

The assisted category is very tight at this point. K3WW claimed 5.91 million, TO3T manned by VE3KF at 5.907 million and NN3L (N3RS) was at 5.84 million.

"I was seriously considering not doing a full 36 hours," said Charles Fulp K3WW, "but after a pretty good start, I was hooked....The first hour was 135 on 40 meters."

Fulp had to alter his usual schedule because of a family wedding on Sunday evening. "That meant staying up later than usual but then sleeping in the wee hours of the morning. So the time on and off was driven by events, not propagation."

As for single operator low power, the worldwide leader is Filipe Lopes CT1ILT, who posted over 4.6 million points (and was one of the few to describe conditions as "awesome.") In second place is Yuri Onipko VE3DZ with 3.4 million points. Just behind him is the defending US low power champ, Ed Sawyer N1UR, who managed to post a score of 3.2 million as NV1N.

"I envisioned the contest to absolutely stink for conditions and I was not disappointed" said Sawyer, who said it "seemed like from 0100z on the first day that the contest (conditions) went downhill."

"Seriously, you need to be prepared for "a grind" doing a full contest at the bottom of the sunspot cycle" Sawyer added.

In the QRP category, TI5N operated by Bill Parker W8QZA leads the way with 1.4 million points. If that holds, Parker would repeat his 2006 WPX CW victory in World QRP.

In the US QRP category, Doug Zweibel KR2Q leads the pack at just under a million points, far ahead of his domestic competition.

In the multi-multi category, the German team of DR1A made over 7,000 contacts and so far has first place with over 18 million points. Second is Team OM7M with over 17 million.

Back in third from the US is NQ4I with an over 11 million claimed score. ZL6QH is fourth right now. The New Zealand group totaled 10.8 million points.

NQ4I Team leader Rick Doughtery told radio-sport.net that his team was a bit short-staffed, but they produced.

"The first hours made us think that we were in for some good propagation. 20m operator Charlie NF4A had a 129 q's/hr , 15m operator John K4BAI had a 101 q's/ hr, and 40m operator VE7ZO turned in a 99 q's the first hour."

NQ4I totaled 4,868 contacts, including 322 on 10 meters, which for most people was quiet.

"We worked approximately 25 Europeans on Sat afternoon late...It had to be a Es double or triple hop type of opening," said Dougherty NQ4I.

Down in New Zealand at ZL6QH, this was the last multi-op effort for awhile, as their QTH is being turned into a wind farm.

"We are still hopeful of being able to resurrect a new antenna farm in the same area or at a new location" said Brian Miller ZL1AZE. "We should have more certainty about this within the next two or three months."

As for the multi-two category, if the claimed numbers are right, then no one is going to catch Team EF8M, which raked in over 7,000 contacts for a total of more than 36 million points, which shatters the old HC8N record set in 2003.

"As I promised, we beat everyone and set the new world record" said team leader Val Komarov RD3AF.

"The propagation was very bad" said Komarov from Moscow, who had predicted victory before the contest. "You should understand that it wasn't boasting."

The clubhouse leader in the US for multi-two was KD4D, operating from the station of N3HBX near Washington, D.C. Their 3,953 contacts gave them a claimed score of 10.5 million points. KH6LC is next at 9.7 million, with HG6N at 9.2 million.

In the multi-single category, a four man team from Latvia has the lead from EE8A on the Canary Islands, as they chalked up over 16.5 million points.

"This year the idea was again to do multi-two" said team member Girts Budis YL2KL, "but several technical problems arose" like a broken amp and radio. "Two hours before the contest the solution was to do multi-single."

The EE8A lead isn't very big, as just behind in second place is P40L. EE8A has 16.57 million to P40L's 16.43 million points. ZF1A is next at 14.5 million points, followed by 4M5DX at 9.5 million.

In the US, KT3Y is first in multi-single at 7.1 million, with NY4A (@N4AF) second at 6.6 million points claimed. "We had planned on multi-two" said Howie Hoyt N4AF, "but my Alpha went south."

Hoyt's three man team made most of their contacts on 20 and 40 meters, a formula sure to be repeated as more scores roll in.

"I thought the prime WPX bands of 40/20 were in good shape, but the sunspot minimum has taken a toll," said Hoyt. "Nevertheless, EA8 and a few other mults were to be had on 10 and 80 meters."