Finally, a free day in this very busy qrl-time. Ok it has been foreseen in our 2008 business plan that the most crazy time would be dec/2012-jan/2013, but when working >100hrs a week and still have the feeling that so many things have to be done, this isn't funny anymore.
It's about the same feeling as the Lotw processes : the more you do, the more files arrive and the more delays occur.
Of course this has consequences on both family (the xyl does the same business so there are no misunderstandings) and hobby. My only qso the last weeks was with oh9scl, with both children listening to Santa Claus up in the north. It is a dream for years to go to Rovaniemi around Christmas time, but with all grand-parents in good healthy shape, we prefer to stay at home and collect good rememberings for later.
The results of the on-contest are published. I win the shorted (elections day) on-contest in cw with very few differences in the top-3 results. In the ssb part with more participants a third place is the result. And this is as always with a 50€ G5RV and about 400W.
Weeks after the cqww contests a mixed feeling keeps playing in my mind. On SSB the mood was changed because of the emi problem, on cw I lost hundreds of qso's due to my absence at the start.
The positive side of the game is on dxcc-level. Many new bandslots on all bands are confirmed via Lotw. I only need zone 31 (Kh6) on 40m to achieve a 40/20/15/10 WAZ. I need 5 States confirmed to achieve a 40/20/15/10 WAS.
Rbn analysis learns that being there at the right time is much more important than antennas and power. This was surprising to me. I conclude that yagi arrays are the way to go to have a bigger result range.
Merry Christmas to all !
