I worked the contest for the first time ever over the weekend and had a great time. The JA (Japan) VK's (Australia) and ZL's ( New Zealand) rolled in around 4am on both mornings on the 40 & 80 meter bands. I was able to work a half dozen of each with just 100 watts and a ZL6BKW antenna. During the late afternoons eastern time, those same stations were on the upper bands 10-20 meters. I remember working a VK7XX (Tasmania) at around 5pm on 20 meters.
All and all with a very modest station, I racked up 142 Countries. I have been a ham since 1977 and this was the first time I worked this contest. I didn't think I had a good enough station to compete, so I just went into this seeking DXCC and sure enough I did. Learned a ton about where and when to work different countries. I highly recommend trying it at least. If nothing else, learning when the best operating conditions to other countries will be huge when understanding the best times to work that DX station you wish you had or DXpeditions.