ARRL DX Contest, SSB
Call: 6Y8Z
Operator(s): WO9Z, WN9O
Station: 6Y8Z
Class: M/S LP
QTH: Jamaica
Operating Time (hrs): 46
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
160: 61 22
80: 320 47
40: 619 53
20: 1023 58
15: 1202 59
10: 1769 59
-------------------
Total: 4987 298 Total Score = 4,458,378
Club: Society of Midwest Contesters
Comments:
NOTE: Breakdown's follow the writeup...
This contest was operated by Mike, WO9Z, and Kevin, WN9O, as a multi-
single operation from Jamaica. Mike has operated the last few years from
here and has other DX experience. The operating location is on the north
side of the island (Runaway Bay) about 1/4 mile away from the ocean and
is about 100' above sea level. Besides being beautiful it has a clear shot
to the USA and the only better location would be right on the ocean.
The antennas were put up a few days before the contest. The best
improvement from last years setup was the addition of the TA-33JR beam.
We mounted the beam about 15' up above the ground (vertical). Last year was
a 1/4 wave vertical and signal improvement was about 3 S-units, which
includes earlier band openings (about three hours earlier).
Just before the contest started, we put up an 80 meter vertical (more of
a top loaded vertical). The apex was around 40'. After adding a number
of radials, we thought this antenna would perform great (being so close
to the water).
The antenna's include:
1) Vertical Beam for 10/15/20.
2) 40 / 80 Mtr trap dipole @ 35'
3) 80 Mtr vertical (1st night) - converted to 160 Mtr inverted L (2nd night)
4) 10/15/20 1/4 wave trap vertical (apex around 35')
We started the contest on 20 meters and ran until the rate dropped off. It
lasted about 2-1/2 hours and then we went to 40 meters. Being my first time
(Kevin) I never expect the shortwave stations to be +40 dB over most of the
night. We would find a frequency and be there for 30-60 minutes until
another shortwave station would fire up and we would lose our listening
frequency. The rates on 40 never really came. We need to be louder next
year. I am not sure you could ever sustain a good rate on 80 meters, but
we worked around a number of stations there, and only two Q's on 160
meters the first night.
Saturday morning was slow to start. Mike (WO9Z) started working the pile
around 13:00 GMT and then the radio went dead. It sounded like the antenna
was unplugged. He changed to the 20 meter vertical from last years
operation and could not work a sole (the radio loaded ok on the vertical).
We finally went outside, only to find it raining. Unfortuately we did not
tape much of the coax connections, so we started tracking down the problem.
It turned out to be a shorted piece of coax and once we replaced it, we
were on the air again. We missed around 45 - 60 minutes of an early morning
run.
Most of the big piles from here start around noon (local time) and last
until the band drops off around 6-8 pm. During the day, we talked about
adding a piece of wire to 80 meter vertical just to get a few contacts on
160 meters (for mults). A piece of wire was added and tested to be
resonate around 1.9 MHz. It would be a few hours before we were able
to test our new antenna, but we did not figure we would lose much due
to the fact the 80 meter dipole was just as strong as the vertical
the night before.
The conditions on the low bands were very noisey on Saturday night.
Fortunately around 08:00 Z the conditions improved and we started working
80 and 160. The 160 antenna had extreme QRN, so I listened on the
vertical beam. The final totals were 61 Q's and 22 sections on 160.
80 meters was also decent producing a final Q total of 320.
During the second day I really thought the conditions would not improve
to a point of getting another good run. I was assuming we worked most of
the stations the first day - was I wrong. The conditions started to
pickup around the early afternoon and we working the pile-up as quick as
we could.
The last few hours produced rates around 200 - 300 per hour. I was
amazed there was that many stations needing Jamaica. If you have never
operated from a DX location (just as I hadn't) then get ready for endless
piles during peak times during the contest.
We hope to repeat this operation next year, so we can improve on
the antennas and score again . For a rookie's first time DX contest from
outside the USA, it was great..
Another important averge to mention is the temperature. During the contest,
the high's were around 90 degrees F and the lows were around 75 degrees F.
It was kind of hard during the mid-day as we only had a few overhead fans,
but we were used to Indianapolis weather the week before (highs around
20 degrees F and 12 inches of snow).
Thanks to all the stations who worked us. We appreciate every QSO we made.
73's,
Kevin WN9O
Mike WO9Z
=====================================================
BREAKDOWN QSO/mults 6Y8Z ARRL INTERNATIONAL DX CONTEST Multi Single
HOUR 160 80 40 20 15 10 HR TOT CUM TOT
0 ..... ..... ..... 196/45 1/1 ..... 197/46 197/46
1 . . . 172/7 . . 172/7 369/53
2 . . 55/24 50/1 . . 105/25 474/78
3 . . 139/14 . . . 139/14 613/92
4 . . 47/5 . . . 47/5 660/97
5 . 82/25 . . . . 82/25 742/122
6 . 9/0 32/2 . . . 41/2 783/124
7 . 1/0 69/2 . . . 70/2 853/126
8 2/2 34/6 9/0 ..... ..... ..... 45/8 898/134
9 . 44/6 . . . . 44/6 942/140
10 . . 28/2 . . . 28/2 970/142
11 . . 12/0 . . . 12/0 982/142
12 . . 13/0 3/0 . . 16/0 998/142
13 . . . 7/0 50/20 . 57/20 1055/162
14 . . . . 91/10 . 91/10 1146/172
15 . . . . 63/6 131/23 194/29 1340/201
16 ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... 275/15 275/15 1615/216
17 . . . . . 185/8 185/8 1800/224
18 . . . . . 233/7 233/7 2033/231
19 . . . . . 199/1 199/1 2232/232
20 . . . . 161/12 47/0 208/12 2440/244
21 . . . . 220/8 . 220/8 2660/252
22 . . . 40/0 35/1 82/0 157/1 2817/253
23 . . . 67/1 27/0 9/0 103/1 2920/254
0 ..... ..... ..... 42/2 61/0 3/0 106/2 3026/256
1 . . . 172/1 . . 172/1 3198/257
2 . . 74/2 . . . 74/2 3272/259
3 46/18 7/0 . . . . 53/18 3325/277
4 . 1/0 16/0 . . . 17/0 3342/277
5 . . 58/1 . . . 58/1 3400/278
6 . 1/1 15/0 . . . 16/1 3416/279
7 . . 14/0 . . . 14/0 3430/279
8 3/1 31/3 16/0 ..... ..... ..... 50/4 3480/283
9 1/0 18/2 4/0 . . . 23/2 3503/285
10 9/1 43/1 . . . . 52/2 3555/287
11 . 49/3 18/1 . . . 67/4 3622/291
12 . . . 11/0 13/0 . 24/0 3646/291
13 . . . 12/0 . 66/0 78/0 3724/291
14 . . . 3/0 14/0 61/1 78/1 3802/292
15 . . . . . 71/1 71/1 3873/293
16 ..... ..... ..... 1/0 ..... 137/2 138/2 4011/295
17 . . . . 3/0 66/0 69/0 4080/295
18 . . . 1/0 2/0 39/0 42/0 4122/295
19 . . . . . 116/0 116/0 4238/295
20 . . . . 118/0 42/1 160/1 4398/296
21 . . . 1/0 131/0 . 132/0 4530/296
22 . . . 1/1 209/1 . 210/2 4740/298
23 . . . 244/0 4/0 . 248/0 4988/298
DAY1 2/2 170/37 404/49 535/54 648/58 1161/54 ..... 2920/254
DAY2 59/20 150/10 215/4 488/4 555/1 601/5 . 2068/44
TOT 61/22 320/47 619/53 1023/58 1203/59 1762/59 . 4988/298
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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