CQ Worldwide DX Contest, SSB
Call: V31MD
Operator(s): AA4SW (V31SR), WO0Z (V31LL), AB5K (V31TG), W5ZL (V31ZL)
Station: V31MD
Class: M/2 LP
QTH: Placencia, Belize
Operating Time (hrs): 48
Summary:
Band QSOs Zones Countries
------------------------------
160: 188 7 14
80: 343 13 36
40: 819 26 69
20: 1115 24 75
15: 1134 25 77
10: 55 6 18
------------------------------
Total: 3654 101 289 Total Score = 3,085,290
Club: Central Texas DX and Contest Club
Comments:
Team SDR, comprised of Eric AA4SW (V31SR), Larry WO0Z (V31LL), Terry AB5K
(V31TG) and Gary W5ZL (V31ZL) rented Bob V31MD's Belizean shack for CQWW SSB
and descended on Placencia with a complement of three SDR-1000s - a pair and
a spare - and the requisite computer gear to mount the first ever
DXpedition/contest operation using exclusively software defined radios.
Technical complexity for our setup was relatively high, but for the most
part we were able to dispatch technical problems quickly as they arose -
with one key exception. We realized in the moments leading up to the
starting gun that we didn't have what we needed to interface either SDR to
Bob's Ameritron 600 amplifier. Had we been near, say, a Radio Shack, no
problemo. Working as we were with fairly modest antennas, running 100 watts
instead of 600 was a serious handicap on the low bands, and kept us from
maintaining nighttime runs as we had hoped to do.
Propagation from Belize was a little surprising. 20 meters seemed to largely
die with the sunset (around 6 pm local), and 15 didn't tend to wake up until
nearly noon. 10 was virtually non-existent until Sunday when we had a pretty
good pipeline to South America (lots of LUs) and a handful of other
Caribbean stations, but NIL to the US or EU (or anywhere else, for that
matter). 40 was decent, but again we had a lot of trouble holding a run
frequency in the DX band with 100 watts and a vertical, and our runs were
modest aside from a spectacular early Sunday morning opening to JA. 160 was
excellent both nights to the States and by the second night it was hard to
find anyone we hadn't worked. 80 was just plain tough sledding.
The receiver in the SDR lived up to its press clippings in the very crowded
bands of this contest. The panadapter display, felt by some before the
contest to be "cool, but largely useless in a contest we should be running
in" became downright invaluable in spotting pin holes that we could drop
into to try to establish a run frequency, and to spot possible 40 meter
split frequencies. N1MM integrated with the SDR's application software
flawlessly and proved a huge hit with the team. Our biggest problem was
being heard.
Rigs: Two FlexRadio Systems 100-watt SDR-1000s, networked wirelessly using
N1MM logging software and N8VB virtual com port software. Station one was a
3 Ghz Pentium 4 desktop machine (WinXP) and a Delta 44 sound card plus a
Heil Pro Set Quiet phone. Station two was a 1.8 Ghz P4 Dell Inspiron 700M
notebook computer (also WinXP) with an outboard Extigy USB sound card and a
Pro Set Plus headset.
Antennas: Two element multi-band quad at 35', HF2V for 80/40 located in a
saltwater lagoon about 70' from the shack, an HF9V vertical for 80-6 just
and outside the shack, and a top-loaded 160 meter vertical erected nearby
just prior to the contest.
We had a GREAT time!
Ops: V31MD, AA4SW, WO0Z, AB5K, and W5ZL.
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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