ARRL DX Contest, CW
Call: P49Y
Operator(s): AE6Y
Station: P49Y
Class: SOAB LP
QTH: Aruba
Operating Time (hrs): 42:30
Radios: SO2R
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
160: 234 45
80: 561 57
40: 924 58
20: 1070 59
15: 1098 59
10: 378 51
-------------------
Total: 4265 329 Total Score = 4,209,555
Club: MLDXCC
Comments:
Another enjoyable, but challenging, contest from Aruba. Two years ago when we
were both on the Island, John, P40W (W2GD) went low power and I did high power.
This year, with John looking forward to a shootout in HP, I decided to take LP.
It was quite a change from last year, when I managed over 5800 Qs. Part of it
was conditions, as QSO totals were down for all of us, part was going low power,
and part was due to not feeling quite as in sync with the contest as I had last
year. For some reason, I just didn't feel as competent managing pileups as
before. The bands were also much more cooperative last year; for example, 10m
then was wide open for us DXers. This year, 10m cooperated just enough to give
the advantage to the Caribbean, but not enough to produce the terrific activity
of the past.
As usual, this operation was from the P40L-P49Y station (ex-P49V QTH) owned by
John, W6LD, and myself. To give an idea of some of the maintenance required by
such a place, since last year we had replaced the FT1000Ds with IC 756 PRO 2s.
This was mainly due to having front end problems with the older FT1000s, and the
difficulty of lugging 65-pound radios back to the States for servicing. I happen
to like the PROs very much, but John was less enthusiastic -- but we both agree
that having newer, lighter radios is a great advantage in the Caribbean. We
also had renewed beverages for the low bands, thanks to extensive work by W6LD,
N6XI and KX7M, who hacked their way through the badlands (the "cunucu", as the
locals say) behind the house last fall to string them up for CQWW CW.
Miraculously, they were still there. We also had brought back the 87A for
servicing, after its power supply board was apparently toasted by a power surge
in the summer (when it should have been unplugged), and had major maintenance in
October on our 40m yagi (thanks to P43E, P43L and P43M for their help with that
one). Not to mention numerous house/shack improvements by K6TA and W0YK in
recent months (telephones, shack chair, filter repairs).
Contest Highlights:
1) The highpoint of the contest had to be the brief but exciting 10m opening on
Sunday. I worked not a single Q on 10m on Saturday, and was contemplating
finishing the contest with the embarrassing total of fewer than 300 mults (as
compared to 341 last year). At about 1630Z on Sunday, I tried CQing on 10, but
heard nothing. I kept listening on 10 on the second radio, where P40W was trying
to get something stirred up. Finally someone answered him, so a few minutes
later I started CQing again. VY2TT answered, whisper quiet, but no one else, so
I went back to 15. Returning to 10 at 1723, the band was starting to open due
north, with ESP signals from VO1HP, VO1MP, VO1OP, KC1XX, and a surprisingly
western K8MFO. But I couldn't really hear with P40W on the band -- there was
nothing wrong with his TX or my RX, but when you are trying to hear S-zero
signals, having him 1/2 mile and 15kHz away was a deal-killer. I debated
slugging it out with John, but decided that he was in the contest HP and more
seriously than I was, so I withdrew and went back to 15, in the hope that
signals would improve so we could both work the band.
About 20 minutes later, signals did sound stronger, so I went back to 10, and
the first CQ yielded a monster pileup. Looking at the NA score reports, I can
see why -- the Caribbean and SA was just about all there was for NA stations. I
didn't have to call CQ again for an hour and a half. I don't feel that I
handled the pileup very well. I was tired and had difficulty concentrating, and
the pileup was so big as to be difficult to manage. The first hour was 186,
whereas last year I had a 215 hour on 10 with a more manageable pileup.
Nonetheless, it was exciting to watch the mults come as propagation moved across
the country. There were strange anomalies, including working only a few
Californians, who were very weak (even W6YI), but shortly thereafter working S9
plus 20 Oregonians. The propagation gradually disappeared, and I was sadly
reduced to going back to 20 to finish out the contest (15 was still open, but at
the time I had several hundred more Qs in the log on 15, so I thought that 20
would have better prospects).
2) After a hard night slugging it out on the low bands, I was looking forward to
20m opening Saturday morning, but I just couldn't get anything going. After an
hour and a half, I only had about 140 Qs on 20, with 42 mults. But switching to
15 just as it opened up proved to be the tonic I needed, with five straight
hours averaging about 145 per hour. What was really satisfying, though, was that
every time I came across a juicy mult also needed on 20, I would ask him to
move, and virtually all the moves were successful. The result was that after
this run, I had 55 mults on 15 and also 55 on 20 - where I still had fewer than
160 Qs, but had successfully added 13 mults to the total. Finally going to 20
in the 21Z hour yielded a very satisfying 189 hour.
3) As P40W mentioned in his write-up, one of the highlights of contesting from
Aruba is the opportunity to spend time with local hams and visiting contesters.
The locals are a very friendly and interesting bunch, and some are world-class
contesters (including P43E, who will compete in WRTC, and P43P, from whose
station many contests have been won, both by him personally and by visitors).
For example, this one-week trip interrupted by a 48-hour contest included meals
or visits with: P43A (Jean-Pierre) and his wife P43C (Chris), P43E (Emily), P43P
(Jackie), P43L (Lisandro), P43JB (Joop), P49MR (Martin), P40LE (Andy - K2LE),
P40G (Paolo - I2UIY), and the ubiquitous P40W (John - W2GD). It's the exact
opposite of some contest expeditions, where the ops are essentially isolated in
a strange country.
Contest Lowlights:
1) The start of the contest was dreadful. Last year, 15 was open for us but
not from NA to EU, and it produced an excellent 216-QSO first hour; this year,
by contrast, 15 was closed, and I couldn?t get anything at all going on 20 or
40, so I was reduced to trying to run on 80. Only a total of 203 contacts in
the first two hours combined -- a terrible way to start a 48-hour endeavor.
2) Even after studying at the feet of the 160m master, P40W, I still don?t have
the hang of operating on that band. Four years ago, in my first ever ARRL DX
operation from P4 (and my first lifetime operation on 160), I managed the
unimpressively low total of 40 mults. The next year, I worked on it and got a
respectable total of 52, then regressed last year to 48 and this year to 45.
I seem to do well Friday night, then hit a brick wall on Saturday. Two or three
moves went well, but several others, particularly with western stations, did
not. I think I need to spend more time running on Saturday night, and be
patient even with a relatively low rate.
3) A new laptop caused some strange Windows problems with CW. Using my own
software, CQPWIN, I am sensitive to the occasional Windows glitches in CW
sending, but have been coexisting amicably with Microsoft more or less
successfully since the days of Win 3.1. The trouble seems to be that the new XP
machine has too much stuff running in the background, and is trying to be too
protective. It would be fine for hours, and then would bombard me with messages
about USB devices not being recognized. It seemed to think that a USB to PS2
converter (for external mouse and keyboard) was some kind of Bluetooth device ?
every so often a Bluetooth icon would blink and CW would sound strange. It?s
hard to deal with this kind of issue when you are tired, but I finally tried to
remove the Bluetooth software (that I didn?t even know I had), tore out the two
USB connections, and continued with a minimal configuration. That seemed to
help, but even days later, I keep getting the ?USB device not recognized?
message. Does anyone know how to clear that up?? I don't have to hack the
registry, do I??
4) The worst annoyance of all was dupes. There are legitimate reasons for a
dupe; for example, due to QRM, QSB, etc., there may be a question as to a
contact, so an insurance contact can be appropriate. Some are just honest
mistakes. But the great bulk is due to carelessness in use of packet spots.
It's obvious to me that I was mis-spotted a number of times, presumably as P40Y,
not P49Y. When this happens, there ensues a sudden flurry of callers, almost
all of whom are dupes. The worst are some of the big gun multis, who call
insistently, and loudly. They obviously don't listen to the station they are
calling, because throughout the contest I was sending my callsign after every
contact, or, at most, after every second contact. Even repeating the callsign
over and over doesn't deter these guys. I consider this very poor operating
practice. After the contest, P40G noted that he had been spotted as PV0G
several times, with the same infuriating results. So, please spot carefully,
and those of you who are relying on spots, please listen to the station before
you call. The dupes really do affect one's score, as they waste a lot of time
during which one could be working new stations.
Equipment:
Radios: Two IC-756 PRO 2s
Antennas: Force 12 4 el 10/15/20, 2 el 40, C31XR; inv vees for 80, 160
Software: CQPWIN, ver. 10.2
Congratulations to P40W and P40G on great efforts, and thanks to everyone for
the contacts.
73, Andy, AE6Y, P49Y
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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