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[3830] ARRLDX CW VY2ZM (K0DQ) SOAB HP

To: <3830@contesting.com>
Subject: [3830] ARRLDX CW VY2ZM (K0DQ) SOAB HP
From: "K0DQ" <k0dq@analog.org>
Date: Mon, 2 Mar 2009 10:43:56 -0500
List-post: <3830@contesting.com">mailto:3830@contesting.com>
Posting for the archival record.

 

Per Bruce, due to a technical glitch, this was accepted by 3830 on 2/26/2009 
but not published on the reflector.  

 

 

From: webform@b4h.net [mailto:webform@b4h.net] 
Sent: Thursday, February 26, 2009 9:21 AM
To: 3830@contesting.com; k0dq@analog.org
Subject: ARRLDX CW VY2ZM(K0DQ) SOAB HP

 

                    ARRL DX Contest, CW

 

Call: VY2ZM

Operator(s): K0DQ

Station: VY2ZM

 

Class: SOAB HP

QTH: PEI

Operating Time (hrs): 43

Radios: SO2R

 

Summary:

 Band  QSOs  Mults

-------------------

  160:  275    71

   80:  695    80

   40: 1215   100

   20: 1769    99

   15:  103    61

   10:    0     0

-------------------

Total: 4057   411  Total Score = 5,001,048

 

Club: Potomac Valley Radio Club

 

Comments:

 

What an incredible experience from one of the world’s premier stations and

locations!  Great contest with a roller-coaster ride of exhilarating moments

and more than few “others” in the downside column.    

 

A tale of two contests.  

 

The highlights.  The first 24 hours saw amazing (to this mid-Atlantic denizen)

signals and roaring runs into Europe combined with some of the best SO2R I’ve

been able to achieve.  VY2 got the bands early and well and put them to bed

satisfied.  160 was a dream and 20 earned its reputation as the money band in

bottom cycle.  Jeff’s new 40 meter death ray stack with 10 phased elements

into Europe was the piece de resistance that wouldn’t quit.  The first day

finished with 2767/333 and fourteen hours over 100 per (including seven 150+

hours).  Only downsides were the high-latitude blues on 15 (forget 10, this was

a five band contest) and the continuing presence of a 40 db biological

attenuator pad which took up residence in my right inner ear about a week

before the contest.  

 

Playing injured.  Then, at 0100Z on day two, the wheel turned.  I almost quit

the contest. The proximate cause was a WMD attack by a very nasty biological

warfare agent that took over my stomach in a very unwanted coup d’etat. 

Being reasonably rested going into the contest (another blessing of guest

operating), I had planned on taking 1.5 hours off at 08Z.  Instead, I took a

total of five hours off during the night and was at half speed the rest of the

night and early morning, with some eye watering abdominal pain.  To exacerbate

the physical trauma, 20 opened late and we didn’t really “get” the band

for almost two hours.  It may have been a blessing in disguise as my SO2R

skills - which still require significant cognitive function for this op -

degenerated substantially and I would have been hard pressed to keep up with

several wide-open bands.  The strategy - driven by necessity - was to press

on with the F1 button and do whatever I could on the second radio.  Things

finally took a turn for the better about halfway through the 15 meter European

“opening” on Sunday when I realized that the northern location wasn’t the

only culprit in my low multiplier total on 15 meters.  It suddenly became

apparent that the radio I was using on 15 had a defective preamp.  Shifting to

a working preamp, the noise floor fell to near zero and I was able to add a

dozen whispery central/northern Europe multipliers on 15, including an

ESP-level mind meld with OH4A.  I limped to the finish line with a second day

of 1290 Q’s - less than half day one - and, more telling, only 78 new

mults.  But, in a perfect finish, the last contact was logged at 23:59:45 and

the score rolled over from 4.999M to 5 million and a squeak.  Shortly after I

was headed for bed with Jeff’s good news/bad news routine ringing in my ears

(always take the bad news first - in this case a monster snowstorm sporting

100+ knot winds was roaring inbound from VE9).

 

Backing up a bit, this story really begins well over a year ago when Jeff

graciously invited me to operate ARRL DX CW from PEI in 2008.  Having kept

loosely abreast of VY2ZM through contest results and several articles over the

years, I jumped at the opportunity in principle, but demurred for last year as

I was recovering from double knee replacement surgery (and that on the heels of

two of the most challenging - yet rewarding - years of my professional life). 

The issue became moot when a killer ice storm ravaged the station last January. 

In God’s providence, I enjoyed the restorative fruits of that disaster in the

form of a new and improved 40 meter antenna setup.  

 

VY2ZM: The station.  

 

Simply put, it is pure joy to operate.  

 

There IS a steep learning curve on the hardware side (even more so for someone

who does an average of .5 contests a year). This is not a station you arrive at

an hour before zero zulu.  The 160 antenna setup is in a league by itself with

more switch combinations than a terrorist has aliases.  Eighty is mercifully

straightforward with a mundane but highly effective four square (watch this

space - the smart money is on another level of complexity and another S unit

coming to this theater soon).  Forty isn’t far behind 160 in menu diversity

(“Would you like a Caribbean deuce with those stacked threes on Europe,

sir?”).   The high bands are standard Mercedes Benz three and four stacks

with a southward-pointing Toyota tri-bander as chase car.  

 

My biggest concern, a priori, was the keyboard / software setup.  Jeff, in

collaboration with Andy, N2NT, has instituted a novel (to me, anyway) setup

using two keyboards & computers a la multi-single (yes, Matilda, there is an

interlock. . . and it works).  And, to boot, the software is CT.  Having gone

through several painful plebe years on TRLog and finally graduating to

upperclassman status, I was quite provincial on the software subject and was,

ahem, “extremely” reluctant to learn a new system for SO2R.  I had a very

good contest at P40Q in November CQWWCW and have grown to really, really like

TRLog for SO2R. . . I especially like the part where you don’t have to move

your hands off the keyboard for anything, including the RIT.  Jeff, however,

politely responded to my not-so-subtle demarche for relief (“how about we

install TRLog?”) with the diplomatic note equivalent of a declaration of war

(”that’s really not a good idea”) so, in the presence of force majeure, I

compromised. . .  on two keyboards and CT.  I have to admit, it was pretty cool.

 I was able to carry on two QSO’s simultaneously, hitting F4 thence F2 on the

S&P radio between sending reports and QRZ on the run radio - typing and

logging the mult when there was a whisper of a break.  I even got used to the

extra key stroke while running on CT, although my fatigued fat fingers would

have liked very much somehow to add “TU VY2ZM” to the RETURN key.  

 

Then, there’s this.  The scenery on PEI is some of the most beautiful on

God’s earth.  I’d seen the Maritimes in summer, and they are gorgeous as

only the north latitudes can be.  But the view of the Gulf of St. Lawrence from

the northeast coast of PEI in winter has a stark, icy glory to it that was

breathtaking to this sailor.  And, to top it off, getting there is half the

fun.  VY2ZM is literally a mile off the beaten path.  In winter, the laneway

(driveway to us southerners) drifts over and the choices are snowmobile or

foot-mobile.   Six-foot-four, good-kneed, tower-climbing Jeff was kind enough

to take the old man in and out on the Skidoo and make the final trek on foot

while I waited in warmth.  The perfect host.  . . for a perfect adventure.  

 

Blessings, and thanks for the Q’s. . . and the memories.

 

Scott, K0DQ / A92Q @ VY2ZM

 

 

Antennas:

160:  

TX:  4 L steerable vertical array, ~8 db to Europe.  

RX:  Five 880+ ft beverages and a 6 L “six-pack” receiving array which almost

makes W1AW disappear off the rear

 

80:  4-Square

 

40:  

3 over 3 @ 160/85, top rotatable; 

2 over 2 @ 130/80, top rotatable, sharing mast with top 20.

 

20: Three stack of 5 L @ 140/100/60(on tower with 2 L 40 stack)

 

15: Four stack of 5 L @ 100/75/50/25

 

10: Four stack of 5 L @ 110/85/60/35

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