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[3830] ARRLDX CW VP2EZZ M/S HP

To: 3830@contesting.com, lee@ww2dx.com
Subject: [3830] ARRLDX CW VP2EZZ M/S HP
From: webform@b4h.net
Reply-to: lee@ww2dx.com
Date: Wed, 19 Feb 2014 01:47:22 +0000
List-post: <3830@contesting.com">mailto:3830@contesting.com>
                    ARRL DX Contest, CW

Call: VP2EZZ
Operator(s): WW2DX W2RE N2IEN
Station: VP2EZZ

Class: M/S HP
QTH: VP2E
Operating Time (hrs): 45

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
  160:   97    31
   80:  259    47
   40:  730    59
   20: 1000    58
   15: 1003    58
   10: 1174    58
-------------------
Total: 4263   311  Total Score = 3,958,719

Club: 

Comments:

This was a last minute plan to head to VP2E and we literally took off from LI at
11:30pm Wed night to just miss the big storm in the NE. Heading south we had a
strong head wind of well over 100 knots making the first leg of the trip to
Orlando much longer than we expected. As we quickly climbed to 45k' we passed
lots of snow and a little ice until we popped up over the clouds and the stars
and moon welcomed us to a smooth flight south. With a short rest in W4 and a
refuel we jumped the 1200 miles to VP2E in no time. One exciting event was upon
descending into VP2E the rear cargo bay smoke alarm went off. We quickly made
the call to the tower and the fire brigade crew was waiting for us. Once we
landed we quickly opened the bay door and found nothing but wet cargo.
Descending from -80 deg F to + 80 deg F the condensation tripped the smoke
detector:) We made our way to the rental house which was beautiful and had an
amazing view over the water. We were met by the local communications officer
who handled our license for VP2EZZ and a local ham (one of two) VP2EKG (Keith)
who welcomed us to the island. We headed down with 2 x K3's, 1 Expert 1K-FA
amp, R8 Vertical, 80m OCF Dipole and a TransWorld TW2010 portable antenna. We
ended up using one K3 with the Expert to the OCF at 20' to be used for the
contest and the other K3 100w to the TW2010 antenna to be used during the
contest but on 12,17m. We also brought a spool of wire and made a 160m Inv L
but we could never get it to resonate properly. The SWR would constantly jump
all over the place with both the K3 and the Rig Expert analyzer. The only
conclusion we can come up with is some sort of coupling was happening with the
200kw 1610 transmitter that was about 1 air mile away. We then converted the
80m OCF by doubling its length to handle 160 and we had a perfectly resonate
antenna! That was a good choice since the first night we got in almost 100 q's
and the 2nd night was a complete wash from the flare. The three of us took
shifts and operated basically until we needed a break or some sleep. The WX is
just perfect there, 80 deg, the warm trade winds always blowing and sleeping
with all the windows and doors open was a very nice change coming from the
blistery north. We had no idea what to expect operating from the location. We
would get high QRN coming and going but signals were strong and constant. Crude
calculations showed some nice rates over 150/hr which we are pretty happy with
for a wire antenna 20' off the ground. We ran the amp conservative between
500-800w to keep it cool and to minimize tripping a breaker. 

At the end of the test we felt good. I decided to call some CQ on 6m with the
OCF as a joke and immediately was called by LU5FF S9 which then led to running
a number of LU's and CX's! Here is a short video LU5FF took.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rbyhii3_qMg

One note on the TransWorld antenna, Wed night I had a nice run of JA's and
Asiatic Russians with 100w. We never had a shortage of pileups using that
antenna.

Condx and WX were great from the Caribbean which exceeded our expectations and
the warm welcome from VP2EKG and VP2ETE was a nice treat. We ended up leaving a
little lighter as we knew the guys in the island have a hard time getting
supplies, so a new R8 and shiny new coax stayed behind which should hopefully
expand the operating capacity from VP2E moving forward.

Thanks to Nada for preparing some unbelievable meals that kept us fueled during
the test. 

Thanks to my operating comrades Ray W2RE and Pat N2IEN for another amazing
radio adventure.

There is nothing better than playing radio with your buddies in an exotic land
:)

73 Lee
WW2DX and the VP2EZZ Team.

Video from Ray W2RE at our QTH: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3WfM9Z1N9o


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