CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW
Call: PJ2T
Operator(s): RW0CN W8WTS NT6X NA2U KB7Q N7IR W0CG N0YY K2PLF
Station: PJ2T
Class: M/M HP
QTH: Curacao
Operating Time (hrs): 48
Summary:
Band QSOs Zones Countries
-------------------------------
160: 961 22 84
80: 1418 28 100
40: 3087 35 129
20: 3390 38 141
15: 2718 32 130
10: 1019 21 45
-------------------------------
Total: 12593 176 629 Total Score = 29,866,305
Club: Caribbean Contesting Consortium
Comments:
What an interesting weekend. Testing skills against the sun, Tropical Storm
Otto, Murphy visits, etc. is a real test of the team mettle and desire. We
assembled a world class team for this year’s event. Jim, W8WTS coming from
the 2016 CQWW 160 win (multi-op) led the 160M effort for the team this year.
Rick, N0YY and Gary, N7IR focused on 80/10M; Gene, KB7Q and Fred NA2U led the
40M effort; Mikhail, RW0CN and Marty, K2PLF worked 20M; and Mike NT6X
strong-armed 15M; with Geoff, W0CG/PJ2DX floating to keep the team rocking.
With the team arriving on Tuesday we had barely enough time to get the support
items in place before we had to ring out all of the stations to make sure we
were truly contest ready. Some tower work, some receive antenna work, and
making sure all the computers talked to each other were all part of the tasks
in place for us. Much was already done as the CQWW SSB team had competed a few
weeks before and things looked to be ready to go.
This is the rainy season in the southern Caribbean, but we really weren’t
prepared for the help from the evolving tropical storm. Torrential rains hit
and limited our preparations. But the worst was yet to come.
We ate like kings! We had great food all week but really enjoyed a traditional
Thanksgiving dinner prepared by Dee (N0YY’s XYL) who served as chef for the
entire week. We were even graced with a visit from Maarten, PA3EYC who was
spending some holiday time visiting Curacao. With dinner under our belts we
were ready to go.
Friday evening/Saturday morning came and we were REALLY ready to go! The gun
went off and we hit the ground running. Five minutes in, Murphy started
knocking on the door and our 15M station graced us with the all too familiar
“essence of ohmite” as something was amiss. Quickly reconfiguring the
station we were back on line and running at great rates �" the score
building as the minutes rolled by. In just over 3 hours we had our first 1,000
Qs in the log. Now remember, the SFI was 78 with the A-Index of 24, so for
those of you that ask “what’s the big deal with 1000 Qs” that was on
challenged bands!
Saturday morning dawned to a huge downpour as Tropical Storm Otto blew past.
The good news was that the bands remained relatively quiet. We worried about
local power outages but somehow dodged that bullet. We kept our fingers
crossed for a favorable 10M opening that never really materialized. A thin
opening started at about 15Z with very few European stations heard �" it
was primarily a US stateside opening. Yeah we heard and worked some East/West
equatorial stations �" but they were also thin. But understand that even
with the limited openings on 10M we watched the rate meter peak at 320 per hour
a couple of times as the stateside stations kept rolling in!
15M opened earlier but the European opening was not strong. Mid-afternoon we
lost internet access �" but technology prevailed as we turned to cell
phone access to the internet for spots. This was necessary to integrate with
our on-site skimmers for high band spots.
40M and 20M were alive �" but they were not as strong and robust as our
traditional openings. They opened later, were weaker signals, less polar paths
�" did I mention the auroral challenge �" but we worked all we could
hear. Sure we missed several multipliers but pretty much worked all we could
hear �" or pileups we could break.
Low bands were very different. We experienced the largest JA openings ever
with high rates and endless QSOs on 80M. 20 and 40 carried the day with 15
being strong. But all bands made the contest seem more like an ARRL DX contest
than a worldwide contest. Without all the US players it would have been a slow
weekend. But on a high note �" we worked more QSOs on 80 from PJ2T than
ever before!
40, 20, and 15M were the money bands �" but not quite as good as years
past. Late night openings on 15 were thin. 20M had a few surprises late
night. And 40M just kept rolling along. We were still adding multipliers as
the last QSOs were being made.
In all we had fun, enjoyed the fellowship of our teammates, ate well, and had a
GREAT time!
Thanks to all the stations that played �" for the QSOs, the multipliers,
and the fun for the weekend.
Thanks to the Caribbean Contesting Consortium for the facilities for the
contest and to Geoff for all the logistics and maintenance of the station.
And thanks to the sponsors for making this the most fun anyone can have!
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
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