ARRL 160-Meter Contest
Call: C6ADM
Operator(s): K2DM K3ZM
Station: C6ADM
Class: M/S LP
QTH: Bahamas
Operating Time (hrs): 2
Summary:
Total: QSOs = 15 Sections = 12 Countries = 2 Total Score = 360
Club: The Villages Amateur Radio Club
Comments:
Some of you may have noticed that frequent-winner K3ZM (my brother Peter)
wasn’t on this year. After three years of cajoling, I finally convinced him
and his wife Margaret to join Karen (K4ZDM) and me for our annual trip to the
Bahamas. We come here for the PGA’s Hero World Challenge golf tournament. In
previous years I had brought a rig and some wire so that I could try to work
Peter in the contest. Last year he actually heard and worked me.
This year I brought my K3 and enough wire to work some FT8 on 40M. When Peter
saw my setup his eyes went wide, and he declared that we needed more wire so we
could get on 160M and try to work brother Jeff (VY2ZM). But where do you get
wire in Nassau? You ask your taxi driver to make a stop someplace promising,
which turned out to be a Carquest auto parts store.
Two 40-foot spools of wire later I “volunteered” to make the “antenna”
while Peter and Margaret had dinner. I finally got a configuration that the K3
antenna tuner could tune, but I could only run about 35W without getting a high
current warning. No matter. I could get on the air. I was just about to call my
first station (NP2J) when Peter knocked on the door. We found that we could
actually work people - not always easily, but we made some contacts.
We quickly fell into a routine. Peter and I manned the radio, Margaret checked
spots to find our friends and stations that should be able to hear us, and Karen
took pictures of all the excitement. It was a family affair for sure!
Early on we worked a station in Maine. WOW! If we could be heard in Maine, Jeff
should be easy with his good ears. All we had to do was catch him when he was
listening in our direction. So Margaret gave us his frequency from the spots,
and he was quite audible. But would WE be audible? YES!! It took a couple of
fills, but Jeff has a sixth sense for picking out family.
After a spirited celebration, we went on to work more stations. Many thanks to
those who stuck with us until you had our call, and apologies to those who
couldn’t quite pull us out.
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
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