IARU HF World Championship - 2020
Call: PJ4A
Operator(s): K4BAI
Station: PJ4NG
Class: SOABCW HP
QTH: PJ4
Operating Time (hrs): 24
Summary:
Band CW Qs Ph Qs Zones HQ Mults
-------------------------------------
160: 0 0 0 0
80: 115 0 12 8
40: 972 0 28 24
20: 1117 0 24 24
15: 373 0 19 15
10: 90 0 13 6
-------------------------------------
Total: 2667 0 96 77 Total Score = 2,194,101
Club: South East Contest Club
Comments:
Many thanks to KU8E and his wife Jan for allowing me to operate the BeLoud
remote station on Bonaire from their house where they have high speed wireless
and Jeff on site for technical and computer assistance. Thanks to the station
owner, Noah, K2NG, and his man on the island Ericksson for doing a manual change
over of antennas four times during the 24 hours to make up for antenna switches
on the island that have failed since anyone from the US could get there to
replace them.
After May CQ WPX CW, Jeff suggested that I purchase a knob for use with the Flex
radios to use in changing frequencies and for controlling the RIT. This worked
like a champ. He also suggested I get my own computer for him to install all
the programs to control the remote station. I dropped the ball and didn't
actually order the computer until too late, so I used his computer this last
time, we hope.
In May, we didn't plan far enough ahead and the pandemic slowed down the
regulatory authority on the island so I had to use the long call PJ4/K4BAI.
Thanks to the folks at the agency I was authorized to use PJ4A for IARU and also
for CQ WW CW in November. I am still hoping that Jeff and I will be able to be
at the station on site then, but it may be that we will still be restricted from
travelling there then.
I didn't spend enough time looking for multipliers to maximize the score. I had
no experience with using the knob and didn't really do S&P until the rate
slowed during the night. After that, I did search the bands for HQ and Zone
mults, but it was too late for 15 and 10M. Speaking of 15 and 10 meters, it was
a very pleasant surprise to find 15 and 10M open for much of the day to Europe,
US, and South America. But, the rates on those bands were relatively low and I
didn't spend a lot of time there. I did listen to 160M and heard nothing but
noise. Probably par for the course for July near the Equator.
Band conditions were generally better than I had expected. 20M was open for
much, if not all of the night. The low bands were not too noisy. Some QRN on
80, but none noticed on 40. I had a wonderful, long run into Japan on 40M. The
last hour of the contest, which is often very slow, was hopping with great
signals from all over the world, including my one QSO with China. On Saturday,
I was called by VR2 from the same zone on 20M.
I must apologize to those I confused with wrong messages from the F keys. I am
not accustomed not to having a sidetone to tell me when I hit the wrong key and
ordinarily send a lot of CW with the paddle. But, we don't have the paddle
working yet (will be able to hear the sound from the WinKey monitor) so I was
limited to using the preprogrammed memory keys and apologize for not personally
greeting my many friends who called. There is inevitably some latency, but I
learned in January and May to anticipate that and cut down unexpected delays.
A wonderful experience overall. Not enjoyed as much as a 24 hour uninterrupted
serenade of CW sounds, but still fun.
QSLs may be sent to K4BAI. The same for any pre-contest QSOs by PJ4/KU8E. If
you want a bureau QSL, it would be best to send me an e-mail (k4bai@att.net) and
I'll prepare one and you can save your card for someone else.
Hope the present unpleasant and unsafe conditions will abate soon and we will
return to whatever the new normal turns out to be.
73, John, K4BAI/PJ4A
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
______________________________________________
3830 mailing list
3830@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/3830
|