ARRL DX Contest, CW
Call: P40W
Operator(s): W2GD
Station: P40W
Class: SOAB LP
QTH: Aruba
Operating Time (hrs): 41
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
160: 371 55
80: 616 58
40: 786 56
20: 1002 57
15: 1100 57
10: 880 56
-------------------
Total: 4755 339 Total Score = 4,835,835
Club: Frankford Radio Club
Comments:
Rig: IC756ProII 100W
Antennas:
160M: Vertical Dipole, Inverted V @ 70'
80M: Half Square (2 ele vertical), Inverted V @ 70'
40M: 2 ele Wire Beam (DE + Dir) at 60', F12 C4 Dipole
20M: F12 4 ele yagi @ 70', F12 C4 @ 60'
15M: F12 5 ele yagi @ 82', F12 C4 @ 60'
10M: F12 5 ele yagi @ 76', F12 C4 @ 60'
450' beverage NW, 450' beverage North
Congrats to K9PG for his winning LP effort from WP3R.......nice job Paul.
Tried 3 new wire antennas this trip which all seemed to be an improvement over
others - 40M 2 ele wire beam, 80M half square vertical, and 160M vertical
dipole. Special tnx to NO2R for helping measure and cut these antennas on a
cold Sunday afternoon before my departure - saving me many precious hours of
on-site time.
Upon arrival I was fortuante to be picked up at the airport by Andy, P40Y/AE6Y,
since there were no rental cars to be had - it was Carnaval week and the island
was overflowing with visitors. Over the next few days Andy and I would spend
time together doing antenna work and sharing dinners.
An initial survey of the station revealed two problems: the beverage antennas
had both completely "disappeared" and improper securing of the feedlines had
caused chaffing damage to all 4 yagi coax runs where the cable passes the first
set of guy wire torque bars. Replacing the beverage antennas would later take
cumulatively a full day's work (lots of cactus to go through and otherwise
overcome). And fortunately the coax damage was very recent, corrosion had not
yet occured where the braid was compromised. Lots of 3M #33 electrical tape did
the trick. All of the yagis seemed to work properly.
With the essentials taken care of, erecting and tuning the new wire antennas
consumed almost 1.5 days. There was no time to air test them extensively before
the contest, in fact the tests run on the 80 and 160 antennas was not
particularly encouraging. Some last minute tweaking on Friday morning on the
80M half square (shortened the vertical elements to raise them higher off the
ground) seemed to have worked.
Started on 15M meters.....the band died after just 23 minutes, this was not a
good sign. Quickly slide down to 20M and finished the hour with 209 QSOs, what
would be the best hour of the weekend for me. Then 20 dried up and I went to
40M which was wall to wall loud signal all the way up to 7100. Had a very
difficult time getting a run frequency and my poor 126 hour was the the proof.
P40Y and P40W are just a mile apart. Both of us operating 160M at the same time
is not much fun. So before the contest we agreed to switch off even/odd hours
each night to avoid the conflict . My first trip to 160 at 02Z was wild! Came
away with 87 QSOs and 31 mults in just 29 minutes (a 179/hr rate) WOW, that got
me pumped. Then moved to 80 for the remainder of the hour and another hot run -
finishing up with 171 QSOs total.
Stayed on 80 where the rate kept hovering around 175, then back up to 40M where
finding a decent run frequency seemed easier. In retrospect I didn't spend
enough time on 40M over the course of the weekend and too much time was devoted
to 160...my favorite band.
At 0900 took a planned 2 hour sleep break. At 11Z 40M was by far the best band,
20 and 15 were not open and as the morning progressed the high bands would not
be all that productive. Condx were just too good between EU/USA. Kept trying to
make things happen on 10M in vain when I probably should have been on 15 or even
20. Things seemed out of sync. The 21Z hour on 15M was a joy. Finished the
first day with a hot 193 hour, mostly on 20M. 20M was good for the first hour
on Day 2. The remainder of the evening was fairly run of the mill except for a
nice west coast openning on 160M during the 05 and 07 hours.
At 0815 a second scheduled 2 hour sleep period ended up being stretched to 4
hours - oops. But as it turned out Sunday morning was far worse condx wise than
Saturday. P40G later told me of endlessly calling CQ on 15M with very few
responses for what seemed like hours. Again, 10M never got going as expected
until 18Z. 15M was the money band. Finished up the contest on 20M the last 2
hours with a decent rate.
After the contest got together P43P and family, P43E, P40G (I2UIY) and P40Y for
dinner. These post-contest dinners have become a tradition among Aruba contest
operators and gives us all a chance to swap contest stories and impressions, and
a final time together before leaving. GREAT FUN.
Came away from the weekend with three new wire antennas to use in the years
ahead. Thanks for all the QSOs.
73, John W2GD/P40W
w2gd@hotmail.com
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
---------------------------------------------------------------
The world's top contesters battle it out in Finland!
THE OFFICIAL FILM of WRTC 2002 now on professional DVD and VHS!
http://home1.pacific.net.sg/~jamesb/
---------------------------------------------------------------
_______________________________________________
3830 mailing list
3830@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/3830
|