CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW
Call: HS0ZAR
Operator(s): K3ZO
Station: HS1CHB
Class: SOAB HP
QTH: Thailand
Operating Time (hrs): 34
Summary:
Band QSOs Zones Countries
------------------------------
160:
80: 2 2 2
40: 229 27 77
20: 235 33 74
15: 474 28 63
10: 708 25 75
------------------------------
Total: 1648 116 291 Total Score = 1,472,526
Club: Potomac Valley Radio Club
Comments:
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to operate a CW
contest the way we used to do it 35 years ago in the pre-computer
age? No contest program, no automatic dupe check, not even a memory
keyer to call CQ for you. Everything logged only by pen on paper.
Well, I did it this year in the CQWW CW from Thailand as HS0ZAR,
and I survived and even quite enjoyed myself.
I had taken advantage of the fact that the Southeast Asia Net
Convention was held in Bangkok this year to accompany my XYL
Somporn to visit her family, and since the CQWW CW contest was just
one week later I decided to stay there for it. I had originally
planned to join the gang at the new location of the national radio
society's club station HS0AC -- operating this year as HS72B in
honor of the Thai queen's 72nd birthday -- but the sudden illness
and hospitalization of the station manager Ray, HS0ZDZ (G3NOM)
caused things to work out differently than I had planned, and even
though the German group that came to Thailand to operate the
contest there asked me to join them, I decided early on to do my
own thing.
John, HS1CHB and Bob, HS0ZCG (KL7ENY) have been assembling a new
station of sorts at a new five-story private home and John invited
me to operate the contest there since neither of them do CW
contests. The idea was attractive since I could give my recently
renewed HS0ZAR call sign a workout after some years of inactivity
and the full score could go to PVRC as a DXpedition entry. Because
of Ray's sudden illness and the fact that Tony, HS0ZDX (G4UAV) was
fully occupied getting things ready for the SEANET Convention, I
was asked to be the net control for the Southeast Asia Net the
Wednesday prior to the convention. Wednesdays have traditionally
been Thailand's day of the week to handle net control duties.
So I went to the HS1CHB station to do the net control job from
there and get some idea of how the station played. If you ask any
Bangkok HF operator about their major complaint, line noise is the
answer. Power lines have often been put up in great haste and
maintenance is not the power company's strong suit. Thus I was
pleasantly surprised to find the HS1CHB location unbelievably quiet
for being in a major metropolitan area. It seemed like I could
hear even the weakest signal quite well. The only downer was that
the place is located about a mile south of Bangkok airport right
under the flight path for aircraft landing or taking off, depending
on the wind direction. With headphones the noise problem was
manageable even with jumbo jets feeding Thailand's robust tourist
industry going overhead every three minutes night and day, but I
felt lucky it was a CW contest because I would imagine VOX
operation on phone would be a different story.
I decided then and there to accept the offer to do the contest from
there and to make no special requests but just to operate the
station "as is". I arrived just 15 minutes prior to the contest to
find the caretaker ready to let me in but nobody else around.
After climbing to the fifth floor I found the FT-920 and a small
amp, an AL-811 if I'm not mistaken, there but not hooked up. This
amp has a storied history as it was used by the Colvins on some of
their DXpeditions and they sold it to John when they were here
operating as HS0ZAP some years ago. No computer, and an iambic
paddle hooked up to the radio's internal keyer. Out on the roof,
located well above the surrounding single-family homes in the
neighborhood, was an A3S tribander mounted on a single tower
section about 15 feet off the roof, and a 40 meter inverted V
dipole on another similar tower section. The rotor worked but the
indicator was spastic, however the antenna could be seen from the
operating position so at least in the daytime rotor non-indication
was not a problem. The shack included a comfortable bed and since
it was airy with good ventilation and a strong fan was available I
opted not to use the air conditioning, which I don't like. I was
told I could leave the windows and roof door open since the
mosquitos don't rise above the third floor.
John arrived a few minutes later and finally about half an hour
into the contest I made my first QSO, with K0SR on 20 meters.
It quickly became evident that John didn't have his radio set up
for CW operation as the QSK was going to destroy the amplifier's
relay if I didn't change something. So I got out the manual and
finally was able to find out how to adjust the VOX delay so the
relay was happy.
Fifteen ran well but after a couple of hours there I decided to try
10 meters. At the beginning of the contest in Thailand you can get
great runs by beaming Japan, even though the QSOs are only worth
one point apiece. But when I went up to 10 I was beset by so many
screeches and squeals that I was briefly unnerved. These
innumerable, apparently ionospheric sounders fly past the frequency
in both directions, most fast, a few slower, but taken in the
aggregate they are pests which wipe out just one letter of a
calling station requiring frequent repeat requests. They are worst
when beaming Northeast out of Thailand, and once Europeans started
rolling in they were much less of a bother. Martin, HS0ZED, who
works in the electronics service industry mentioned that Thailand
has a number of such sounders.
I was happily running Europeans on 10 when suddenly the station I
had given a number to failed to come back and my pile-up dwindled
rapidly. Looking over at the linear I could see it was off.
Further investigation revealed two blown fuses. I continued
barefoot and a pile-up of sorts reformed. Later John came in with
replacement fuses but they kept blowing. I suspect that my torrid
QSO pace overheated the amp and perhaps a pin on a tube had its
solder melt. This has happened before to me in Thailand's hot and
humid climate. At any rate, this single-op high-power entry limped
along after QSO number 534 with 100 watts, but I have to say I
still enjoyed myself immensely. I was not really out for score
and the fun continued without the usual pressure from the
competition.
Besides, the lowered power gave me a chance to run a seat-of-the-
pants experiment of sorts. Which East Coast stations, when called
by a low powered Thailand station in the middle of a European run,
would respond without missing a beat, and which ones wouldn't? I
tried my diabolical scheme on the unsuspecting victims.
Some other random comments:
Kudos to N4XR who heard me call and work VE2NSU and CQed in the
next open slot higher specifically to get me to respond. Real
heads-up operating.
Who would have expected someone with a call like WB8YJF to come
right back to me on the first call with my correct call? Well, he
did.
Who had the loudest 20 meter East Coast signal? I was able to
observe things for several hours over two days and in my judgement
VC3L was the champ this time. WC1M was a close second. W1KM had
a very nice clear sound with less flutter than the others.
Of course most if not all were beaming Europe so this may simply
say that their beams have broader lobes. I should add that "the
usual suspects" were all plenty loud enough; there's not as much
difference as you might think. For example, if you would ask me to
compare the signal N3AM had with that of W3LPL, I would have to say
it was a wash.
The band would open for the East Coast around 1000Z on the grey
line path, then short path over the pole around 1100Z. Then it
would close around 1330 and re-open around 1415. Things would fade
again about 1540 and then re-open around 1715, only to close again
about 1830. Though I am writing this while still in Thailand and
haven't had a chance to read other peoples' comments, I have the
impression that there was an auroral disturbance around 1930-2030Z
Saturday, because N2LT told me he picked me up best beaming SSE.
Since it was dark outside I couldn't tell where my beam was
pointed, and anyway the A3S 15 feet off the roof isn't all that
directional.
I worked no W's on 10. The closest I got was Hawaii in one
direction and 8P5A beaming over Europe in the other direction. On
15 I was able to work as far east as Oklahoma, no further. WP2Z
was booming in however.
Can anyone tell me why the only multi-op which has the good sense
to take about half-an-hour away from the 40 meter European run to
CQ with the beam southeast around 2200-2300 UTC is K3LR? They were
all alone on the band and booming in clearly. For them it was like
shooting fish in a barrel as one Southeast Asian after another
lined up to work them and they heard us all easily. Later N9RV --
single-op -- did the same thing for a while with equal success.
Ladies and gentlemen od the East/Midwest: This time of year your
late afternoon
opening to Southeast Asia is by far the best 40 meter opening in
our direction. Forget about the morning opening where you have to
compete with the Japanese and the whole USA to work the likes of
9N7BCC, 9M6NA, 9M8YY, HS72B, 9M2TO, YB0ZZ, XU7ADE, XW8KPL/RU3DX in
monstrous, unruly pile-ups. We were all there for the easy taking
at 2200-2300Z if only those of you with beams would have taken a
few minutes out of your European runs to beam our way. Keep this
in mind for next year!
Anyhow after the first 534 QSOs with the amp I continued on for
another 1157 QSOs barefoot. To make it easy on myself in concert
with my laid-back approach I kept no dupe sheet, depending only on
my memory. Out of 1691 QSOs only 43 were dupes and another 15 or
so stations told me it was a dupe when I called them. I operated
the paddle manually for everything including every CQ and even
though I "don't do iambic" the paddle and keyer were iambic.
That's why I am sure HS0ZAF and particularly HS0ZAL appeared quite
legitimately in some peoples' logs even though neither has been on
the air for years and their licenses have expired. For that reason
I have kept all the dupes in my Cabrillo log for submission.
HS0ZAA was also active in the contest and John is indeed quite
active on CW on a daily basis, so a few stations thought they were
working him when I called.
Yes my mother-in-law has an ancient DOS computer at her Bangkok
home so after the contest I spent a couple of days typing my log
into a 1994 version of TR-LOG which resides there, so I have been
able to put the results in digital form and send in a Cabrillo log.
And yes, doing contests the way I used to do it in 1968 when I
first operated from Thailand is still possible, and still fun.
73, Fred, K3ZO
Licensed in Thailand as HS0ZAR
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
______________________________________________
3830 mailing list
3830@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/3830
|