CQ Worldwide DX Contest, SSB
Call: P40W
Operator(s): W2GD
Station: P40W
Class: SOAB HP
QTH: Aruba
Operating Time (hrs): 42
Summary:
Band QSOs Zones Countries
------------------------------
160: 146 10 31
80: 434 18 67
40: 974 25 94
20: 1807 30 99
15: 2373 30 98
10: 771 14 25
------------------------------
Total: 6505 127 419 Total Score = 10,414,404
Club: Frankford Radio Club
Comments:
Station: IC756ProII, Tentec Titan 1KW,
Antennas: Force12 Monobanders 20/15/10, C4, 3 ele 80M wire yagi, 4 ele 40M wire
yagi, 2 ele 40M wire yagi, 160M vertical dipole, 160/80 inverted V, 4 beverage
rx antennas NE, NW, E/W, N/S
This was my 45th contest effort from Aruba, and it was just as much fun as the
first CQWW CW way back in 1986. How time flys!
Arrived the Monday afternoon before the contest on a non-stop USAir flight from
Philadelphia. Hurricane Wilma forced some changes in the route of travel (we
flew over Puerto Rico instead of HI8 to avoid the storm) but otherwise the
flgiht was totally routine. Many of the passengers on board had been rebooked
from other airlines (mostly American Airlines) because all flights through Miami
had been cancelled.
Upon arrival at the station I was relieved to find the yagis on the two towers
all still intact since my last visit in May for WPX CW. The only damage found
was a broken beverage wire that ran through a thick cactus patch. Used the
remaining daylight to run feedlines to the NE and NW beverages, and to string up
the far 100M of the NE beverage. Once the sun goes down, its definitely NOT
safe to be working out amongst the cactus, unless of course you enjoy
indiscriminate accupuncture treatments. Cleaned up and headed off to Tony Romas
restaurant for a hearty dinner and to watch the World Series.
P40W is not your typical plug and play operation. While not attended by K4UEE
(P40R) or myself, all antenna feed lines and control cables are removed from the
station and either left taped and coiled at the tower bases or disconnected and
stored indoors. We also relocate the ends of many wire antennas so they are
within property boundaries when not in use. All in all, over 2,500 feet of
cables need to deployed and routed to the station, the ends of wire antennas
stretched out and secured, and the towers climbed to release 'manual' breaks
securing the masts.
Working at a steady pace, nearly all of the cabling, rotator and wire work was
completed on Tuesday as planned. The influence of Tropical Storm Beta was being
felt however, there was practically no wind - making it very hot. Andy,
P49Y/AE6Y arrived in the afternoon and we got together for dinner.
Wednesday was spent sorting out the 4 element 40 and 3 ele 80M wire beams hung
from a catanary rope between the tower towers, aimed at EU, and also repairing
the broken EU beverage wire through the cactus. It took several hours to get
all of the ends strung out and properly positioned.
Conditions before the contest were really quite poor. There were no visible
sunspots and the SFI was hovering below 70. Ten meters was virtually dead
except for some SA and late afternoon US openings. At night, the low bands
were in fair shape, but the QRN from that tropical storm heading for YN-land was
building. Even on the beverages, the S-meter hovered at S9+.
In the hope of finding some more relief from the low band QRN, I put up new
beverages N/S and E/W on Thursday. In practice, they added some rx
flexibility, but didn't provide much relief from the QRN.
Friday was the do very little day.....had lunch with Andy, P49Y, dropped off the
rental car, and took a long afternoon pre-contest nap. But when I awoke, the
new N/S beverage was 'DOA' . Spent 20 minutes trying to figure out why without
success. Had to rush to get things ready for the start....
Had a terrible first few hours. 20M went dead within minutes of the
start....had to slide down to 40 way too early for my liking. Felt out of sync
right from the beginning. Went to 160 and 80....noise noise and more
noise...bad crashes, but managed a fair run of US and EU nonetheless. Later
went back to 20...it seemed to come back at 04Z. Finally got into gear on 40M
during the 0500 hour....but already felt well behind the pack. The 40M 4 ele.
beam aimed at EU had stopped working (5 to 1 SWR) so had to depend on the C4
rotatable dipole on 40M for EU the rest of the weekend. Slept 2 hours 08-10Z
but really didn't feel tired.
15M was the money band all day Saturday. Kept checking 10M for signs of life.
Heard PYs and LUs running EU but not a whisper on P4. Finally at 2000Z 10M
opened to the USA, and it was off to the races with a 320 hour and over 500 qsos
in less than 2 hours.....my best rate of the weekend, virtually all Z4 and Z5,
with a smattering of Z8 and Z9. Finished out the first day on 20M with a few
decent hours (287 and 224 respectively).
Lost my focus over the first few hours of day 2.....my rates show it. Drifted
into S&P when I should have been running....somewhere. This is not new for
me...especially during Phone contests. The noise and QRM were just not
fun....and finally took another sleep break 07 - 1030z. Overslept 1.5
hours...despite two alarms buzzing in my ear...
Picked up some addl 40M mults at sunrise...then headed to 20M for some easy EU
mults. Knew I was a bit short on mults/qsos on 20, so decided that would be the
place to close out the weekend. 15M was again the band of the day, and it
seemed wall to wall. Spent much of the morning below 21200. Kept cking 10M but
it never openned to EU .... a major disappointment. Finished out the weekend on
20 as planned with a string of 200+ hours.
After the contest, it was a treat to enjoy the traditional post-contest dinner
with Andy, P49Y.
Congrats to 8P1A/W2SC and VY2PA/W4PA for their solid SOAB HP efforts, and to
KK9A/P40A for his never say die LP crusade.
I'll be QRV from P40W again during CQWW CW. QSL to N2MM.
73, John W2GD/P40W
Slow moving Tropical Storm Beta located just off the coast of Honduras produced
copious amounts of low band QRN all weekend....
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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